Another newbie to this forum

[Niteshusaneet]

Hi all,
My mother in law has been on sleeping pills for awhile (as long as I've known her -- around 17 years) and I've been told by her daughter (my wife) that she just has trouble sleeping. We've talked to her about trying to get off of the sleeping pills, but she doesn't want to or doesn't think there's a problem. I've just noticed that her "condition" has continued to become worse over the years and wonder if it really is worth "forcing her" to seek medical attention. It's only become more of an issue now that she's helping to watch our 3 year old daughter and we have another one on the way. There are some times when she's on the sleeping pill that she's incoherent and groggy while we expect her to be watching our daughter and I worry about her ability to safely watch her. The fine line here is that I don't want to make her mad or upset so she doesn't want to help us out anymore. On the whole, she's been a great help to us financially and emotionally. It's just the degree of sleep "issues" that I worry about. There are some times when my mother in law will just stay awake all night watching her home shopping network (another unrelated problem I won't bore you with), then take a sleeping pill at around 6am and sleep until the next night. She can take sleeping pills and have them last as short as a couple of hours and wake up again. Her family apparently doesn't think there's much we can all do until she herself wants to change. Am I worrying unnecessarily?
Regards,
Nites

[richard31183]

Sir,
It is always something to worry about when you fear a loved one may be in dire medical circumstances. It sounds like your mother-in-law is a great lady who really wants to help others, but she's forgotten about herself. You should try to convince her to cut the dosage of her medication slowly, maybe over a week or so. It is rare, but I have personal experience with ambien's nasty side effects. About 20 minutes after it is ingested, everything gets very confusing, and you have memory lapses. This could be of particular concern when she is caring for your children. She should see her doctor and switch medication gradually. It is very likely that a different drug would achieve the desired effect (she takes the pill, goes to sleep, wakes feeling rested in the morning). Plus, gradual phasing out can prevent withdrawal symptoms. My suggestion: Get a more suitable medication. Have her stick to a sleep schedule. Don't leave her in charge of the kids until the medication issues are resolved. I hope this helps.

[Niteshusaneet]

richard_b,
Thanks for the response. Yes, she's a wonderful lady who's lost control (imo). Let me attempt to paint you a clearer picture of the situation. We've (my wife, my wife's sister and their father -- the whole family) has already tried to get her to use the pills less, but she doesn't want to. I don't know if it's a physical addiction or a mental one, it really doesn't matter because she won't listen. She's a bit of a hypochondriac in that she uses antibiotics like over the counter medications and has maybe 6 or 7 colds/allergies over the course of a year. She uses muscle relaxants and sleeping pills to rest every night and sometimes she takes multiple sleeping pills to continue to rest through the night. Additionally, sometimes she takes more sleeping pills to sleep through the day. Last night when I visited my parent in-law's house to pick up my daughter from their care (my father in law is fine) she was sleeping on the kitchen floor. My father in law tried to get her to move to the bedroom, but she couldn't move. This was at 6pm. Plus, she eats dinner just before she goes to "bed" at night. I don't know how she decides when to take a sleeping pill, but I believe she said she shouldn't take a pill on an empty stomach. So what she does is to take a pill at around say 8pm then she eats at 9pm. The problem is that she's usually in a stupor while she's eating so I believe she really doesn't know what she's eating or if she's even hungry. She's gained quite a bit of weight since she's retired partially because she eats then immediately goes to sleep and partially because she stays in the house all day every day without exercising.

My concerns are that she's overweight, takes sleeping pills daily and has been for years and her pill taking has increased dramatically in the last year. I don't know if it's depression or a state of mind I'm unaware of, but I do know that her condition has become worse. So, my question is: do you think her pill taking is normal and is there a problem with her continued use as she's been using them? Followup question is: if not, then would any reputable doctor keep prescribing them knowing of her condition?
Regards,
Nites