There is a proverb, saying that one should not go into the forest, if he is afraid of wolves. Since we are on the web-site, dealing with medications, let me paraphrase this wise saying: "One should not go to the pharmacy, if he is afraid of side effects".
Indeed, there are predators in every forest, just like all the medications have their side effects. But do not forget that there are forests, where wolves are the most dangerous predators, and there are forests, where tigers are the major source of danger.
Sleep medications belong to the forest (a group of medicines), where one may meet really wild and dangerous beasts. However, I would compare side effects of hypnotics rather with the wild animals in the Zoo then with the same beasts, somewhere in the jungles. Consequently, all the following information is not to scare people with the sleep medications, but to describe the potential hazards of these drugs and show that following the rules of the Zoo visiting (read doctors prescription) is the best way to make beasts sit in their cages and not harm ones health.
So, let us look closer at the adverse reactions of sleep medications, the most dangerous of which are memory problems, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms and addiction.
Memory problem. Sleep medications may sometimes cause a certain type of memory loss or amnesia, when a person does not remember anything after he/she takes a pill. This would not be a problem at all, since most people usually take sleep medications in the evening before falling asleep, but for some cases of walking or eating during sleep. The consequences of such activities during sleep may include significant weight gain, since a person does not remember that he/she spent a night not in a bedroom, but in the kitchen, eating hot-dogs and drinking beer.
Tolerance When a sleep medication is used every night for a long period of time, it loses its effectiveness. This condition is called tolerance and it means that a human organism gets used to the medication and does not respond to the treatment properly. The best way to eliminate this problem is not to use sleep medications longer then 1-2 weeks and ask a doctor to prescribe a pill with a low rate of tolerance (e.g. Rozerem).
Withdrawal symptoms Obviously, you know that withdrawal symptoms are mostly associated with the addiction to certain substances, such as nicotine, illicit drugs or alcohol. However, sleep medications may also cause withdrawal symptoms, when a person stops taking the pills suddenly after a long period of usage. Mostly such symptoms include unpleasant feelings, abdominal and muscle cramps, vomiting, sweating, shakiness, and rarely, seizures.
Sometimes, sleep medication may cause the so called rebound insomnia, which is a trouble sleeping the first few nights after the medicine is stopped. Though the problem may look very discouraging, it usually goes away on its own after one or two nights.
Addiction Addiction is probably the most serious concern about the use of sleep medications. But the point is that modern hypnotics have very low or no addiction potential at all. The problem may arise when a person abuses sleep medications, does not follow the prescription and takes pills for a significantly long period of time.
All these factors combined with the history of any other addiction (for example, to alcohol or nicotine) may increase the chances of a patient to experience dependence or addiction to sleep medications.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that in spite of the fact that all the above described special concerns about the use of sleep medications may look really frightening, there are some rather simple means to avoid them. Use sleep medications in strict accordance to the prescription, do not abuse them, do not take them longer then your doctor advised you, talk to your doctor about the underlying cause of your insomnia and try to treat the cause and not the consequence.
Nick
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