UnTouchableNitrazepam (Mogadon)
Prescription medicinePeople can become dependent on this
Before you read this
People become dependent on Nitrazepam (Mogadon), sometimes after being prescribed it for a short time, and the stories below talk about that. Where to get support is at the end of the page.
What it is
Nitrazepam is a benzodiazepine. Mogadon is the brand name it has been sold under in the UK for decades. It is a prescription-only sleeping tablet, licensed only for short-term use, and only when insomnia is severe enough to be disabling or genuinely distressing. Its UK licence says a course should be kept as short as possible and that it should be stopped gradually rather than suddenly, because stopping abruptly can bring the sleeplessness back worse than before, along with anxiety and other withdrawal effects. The body adjusts to benzodiazepines quickly, so the same course can become less effective over time, and physical dependence can develop even in someone who took it for a short while exactly as prescribed. The NHS now says GPs rarely prescribe sleeping pills at all.
Written in our own words from the NHS, the BNF or the electronic Medicines Compendium. We never take medicine information from a company that sells treatment.
This is a plain description of what the medicine is, not medical advice, and not a recommendation for or against it. The stories below are what people have said about their own lives. They are not evidence that this medicine helps or harms anyone, and nothing here is a substitute for your GP or your clinical team.
What people were dealing with
The conditions the stories below are about. This is a count of what people here have talked about, not a list of what Nitrazepam (Mogadon) is prescribed for.
People who have talked about it
1 story, each one written in our own words from what the person said publicly themselves.
Sarah Hiscox was eight when a doctor first prescribed her sleeping pills
Sarah Hiscox
Prescribed by a GP, aged eight, for about a fortnight
Source: We Saved Each Other From Addiction | Sarah Hiscox: 'I Wouldn't Be Alive Without You' — Begin Again with Davina McCall
If you are trying to come off something
Stopping a medicine you have become dependent on is not something to do on your own, and it is not a failure of will. These are free, and none of them are trying to sell you anything.
FRANK — 0300 123 6600
Confidential, non-judgemental advice about drugs, including a medicine someone was prescribed and cannot stop taking. Free, and open at any hour.
FRANK — find support near you — talktofrank.com (opens in a new tab)
Their own search for local services. You can look without telling anyone who you are, and nothing about it comes back to us.
NHS — getting help — nhs.uk (opens in a new tab)
The NHS says a GP is a good place to start, and that you can also go to a local treatment service yourself if you would rather not.
Speak to your GP or your clinical team before you change anything about a medicine you are taking. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
If you need someone to talk to now
You do not have to be in crisis to talk to someone. These are free, and they are there day and night.