Is it difficult coming off sleeping pills?

Is it difficult coming off sleeping pills?
People can become dependent on sleeping pills – a combination of physical and psychological need for the drug. The drug may become less effective, but the person may feel anxious about being able to manage without it. A pattern of withdrawal symptoms can emerge when the drug is stopped, which makes it very difficult to stop taking it.
Problems with dependence and withdrawal from sleeping pills mainly involve the benzodiazepine group, but can also occur with the other types of drugs. The risk of such problems increases the longer someone has been taking the drugs. Because of this, doctors are advised to prescribe the drugs only if absolutely necessary, and only for short periods. Tolerance to their effects (meaning that they become less effective) may develop in three to 14 days.
Withdrawal symptoms vary from person to person, but may include: increased anxiety and depression, insomnia, muscle tension, tight chest, sweating, trembling, shaking, dizziness, headaches, nausea, blurred vision, increased sensitivity to light, noise, touch and smell, jelly legs, tingling in hands and feet, loss of interest in sex, nightmares, restlessness, panic attacks and agoraphobia. At the extreme, severe symptoms can include: hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, confusion and epileptic fits.

Withdrawal symptoms may occur within a few hours of stopping a short-acting benzodiazepine (the type most likely to be used as sleeping pills). The symptoms may not start until about three weeks after stopping a long-acting benzodiazepine. The length of time they last is very variable, but people who have been taking these drugs for many years may be troubled by withdrawal symptoms for weeks or months after stopping the drugs.