The Ambien Driver
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Home
Posts: 178
The Ambien Driver
Hi everybody.
I have had alot of trouble sleeping in the past few weeks..
stress from my addicted sons and being laid off from my
job..i have tried calms forte,sleepytime tea,kavakava,
valerian nighttime, as well as fresh air,working out,
all that.
I called my doctor, and he gave me a script for Abien cr.
I used it for 2 nites, and it worked so well...I used it
as directed-no alcohlic bevs.
However, in the Newyorktimes today there was a
really scary report about Ambien.
I have looked online about side effects,cant find
much yet. Lack of sleep really effects me so badly.
I would love to hear feedback from anyone about
this.
Thank you, Stef
I have had alot of trouble sleeping in the past few weeks..
stress from my addicted sons and being laid off from my
job..i have tried calms forte,sleepytime tea,kavakava,
valerian nighttime, as well as fresh air,working out,
all that.
I called my doctor, and he gave me a script for Abien cr.
I used it for 2 nites, and it worked so well...I used it
as directed-no alcohlic bevs.
However, in the Newyorktimes today there was a
really scary report about Ambien.
I have looked online about side effects,cant find
much yet. Lack of sleep really effects me so badly.
I would love to hear feedback from anyone about
this.
Thank you, Stef
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MIDCOAST NH
Posts: 326
MSNBC
Updated: 6:10 p.m. ET March 8, 2006
There's a growing hazard on the roadway, the kind of motorist who smashes into parked cars, plows over sidewalks and drives in the wrong direction, all while oblivious to the destruction left behind. These drivers aren't drunk or stoned — they're under the influence of Ambien, the nation's most popular prescription sleeping pill.
Ambien is regularly popping up as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who don't even remember getting behind the wheel, according to a report in The New York Times Wednesday.
In some state toxicology laboratories, Ambien shows up in the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. In Wisconsin, Ambien was detected in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004, the newspaper reported.
By STEPHANIE SAUL...New York Times
Published: March 8, 2006
With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver.
Skip to next paragraph
Jean-Phillipe Defaut for The New York Times
Sean Joyce, after taking Ambien, became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden" on a flight to London last year, according to his lawyer.
Sleeping Pill Prescriptions
Download Laura J. Liddicoat's ********** Presentation to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
* The presentation refers to Zolpidem, which is the chemical name for Ambien. Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.
In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.
And as a more people are taking the drug — 26.5 million prescriptions in this country last year — there are signs that Ambien-related driving arrests are on the rise. In Washington State, for example, officials counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was a factor last year, up from 56 in 2004.
Ambien's maker, Sanofi-Aventis, says the drug's record after 13 years of use in this country shows it is safe when taken as directed. But a spokeswoman, Melissa Feltmann, wrote in an e-mail message, "We are aware of reports of people driving while sleepwalking, and those reports have been provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of our ongoing postmarketing evaluation about the safety of our products."
A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the drug's current label warnings, which say it should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, were adequate. "People should be aware of that," said the spokeswoman, Susan Cruzan.
While alcohol and other drugs are sometimes also involved in the Ambien traffic cases, the drivers tend to stand out from other under-the-influence motorists. The behavior can include driving in the wrong direction or slamming into light poles or parked vehicles, as well as seeming oblivious to the arresting officers, according to a presentation last month at a meeting of forensic scientists.
"These cases are just extremely bizarre, with extreme impairment," said Laura J. Liddicoat, the forensic toxicology supervisor at a state-run lab in Wisconsin who made the presentation.
Her presentation, which reported on six of the cases, was made at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, where her counterparts from other parts of the country swapped similar tales.
Several of Ms. Liddicoat's cases involved drivers whose blood revealed evidence of Ambien overdoses. In one of them the driver, who was also taking the antidepressant citalopram, crashed into a parked car, was involved in another near collision, then drove over a curb. When confronted by police, he did not recall any of the recent events, according to the presentation.
Ms. Liddicoat did not describe any of those cases as sleep-driving — in fact, she said she had not heard of that defense — and it is possible that some drivers' claims of driving while asleep may be mere Ambien alibis. But some medical researchers say reports of sleep-driving are plausible.
Doctors affiliated with the University of Minnesota Medical Center who have studied Ambien recently reported the cases of two users who told doctors they sleep-drove to the supermarket while under the drug's influence. Neither of the patients remembered the episode the next day, according to Dr. Carlos Schenck, an expert in sleep disorders who is the lead researcher in the study.
"Luckily, neither of them got hurt," said Dr. Schenck, who added that sleep-driving — which really occurs in a twilight state between sleep and wakefulness — was more common than people generally suspect. He said he believed that Ambien was an excellent sleep agent, but that patients need to be better warned about its potential side effects.
