What You Need To Know About Sleeping Pills

By Robin Westen

Lately, my routine is to drift quickly off to sleep, and then around three in the morning, I’m wide awake and worrying about everything: my son in college, bills, the laundry, work, and ironically, not being able to fall back to sleep. It’s tempting to reach for a sleeping pill my doctor prescribed, but is it really a good idea? The biggest problem with sleeping aids, both over-the-counter and prescription medications, is they won’t uncover the cause of sleeplessness. In fact, research shows taking both OTC and prescribed sleeping aids may make the problem worse. Here’s why:

You Can Experience Side Effects There are several side effects to different sleep aids, and some may be severe. The most common ones are: prolonged drowsiness the next day, confusion, forgetfulness, dry mouth, headache, muscle aches, constipation, dizziness, unsteadiness, and rebound insomnia. Sedative-hypnotic drug products (benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines) can cause severe allergic reactions -- facial swelling, memory lapses, hallucinations, and complex sleep-related behaviors. These may include sleep-walking, sleep-driving (driving while not fully awake, with no memory of the event) and sleep-eating (eating in the middle of the night with no recollection, often resulting in weight gain). If you experience any unusual sleep-related behavior, consult your doctor immediately.

You Can Build Up A Tolerance One pill might work wonders every now and then, but if you take them routinely, you might have to take more and more to get the same sleep-through-the-night results. In fact, you may get so dependent you’re unable to sleep without them.

You Can Get Withdrawal Symptoms If you stop the medication abruptly, you may have withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating and shaking -- not to mention insomnia.

You Can Suffer Drug Interactions Sleeping pills, even the OTC kind, can interact with other medications you’re taking. If you’re taking prescription pain killers, certain antidepressants or sedatives, it can be especially dangerous. Make sure to speak with your health care provider about all the drugs you’re taking.

There May Be A More Serious Problem You might not be sleeping because of an undiagnosed medical or mental problem. That’s why the best idea is to speak in depth with your doctor about your sleep problems. Sometimes treating insomnia with sleeping pills can mask an even more serious issue.