Estazolam tablets are indicated for the short-term management of insomnia characterized by difficulty in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and/or early morning awakenings.

Both outpatient studies and a sleep laboratory study have shown that estazolam administered at bedtime improved sleep induction and sleep maintenance (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY).

Because insomnia is often transient and intermittent, the prolonged administration of estazolam is generally neither necessary nor recommended.

Since insomnia may be a symptom of several other disorders, the possibility that the complaint may be related to a condition for which there is a more specific treatment should be considered.

There is evidence to support the ability of estazolam to enhance the duration and quality of sleep for intervals up to 12 weeks (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY).

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Sleeplessness -- Difficulty in going to sleep or getting enough sleep.

Symptoms -- An indication that a person has a condition or disease. Some examples of symptoms are headache, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and pain.

Disease -- A definite pathologic process with a characteristic set of signs and symptoms. It may affect the whole body or any of its parts, and its etiology, pathology, and prognosis may be known or unknown.

Benzodiazepines may cause fetal damage when administered during pregnancy.

An increased risk of congenital malformations associated with the use of diazepam and chlordiazepoxide during the first trimester of pregnancy has been suggested in several studies.

Transplacental distribution has resulted in neonatal CNS depression and also withdrawal phenomena following the ingestion of therapeutic doses of a benzodiazepine hypnotic during the last weeks of pregnancy.

Estazolam is contraindicated in pregnant women.

If there is a likelihood of the patient becoming pregnant while receiving estazolam she should be warned of the potential risk to the fetus and instructed to discontinue the drug prior to becoming pregnant.

The possibility that a woman of childbearing potential is pregnant at the time of institution of therapy should be considered.

Estazolam is contraindicated with ketoconazole and itraconazole, since these medications significantly impair oxidative metabolism mediated by CYP3A (see WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS, Drug Interactions).

Estazolam, like other benzodiazepines, has CNS depressant effects.

For this reason, patients should be cautioned against engaging in hazardous occupations requiring complete mental alertness, such as operating machinery or driving a motor vehicle, after ingesting the drug, including potential impairment of the performance of such activities that may occur the day following ingestion of estazolam.

Patients should also be cautioned about possible combined effects with alcohol and other CNS depressant drugs.

As with all benzodiazepines, amnesia, paradoxical reactions (e.g., excitement, agitation, etc.), and other adverse behavioral effects may occur unpredictably.

There have been reports of withdrawal signs and symptoms of the type associated with withdrawal from CNS depressant drugs following the rapid decrease or the abrupt discontinuation of benzodiazepines (see DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE).

The following US Branded drugs contain Estazolam

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PROSOM -- ABBOTT LABORATORIES PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS DIV