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They are sedatives. They’re very commonly prescribed to help with sleep, along with antihistamines like hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine, and promethazine (originally developed as an antihistamine).

Hypnotics like zolpidem and eszopiclone were made to help one sleep, but all of the above are habit-forming.

I was on zolpidem for over a decade due to dialysis and renal function interfering with my ability to sleep, but at a certain point it just wasn’t helping anymore. I quit cold turkey.

I didn’t get more than ten minutes of sleep at a time for nine days straight, and now I almost sleep normally. Sometimes I have to take something, because my circadian rhythm is backwards - I’m awake at night and sleep during the day. It’s why my work shift is 14:00-22:00.

I tell people starting hypnotics for the first time not to if they can avoid it. Try literally anything else first - I had some seriously bizarre side-effects, and it eventually stopped helping me sleep.

I’m a hospitalist-certified pharmacy tech, by the way. I fill these all the time.

"I’m a hospitalist-certified pharmacy tech..."

I personally am not. But I do know that hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine, and promethazine are NOT Benzodiazepines. Benzos are a class all by themselves. A shrink prescribed me clonazepam for anxiety and it wrecked my memory. (fillintheblank)azepam is dangerous stuff and should NOT be taken as a sleep aid...i mean....take em...and call em a "sleep aid" if you want to, but be warned. Again, calling a benzo a sleep aid is like calling cocaine a substitute for coffee. Its a dangerous substitute for coffee.

I take Zolpidem and have no problem with it.

It's non- narcotic puts me to sleep very gently and I wake up with none of that heavy-headed feeling.

I work a eight hour shift in the ER.

I start at four in the afternoon and clock out at 12:30 am.

My body's clock couldn't get use to the weird, ‘’in today, out tomorrow'' routine.

antihistamines like hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine, and promethazine (originally developed as an antihistamine).

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There are major issues with regular antihistamine use as a sleep aid. Concerns about cognitive deterioration.