The traffic cases around the country include that of Dwayne Cribb, a longtime probation and parole officer in Rock Hill, S.C. Mr. Cribb says he remembers nothing after taking Ambien before bed last Halloween — until he awoke in jail to learn he had left his bed and gone for a drive, smashed into a parked van and driven away before crashing into a tree. Mr. Cribb is still facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
A registered nurse who lives outside Denver took Ambien before going to sleep one night in January 2003. Sometime later — she says she remembers none of the episode — she got into her car wearing only a thin nightshirt in 20-degree weather, had a fender bender, urinated in the middle of an intersection, then became violent with police officers, according to her lawyer.
The woman, whose lawyer says she previously had a pristine traffic record, eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving after the prosecutors partly accepted her version of events, said the lawyer, Lloyd L. Boyer.
Many states do not currently test for Ambien when making impaired- driving arrests. But a survey still under way by a committee from the forensic sciences group and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists found that among laboratories that conduct tests of drivers' blood samples for two dozen states, 10 labs list Ambien among the top 10 drugs found in impaired drivers, according to Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist in Houston involved in that survey.
Skip to next paragraph
Sleeping Pill Prescriptions
Download Laura J. Liddicoat's ********** Presentation to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
* The presentation refers to Zolpidem, which is the chemical name for Ambien. Ms. Liddicoat, in Wisconsin, is among experts who suggest that Ambien may need a stronger warning label. Others arguing that case include doctors, Ambien users and defense lawyers.
"Doctors are handing out these drugs like Pez," said William C. Head, an Atlanta lawyer who is one of the nation's leading defense lawyers specializing in impaired-driving cases.
The F.D.A., which would have to order any labeling changes, says it is not aware of any pattern of problems with the drug. Still Ms. Cruzan, in response to a reporter's question, said the agency would look into unusual sleepwalking episodes.
Including the notifications from Sanofi, which as a matter of policy the F.D.A. declined to discuss, the agency did receive 48 "adverse event" reports in 2004 involving Ambien use without other drugs. They involved three cases of sleepwalking, six reports of hallucinations and one traffic accident.
Ambien's competitors — Lunesta by Sepracor and Sonata by King Pharmaceuticals — are not as widely used in this country, and do not seem to be cropping up with any frequency on police blotters. Ambien sales last year reached $2.2 billion, according to IMS Health. Among the three drugs, Ambien accounted for 84 percent of prescriptions dispensed.
A federal prosecutor was persuaded that Ambien played a part in a well-publicized case last summer involving not a car but an airliner. A US Airways flight from Charlotte, N.C., to London last July was diverted to Boston, after a passenger who had taken Ambien became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden," according to his lawyer.
The man, Sean Joyce, a British painting contractor, became agitated, tore off his shirt and threatened to kill himself and fellow passengers, according to court documents. If convicted, Mr. Joyce could have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail for interfering with a flight crew, according to his lawyer, Michael C. Andrews.
But under a plea agreement Mr. Joyce was sentenced to five days already served, after the prosecutor accepted his story that his eruption, which he said he could not recall at all, occurred as a result of taking one Ambien pill and drinking two individual-serving bottles of wine.
Many of the impaired-driving cases involve people who drank alcohol before taking Ambien. Mr. Cribb, for instance, said he had two beers with dinner before he took the drug and went to bed.
Sanofi-Aventis says that while sleepwalking may occur while taking Ambien, the drug may not be the cause. It also notes that the warnings with Ambien, including those in its television ads, specifically instruct patients not to use it with alcohol and to take it right before bed.
Alcohol has sometimes been shown to cause sleepwalking, and it can also magnify Ambien's effects, according to Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center, who is also involved in Dr. Schenck's study.
In the past, the center has received grant funding from Sepracor, Lunesta's maker, but Dr. Mahowald said that none of the researchers currently received any funding from sleeping pill companies.
Ambien's alcohol warning is apparently ignored by many people. But Mr. Head, the defense lawyer, says he has concluded that no one should take Ambien the same evening they have been drinking alcohol. "Not even a toast," he said.
Mr. Head is now defending a man in Decatur, Ga., who, after having three drinks one night, said he took two Ambien and was in bed watching David Letterman's monologue on television. Without realizing it, the man says, he got back out of bed and behind the wheel and was arrested on multiple charges that included driving on the wrong side of the road.
Too many other people taking Ambien also evidently disregard the other label guidelines.
Ann Marie Gordon, manager of Washington State's toxicology lab, said that many of those arrested reported that they took Ambien while driving so it would "kick in" by the time they got home. "Hello — it kicked in before you got home?" Ms. Gordon said. "That's not a good thing. I'm amazed at the number of people who do that."
