Patient/caregiver was educated on the precautions to be observed while taking restoril as follows:
- Observe a regular sleep time every evening, as sleep is a habit that can be trained. Take the dose of restoril about an hour before the sleep time, as it needs about 30 – 45 minutes to show the desired effect of sleep induction. Maintaining compliance with the sleep time and medication intake an hour before the sleep time can help avoid forgetting the medication intake.
- Restoril use in expectant mothers could harm the unborn baby and result in pregnancy complications, such as, low birth weight baby, small head circumference, and preterm delivery. So, restoril use should be avoided during pregnancy and in women planning to get pregnant. Women in the child-bearing age group, taking restoril on a regular basis, must employ effective contraceptive measures in order to avoid getting pregnant.
- Consider life-style changes such as, avoiding daytime naps, avoiding caffeinated drinks closer to sleep time, and having some regular physical exercise can complement restoril intake and promote sleep.
- Your physician could change the dose of restoril, based on the relief obtained from symptoms of insomnia and anxiety, or side-effects developed. So, maintain compliance with follow-up physician appointments, as scheduled. Be accommodative to the plan of dose changes, until you show an optimum response.
- If a dose is missed, it can be skipped and take the scheduled dose on time. Compensating for the missed dose by taking an extra dose can pose serious risk for toxicity and side-effects. Notify your doctor and other health care personnel regarding your dose noncompliance.
