Thursday, September 24, 2015

Side effects of Zolfresh tablets

Zolfresh is an Indian brand of Zolpidem tartrate prescribed for people with sleep problems. It induces sleep and use to treat insomnia. Its brand name used in US is Ambien. Compared to other medications that induces sleep this medication causes less disruption of sleep architecture.

Zolfresh tablets

What are the side effects of Zolfresh?

This medication causes drowsiness within one hour of taking it. The drowsiness effects usually lasts for around six to eight hours. However, some people may experience persistent drowsiness in next day morning. In addition, some may experience impairment in memory, motor coordination and other cognitive deficits.

Prescribed for sleep problems


Therefore, it is sometimes becomes dangerous to drive vehicles or operate machinery next morning when you take this in the night.

Dangerous to operate machinery next morning


It is advised that you should at least leave eight hours between taking Zolfresh and working on a skilled task.   

In addition to that this medication is known to cause nausea, diarrhea, headache and dizziness. Some people may experience hallucinations and clinical depression with this medication.

During sleep induced by this medication, some may experience nightmares. In addition, there are documented cases of sleepwalking associated with this medication.

Nightmares can occur in sleep


Some may get confused while on this medication. It is especially common among elderly people. Some people may experience motor coordination difficulties, muscle weakness, falls and may get double vision. In addition, some may experience tremors of the hands and body.

Taking this medication with alcohol would exacerbate the effects of alcohol and would cause more severe side effects. 

List of common side effects of Zolfresh

  1. Drowsiness and sedation
  2. Nausea
  3. Diarrhea
  4. Memory problems
  5. Nightmares and sleepwalking
  6. Hallucinations and clinical depression
  7. Difficulties in motor coordination, muscle weakness and falls
  8. Problems in driving and operating machinery


If you have following problems then you cannot take this medication. Therefore, mention it to your doctor. In addition, you need to mention other medications you are on.

  1. Myasthenia gravis
  2. Obstructive sleep apnea (people with snoring at night tend to have this problem. It is very dangerous to have sedatives such as Zolfresh when you have this problem as it would cause breathing problems at night. Sometimes it could be fatal)
  3. Psychotic illness
  4. Severe respiratory distress

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Pregnant women should be careful when taking this medication


Women who are pregnant should be careful when taking this medication. Taking this medication in late pregnancy can cause problems in the new born. In addition, it is safe not to take this medication in first three months of pregnancy.

This medication was found in significant amounts in breast milk. So it is safe to stop it during breast feeding.

Potential for dependence of Zolfresh

This medication is habit forming in some individuals. When this is taken for long duration, some may could not sleep without it. Some may experience calmness, and relief of anxiety therefore tend to abuse it. In addition, this medication should not be used for more than four weeks. If it is taken more than that, it need to be slowly discontinue.

Dependence and abuse of this medication is a problem

Sleep hygiene methods 


It is always better to try sleep hygiene methods before get medications. Common sleep hygiene methods are

1. Use bed only for sleep : - Do not read or watch television on the bed

2. Do not take daytime naps

3. Take a glass of warm milk before bedtime

4. Do not take caffeine containing drinks such as coffee or tea before sleeping

5. Do not take alcohol just before sleep

6. If you are unable to sleep just get up from the bed and do something else such as reading a book.

Following video will illustrate the sleep hygiene methods



If you need to take this medication for more than four weeks then its indicated that there could be a underlying cause for the sleep problem. It need to be found out. Commonest causes for abuse of this medication and continued sleep problems are depression and anxiety disorders.







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