Temazepam 10mg

What Temazepamis and what it is used for?

Temazepam belongs to a group of medicines called benzodiazepines or hypnotics. Benzodiazepines areused to make you feel less anxious, they can also beused to make you feel sleepy, relax your muscles and stop or prevent fits.

Temazepam can be used for the following:

• difficulty sleeping (insomnia), when your lack of sleep is causing you a lot of distress
• to be given before minor surgery and other similarprocedures (pre-medication) to make you feel morerelaxed (or less anxious).

What you need to know before you take Temazepam

Do not take Temazepam:

• if you are allergic  to temazepam,or anyother benzodiazepine medicine (such as diazepam or nitrazepam),or any of the otheringredients in this medicine(listed in section
• if you suffer from long term fatigue and muscle weakness(myasthenia gravis)
• if you suffer from irregular breathing whilst asleep(sleep apnoea syndrome)
• if you have severe lung or liver problems
• if you are under 18 years old.

Warnings and precautions

Talk to your doctoror pharmacis tbefore taking Temazepam:

• if you have a history of alcohol or drug abuse
• if you have liver or kidney problems
• if you have lung problems
• if you are suffering from depression or anxiety associated with depression
• if you find that you need to get up regularly during the night, for example to go to the loo
• if you have a personality disorder such as schizophrenia.

Other medicines and Temazepam

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently takenor might takeany other medicines, including medicines obtainedwithout a prescription, or the following:

• other medicine to help you get to sleep e.g. nitrazepam, chloral hydrate
• any other medicine to treat nervousness,feeling anxious, or for depression
• any medicine to treat severe mental health illnesses
• disulfiram used in the treatment of alcohol dependence
• strong pain killers e.g. morphine
• antihistamines that causedrowsiness, normally used to treat allergiesbut may also be used to help you sleep
• any medicine to treat Parkinson's disease
• medicine to treat convulsions or fits (epilepsy)
• any other medicine that can make you feel drowsy or less alert as temazepam may increase this effect the contraceptive pill.

If you are going to have an operation or need an anaesthetic, tell the doctor or dentist that you are taking Temazepam. If you take Temazepam before a minor operation or procedure it is important that you have someone to accompany you home.

Temazepam with alcohol

Do not drink alcohol while you are taking Temazepam as it may make you feel more sleepy.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding

If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have a baby ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice before take this medicine.

Do not take Temazepam if you are pregnant, might become pregnant or are breast-feeding. However, if your doctor has decided that you should receive this medicine during late pregnancy orduring labour, your baby might have a low body temperature, floppiness, and breathing difficulties when born. If this medicine is taken regularly in late pregnancy, your baby maydevelop withdrawal symptoms.If taken whilst breast-feeding, temazepammay be present in the breast milk.

Driving and using machines

Temazepam may make you sleepy or affect your concentration, memory or how your muscles work. This may affect your ability to drive or operate machinery. Do not drive or operate machinery until you are sure you are not affected.

The medicine can affect your ability to drive as it may make you sleepy or dizzy.

• Do not drive while taking this medicine until you know how it affects you.
• It is an offence to drive if this medicine affects your ability to drive.

However, you would not be committing an offence if:

• The medicine has been prescribed to treat a medical or dental problem and
• You have taken it according to the instructions given by the prescriber or inthe information provided with the medicine and
• It was not affecting your ability to drive safely

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure whether it is safe for you to drive whiletaking this medicine.

How to take Temazepam

Always take this medicine exactly as your doctor or pharmacist has told you. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure. The score line is only there to help you break the tablet if you have difficulty swallowing it whole.

If you take Temazepam for sleeping difficulties (insomnia) your doctor will usually give you Temazepam for a maximum of 4 weeks, this will include a period of time when your dose is reduced slowly before you stop taking Temazepam. Reducing your dose slowly will help to reduce the risk of side effects from with drawal of the product.

It is also important that you are able to have 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep after taking your tablet. If you are late getting to bed or your sleep is interrupted you may suffer from unwanted side effects such as  memory loss or feeling drowsy. You may also behave strangely or differently to how you would normally behave. Also, as this medicine is a muscle relaxant, people who have taken Temazepam and get up during the night are at greater risk of falling.

Adults

Insomnia

The recommended dose is 10 mg or 20 mg half an hour before going to bed. In certaincases your doctor may increase the dose to 30 mg or 40 mg.

Pre-medication

The recommended dose is 20-40 mg, half an hour to one hour before your procedure.

Older people

Insomnia

Older people usually require smaller dosesof 10 mg half an hour before going to bedt, but in certain cases the dose maybe increased to 20 mg
Temazepam is notrecommended for usein children or adolescents younger than 18 years ofage.
If you have a long-term problem with yourbreathing or problems with your liver your doctor may recommended that you takea lower dose.

Overdose

Contact your doctor or nearest hospital emergency department immediately. Take thecontainer andany remaining tablets with you. Symptoms ofoverdose include drowsiness, confusionand a general feeling of sluggishness(lethargy). In more serious cases of overdose, symptoms include uncontrollable movements, floppiness, shallowor slowbreathing, dizziness, light-headedness or fainting on standing up or unconsciousness.

If you stop taking Temazepam

You should only stop taking this medicine when your doctor tells you. Do not suddenly stop. If this happens you may suffer from side effects such as feeling nervous, depressed, irritable, suffer from sleep problems, sweating, being sick, confusion, psychosis, fits or shaking. If you have any further questions on the use of thismedicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Possible side effects

Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.In some patients, particularly older people, Temazepam can cause unusual reactions. If any of thefollowing happen, tell yourdoctor or pharmacist.

You may need to stop taking Temazepam or lower your dose:

• restlessness
• agitation
• irritability
• aggressiveness
• delusions(beliefs which are not normally consistent with reality)
• rage
• nightmares
• hallucinations (feeling, hearing or seeing thingswhich are not there)
• psychoses (severe thought disturbances)
• odd or unusual behaviour.

Other side effects are:

• drowsiness, tiredness or less alert during thenext day, reduced alertness, sleep disturbances(such as restless sleep)
• numbed emotions, depressionor worsening of existing depression
• confusion, reduced ability to concentrate, memory loss(this may also be accompanied by odd or unusual behaviour)
• headaches, dizziness, double vision
• lowblood pressure, which may make you feel dizzy or faint when you stand up
• muscle weakness or lack of co-ordination
• lack of sex drive
• dry mouth, stomach pain or diarrhoea
• skin rashes
• unusual bruising or bleeding or an increase in the number of infections (such as sore throat) that you may get this may be a sign of changes in the number of different typesof blood cells
• changes in the way your liver works (this may show up in blood tests).

How to store Temazepam

Keep this medicine out of the sightand reach of children. Do notuse this medicine after the expiry date, which is stated on the bottle, container, blister or carton after 'EXP'. The expiry date refers to the last day of that month. Store below 25°C.