Literatus: In the middle of the night

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

SPANISH author Leon de Rotrou wrote in his work Vencelas: “What I take from my nights, I add to my days.”

But what happens when night takes from your days, and adds it to your nights?

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The United States Food and Drug Administration approved on Nov. 23 2011 a new sleeping pill called Intermezzo to help middle-of-the-night insomniacs to get back to sleep.

Transcept Pharmaceuticals designed this pill as a fast-acting, low-dose form of zoldipidem (its higher-dose form is best known as Ambien by Sanofi-Aventis). The decision has been backed up by clinical trials since 1991.

Zolpidem is a hypnotic drug that works usually within 15 minutes from intake. It is available in the form of zoldipem tartrate. It is one of the “no-go” pills that the United States Air Force use in allowing special mission personnel to build up energy through extended sleep to improve their mission readiness.

Zolpidem belongs to the so-called “Z-drugs,” a group of nonbenzodiazepine drugs used in the treatment of insomnia while avoiding the havoc that benzodiazepines bring to the human sleep patterns. Included in this list are Zaleplon, Zolpidem, Zopiclone and Eszopiclone.

What users need to be careful about is to not take this new drug if she had less than five hours of sleep left before leaving for work. Otherwise, driving with zoldipidem on her system can make her prone to make decision errors, which may lead to a vehicular accident.

In addition to that, 10 to 20 times its recommended dose of 10 mg, can cause hallucination, altered though patterns, and amnesia. It can also increase appetite and impulsivity, and produce lack of inhibition in social settings. Another reported side effect is unpredictable impact on libido. Rebound insomnia also has been reported.

Zolpidem clears the system twice faster among men than women.

Mignon McLaughlin wrote in his 1966 quote-book, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook: “For the happiest life, rigorously plan your days, leave your nights open to chance.”

And since it the month of Love, I hope you will not find a reason to identify with Emilie Autumn writing in his novel, Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls: “I only sleep with people I love, which is why I have insomnia.”