Anyone Can Become Addicted to Sleeping Pills

jeremy3

Sleeping pills should only be used by those who have been prescribed to use them. I would personally not recommend them to anyone before they have exhausted other forms of treatment such as hypnosis. Another fatal mistake would be to combine them with alcohol as that is a real danger zone.

Zeek4800

Yes you can become addicted to sleeping pills so do not do it. I would not do it for money even for a million. I made certain that I get plenty of rest everyday. 

FLGuy34

I became addicted to OTC sleeping pills -- the active ingredient is diphenhydramine.  I would take 400mg at a time, at least, and I developed a dependence on them.  I took them all the time-- during the day, at night, whenever.  I used to record myself pontificating philosophy because I thought I was having these break-throughs.  But I shut out everyone in my life, and I wasted five years of my life in my room alone.

pattyjoan

I like and appreciate how the difference between addiction and using regularly is explained.

FLGuy34
Glad to hear that you are no longer addicted to sleeping pills.  I never thought about how this could cause people to shut other people out of their lives. 

arame

I have suffered from several long term bouts of insomnia over the years, but it never occurred to me to take sleeping pills. I simply stayed awake and read or worked through the night. My mind was very troubled at the time, so I went swimming as often as I could to calm down. Acupuncture helped me to regain my balance again in the end. I I also took a variety of herbs, along with practicing breathing exercises. My insomnia ran its course and dissipated in a natural way. 

leftct

Where I live, sleeping pills are widely available. There's really no restriction in what concerns its commercialization, and it truly sucks. I pity those people who take sleeping pills obliviously, without knowing the risks they're exposing themselves at.

stronglikeanox

Where I live there isn't the same stigma attached to sleeping pills as there is to other potentially addictive medications (such as Oxy).  The result of this is that there are a lot of 'soccer mom' housewives who end up with issues relating to sleeping pill use.  

I know this as many of the mothers of students at my high school had this problem.  It is especially concerning when you think about them operating vehicles and looking after small children.  The same assistance doesn't seem to be offered to these people as they don't fit the usual 'demographic' and the addiction isn't recognized until so much later.

harpazo22

This is very true. People don't intend to get addicted but few realize just how powerful they are. All it takes is one time of taking it to get hooked. People need to be more educated about this.

xTinx

I second what Jeremy said. Don't take sleeping pills unless the doctor prescribed it. Many instances of overdose could be linked to people who took sleeping pills of their own accord because they had sleep problems. Moderation was the last thing on their mind so what happened, happened.

Tata

I once fell into a phase where I regularly took sleeping pills every night. At first it was just for fun but eventually I found myself taking them because I felt it would be hard for me to fall asleep without it or I felt like my journey to sleepiness was incomplete if I didn't down one or two pills at least. Looking back, now that I am more aware and more able to sleep naturally, I can see how being in the middle of that kind of phase can really make it seem like it's impossible to function without it even if you mentally know that you have always been able to do so without it in the past.

lamanlupa

Every addiction starts with something simple, most of the time, it was something to aid or assist them with something. Be it booze, cigarettes or whatnot. Sleeping pills is one of the most common,sometimes people need to fight the urge to sleep to do an allnighter, I would know myself because I used work in a contact center. Sometimes to keep up with your work you need to really punch the hours in. There are some times though, when you have  too much, and eventually, you get used to it and love and nurture it, oblivious or sometimes do not care to the fact that they are indeed destroying themselves. I never had troubles with sleeping pills though, it was other stuff.

arthnel

When I tried sleeping pills I also started out with the notion that I could not becoming addicted like how other people talked about the effects. I worked a graveyard shift and had difficulty getting sleep during the day because of other people being around and general neighborhood and traffic noises. While sleeping pills was never my main addiction, I remember getting hooked even for a short time. The sleep I got from them was deep and sweet. I even had dreams which I hardly ever have. But I reached a point where even when I wasn't working I was convinced the only way I would ever get good sleep was by popping a pill. Things got bad when my girlfriend noticed I was starting to take two at time. They're extremely additive and as soon as you can cut them out of your routine the better for you.

denkel

Several years ago I had an uncle who died tragically and it  caused me to go into depression. I couldn't sleep and was prescribed sleeping pills by my doctor. Honestly I was so afraid to use this prescription. I have a deep fear of addiction. I rarely even drink coffee!

nusster

This is really worrisome to me because my mother had some sleeping issues due to a hip injury and a doctor prescribed her sleeping pills. In the past she has also used them, but stopped when she complained that they had negative effects on her and it wasn't really the type of sleep she wanted/needed. She's thrilled about these new pills and she does sleep better, but I'm really worried that because they have such a good effect on her sleep that she might get addicted. 

Seraphine

My mom almost becomes addicted to several sleeping pills, but the one that gave her more trouble was clonazepam.  She had the hardest time because she was dumb enough to go cold turkey n it after using it for almost one year, I told her not to do that, but she ouldn't listen. So now she has heart issues as a result. Those meds are the devil if not used right.