‘Uncle Paulo’ case: family claims that niece was under the influence of zolpidem; understand what the medicine is for

The “Uncle Paulo” case continues to take new directions. The situation where the elderly Paulo Roberto Braga, aged 68, was taken killed at a bank branch by his own niece, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes, 42 years old, had repercussions around the world. She was trying to withdraw a loan of RS 17 thousand.

Erika was arrested red-handed for vilification of a corpse and theft by fraud. The news is that after the video was circulated on social media and news sites, one of Érika’s sons, a military firefighter, Lucas Nunes dos Santos, aged 27, said he believed that his mother “was completely out of her mind”.

According to Lucas, his mother has suffered from depression since 2019 and in recent years, she has been under the effects of many medications.

“She was under the influence of medication. I’m sure she didn’t realize that Uncle Paulo had already died. In normal court, my mother wouldn’t talk and ask a dead person to sign a paper,” said the firefighter. According to her son, Érika’s psychiatric condition has worsened in recent years.

It is worth remembering that the Érika’s family presented reports that indicated depression, use of controlled medications and indication for psychiatric hospitalization in recent years. One of the professionals even requested the psychiatric hospitalization of the patient “dependent on sedatives and hypnotics”.

Who also spoke about the case was Elizeu Nunes dos Santos, Érika’s brother, who told GLOBO about Érika’s use of medications and that one of them is Zolpidem, indicated to treat insomnia, being a hypnotic that acts on central nervous system and has sedative, relaxing and anxiolytic properties. Among its most common adverse effects are hallucinations and amnesia.

But, after all, what is Zolpidem and what is it for?

You’ve certainly read or heard about an unusual story involving Zolpidem, right? Well, Zolpidem is a medication created to treat insomnia. According to psychiatrist Lucas Souza, heard by Itatiaia, the medicine has a hypnotic action on the Central Nervous System that helps to induce sleep.

It is prescribed for people who have difficulty with short-term insomnia, that is, those who have difficulty falling asleep. Patients who wake up several times during the night can also take the medicine under a doctor’s prescription.

As it is a medicine with a hypnotic effect, as stated above, the essential thing is that it is taken before going to bed, without other distractions, so that no unusual situations occur during the medicine’s effect.

“When this person takes the medicine and has the phone in their hand to use, the hypnotic effect of Zolpidem may begin, but this person may remain awake, so they may experience this change in perception,” said the doctor.

In other cases, like that of the country singer, Fernando Zor, duo from Sorocaba, who revealed that he was addicted to Zolpidem and took up to 15 tablets of the medication daily to “ease the anguish” during the period in which he had depression.

And even with reports from several people, unusual purchases and actions under the influence of the medicine continue. However, according to psychiatrist Lucas Souza, effects like this are, in fact, the result of misuse of the medication.

“As Zolpidem is a hypnotic medication, the correct way to use it is completely linked to these adaptive and side effects that may arise. These medicines have to be used before going to bed, because when you use a hypnotic medicine and you don’t lie down, that is, you look at the phone or watch television, you have a stimulus and this ends up disrupting the therapeutic effect of the medicine. “, he said.

What are the side effects and how to avoid them?

In addition to the possibility of remaining awake during the drug’s hypnotic effect and amnesia after using it, Zolpidem can have side effects such as dizziness, diarrhea, drowsiness upon awakening and headaches. However, it is important to emphasize that all these effects vary from person to person. “The vast majority of the time it is a medication that is very well tolerated by the body, and does not cause significant side effects,” said the doctor.

To prevent these effects from happening, especially in the case of amnesia and hallucinations, the essential thing is that the medicine is used right before bed, avoiding light and sound stimuli, such as television and cell phones, for example. Most of the time, side effects, especially more harmful ones, are caused by these stimuli.

Use only under medical prescription

Zolpidem is a medicine that should only be used under medical prescription, with caution. Increasing the dose of the medication yourself can help to increase the occurrence of side effects, especially amnesia and changes in the sense of perception.

“This is a medicine that has been used in a very indiscriminate way. It is a medication that has an abusive and addictive potential. I always say that no medicine was created to cause harm, whoever makes it harm is the one who uses it. Therefore, the best way to use the medicine is to have medical supervision”, he concluded.