Another New Sleeping Pill?

Sleeping pills are very popular drugs these days. I generally discourage patients to take them on a regular basis, due to the potential for dependency.

The first sleeping pills were barbiturates; which are highly addictive and deadly in overdose.

The next group included valium, dalmane and restoril; which are not toxic but quite addictive and often leave you tired the next day.

The most recent group of drugs include Ambien and Lunesta. They work on different receptors and are likely a little less addictive, and may sustain dream sleep which the other drugs suppress. There have been some reports of amnesia and sleep walking with these.

The newest category, not yet approved, attempts to block the stay awake hormones in the body. If it can do so without other side effects this could be an interesting and possibly less addictive drug. However, it is too early to tell, and when it comes out (if it does) I would recommend waiting to see. Theoretically if it really does block it the body may produce more and this could become highly addictive. And many drugs have totally unknown side effects that can be very serious and become known only after a year or so (or more) on the market.

The article below gives an interesting history of sleeping pills.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/09/131209fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all