[amazingrace]

My Dad is taking generic restoril (temazepam). They are plain white capsules, and I don't know for sure but I think maybe they are 30 mgs. My Mom died 2 months ago and it's been hard on all of us, so his doctor prescriped them for him. My doc gave me Ambien for 30 days, and they really didn't do much for me. I would like to know the difference between Restoril vs. Ambien, and which one would be more likely to grow dependent on. I stopped the Ambien no problem since they didn't work for me, but how about my Dad using the temazepam?

[robo]

Ambien (zolpidem) and temazepam are both intended for the short-term treatment of insomnia.
There is a risk of dependence with both drugs (though especially with temazepam) and withdrawal symptoms may occur if stopped suddenly even after as little as a week. If someone has been taking sedatives for a period of time and experiences withdrawal symptoms, it is recommended the dose is tapered gradually.
The maximum dose for temazepam is 30 mg at night, so I would imagine your dad is at risk of becoming dependent, particularly if he is elderly.

Info at http://ambien.drugs.com and http://temazepam.drugs.com

Take care and look after him

[rwr104]

I was prescribed Zolpidem for 8 weeks in 2001; I was depressed and suffering from insomnia at the time. For the first week they put me to sleep fine, but after that the side effects kicked in - I became extremely depressed and suicidal (feelings which stopped very quickly once I stopped taking the medication) and my sleep pattern became very irregular - although they would knock me out, within a couple of hours I would wake up having suffered from terrible nightmares, which didn't help my mental state. My (non-medical) advice would be that as a one-off they may be ok to help him sleep; but watch very carefully for exacerbated symptoms of depression even after one dose. Richard