About William J. Walker, Pharm.D. Expertise Homeopathic, alternative, herbal, natural, adverse drug reactions, side effects, risks, outcomes, research, medication, rational therapeutics, infectious diseases, cardiology, pain management, nutrition, psychopharmacology, oncology, pediatrics, sleep disorders, tropical diseases, HIV, drug interactions, substance abuse, illicit drugs of abuse, geriatrics
Experience
Past/Present clients State of California Department of Youth Authority
State of California Department of Mental Health
County of San Luis Obispo Public Defenders Office
County of San Luis Obispo District Attorney Office
TenetHealth Corporation
Boy Scouts of America
Better Life Institute
Campus Crusade for Christ
Volunteers in Medical Evangelism
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Question I had been taking Doxylamine Succinate (Unisom) tablets for years (finally stopped for good about a week ago), & am wondering if the years of drugged sleep could've caused the dark circles under my eyes. And if so, if they'll ever go away now that I am sleeping naturally.
Answer Dark circles under the eyes have always been considered a sign of late nights and lack of sleep. The cause of these dark circles is often blamed on stress, too much sun, too little sleep, menstrual disorders, kidney dysfunction and even too many fried, frozen and canned foods, although it is often a hereditary trait. Circles under the eyes can worsen in people who smoke or suffer from allergies.
In western medicine, the kidneys are connected to the adrenal glands and with stress levels in life being so high, these glands are very often exhausted. When these glands are weakened, allergies are prevalent. Dark circles under the eyes are known to be a classic symptom of an allergy, together with a host of other signs including edema and fatigue. It may help to meet with a nutritionist/allergist to rule out foods and allergens that may be contributing to this condition.
According to Chinese Medicine, dark circles under the eyes relate to our kidneys, which are seen as the foundation of our vitality. Sufficient sleep is one of the simplest remedies recommended.
There are some dissenting opinions within the medical community (all camps) about the actual physiological mechanism involved but without doubt these circles appear during sleep deprivation and fatigue.
Now, having established this, it is important to understand that use of sleeping pills of any sort is rife with problems. Sedatives and hypnotics are certainly capable of inducing a sleep state. This is evident. But almost always this sleep is unnatural in terms of quality based on cycles. Sleep that is induced by the aid of pharmacology is a deep hypnotic state of mostly phase four. Phase three (REM) is almost entirely missing. That is why the use of somnafacients is supposed to be short duration. Time limited to about two weeks. Chronic users of sleeping pills will suffer from long term issues of sleep deprivation and fatigue as they are generally deprived of nightly cyclic variations in and out of phasic patterns. REM is dream sleep and it is thought that this is where we derive the majority of our "rest" and "reparation". Chronic users of sleeping aids will also suffer from a dependency (of sorts) on an exogenous agent in order to get to sleep. Eventually the patient finds that he cannot sleep without an aid. And the more one uses an aid the more tired one becomes in general. Due to the missing restful REM stages. So, when insomnia becomes a problem it is advisable for a patient to have sleep studies done to elucidate the factors causing this problem. Sleep hygiene is important. Taking the time to enlist all sorts of techniques and proper habits in order to induce sleep naturally is important. Using an aid or pill can be very helpful as a jump start but one should steer very clear of the crutch approach. Never relying on chronic use of pills. Aside from the difficult task the mounts from developing a habit and breaking it there are long term risks of neuronal changes that take place. Bathing cortical neurons nightly in exogenous compounds results in developing neuronal tracts that become highly dependent on having that exogenous substance present in order to function. As if the neurons themselves become lazy and lose their own ability to produce sleep hormones. Abruptly stopping a habitual use of any CNS active compound will result in adverse sequelae. Mainly that of a withdrawal kind of effect. Long term use of drugs like this should end in gradual and slow tapers that also utilize incorporation of other methods to take the place.
Although doxylamine is OTC and considered safe it is still not innocuos. There are muscarinic and cholinergic receptors in the brain as well as histamine receptors that have been bathing in doxylamine for months. Now suddenly deprived of that. In order to restore balance will take some time.
You might have successfully restored normal sleeping without the help of a drug and that is good. But I fear that you have actually been sleep deprived for a long time and have some elements of long standing fatigue. Hence the circles. To rid yourself of this will take time. Time to replenish and rest. But also time to re-engage your neurons to normal function. Time to get your nightly sleep cycle patterns back in shape. They don't just jump right back immediately. It could take months. Even years. With other substances, like amphetamines, we have found (by PET scans) that the neuronal changes that take place are irreversible. They never fully recover back to normal. While that is not necessarily true about antihistamines like doxylamine it is still a possibility.
A applaud your decision to stop using this agent. Now you will want to adjust your sleep hygiene to rebuild your sleep architecture to incorporate and welcome REM. And give it some time for your body to repair itself. And for the fatigue to go away and then the circles will also.
