Patients suffering from chronic insomnia can reportedly get relief from half the medication

At this moment in time, roughly nine million Americans rely on prescription pills to help treat chronic insomnia. According to recent reports, it seems like the latest developments in the field will allow them to gain relief by taking half of their usual amount of drugs and even be able to efficiently introduce placebos in their treatment plan. These findings are situated in a considerable contrast to the normal pills and treatment plans issued to chronic insomnia patients.

The new findings, which advocate for implementing a smaller dosage strategy will significantly decrease the number of pills that patients need to take in order to maintain the effects, and be able to get a good night’s rest. In return, the approach which is currently still being study will not only allow patients to lower the number of pills, but also maximize clinical gains, reduce side effects and cut the amount of prescription costs.

For those who are not yet aware, chronic insomnia is the condition which makes people unable to fall asleep easily, and/or remain asleep for 3 nights a week, over the course of one month. Michael Perlis, the study’s senior author has stated that the people cannot rely forever on the effects of sleeping pills, and that using them long term, can actually lead to psychological dependence, alongside with numerous side effects including drowsiness, muscle pain and nausea. He continued by mentioning that the research is supposed to change the industry standard, switch up the types of drugs being taken and simply lower the amount of drugs being prescribed.

The research was made up of a study covering 74 adults suffering from chronic insomnia. They were divided into several groups and given various dosing sizes, some smaller, and some larger. Most reported that the effectiveness in falling and staying asleep of the drugs, remained the same, whereas those in the intermittent dosing group, reported that they slept significantly worse and had worse side effect in the morning.

Based on this, instead of having to start low, and issue more and more medicine as time goes on, in order to keep the effectiveness the same, the authors believe that the findings will encourage people to switch to a lower nightly dose, and even include placebos in the treatments, as the full dose may not always be required to reach the full, initial effect of the medicine. However, it has been concluded that maintaining the same effect over prolonged periods of time can also be done by using less medication. In fact, while Ambien 10 mg is the standard dosage recommended, the study offers data which confirms that as little as 5 mg can be effective for the maintenance strategy. Once this happens, patients will feel fewer side effects, and be able to sleep as before, with ease.

In fact, Perlis stated that their study on the use of placebos is ground-breaking, considering the fact that the practice seems to be considerably more effective than the standard, intermittent dosing practice. The effect enhances the patient’s expectancy, and conditions the medicines themselves, thus making them more effective when taken.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, the authors believe that soon enough, sufficient data will be gathered in order to show that conditioning is in fact possible, and that less medication is needed for maintenance therapies. Not only this, but they will continue to advocate for the use of placebo in treatment plants, which, combined with lower doses of medication, will contribute to the same efficiency, thus granting patients the possibility to sleep well, and to stop experiencing side-effects and other medical issues.