Sleeping pill brands Australia

Different types of sleeping medicines are available at Australian market. Sleeping pills included in the group of benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines and Melatonin receptor agonists are most often used for the treatment of severe insomnia in Australia.

Some Australian distributors promote sleeping pills under nonproprietary names, but some – under original brand names. If you want to know sleeping pills in Australia, you can find information you need in this review.

Benzodiazepines at Australian market

Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods includes more than 10 benzodiazepines, but only some of them are used as the treatment of insomnia in adults. When sleeping problems occur, Australians can be prescribed with Temazepam, Nitrazepam, Triazolam, Lorazepam, and Flunitrazepam sleeping pills.

The listed sleeping pills are available at Australian pharmacies under different brands, such as:

  • Ativan (Lorazepam)
  • Halcion (Triazolam)
  • Hypnodorm (Flunitrazepam)
  • Normison, Temaze, Temtabs (Temazepam)
  • Alozepam, Alodorm, Mogadon (Nitrazepam)

Diazepam, Oxazepam, Alprazolam medicines are also benzodiazepines, but are not used for insomnia treatment. It is noteworthy that insomnia is indicated as one of the side effects of these medicines.

Non-benzodiazepines at Australian market

In Australia, non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills are used for several decades. Just as benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines can be used only as a short-term management of insomnia.

Benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine sleeping medicines have different mechanism of action, different side effects and different contraindications for use. Thus, if medicines included in benzodiazepine group do not provide soporific effect, cause severe adverse reactions or are contraindicated for use, non-benzodiazepines can be prescribed instead of them.

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia) approved several non-benzodiazepine medicines for the treatment of insomnia, such as Zaleplon, Zopiclone and Zolpidem. These sleeping pills are available in Australia under various brands, such as:

  • Sonata (Zaleplon)
  • Imovane, Imrest (Zopiclone)
  • Dormizol, Stilnoxium, Stilnox, Stildem, Somidem, Zolpibell (Zolpidem)

Melatonin receptor agonists

In Australia, one of the Melatonin receptor agonists approved as insomnia treatment is Melatonin. The most popular brand name among these sleeping pills is Circadin in Australia.

In addition, Melatonin is sold under the brand Nature’s Care Melatonin at Australian pharmacies. These sleeping pills are used to treat insomnia in elderly Australians aged 55 years and older.

One more TGA-approved Melatonin receptor agonist is Agomelatine. In Australia, this medicine is more known under the brand Valdoxan. Despite the fact that Agomelatine facilitates falling asleep and improves the quality of night’s sleep, it is not used to treat insomnia.

TGA approved Agomelatine (Valdoxan) for the prevention and treatment of major depression in adults. If the reason for insomnia is not depression, Agomelatine is not prescribed.

Other medicines causing soporific effect

For sleep disorders caused by anxiety, anxiolytic medicine – Clobazam can be prescribed. For more than 20 years, Clobazam sleeping pills are sold under the brand Frisium at Australian pharmacies.

Pharmaceutical ingredients providing soporific effect can be included in medicines for the treatment of pain, cold, cough, allergic reactions, migraine, motion sickness.

These ingredients are Bilastine, Promethazine, Cetirizine, Chlorpheniramine, Cyproheptadine, Desloratadine, Dimenhydrinate, Diphenhydramine, and Doxylamine. Medicines containing these active ingredients are sold under the brands: Apotex, Aerius, Hayzep, Clarmax, and Dramamine.

To treat insomnia and to improve the quality of night sleep, sleeping pills containing only natural ingredients can be used. In Australia, such sleeping pills are available under the brands:

  • Blooms Good Night Insomnia Relief (by Phytologic)
  • Insomnia-Sleeplessness-Relaxing Formula (by Kugelmans)
  • Schuessler Tissue Salts Insomnia Comb A (by Martin and Pleasance)

The advantage of natural sleeping pills is that they do not cause side effects. However, since natural sleeping medicines have weak soporific effect, they do not improve sleep when treating moderate or severe insomnia.

In Australia, sleeping pill brands are not limited only by brand names listed in this review. If you want to find effective and safe sleeping pills but do not know under what brands they are available in Australia, seek advice from a pharmacist.

If you decide to buy sleeping pills on Australian online pharmacy, get a pharmacist’s qualified online-advice absolutely free.