Is there always a TA who is suffering from insomnia or taking sleeping pills?
Statistics from the National Sleep Foundation show that a quarter of Americans take sleeping pills every year. Why are so many people troubled by [insomnia]?
Anxiety, depression, chronic diseases, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, daily exhaustion…
The reasons are as numerous as the types of drugs on the market.
Although sleeping pills are very powerful, people have great misunderstanding about them. For example, many sleeping pills fail after hours without understanding, and most sleeping pills cannot be mixed with other drugs.
You must have many questions to ask if you are taking or are planning to take sleeping pills. Let’s look at the following questions and answers.
1. Is there a what difference between over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs?
Most doctors dislike over-the-counter sleeping pills because they usually do not work for severe insomnia.
Many over-the-counter sleeping pills contain antihistamines, similar to diphenhydramine, which can cause side effects such as dry mouth, dry eyes and drowsiness the next day. Over-the-counter sleeping pills are suitable for people who occasionally suffer from sleep problems.
OTC drugs refer to drugs that can be easily bought in pharmacies with OTC marks on the outer box of drug packaging. Prescription drugs refer to drugs that can only be prescribed by doctors.
Note: Lactating women should use it with caution, and the elderly are more sensitive to the side effects of histamine components and should also use it with caution.
2. How do you judge whether you need to take sleeping pills?
If the symptoms of poor sleep and difficulty in falling asleep last for one month and show no signs of improvement, you need to go to the hospital.
- Perhaps the doctor will prescribe a small amount of sleeping pills for you to relieve the symptoms of insomnia and pass this period. Perhaps doctors will try non-drug methods for treatment first, then don’t think doctors are not good doctors if they don’t prescribe drugs. Perhaps the doctor will advise you to take some tests first, such as eliminating [sleep apnea], which causes you to wake up several times a night and sometimes even unaware of it.
3. What are the commonly used treatment schemes for insomnia?
(1) Drug therapy
(2) Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Therapists will help you change your view of sleep and learn some techniques that help you sleep, such as changing the sleep environment and restricting bedtime activities.) Some studies have shown that CBT is at least as effective as drugs and has no side effects.
People often attribute all negative energies such as irritability and irritability to lack of sleep. Sleep is too important, and insomnia erupts immediately. CBT can correct this distorted idea, and sometimes combined drug therapy is required according to the specific situation.
(3) Insomnia caused by other diseases
For example, common sleep apnea, these people need to wear auxiliary sleep devices to continuously deliver air into the airway, so as not to be awakened and cause poor sleep.
4. I have used prescription drugs but still can’t sleep. Can I take them again?
If you are taking a short-acting drug and it is still early to get up, you can take it again. However, you need to determine whether the drug you are taking is a short-acting drug. You can check the instructions or consult a doctor.
Short-acting drugs take effect quickly and fail quickly. The users are usually people who have difficulty falling asleep. Short-acting drugs usually work for three to four hours. The time to take the medicine again depends on your schedule. For example, if you plan to get up at 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning, take the medicine before 3 o’clock in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, the medicine is basically metabolized and will not affect your activities during the day. Of course, each medicine is different. It is better to ask your doctor how to take it.
However, for long-acting sleeping pills used by people who have difficulty falling asleep and are easy to wake up, these drugs last for a long time and can only be taken once a night.
5. Is it safe to drink some wine at 6 pm and take sleeping pills at 11 pm?
This is not recommended.
When the wine is just drunk, it will make people excited, which just counteracts the sleeping aid effect of sleeping pills.
Later, alcohol will have a sedative effect on the human body. Taking sleeping pills at this time is equivalent to taking twice the dose of sedatives, which will lead to slow heartbeat, dizziness, suffocation, slow hypoxia of the body, brain cell damage, and even stop breathing in the worst case.
6. How long does it take to take sleeping pills after drinking?
Since everyone metabolizes food and alcohol at different rates, there is no accurate answer to this question. If you really want to drink, drink it as soon as possible, then eat non-alcoholic desserts and take sleeping pills as late as possible.
7. Will sleeping pills make me have nightmares?
Usually not. But some sleeping pills will inhibit your memory of dreams. Once you stop taking drugs or reduce the dosage, those realistic dreams (possibly nightmares) will reappear. It is not clear why this happens.
8. Will sleeping pills affect health for several months in a row?
At present, no long-term health effects of sleeping pills have been found, but sleeping pills are easily addictive.
In addition, another very common problem is drug resistance. After taking the medicine for a period of time, the dosage needs to be increased to achieve the previous effect.
If you feel that this drug is not as effective as before, or you need to increase the dosage to be effective, you must inform the doctor and let the doctor help you adjust the medication plan.
9. After using sleeping pills for several months, how should I stop taking them?
Ask a doctor to gradually reduce the dosage of drugs.
Doctors may reduce the drug dose by half every week: assuming that they originally took 10 milligrams of a drug every night, they can try to take 5 milligrams every night for one week, halve the drug dose to 2.5 milligrams the next week, and finally stop taking the drug completely.
Note: Some drugs can be directly split in half, while others cannot, such as sustained-release drugs. You can consult your doctor on how to use them.
10. I heard that insomnia will recur. Will the sleep quality become worse after taking medicine and stopping medicine?
This may happen.
You need a few days to adjust after stopping the drug. If you still can’t sleep, go to see a doctor.
Some experts prefer non-drug behavioral cognitive therapy (CBT), one of the reasons is that sleeping pills can lead to relapse of insomnia.
11. Don’t want to use sleeping pills. Are those natural preparations worth a try?
You can try, but don’t expect miracles.
Melatonin secreted by human body during sleep and herb valerian may be helpful to sleep, but there is currently a lack of research to prove its efficacy. The production of these preparations is not standardized like drugs. You don’t even know whether you bought what or ate what.
Responsible Editor: Chuyang
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