Your Dreams Miss You

If you recognize the title then it means the marketing folks at Rozerem are doing their jobs. I must admit that I do find the commercials to be entertaining.... or maybe it's just the wise-ass beaver that's in the commercials.

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet Rozerem is a sleeping pill and they claim that it shows no risk of abuse or dependence. They have the line in the commercial, "Take when you need it and stop when you don't." From a pharmaceutical perspective that might be true. Psychologically I am not so sure. The medication I am on has similar claims. Yet I feel like I need it in order to get some sleep. It's not true but I have tricked my mind into thinking it. So if I don't take it I toss and turn all night. The other day I was commenting on my reliance on a pharmaceutical lullaby. That night I realized that I was still having trouble to fall asleep and was still waking up throughout the night.

I don't take Rozerem but I am on a mild anti-depressant to help me sleep. I find that I sleep too long and am still groggy in the morning. I feel like I did when I was in university and was taking amitryptiline. It meant I got sleep which was great but was negated by the fact I could barely function during the day. Eventually I had to go off it altogether. Right now I am contemplating that fact with the medication I am on.

But this post wasn't supposed to be about my insomnia and my medication. I was on Yahoo today and they were talking about the bad products award for 2007, as awarded by Consumers International. Leading the pack was Rozerem for promoting the use of sleeping pills in children. Seems the company ran a "back to school" commercial with children, chalkboards, and a school bus. That's bad enough but they also failed to include health warnings for children. That's low.

So I wander open to Youtube to see if I can find the commercial. I found other commercials but not that one. However, I did find a video of someone who went to a church Hallowe'en party as Abe Lincoln and his wife went as the beaver from the commercial. Can I just say WTF? I understand dressing up as a superhero or some other famous character. And I understand Abe Lincoln, sort of. He is a famous US president after all. But to go as characters from a commercial... especially the characters from a pharmaceutical commercial. That's just messed up.