Sleep Medications May Have Unwanted Side Effects BrainLine

Multimedia

• 
• Mindfulness and Brain Injury: The Central Park Jogger’s Story
  From the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Integrative Medicine Project, copyright ©2006. Used with permission. www.spauldingrehab.org
• 
• Using Anti-Depressants After TBI?
  Is it safe to take an anti-depressant after a brain injury? My wife never took them before her brain injury. Her depression is a result of her injury, it seems, and she just can't seem to kick it. It's been more than a year now. I'm wondering about their effectiveness and safety after a brain injury. Transcript of this video.

A brief summary of current research.

The Effect of Sleep Medications on Cognitive Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury

Larson, EB & Zollman, FS (2010). Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Vol. 25(1), pp 61–67.

This literature review concludes that the use of benzodiazepenes (like Xanax and Valium) and similar drugs can impair cognitive function when used to treat sleep problems after TBI. The authors highlight some alternate treatments such as trazodone and melatonin agonists; however, they suggest further research is needed on their use for persons with TBI.

Find out more.

BrainLine

 Comments

There are currently no comments for this article