Showing posts with label Benzodiazepines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benzodiazepines. Show all posts

Monday, 13 September 2010

Understanding Sleeping Pills – The Z Drugs & Anti Depressants

The Z Drugs include hypnotic medications such as Zolpidem, Zopiclone and Zaleplon.

On the whole these drugs cause less problems than the benzodiazepines and do help to promote sleep. But there are still serious problems associated with dependency and withdrawal.

There is also a much bigger risk of being involved in a car accident the day after taking the drugs.

The Z drugs are also much more expensive than the benzodiazepines but there is no evidence to say that they work any better. In fact doctors find the drugs work differently depending on each patient – so we have to find out the right combination or individual dose.

Anti depressants are often prescribed for insomnia as they can sometimes work as sedatives in low doses. The most common anti depressants include – Amitripyline, Dothiepin, Clonazepam, Venlafaxine, Mirtazapine and Trazadone.

Evidence show that these drugs can work to help with insomnia where the insomnia is linked to depression.

But again there can be a number of common side effects. As well as dry mouth and blurred vision – the drugs can also cause difficulty urinating or sweating. In some cases they can cause anirregular heartbeat.

People also need to be careful when coming off anti depressants as this needs to be gradual to avoid any rebound effects.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Learn about sleeping pills- the downside of Benzodiazepines

This group of sleeping pills includes temazepam, nitrazepam , lormetazepam and diazepam.

They are often prescribed to insomniacs to help calm people down and make them feel sleepy. These drugs tend to be prescribes when the doctor believes the source of the anxiety is anxiety related.

But one of the big downsides with drugs from the benzodiazepines family is “tolerance”. As the body gets used to the drug – the higher the level it needs to have the same effect.

Other serious problems include dependency. This means that you can only ever get to sleep with the pills. But to make matters worse – symptoms appear to get worse when people stop taking the drugs.

There are also side effects to taking benzodiazepines such as drowsiness and dizziness. Research has also linked these side effects as increasing the risk of road accidents.

One final thing to point out – if you’re taking benzodiazepines – whatever you do, don’t drink alcohol. The sleeping pills enhance the effects of the alcohol by 100% or more!

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com