As I said in earlier in the introduction, Triazolam is a benzodiazepine, created in order to treat insomnia (trouble falling asleep). It is sedative or hypnotic taken orally in order to relax the patient into a deep sleep.
Triazolam has a half life ranging from 1.5 to 5.5 hours, with a slow reaction with the body.
Here are some examples of other benzodiazepine drugs speed of reaction with the body and their respective half lives:
As you can see different drugs react differently with the body. Some react quickly with the body to provide an immediate sedative, these should be taken right before bed, where as others have a slower reaction time, some of which should be taken an hour or so before the patient prepares to sleep.
Table from: http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/graphics/mags/0503/f02_tab02.gif
Now there is an apparent problem with many of the
half-lives of the benzodiazepines on the chart. This problem is that many half
life's of various drugs on the list exceeds the amount that the average time
that a person sleeps. This long reaction time can cause the taker of the drug to
remain sleepy and possibly extend symptoms of some side effects, for example
coordination problems.
Therefore, before taking any type of 'sleeping pill' the proper dosage must be prescribed and adequate time, anywhere from 5-12 hours, needs to be available to devote to sleep. For example, Triazolam is prescribed to the average adult at a dosage of one .25 mg tablet before sleep to maximize effect of the drug. A dosage of Triazolam that exceeds .5 mg should not be taken.
Another problem that occurs with benzodiazepines
effect on the body is that most sleeping drugs eventually become useless to the
bodies system, and have no medical effect. This is
called the body's tolerance
level. Triazolam usually
loses effect after being taken for about 7-10 days straight, because the body
becomes used to the drug, so it no longer has effect. Prescriptions for
Triazolam should not exceed two weeks; if there is a special case a patient must
talk to his/her doctor in order to acquire more Triazolam. Although, Triazolam
usually loses effect after being taken for about 7-10 days straight, it is a
drug that can just be taken as needed, it does not need to be taken in a set in
order to affect the body. Therefore prescriptions for Triazolam can range any
where from 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks.
Now although the medical affect of Triazolam
usually wares out after taking the pill 7-10 days of taking the pill straight,
the psychological effect the drug has on patients isn't as always easily let go.
Triazolam, after becoming habitual can potentially some what addictive. As I
mentioned on my home
page, some patients begin to believe that taking the medicine is the only way
that they can have a good night sleep. Therefore, even though the pill loses
its
physical effect on the body, taking the pill still influences some takers of the
drug mentally, believing that the pill is still working for them.
If you absolutely need to take a benzodiazepine to fall asleep, I recommend you discuss with your doctor about taking multiple different benzodiazepines at different intervals of time. Do this in order to maximize the use of the various drugs, and not have your body build tolerance to one drug. Also this way, you don't become falsely mentally attached to one single drug, one that could potentially in the future not even help you if taken enough.
2nd Picture from: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/dea/pubs/abuse/chap3/sched4/gif/gif3-18.gif
3rd Picture from: http://www.buy-adderall.com/buy-halcion.jpg
4th Picture from: http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Namiki/5225/mamechisikipic/triazolam.gif
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