Sleeping pills

[macska]

Hello all

A month ago I had a serious surgery, and I was given sleeping pills by my surgeon to help me sleep, that I just couldn't on my own.
Now my GP says that I should not take it because I'll get addicted to it. My surgeon says that good rest is more important now than worry about a possible addiction.
Anybody has any experience with this? Thanks, Mari

 

[alsrnbsn]

My DH has to take sleeping pills to get a couple hours of sleep a night. When he asked about the "addiction", our GP asked what the big deal is....so you need the pills to get some sleep, there are worse things to be "addicted" to. I guess that I agree with her!

 

[Fembot2]

Have you tried Melatonin supplements? My daughter takes it and it's worked wonders for her. She's out in about 20 minutes. Just a thought.

 

[geojill]

You should check out the melatonin thread...there are quite a few suggestions for more natural remedies that you could try first. I won't take sleeping pills for that same reason, I'm afraid of not being able to sleep without it. If you're exhausted, one or two nights of it won't hurt and it will help you get some sleep, but beyond a couple of nights you might want to try the other remedies (in my opinion).

 

[dlavie]

I work and live with revolving shifts, sleep is always an issue.

Melatonin, while it helps you get to sleep will not keep you asleep. The melatonin tricks the body into thinking it's been out in the sun all day, once asleep the body "resets".

You cannot heal without sleep, take the meds. Any addiction to sleep meds could pass in a week.

 

[nancy324]

I don't know what you're taking, but the medications today are much less addictive than they used to be. While you can still become addicted, as Dave mentioned, undoing such an addiction is not such a big deal. They probably just slowly cut down on the meds over a short period of time until the addiction is gone. On the other hand, if you feel that you can get by taking the sleeping meds from time to time instead of every night, you can probably avoid addiction completely.