addicted

[she575]

i am addicted to sleeping pills and am taking 4 a night(well morning)I sleep days. I have been taking them for 5 years and when I try to quit I get very bad migrains and shakes bad. The noname brand is Pain Relief PM from DG Dollar General. 500 mg of acetaminophen and 25 mg of Diphenhydramine. I want to quit but cannot handle these bad headaches I get. Please help. I have no health insurance and when I ask DRS who work here at the hospital I work at they say that as long as I continue to have good kidney and bladder controll and urine output, to not worry so much. I am dizzy, nauses and sleepy and have to drink 6 cups of coffe a morning to get up and take headache pills with it. I have tried not taking them for 1 week and had a headache every day even without the caffien in the morning. I slept good, no sleep apnea or snoring but chest pain and frequent pounding of blood in my ears. Please help me figure out a way to quit. Thank you

[Enoch Choi, MD]

The good news is that your body does not have a physical dependence on benadryl (diphenhydramine), and that it sounds like you haven't had any side effects from it.

The bad news is that you are physically addicted to caffeine, and you may be addicted to the headache pills you take every morning.

You need the help of a primary care doctor to get you off of the daily headache pills.  You can quit caffeine anytime and should do that to help your sleep, since you'll sleep better without that stimulant in your body.

Get a doc!  They'll help give you relief from sleeplesness and your daily headaches, using medication as well as possibly counseling.

Dr. Enoch Choi, MD
Palo Alto, CA