Insomnia Medications

Insomnia medications play an important role in treating both short-term transitory and long-term chronic insomnia. Transitory insomnia may be experienced by most people sometime in their lifetimes. Chronic insomnia, however, is experienced for over 4 weeks and does not go away by itself. This is why insomnia medications play an important role in the treatment for those with chronic issues.

In the 1960's benzodiazepines were the medication primarily used in the treatment of chronic insomnia. Safe and effective, benzodiazepines showed they had fewer side effects than early forms of medication, which included alcohol, bromide and laudanum. Benzodiazepines are still used today, though newer classes of sleep drugs have come to the forefront.

The newer medications are non-benzodiazepine drugs and use a different mechanism to induce and maintain sleep. Lunesta (eszopiclone) is one of the newer class of drugs and has been approved by the FDA as safe and effective. Studies of Lunesta have shown that this medication is safe, effective and have few side effects for those who take it for over 6 months.

Ambien (zolpidem tartrate) is in the same class as Lunesta and also has been approved by the FDA. With Ambien, however, there are some tolerance and dependency issues, so strict adherence to the guidelines of use is advised. Ambien is generally used for insomnia of shorter durations.

Sonata (zaleplon) is in the same class as Lunesta and Ambien and is the third medication in the class approved by the FDA. Sonata helps people fall asleep fast and leaves the body faster than other medications. This means the insomnia medication can be taken by those who go to bed late, have tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep or have less than 8 hours to devote to sleep.

Rozerem is similar to Sonata in that it helps those who have issues with sleep onset. Rozerem also has shown to have no problems in regards to abuse and dependence and thus is not classified as a controlled substance by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as are other insomnia medications.

Besides the benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine insomnia medications there are also a few more drugs worth mentioning that help in sleep aid. Sedating antidepressants will help some patients with underlying issues of depression or anxiety achieve more sound sleep. Also, those with fibromyalgia many times find that sedating antidepressants will help decrease pain at night.

Herbal and natural remedies are a route that some people take in the battle to get a good night's sleep. Melatonin, valerian, chamomile and kava kava are all reported by many to help achieve favorable outcomes in regard to sleep.

No matter what, though, treatment can be complicated, so it is no wonder that many different insomnia medications are sometimes tried before the right one at the correct dosage is found to be effective. The most important aspect is to work with one's physician to find out the insomnia medications that will work most favorably in your particular case.