Xanax as sleep aid? Side effects?

Pinolera: If you were indeed taking .05mg of alprazolam (Xanax) for well, anything, it would have absolutely zero effect save for placebo ones.

Xanax is available in .25, .5, 1, and 2mg tablets. Maybe you were thinking of Halcion (triazolam); it comes in very low doses--I think one of the two is .125mg.

Xanax is an incredible drug. It is a class IV controlled substance; some would incorrectly call it a narcotic. Narcotic is a word used because of the impact it carries, and in Pharmacy/Medicine, narcotics are opium-based (or fully opiod synthetic) painkillers like codeine, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone.

It is barely addictive and only a minority of the population would become "dependent" upon it if it were RX'd to all--which it should, in my opinion. It kills stress, can relieve pain, will relax you, and may cause drowsiness. It actually has antidepressant effects, although they are unknown and unrelated to the monoamines like serotonin. Therefore, Xanax can paradoxically cause euphoria/mania/excitement.

Benzodiazepines almost never interact with other meds, no matter what they are. If anything, Xanax may be too short acting of an anxiolytic for her. Perhaps--staying within the benzo. class--a switch to Klonopin (clonazepam), Serax (oxazepam), or Restoril (temazepam) would do better because their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics are more suited for sleep purposes. Many doctors prefer Serax for older clients (I do not like the term "patient") because it is quite easy on the liver and kidneys--which may be functionally impaired at old age.

When it comes to psych drugs, it is generally best to allow the client to "experiment" around liberally until they find the most comfortable medication(s). Synergistic effects in neurochemistry...very hard to predict a response. Directives from doctors do not do well at all in this area of medicine. The client has to believe it works and has to want to take it, for whatever reason. Not because someone said "Take this; it will help you." or "This will help you; take it."

She seems fine. If it's not broke, don't fix it. It is not a bad drug.

You have to take into account several factors. As a person grows older their clock is out of whack. They tend to sleep only couple hours before waking up in the middle of the night. That's normal with age. I take Xanax occassionally 0.05 mg which is a very low dosage and what that does it relaxes me. I mostly take it for panic attack more than a sleep aid. If you do not get enough sleep or your sleep is interrupted when you have had Xanax then it can make you tired during the day. I do not know how much of a dosage your grandma has taken but if it is higher than what I am taking then I can see why she does what she does.

Don't ever take the sleeping pills route!!

1. They will damage your liver big time and you can get into serious health problems.

2. You will get hooked up on them and you won't be able to have a normal life any more if you don't take your pills everyday.

The sleeping pills industry is damaging our health by capitalizing on our ignorance, and by distracting people from effective and natural ways to deal with this problem. I had been taking prescription sleep medications [Ambien] for over 5 years. It stopped working and I simply took more. Still did not work. Nights were very difficult - medication put me to sleep but I would wake up after 2–3 hours with a strong sympathetic response (fast pulse, pounding heartbeat, wide awake alert). It was a very difficult cycle to break. I was really in bad shape due to lack of sleep.

After years of struggling I was able to cure my insomnia naturally and pretty fast. I followed the Sleep Tracks sleep optimization program, here is their official web -site if you want to take a look: http://www.insomniacure.net/

Ohhh..and Good Luck!

Xanax may have it's place. You should get a second opinion from another doctor. Perhaps from a psycopharmacologist.

Read about common Xanax side effects and what other patients report here: http://patientsville.com/medication/xanax_side_eff...

that stuff will put ya out.

take one and you might just sleep too.