2023-10-28 15:20:56
Doctors are sounding the alarm regarding addictive sleep medications.
People who go to the doctor with sleeping problems are often prescribed a medication (usually benzodiazepines) to help them get through the night.
According to the Stichting Farmaceutische Kengetallen (SFK) of the Netherlands, last year there were 1,326,000 users in that country. Before 2020, that number was steadily declining, but since then everything has been a disaster.
Doctors are sounding the alarm regarding addictive sleep medications.
Addictive sleep medications
The advice is not to prescribe medications. It is only possible in patients with short-term sleep problems., for example, following a death, but only once and for a few days. Medications can be addictive if taken long term.
“Despite advice, GPs continue to prescribe medication to two-thirds of patients who present with a sleep problem for the first time,” says Annemieke van Straten, professor of clinical psychology at VU Amsterdam.
«I don’t think many general practitioners have a good alternative. People often go to the doctor late to ask for pills. A pill to help you sleep well for a short period of time, which the patient takes from time to time, is not so bad. But you see that there is often repetition.”
The therapeutic solution for the sleep problem
As a result, more patients are turning to addiction doctors because they can no longer stop taking the medication.
Figures from the National Alcohol and Drug Information System (LADIS) show that more than a thousand people have had to undergo therapy in recent years. “When people stop doing it, it’s harder for them to get back to sleep. They are also more irritable. They have to go through that,” explains Peter Vossenberg, president of the Addiction Medicine Association of the Netherlands.
As patients fear new sleep problems, there is always the risk of relapse. “It’s important to look closely at why people have problems. Behavioral therapy gives good results, but costs more time and money.”
The Dutch Association for Sleep Medicine (SVNL) also considers the path to behavioral therapy to be difficult.
Health care providers are not always aware that this exists and the therapy is only offered on a limited basis. “Patients are rarely presented with a choice,” says president Angelique Pijpers.
The SVNL is trying to come up with a plan to make treatment for sleep problems more accessible to everyone. Pijpers: “A lot of attention is paid to healthy eating and exercise, but sleeping well is also an important pillar for health.”
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