Comments on: 203 Frightening Side Effects From Prescription Sleeping Pills

By: blissplan

blissplan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:32:24 +0000

Lucy, I'm glad your experience has been positive. My experience was dreadful and I quit after only three nights. Different bodies, different reactions. Thanks for sharing.

By: LucyRicardo

LucyRicardo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:34:35 +0000

I've dealt with insomnia for decades, sometimes dealing with it by using prescription meds and sometimes just living with little sleep. Currently I'm using Lunesta 3mg. I had brain surgery a few months ago to remove a tumor, and IMMEDIATELY post-op I was hit with the most unrelenting insomnia of my life. Because sleep was absolutely imperative for my recovery, we tried a variety of meds–none of which worked–until finally hitting on Lunesta. It's been over three months now and it most DEFINITELY has not stopped working for me, contrary to the "two week" theory in the article. There's definitely no placebo effect going on here, either–on nights when I failed to take the Lunesta I didn't sleep. And it's not because I knew I hadn't taken the pill–sometimes I had no idea I had skipped it. After surgery I had friends and relatives taking care of me, and my medication regimen was very complicated and involved a lot of different meds. Sometimes they'd simply forget one or another, including Lunesta–but I didn't know it…until I spent the night WIDE awake. :(

Also, I find the second-hand reports of horrible withdrawal symptoms hard to believe! Sometimes I forget to take it, and other times I deliberately skip it (when I feel like I MIGHT sleep without it). Never have I had the slightest hint of withdrawals.

I do, of course, realize that different people react differently, so I certainly accept that my experience isn't necessarily the same as everybody else's.

By: 203 Scary Downsides From Prescription Sleeping Pills « Damn good games

203 Scary Downsides From Prescription Sleeping Pills « Damn good games — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:07:15 +0000

[...] they look, insomnia has exploded as a serious health issue and tired people are counting on prescription sleeping pills for a good night’s [...]

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:27:58 +0000

Wow that is a huge list!

After my heart surgery I had to take sleeping pills for awhile because I can't sleep on my back very well. After a few days I was just in a stupor all the time and felt very sluggish. I quit the pills and felt much better, although tired.

By: Bill Tessore

Bill Tessore — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:51:33 +0000

I am an addict in my 14th year of abstinence. I can attest to the assertion in this article that there are some instances where the application of sleeping medications (drugs) is NOT the answer. During the first couple of months of withdrawal from very heavy daily use of marijuana I experienced insomnia. The one thing that helped me the most was taking a walk. I would walk until my body was screeming for rest … then I would turn around and go home. This was effective, cheap, and since I was not driving it was also safe.

Thank you for putting out there the truthful facts that the pharmaceutical industry is too disinterested with sharing in the same level of candor and honesty.

I appreciate you,

Bill Tessore

By: Vicki Zerbee

Vicki Zerbee — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:46:51 +0000

I was just talking this morning with someone about her husband not sleeping well due to stress at work and with the economy. There are many factors that interfere with one's sleep. There is the option to take a pill to help you sleep, but that is not addressing the problem itself and as you pointed out, there are many side effects and over the counter meds lose their effect. With any health challenge, there is a root problem. When we deal with the root problem, we can work on solutions instead of simply trying to manage they symptoms.

By: Jim Hickey

Jim Hickey — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:32:20 +0000

Definitely an interesting and timely post. When I was younger, the only thing that seemed to keep me awake was me! As I have gotten older, added responsibilities and STRESS, sleeplessness has been been more frequent. Fortunately it seems that stress and sleeplessness seems to be related so I have never actually thought of sleeping pills and would opt for a natural alternative instead if I did. As Jon said that list is very frightening. When I saw restless leg syndrome and thought of all the recent ads for drugs to deal with it, I began to wonder about the correlation with sleeping pills. Is this a case where society had to develop a new drug to offset the impacts of the old? Hmmmm, makes you wonder!

By: Jon Clayton

Jon Clayton — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:45:24 +0000

What a frightening list…seriously! I am thankful the for most of my life I have not taken any sleep aid, prescription or over the counter. But, for years my wife did. Guess what she will be reading tonight. There are some very serious consequences to taking sleeping pills. This article should be a red flag to those who are taking sleeping pills and a warning for the rest of us. Thank you for the information. It is greatly appreciated!

By: Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:47:35 +0000

I think I'll lose a couple of nights sleep after reading this post. The FDA should be thinking of us and not "Big Pharma". Look what happening with the commercials today. They want us to self-prescribe. They tell us of all the side effects and we take it for granted. Totally shameful, 203 side effects for taking sleeping pills. I find exercising,not drinking caffeinated drinks, and relaxing a couple of hours before bed helps me. Thanks, for the scary post…You could say its has opened my eyes to insomnia.

By: Phillip Skinner

Phillip Skinner — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:17:54 +0000

Hi one n'all … sleep almost as important as food and water … I have had some horribly times in my life with sleep deprivation … I look back now and think of all those earlier years when when all my family where young and I was building my wealth to better our living standards and all that go with living a normal every day life mostly through hard work and risk taking working through paying mortgages hp debts in bad economical times …. yes they seem to come around in every ones life times more than once they just put a different label on it, right now its the credit crunch? … so my advice to folks through my experiences with sleepless nights through worry especially is? … you must empty your mind the best way to do this is write every thing thats bothering you on a sheet of paper in a bullet kind of format … take plenty of exercises such as walking running etc through out the day tired or not this is crucial fresh air really works to clear those nasty thoughts like thinking them through … and then drink no liquid's 3 hours before you settle down to a relaxation tape playing while you shut your eyes breathing calmly thinking of a happy time in your life if at this point you still cant drift off my last resort is to put the radio on a talking kind of station but so low you have to strain to hear what they are talking about … then you forget your thoughts … then a few hours later you wake up … you've successfully tricked your mind set and drifted off and thats the name of this sleep game … drifting off ..

All my best to you and your cleared mind
Phillip Skinner