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jumbobelle
17th Jun 2013, 16:46
anyone have any experience of reducing/stopping sleeping pills?

cavortingcheetah
18th Jun 2013, 05:40
Not a question likely to elicit a rapid response from the aviation community.
The thing is of course that giving up any medication can carry a withdrawal risk. Oftentimes this will be dealt with on the paper insert which comes with a drug but after long usage or abuse, the abrupt cessation of a medication can carry a significant downside.
Perhaps a chat with a pharmacist or a word with a doctor, especially if the drugs were prescribed in the first place, would be a good idea if only to determine if there might be the need for a temporary light weight substitution to tide one over the initial first few nights of potential sleepless or interrupted rest. One should probably take special care if sleeping pills have been combined with alcohol in order to obtain a totally zonked out state of mind.

grounded27
22nd Jun 2013, 20:19
I think a bit more info may help, if they are benzo's (I use one for anxiety) there are usually options for less addictive drugs that are easier to change to then ween off of. The newer generation of sleep aid's eg: (Lunesta, Ambien) did not help me sleep at all and made me feel groggy. They may work for you.

I use a drug called Trazodone for sleep, origionally developed as an anti depressive it is now widely used for sleep, hardly addictive at all. After about 15 minutes I feel like it slows down the racing thoughts of my busy mind that hamper my ability to sleep, a bit of grog during the first few uses then I started to finally wake up after 6-8 hrs feeling pretty good.

cavortingcheetah
23rd Jun 2013, 06:53
No doubt, if you're taking sleeping pills and you are flight crew, you should have cleared the medication with either your AME or the CAA Medical Section at LGW. If you haven't done either of those things and you're operating as flight crew then you are compromising your flight colleagues and yourself.
As for Trazodone, two of the possible side effects are increased heart rate and self hurt thoughts while another two are painful, prolonged penis erection and blurred vision. One suspects that at least one CAA somewhere might view the drug with a quizzical or even jaundiced look of disapproval?

grounded27
23rd Jun 2013, 07:26
while another two are painful, prolonged penis erection and blurred vision

Hell, those two may help with the married life!

Have to edit, all drugs have a long list of side effects. It is a sorry reality that we are guinnie pigs to the medical industry, trial and error leaves little room for our real life. Therapy can be a bitter sweet experience, I get it on a daily basis from confidential friends better than my Psychiatrist who likes to talk, have no interest in Psychologists. Most of us who seek help on the internet have a mindset that we are
introspective

enough to eventually deal with our own problems, it takes time and experience. The problem with being a highly introspective person is that it is the reason we are here in the first place. I am slowly chipping away at the useless (sometimes hurts others) junk in my my life that does not deserve my attention. Sometimes it hurts the most valuable people to me but just as life it is a learning process.

I have never heard this from a professional, or friend. Just my life experience.