Info on sleeping pills: names+how they work+side effects?

Question

My FIL is an Asian and currently lives in an Asian country. He asked my spouse to bring him some sleeping pills that have no or minor side effects from US on the next visit (He refused to come here) He suffered a stroke about ten years ago and recovered fairly well. But he gained weight again in the past few years. He thinks the sleeping pill he is currently taking makes his body a bit imbalanced (physically - when walking)during the day. He also has minor prostatitis. I have no knowledge about sleeping pills at all and only took sleeping pills 2 or 3 times in my whole life long time ago. I remember one time the pill relaxed all my muscles and I fell asleep. When I woke up my muscles felt no strength. Another time when I took a sleeping pill, it made me hard to breath and then I fell asleep. I'm not sure if the "hard to breath" part will cause any harm to my FIL.

I'd greatly appreciate your help with names of sleeping pills, how they work, and their side effects.

Thank U very much.

Answer 1

There are a lot of sleeping pills in the market. There is Xanax, Ambien, Haldol, Dalmane;to name a few. , Most of them have the same side effects. Aside from being addicting, , they can cause drowiness. So you are advised not to operate any machinery while using it. If you want less side effects.


My father even became suicidal when prescribed Haldol for sleep. It causes a lot of mental confusion in the elderly. Taking a plain antihistamnics like Benadryl. gives the same effect. It also clears up your sinuses .


The side effects of the prescription sleeping pills are much like their benefits. At night, we want our brain cells to stop working (unless we need to get up in the middle of the night), so sleeping pills make the brain less active. If the sleeping pill is in the blood during the day, it will make the daytime brain less active and less functional. The problem is that no sleeping pill remains in the blood all night, impairing consciousness, and then suddenly evaporates at the moment of awakening.

Besides, a large percentage of people who take sleeping pills do often get up at night. Most of the marketed prescription hypnotics, when taken at bedtime, will remain in the blood with at least half strength when morning comes. Only a few prescription hypnotics marketed in the U.S. leave the blood fast enough to be largely gone from the blood by morning: these include zolpidem (Ambien), zaleplon (Sonata), and triazolam (Halcion). Even these drugs may be found in the morning blood if they are taken in the middle of the night. Ambien CR may sometimes affect people the next morning, and eszopiclone (Lunesta) is likely to produce a few hours of morning impairment, particularly among people over age 60. Oddly enough, despite the brief half-life (time to be half-dissipated) of zolpidem, zaleplon, and triazolam, there is fragmentary evidence that these short-acting hypnotics produce impairments lasting after their disappearance from the blood . Ramelteon (Rozerem) produces no next-day impairment according to the manufacturer studies, but I have heard patients complain.

As explained above, sleeping pills suppress the action potentials of a wide variety our brain cells. The psychological effects are to make us sleepy, reduce alertness and vigilance, slow reaction times and judgment, and impair aspects of intelligence and memory. Literally hundreds of studies have been done concerning the psychological effects of sleeping pills, both within a few hours after ingestion and then during the day following taking a sleeping pill at bedtime .


To summarize an extremely complex group of studies, all sleeping pills produce immediate impairments of memory and performance. Further, there is extensive evidence that sleeping pills on average impair performance and memory on the following day.

Sleeping pills generally make function WORSE the next day.

To view sleeping pill advertising, you might imagine sleeping pills help you to work better, think better, or function better the next day. This is deceptive.


All of the sleeping pills can cause "hangover," that is, they not only reduce the action potentials of our brain cells during sleep, but they can also reduce brain cell activity during the day . This can make us sleepy, less alert, confused, and weak during the day.

We will discuss psychological consequences of this hangover later, but here I mention the impairments of survival. Falls are much more common among elderly people who are taking hypnotics . Of patients given Lunesta, 10% had accidents as compared to 6% given placebo in one study, and falls were specifically more common with Lunesta.

Because several studies show that people who are responsible for automobile accidents are unusually likely to have sleeping pills in their blood , it is thought that hangover may often cause automobile accidents, as well as other fatal accidents. The recent publicity about Ambien zombies driving like sleep walkers provides some extremely vivid examples.

In the last 20 years, physicians have become concerned about sleep apnea, a condition where there are pauses of breathing during sleep. Physicians suspect that sleep apnea can cause deaths during sleep. Not all studies are in agreement, but several studies have found that when a person with sleep apnea takes sleeping pills, there are more pauses in breathing and the pauses last longer, which could be dangerous.

I was surprised to learn in the FDA data how well-documented it is that zolpidem makes sleep apnea worse. Because sleeping pills risk making apnea worse, many experts recommend that people with apnea should not be given sleeping pills. The problem is that almost everybody above age 40 has some sleep apnea, and the majority of people over 65 would meet commonly-used criteria for a diagnosis of sleep apnea


Therefore, a large proportion of people taking sleeping pills must be making their apnea worse. Over a period of many years, anything which makes sleep apnea worse would be expected to cause high blood pressure, and therefore, to increase the risk of heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes.

