Is ambien safe to take long term

Depressants are medications that slow down the nervous system. Ambien, in particular, is used to treat insomnia, or trouble sleeping.

Is ambien safe to take long term

I am long term, have had sleep long term, and have started to take Ambien every night. It seems to be working very well. Is it okay if I keep take taking it? When Ambien the generic name is zolpidem was approved by the FDA in the early s, it was supposed to be an improvement over the benzodiazepines like lorazepam Ativan and triazolam Halcion because it acted in a more targeted way and didn't stay in the body as long.

Other nonbenzodiazepines were subsequently approved, including Sonata zaleplon and Lunesta eszopiclone. But when I see patients who are taking Ambien, they have usually gotten the prescription elsewhere, because I am reluctant to prescribe it. As a geriatrician, I treat older patients, and sleeping is ambien safe to take long term, in general, are problematic for lexapro 10 mg image people.

They lead to grogginess the next day ambien may contribute to cognitive problems, poor balance, and falls. This is also true of over-the-counter sleeping pills like Sominex and nighttime pain medications like Tylenol PM, which contain diphenhydramine the active ingredient in Benadrylan antihistamine safe take a "long term" effect that may be mild and safe enough in a younger person but can be overpowering in an older one.

Diphenhydramine also has a long list of side effects, including urinary retention, confusion, and constipation. Ambien is satisfied finasteride side effects, particularly if the difficulty is getting to sleep. But many people are like you: Smaller doses eventually become less effective, so people have to go to a higher dose, and that's when we really start to see side effects like daytime sleepiness, especially in older people.

Lunesta is even more ill-advised for older people, because it stays in the body longer. Patients sometimes ask about melatonin, the hormone released by the pineal gland in the brain that is thought to promote sleep. Taken in pill form, melatonin does help some people, and I'm not aware of any serious downside. But because it's classified as a supplement, ambien safe little FDA oversight of melatonin, and the available products are of uncertain quality.

Sometimes insomnia may be a symptom of depression or anxiety. Trazodone Desyrelan antidepressant with a sedating effect, can be effective in such cases. It's a safe drug, which can be started is valium better for anxiety than clonazepam very low doses long term can be increased slowly until an effective amount is reached.

Mirtazapine Remeron is another sedating antidepressant that can be prescribed for sleep problems. It can stimulate appetite, a benefit for many older people who don't eat well. Generic manufacturers of lorazepam all else fails and people are really desperate for sleep, I will sometimes prescribe a short course just a few weeks of low-dose Ambien.

Even half of a five-milligram tablet may be enough. I also advise people to take it just on some nights. Sleeping pills are not the only way to deal with a sleeping problem. There are several well-described behavioral strategies that can help, such as not staying in bed unless you're sleeping or removing the television or the computer "long term" the bedroom to cut down klonopin withdrawal extreme rage and anger management classes the late-night stimulation.

These may seem like relatively straightforward steps to take, but people take term to ambien safe is long need counseling and encouragement to change an ingrained behavior, no matter what it is. A study published in found that even a very brief behavioral program two counseling sessions finasteride every other day two follow-up calls from nurses was an effective way to treat people with chronic insomnia.

As a practical matter, very few primary care physicians are trained to provide even that kind of help or have the staff to do so. The same is true for geriatricians, including me. A referral to a specialized sleep center may be necessary, but, understandably, some patients balk at seeing yet another doctor, unless their sleeping problems are very serious. In my experience, talking to the patient and getting a good history can often reveal the source of his or her sleeping problem and lead to some solutions.

Caffeine interferes with sleep, and you should consume little, if any, after noon. You'd be surprised at how many people can't sleep because they are drinking caffeinated coffee, soda, or tea — and that includes green tea — throughout the afternoon and early evening. Alcohol does have an immediate sedating effect, so many people use it to get sleepy, but during the night it interferes with restful sleep. Sometimes a medication is to blame, and switching to an alternative is the answer. Drinking too much fluid after supper can cause people to wake up because they need to go to the bathroom.

The overall point here is that sleep problems are often the consequence of a behavior or circumstance that can be changed or treated without resorting to a sleeping pill. I've also found that some of my patients believe they aren't getting enough sleep, when they actually are. If you go to bed at eight or nine, you can wake up at long term or four and still have gotten seven to eight hours of sleep. And while afternoon naps may not provide the same quality of sleep as longer sleep at night, they still count as sleep.

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