Sleep Aids: the Pros and Cons

If you watch TV or read magazines on a regular basis, I'm sure you'll have noticed the large number of ads for all kinds of medications, most noticeably sleep aids. The casual observer would be led to believe that there is an insomnia epidemic sweeping the nation. This seeming need for medication to get a good night's sleep has pretty much slipped by unnoticed until the last couple of days. With the untimely death of young Hollywood star, Heath Ledger and the initial autopsy proving inconclusive, people are beginning to jump to all sorts of conclusions including the fact that he once mentioned that he used Ambien to help him sleep. Whether the drug played any part in his death remains to be seen, but it does raise some questions about what type of effect these drugs have on us all.

I've had experience with two different sleeps aids, one over the counter and one prescribed, and I'm going to share my experiences with both. It may help to give you all a little back story as to why I needed to use them in the first place. A few months back, I was diagnosed with depression and was prescribed Lexapro to help. It has been great for me, but, like most drugs, has a laundry list of side effects and the one I got saddled with was a severe case of insomnia. My doctor prescribed Rozerem to see if that would help.

I'm sure you've all seen the TV ads for this drug, it's the one with the beaver and Abraham Lincoln carrying on a conversation with a sleep deprived gent, but I digress. On the plus side, Rozerem is not a drug that you have to be weaned on and off of; you can simply use it as required with no ill effects. On the downside, I had very little success getting a decent night's sleep. The drug worked exactly as supposed to and I nodded off pretty quickly after taking it, but was startlingly wide awake about 4 hours later with no more sleep coming for the rest of the night. I checked the message boards associated with Rozerem and this seems to be a fairly common problem. The other issue I had was that I had incredibly violent nightmares, also another side effect of the Lexapro, but one that I hadn't experienced taking the depression drug alone. Perhaps it was the combination of the two meds that sparked the bad dreams.

I gave up on that very quickly and decided to try and over the counter medication to see if I would have better luck. I hit the jackpot on the first attempt. The pharmacist at Wal-Mart recommended a generic sleep aid manufactured by Equate and I had instant success. You take the pill about 15 to 20 minutes before bed and end up with a great nights sleep 99% of the time. The only drawback that I have encountered using this drug is that I tend to be a little groggy for a few hours the following day which is fine on the weekends, but not that great when you have to be at work bright and early like I do.

You really have to weigh the options, downright tired, or a little sluggish. For me, I use it very sparingly now as it did effect my work which is a lot of manual labor as well as having to juggle numbers and codes which is hard to do when you feel foggy.

You all may have different experiences using either of these two medications and, as with any new drug, it's best to consult your doctor to see what they think will work best for you.