doxylamine
Adjunctive therapy • Brands: UNISOM
Last reviewed: 2025-12-30
General information
- Primary label indications include: OTC sleep aid (product-dependent).
- Class: Adjunctive therapy
- Common US brands: UNISOM
- Therapeutic drug monitoring not routinely recommended.
- Last reviewed: 2025-12-30
Dosing & forms
- Forms/strengths: —
- Frequency: —
- Food: —
- Typical range: —
Mechanism (brief)
First-generation antihistamine (H1 antagonist) with sedating and anticholinergic effects; OTC sleep aid and antiemetic ingredient (doxylamine/pyridoxine).
Metabolism & Half‑life
- Metabolism: Hepatic
- Half‑life: Single-dose mean 10 h; Single-dose range 10–15 h
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM)
Recommended: No
Monitoring highlights
- —
Sources
- Doxylamine succinate (OTC sleep aid) tablets label — DailyMed (2025)
- Diclegis (doxylamine/pyridoxine) delayed-release tablets label — DailyMed (2024)
- Doxylamine (StatPearls) — StatPearls Publishing (NCBI Bookshelf) (2025)
- Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline — Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2017)
- 2023 American Geriatrics Society Updated Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults — Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2023)