Sleeping pills addiction

What are sleeping pills?

Sleeping pills are prescription medicines that work by depressing the central nervous system and slowing down brain activity so that you feel drowsy and can fall asleep. Some of the most common types of sleeping pills include:

• Benzodiazepines: These sleeping pills have been around for longer but they can cause Benzodiazepine addiction when misused and take a long time to wean off from, so they are not often prescribed.
• Z-drugs: These are newer sleeping pills that work in a similar way but are sometimes, incorrectly, thought to be less addictive. These include Zolpidem and Zopiclone.

Sleeping pills usually come in tablet form and are taken orally. When taken responsibly and according to a doctor’s instructions sleeping pills can provide an effective, temporary solution to insomnia. However, they can be easily abused and when this happens, they can be very dangerous.

How are sleeping pills abused?

There are a number of ways in which people can abuse sleeping pills. Some people take them for reasons other than insomnia, such as to get high or to help with anxiety or depression. Others take more than the recommended dose or take them more often than they are supposed to. Some people also crush up the pills and snort them while others dissolve them in water and inject them. These methods make the pills work much faster but increase the risk of overdose or other complications.

All of these types of sleeping pills abuse are very dangerous so pills should always be taken as prescribed following your doctor’s instructions.

Routes to sleeping pill addiction

There are various ways that sleeping pill addiction can develop. For some people, it can start with taking the pills recreationally to get high or help with stress in their life. Others may be prescribed sleeping pills for a legitimate reason but then start taking them more often than they are supposed to. Some people develop an addiction after being prescribed the pills for a long time while others may have a genetic predisposition to addiction.

While everyone will have their own underlying causes for developing a sleeping pill addiction, all addictions share some common features. This includes developing a tolerance to the drug so that you need to take more and more to get the same effect, experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop taking the pills and continuing to take them despite negative consequences.

You may have an existing mental health condition such as anxiety or depression which makes you more vulnerable to addiction. Or you may have experienced trauma or stress in your life which has made it difficult to cope and led you to self-medicate with sleeping pills.

Whatever the underlying causes, if you are struggling with a sleeping pill addiction, it’s important to get help.

The dangers of sleeping pill addiction

The effects of sleeping pill addiction can be both short- and long-term. In the short term, you may experience drowsiness, confusion and impaired coordination. You may also have difficulty thinking clearly and making decisions. These effects can be even more pronounced if you abuse sleeping pills by taking them in high doses or combining them with other drugs or alcohol.

In the long term, sleeping pill addiction can lead to serious health problems such as liver damage, respiratory failure and heart problems. It can also cause mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. If you take a large number of sleeping pills in one go, there is also the risk of overdose and death.

You may also find yourself “sleepwalking” where you engage in behaviour without being fully conscious or aware. This can include driving, eating food without cooking it properly, becoming aggressive for no reason and engaging in dangerous sexual behaviour. When you regain your consciousness, you may not remember what you did.

As well as these health risks, sleeping pill addiction can also have a number of negative impacts on every aspect of your life. It can interfere with work, school and your personal relationships and can also lead to financial problems as you may need to spend more and more money on pills to maintain your addiction.

If your sleeping pill abuse is causing problems in your life, it’s important to get help as soon as possible so you can address the condition straight away.

Sleeping pill addiction in the UK

The abuse of sleeping pills is an ever-growing problem in the UK, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, there are more prescriptions for sleeping pills than ever before. Between 2017 and 2018, there were one million people who were prescribed Z-drugs with many developing a dependence and later going through withdrawal when they tried to stop. Public Health England found that there was not enough support provided by the health service for patients experiencing these issues and that further research on the prevention of withdrawal and dependence was required.

Adding to the situation is the fact that as well as being over-prescribed, sleeping pills are widely available online so both people whose prescriptions have ended and people who was to abuse sleeping pills recreationally are easily able to obtain the drugs. During the Pandemic, an increased number of people experienced anxiety and insomnia and so turned to illegally obtained sleeping pills to cope. UKAT, we have seen the effects of this with more people being treated in our clinics for sleeping pill addiction.

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Sleeping pill addiction in the UK

Recognising the signs of addiction in yourself or someone you care about can be difficult as addiction is a cunning and deceptive condition that will try to convince you that everything is fine. However, there are some common signs of addiction to sleeping pills. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Do I take sleeping pills every night regardless of whether I feel tired or not?
• Have I built up a tolerance to sleeping pills so that I need to take more and more to get the same effect?
• Do I experience withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, sweating or shaking when I don’t take sleeping pills?
• Am I so reliant on sleeping pills that I need to take them just to get through the day?
• Do I continue to take sleeping pills even though I know they are causing problems in my life such as relationship difficulties or financial problems?
• Have I previously tried to give up or cut down on sleeping pills but been unsuccessful?
• Do I experience withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, sweating or shaking when I try to stop taking sleeping pills?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, it’s important to get help as soon as possible. Sleeping pill addiction is a serious condition that will only get worse without treatment so you should get started with your recovery right away.

What to do if your loved one has a sleeping pills addiction

If you have a loved one who is addicted to sleeping pills, it’s important to get them help as soon as possible. However, it’s also important that you don’t enable their addiction. This means not buying them sleeping pills or covering up for them when they miss work or school. Sometimes tough love is the best approach and by not enabling their addiction, you will be helping them in the long run.

If you’re worried about someone you know, the best thing to do is talk to them about your concerns and help them to get the treatment they need.

Myths about sleeping pill addiction

How is sleeping pill addiction overcome?

If you’re struggling with a sleeping pill addiction, the good news is that there is help available. At UKAT, we offer a range of treatment options that have proven to be successful at helping our clients overcome their addiction and start a new life. Get in touch with us today and we can explain more about the treatment programmes we provide.

Frequently asked questions