A final concern in regard to mortality is how people care for themselves. Because sleeping pills, like tranquilizers, reduce worry about possible threats and risks in our lives, it is possible that the hangover effects of sleeping pills would reduce people's attentiveness in taking care of themselves. Sleeping pills can also cause sleepwalking or somnambulism.

Another aspect to consider is individual idiosyncracy. The action of drugs on you might not be detrimental but have the potential of opposite effects on others. Besides, there are security reasons to contendwith. You can not transport (at the airport terminal security) or mail drugs not in properly prescribed and labelled containers. Some countries even require prescription orders to accompany such drugs. esp if they are controlled substances such as barbiturates and narcotics.


Your lack of balance problem .and minor respiratory problems or sleep apnea could well be attributed to the sleeping pills. Sleeping have great side effects on the elderly patients. This is especially true of people of Asian heritage. They are not accustomed to taking drugs in a regular basis as a whole as Westerners do. I had an elderly Asian open-heart surgery post-op patient who became so confused from the Lidocaine IV infusion therapy. He extubated himself (pulled out his ET or endotracheal tube ;as he's hooked to the ventilator) after suffering some form of epileptic seizures. He wasn't an epileptic patient. That's another possible side effects aside from headaches and loss of consciousness.

No, I will be leery about sending (it's illegal to mail) or give him prescribed sleeping pills. He's better off buying OTC cold meds which would give him the same calming and sedating effects without the negative and debitating side effects.

Answer 2

There are SO many kinds of sleeping pills its hard to begin to elaborate. A couple commonly prescribed sleeping pills are Lunesta & Trazodone (also used as an anti-depressant). I would recommend trying to stay away from anything that is habit-forming. Check out http://www.drugs.com its a good source for all things pills. You should be able to find what your looking for.

Answer 3

Ask a doctor or pharmacist first because of all of the medical problems in the past. Some common active ingredients in over the counter sleep aids are diphenhydramine (brand name is Benadryl and some types of Unisom) and doxylamine (also, Unisom). They may have different brand names outside of the U.S. Also, they may cause either bradycardia (low heart rate) or tachycardia (high heart rate).

Answer 4

No diphenhydramine is an Anti-Histamine. It's in the same class of drugs as Aspirin and Advil. It will not get you high. It's also dangerous to overdose on this or any other pill.

Answer 5

Sorry to hear about your friend- but you can get a better in depth answer by going to webmd.com you just put in sleeping pills and they will all pop up and you can access each one separately and get the side affects----BUT--the fact that he had a stroke 10 years ago, and he is having balance problems now, I would get him to a doctor tomorrow- he could be having what is called a TIA or mini strokes--- and should be checked out...........good luck to you.

Answer 6

Actual sleeping pills are only available with a prescription so unless your spouse plans to fake insomnia and get a script for sleeping pills there is no way he can get them for your father in law.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

dont take pills try this.......INSOMNIA:

Take two aspirin and drink a small glass of milk an hour before going to bed. This works as well as a sleeping pill with no drug hangover in the morning.

Take Ignatia Amara for insomnia.

When you have insomnia, try drinking a glass of warm milk mixed with two tsp. honey.

Eat a banana as it contains tryptophan.

Have a turkey breast sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce on it, and drink a glass of milk. This sandwich and milk combination contains lots of Tryptophan.

Take two lobelia capsules with a glass of water about an hour before going to bed.

When you lie down to sleep, begin taking deep breaths and counting each one progressively. Think to yourself, "I am in control of my Self." Keep doing this and eventually you will begin to relax to an Alpha brainwave state, then you will fall asleep immediately. This really does work. At first you might have to count pretty high, but as you learn how to relax, the counting will get less and less. Great way to turn off racing thoughts that keeps you awake at night.

If tomorrow's list of things to get done keeps you up at night or you suffer from racing thoughts when trying to go to sleep, listen to an audio book until you fall asleep. Some people find natural sounds audios like ocean waves, rainstorms, waterfalls, water flowing, or thunderstorms helpful.

Eat at least 3 cups of cottage cheese, or buttermilk, or sour cream, or yogurt daily.

Mix 2 tsp. honey to 1 glass of warm water, and drink just before going to bed. Give half the amount to babies, and it will help put them to sleep.

Drink 1 glass warm milk mixed with 2 tsp. honey before going to bed.

Mix 1 tsp. extracted juice from celery leaves with the stalks and 1 tsp. of honey, and drink it.

Eat a raw onion salad, or put raw onions in a capped jar and sniff it to fall asleep.

Mix 2 tsp. fenugreek leaves juice with 1 tsp. honey at bedtime, and drink it.

Answer 9

Please advise your husband not to do this, It is illegal and if he is caught going through Security, and he most likely will, he will be arrested. Your Father-in-Law needs to see a Doctor for a complete Physical.

Answer 10

what is a safe way to come off of ambiem