Insomnia medications
Insomnia medications are very popular nowadays, due, of course, to the high proportion of the population suffering from Insomnia sleep disorder. Insomnia medications are not only prescription drugs, they can be over the counter products as well, all designed to grant the insomnia patient his much desired sleep.
It is estimated that some 20% of adults in the US use alcohol or some other sleep medication, prescription or over the counter drugs, to help them fall asleep.
With regard to medications requiring prescription, these broadly fall into 2 categories: benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepine. In addition, some anti depressants have been shown to be efficient in treating patients who suffer from depression coupled with insomnia.
Benzodiazepines used to be the most popular sedative hypnotics prescribed for insomnia patients. Benzodiazepines were developed in the 1960s to treat stress and anxiety. These drugs achieve their sedative effect by targeting the GABA-A receptors in the brain. However, the newer non-benzodiazepines insomnia medications are much more precise in their GABA-A targeting activity, and thus have fewer side effects.
Talking about side effects, insomnia medications have quite a few. Read the information leaflet inside the box of each insomnia medication, and see for yourself . Notwithstanding the side effects issues, it is a good idea to carefully read any medication information leaflet before taking the medication.
However, as noted above, the newer non-benzodiazepine drugs have fewer side effects the “old” insomnia medications, and therefore they constitute the preferred choice of insomnia medications today. Non-benzodiazepine presently approved in the US include, for example, zolpidem, zaleplon , eszopiclone, and ramelteon . However, it doesn’t stop their, as new types of these insomnia medications are coming out all the time.
As mentioned before, people who suffer from depression coupled with insomnia are sometimes prescribes anti depressants, some of which have a sedative effect, that helps the patient with his sleep patterns too.
Finally, there is a large selection of insomnia medications to be purchased over the counter, without a prescription. These OTC drugs are mainly comprised of some form of Antihistamine, a chemical substance causing drowsiness.
It should be stressed that all the people taking insomnia medications should avoid alcohol consumption, as it intensifies the magnitude of the insomnia medications side effects.
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