During her sophomore year, Melton began taking sleeping pills prescribed by her doctor full time to help with her lack of sleep and headaches. Since then she has stopped taking her pills.

“It’s upsetting because no matter what I did I couldn’t fall asleep. Then when I get to school I fall asleep in class,” Melton said. “Its frustrating because I don’t pay attention.”

One of the reasons Melton dislikes taking pills because she had a bad experience taking pills.

“I did not like taking pills because because I am a bad pill taker,” Melton said. “I took them because my doctor told me to.”

Every night Melton took two types of pills: Topamax and Meletoin. Reluctant at first, Melton eventually decided to take the medication to help ease her mind from racing when she would try to sleep. After doctors upped the dosage of her original prescription, the sleeping pills eventually worked. However, sleeping pills are merely short term prescriptions and should be taken cautiously and only when prescribed by a doctor.

“I didn’t understand why I had to keep taking medicine that wasn’t working,” Melton said. “ I was getting worried that my problem wasn’t going to get fixed.”

After running out of her sleeping pills she forgot to refill them for two weeks, that’s when she stopped taking them.

“I wasn’t having headaches so I stopped taking them,” Melton said.

The purpose of sleeping pills are to act as a sedative hypnotic, or something to induce or maintain sleep. The problem lies within their sole purpose is to make someone stay asleep. One of the main side effects of people on this medication include Parasomnias, or behaviors and actions that the sleeping person has no knowledge of happening. Some examples of Parasomnias include: nightmares, night terrors, sleep walking, sleep paralysis, along with many others.

“The over the counter sleeping pills usually are Benadryl and are pretty safe,” Nurse Tracye Franks said. “There are others that are stronger, different medications that are a little bit more risky. Then prescription medications can be dangerous.”

Taking sleeping pills can also cause another common side effect, dependence. The pills are meant to be taking for short term sleep deprivation, and could eventually stop working once the person becomes tolerant to them. However, if someone on the medication continually uses them they could potentially create a psychological dependence. This means a person attached to the medicine may become anxious, or unable to fall asleep because they mentally believe they need the pills when physically they do not.

“It can become an addiction it can be bad enough that they need to seek treatment,” Franks said.