But misuse of the drug may not explain all the cases. The nurse near Denver took a single Ambien and went to bed, according to her lawyer, Mr. Boyer of Englewood, Colo. Mr. Boyer said that only when the woman returned home after her arrest did she discover a partly consumed bottle of wine on her counter — unopened when she went to bed, she said — leading her to suspect she had begun drinking after taking Ambien.
Research by Dr. Schenck and others elsewhere have found evidence that Ambien users engaged, unawares, in various middle-of-the-night behaviors. In a study published in 2001, researchers at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center reported on five cases of unusual nighttime eating, sometimes while sleepwalking, in patients taking Ambien. The chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the VA North Texas Health System in Dallas, Dr. Weibin Yang, said he became aware of Ambien's potential side effects while at another hospital treating a 55-year-old patient after hip surgery.
The man, who had no history of sleepwalking, walked into a hospital corridor one night, where he urinated on the floor. On another night, he got out of bed and told nurses he was going to church. Dr. Yang said the patient was also taking other medications, but the sleepwalking stopped when Ambien was discontinued. The patient, he said, had no recollection of either event.
Dr. Yang said such experiences persuaded him that people could drive, without realizing it, after taking Ambien.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, Mr. Cribb, who has already pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, still faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He says he has sworn off Ambien. "There has to be a stronger warning," he said, "about what this drug does to you."
Updated: 6:10 p.m. ET March 8, 2006
There's a growing hazard on the roadway, the kind of motorist who smashes into parked cars, plows over sidewalks and drives in the wrong direction, all while oblivious to the destruction left behind. These drivers aren't drunk or stoned — they're under the influence of Ambien, the nation's most popular prescription sleeping pill.
Ambien is regularly popping up as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who don't even remember getting behind the wheel, according to a report in The New York Times Wednesday.
In some state toxicology laboratories, Ambien shows up in the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. In Wisconsin, Ambien was detected in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004, the newspaper reported.
By STEPHANIE SAUL...New York Times
Published: March 8, 2006
With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver.
Skip to next paragraph
Jean-Phillipe Defaut for The New York Times
Sean Joyce, after taking Ambien, became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden" on a flight to London last year, according to his lawyer.
Sleeping Pill Prescriptions
Download Laura J. Liddicoat's ********** Presentation to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
* The presentation refers to Zolpidem, which is the chemical name for Ambien. Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.
In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.
And as a more people are taking the drug — 26.5 million prescriptions in this country last year — there are signs that Ambien-related driving arrests are on the rise. In Washington State, for example, officials counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was a factor last year, up from 56 in 2004.
Ambien's maker, Sanofi-Aventis, says the drug's record after 13 years of use in this country shows it is safe when taken as directed. But a spokeswoman, Melissa Feltmann, wrote in an e-mail message, "We are aware of reports of people driving while sleepwalking, and those reports have been provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of our ongoing postmarketing evaluation about the safety of our products."
A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the drug's current label warnings, which say it should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, were adequate. "People should be aware of that," said the spokeswoman, Susan Cruzan.
While alcohol and other drugs are sometimes also involved in the Ambien traffic cases, the drivers tend to stand out from other under-the-influence motorists. The behavior can include driving in the wrong direction or slamming into light poles or parked vehicles, as well as seeming oblivious to the arresting officers, according to a presentation last month at a meeting of forensic scientists.
"These cases are just extremely bizarre, with extreme impairment," said Laura J. Liddicoat, the forensic toxicology supervisor at a state-run lab in Wisconsin who made the presentation.
Her presentation, which reported on six of the cases, was made at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, where her counterparts from other parts of the country swapped similar tales.
Several of Ms. Liddicoat's cases involved drivers whose blood revealed evidence of Ambien overdoses. In one of them the driver, who was also taking the antidepressant citalopram, crashed into a parked car, was involved in another near collision, then drove over a curb. When confronted by police, he did not recall any of the recent events, according to the presentation.
Ms. Liddicoat did not describe any of those cases as sleep-driving — in fact, she said she had not heard of that defense — and it is possible that some drivers' claims of driving while asleep may be mere Ambien alibis. But some medical researchers say reports of sleep-driving are plausible.
Doctors affiliated with the University of Minnesota Medical Center who have studied Ambien recently reported the cases of two users who told doctors they sleep-drove to the supermarket while under the drug's influence. Neither of the patients remembered the episode the next day, according to Dr. Carlos Schenck, an expert in sleep disorders who is the lead researcher in the study.
"Luckily, neither of them got hurt," said Dr. Schenck, who added that sleep-driving — which really occurs in a twilight state between sleep and wakefulness — was more common than people generally suspect. He said he believed that Ambien was an excellent sleep agent, but that patients need to be better warned about its potential side effects.
