Restoril belongs to the benzodiazepine family and remains a relatively popular sleeping pill. Restoril also available as the generic temazepam, was initially approved by the FDA in 1969 yet remains among the top 200 prescription drugs in America.

A typical starting dose of Restoril is 15 mg about 30-60 minutes before retiring for the evening. Some require the maximum dose of 30 mg. Unlike the more popular Ambien, Restoril has a longer half life of about 8-9 hours. Not only does Restoril assist with falling asleep, referred to as sleep latency, but it also helps maintain sleep throughout the night. Ambien lacks this later property.

Traditionally regulatory agencies assume insomnia is a transient condition. In order to minimize the development of tolerance and the potential for side effects, therapy regularly limited to 7-10 days. As we learn more about the basic biology of insomnia, it appears a considerable subset of patients suffer from a genetic form of the disease. This almost guarantees the need for long term treatment lasting months to years.

Restoril should not be prescribed to people with severe liver or kidney disorders, depression, alcohol or drug abuse or respiratory problems such as COPD, sleep apnea and hypoventilation often related to obesity. Mixing Restoril with a variety of antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs, opioids and certain antihistamines seems like a recipe for disaster.