A cure or addiction?
W e have heard a lot about street drugs like cocaine, cannabis, alcohol etc all such things are extremely dangerous and we all should stay away from them. However, many people have addiction of sleeping pills too- what will that person be called?
If we go to a doctor and tell him that we cannot sleep due to stress, anxiety or any other reason. The doctor prescribes you to take a sleeping pill with other medicines to relax your nerves and get a good sleep. A good doctor will never advice you to take a sleeping pill for long time. However, the patient takes medicine and many people take sleeping pills to get much needed rest and it seems very perfect. The problem starts when the patient starts taking it regularly and body gets used to of it, after sometime, it stops affecting you. Then, that patient increases the dose of the medicine without asking the doctor. The high dose keeps you well rested. However Allah has made our bodies in a way that natural immunities start building up and after sometime the body gets used to of it. After a while, when that dose keeps you unaffected, you once again increase the dose without letting the doctor know. You’re actually being caught in a web, same as any street-drug addict. Conditions worsen when you are addicted to a drug for many years, and still you remain sleepless (insomnia). First responsibility is of the patient, who keeps taking medicine without informing doctor, second fault is of the doctor who writes a medicine without writing for how long maximum it is to be taken and thirdly the medical store reps are responsible who give medicines without any prescribed duration. Doctors should counsel the patients that a particular medicine should not be taken for a longer period. Otherwise it will turn into an addiction and will affect your body and brain. The side effects are horrible, as after taking sleeping pills for more than 6 to 8 months, you continuously wake up lethargic in the morning,headache, you’re at loss of energy and your brain doesn’t work well. So your next day passes in a negative way too, with many other negative side effects like anger issues and irritability.You seem to need more medicines to cure other problems being risen up by those pills. After a while, you turn to be a patient of ‘anxiety’ ‘prescribed addiction’.When such chemicals withdraw from your body, symptoms arise anxiety, panic, sweating, muscles pain poor concentration, you feel like crying and this anxiety which starts appearing at day time as well, forces you to take medicine at day time as well. In a nutshell, you need to be very careful in starting it, ask doctor clearly for how long you need it and then leave it as you start feeling that you can sleep without it, leave them with making good daily routine. I suggest you to keep a healthy lifestyle included 30mins exercise (walk), try to wakeup early, keep socializing, do household chores yourself if you stay at home, so your body gets tired and sleep comes naturally. Keep your self hydrated and try to avoid caffeine, nicotine and other substances. Read sleep hygiene.