Quack Check: Watch out for those Sleeping Pills

The world is filled with frauds and imitations. Recently, piracy has reared its ugly head into the music and movie industry, managing to drastically change the consumer habit of millions who want high quality entertainment at a cheap price.
Like pirated CDs, comedy lab impersonators, stand-up comedians, or your neighborhood clowns are also engaged in the “industry of imitation.” More than just giving us a dose of “life's best medicine,” comics help us workout our face muscles, too. (Well, they do occasionally hurt us with their comic punchlines.)
On another subject but still related to piracy, a growing concern about fake drugs is begging for attention. Reports about the proliferation of fake sleeping pills or drug “lookalikes” is no laughing matter. As it is, the use of sleeping pills is highly regulated. Over use of the drug or a wrong dosage can be fatal. Sleeping pills, which fall under the sedatives category, depress the central nervous system. It produces a sense of calmness, relieves anxiety, slows down some reflexes, and ultimately, induces sleep.
Over the counter sleeping pills are rampantly sold in the market and some of these sleep-inducing drugs such as Triazolam, diazepam and nitrazepam contain hallucinogenic ingredients. These preparations may also contain antihistamine, an anti-allergy substance that causes drowsiness. Insomniacs and people who find difficulty in “booking-a-seat in-the-dreamland-express” resort to using these sleep-inducing drugs.
But you certainly don't want to end up in the hospital or hate the thought of having an early rendezvous with death, right? If your answer is a resounding yes, then try to consider these following tips:

To avoid the quack, ask the doc
If you need a dazzling and breathtaking painting to show your peers, you go to a renowned painter. If you need a good cleaning, you ask for house keepers. If you want to look beautiful with worn-out and out-dated fashion statement, go out in the streets fully prepared to be ambushed by Lifestyle Network's Ambush Makeover Team. But if you're not ready to face health hazards, do consult your physician before taking sleeping pills. Never resort to follow advise made by non-professionals or those who are not trained in the use of sleeping pills.
Different people have different body processes, and as a result, it should be expected that we also react differently to the use of medication. What is good medicine for one may be a prescription for danger for another person. So whether a word about a certain medication comes from a long time family friend or “who-ever-he-thinks-he-is” type of person, remember that everybody's unique and all of us need expert opinion especially when it comes to our health.
For some people, taking fake medical products may be tolerable. For others, the inadvertent use of fake drugs may spell the difference between life and death. Taking sleeping pills is serious business because unsupervised, careless use of this drug might put you to a sleep forever.