The generically named drug temazepam is marketed in the United States under the brand name Restoril. Your physician may prescribe temazepam as a temporary medication to help you overcome insomnia. The Mayo Clinic reports that this usage generally does not continue more than a week to 10 days. This is because temazepam is a benzodiazepine medication that reduces the speed of your central nervous system and is addictive. You may develop a physical and mental dependency upon temazepam if you use it for long periods.
Mental Problems
Temazepam, as with other benzodiazepines, can cause some mental difficulties for you when you start taking it. For example, you may feel anxious when taking temazepam, without an obvious external cause. Nearly everybody experiences anxiety once in a while, but it usually is connected to some event in your life. For example, you may feel anxious if you must give a speech or take a test. However, if there is no such event happening, yet you are experiencing anxiety while taking temazepam, it may be a side effect of the medicine. A lesser such side effect is nervousness. Both of these mental problems should be temporary at the start of treatment with the drug. They are not classified as serious side effects, Drugs.com reports.
Drowsiness and Headaches
One of the most common temporary side effects of any benzodiazepine medication---including temazepam---is drowsiness because the medicine slows down your nervous system. According to a clinic study of people taking temazepam that is cited by Drugs.com, drowsiness had the highest percentage of incidence of any side effects of the drug at 9.1 percent. The drug may make you tired even when you have rested, and you may not want to drive a car while taking it. Of course, the intent of temazepam is to make you drowsy and be able to sleep, but that is at night when you typically would be asleep. The drug also can make you drowsy at inappropriate times as well. Headaches are the second most common side effect experienced in people involved in the clinical study, Drugs.com reports.
Clumsiness and Fatigue
People who take temazepam may experience one of the problems with many sleep aids, which is a drug hangover. In the clinical study cited by Drugs.com, 2.5 percent of those testing temazepam experienced this directly. The indirect effects of this may be a loss of your normal coordination, which may make you feel unsteady and clumsy. Along with this, you may feel an overall fatigue and general weakness of your body while taking the medication. It may make you lethargic or difficult to move normally.
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