The traffic cases around the country include that of Dwayne Cribb, a longtime probation and parole officer in Rock Hill, S.C. Mr. Cribb says he remembers nothing after taking Ambien before bed last Halloween — until he awoke in jail to learn he had left his bed and gone for a drive, smashed into a parked van and driven away before crashing into a tree. Mr. Cribb is still facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
A registered nurse who lives outside Denver took Ambien before going to sleep one night in January 2003. Sometime later — she says she remembers none of the episode — she got into her car wearing only a thin nightshirt in 20-degree weather, had a fender bender, urinated in the middle of an intersection, then became violent with police officers, according to her lawyer.
The woman, whose lawyer says she previously had a pristine traffic record, eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving after the prosecutors partly accepted her version of events, said the lawyer, Lloyd L. Boyer.
Many states do not currently test for Ambien when making impaired- driving arrests. But a survey still under way by a committee from the forensic sciences group and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists found that among laboratories that conduct tests of drivers' blood samples for two dozen states, 10 labs list Ambien among the top 10 drugs found in impaired drivers, according to Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist in Houston involved in that survey.
Skip to next paragraph
Sleeping Pill Prescriptions
Download Laura J. Liddicoat's ********** Presentation to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
* The presentation refers to Zolpidem, which is the chemical name for Ambien. Ms. Liddicoat, in Wisconsin, is among experts who suggest that Ambien may need a stronger warning label. Others arguing that case include doctors, Ambien users and defense lawyers.
"Doctors are handing out these drugs like Pez," said William C. Head, an Atlanta lawyer who is one of the nation's leading defense lawyers specializing in impaired-driving cases.
The F.D.A., which would have to order any labeling changes, says it is not aware of any pattern of problems with the drug. Still Ms. Cruzan, in response to a reporter's question, said the agency would look into unusual sleepwalking episodes.
Including the notifications from Sanofi, which as a matter of policy the F.D.A. declined to discuss, the agency did receive 48 "adverse event" reports in 2004 involving Ambien use without other drugs. They involved three cases of sleepwalking, six reports of hallucinations and one traffic accident.
Ambien's competitors — Lunesta by Sepracor and Sonata by King Pharmaceuticals — are not as widely used in this country, and do not seem to be cropping up with any frequency on police blotters. Ambien sales last year reached $2.2 billion, according to IMS Health. Among the three drugs, Ambien accounted for 84 percent of prescriptions dispensed.
A federal prosecutor was persuaded that Ambien played a part in a well-publicized case last summer involving not a car but an airliner. A US Airways flight from Charlotte, N.C., to London last July was diverted to Boston, after a passenger who had taken Ambien became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden," according to his lawyer.
The man, Sean Joyce, a British painting contractor, became agitated, tore off his shirt and threatened to kill himself and fellow passengers, according to court documents. If convicted, Mr. Joyce could have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail for interfering with a flight crew, according to his lawyer, Michael C. Andrews.
But under a plea agreement Mr. Joyce was sentenced to five days already served, after the prosecutor accepted his story that his eruption, which he said he could not recall at all, occurred as a result of taking one Ambien pill and drinking two individual-serving bottles of wine.
Many of the impaired-driving cases involve people who drank alcohol before taking Ambien. Mr. Cribb, for instance, said he had two beers with dinner before he took the drug and went to bed.
Sanofi-Aventis says that while sleepwalking may occur while taking Ambien, the drug may not be the cause. It also notes that the warnings with Ambien, including those in its television ads, specifically instruct patients not to use it with alcohol and to take it right before bed.
Alcohol has sometimes been shown to cause sleepwalking, and it can also magnify Ambien's effects, according to Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center, who is also involved in Dr. Schenck's study.
In the past, the center has received grant funding from Sepracor, Lunesta's maker, but Dr. Mahowald said that none of the researchers currently received any funding from sleeping pill companies.
Ambien's alcohol warning is apparently ignored by many people. But Mr. Head, the defense lawyer, says he has concluded that no one should take Ambien the same evening they have been drinking alcohol. "Not even a toast," he said.
Mr. Head is now defending a man in Decatur, Ga., who, after having three drinks one night, said he took two Ambien and was in bed watching David Letterman's monologue on television. Without realizing it, the man says, he got back out of bed and behind the wheel and was arrested on multiple charges that included driving on the wrong side of the road.
Too many other people taking Ambien also evidently disregard the other label guidelines.
Ann Marie Gordon, manager of Washington State's toxicology lab, said that many of those arrested reported that they took Ambien while driving so it would "kick in" by the time they got home. "Hello — it kicked in before you got home?" Ms. Gordon said. "That's not a good thing. I'm amazed at the number of people who do that."
But misuse of the drug may not explain all the cases. The nurse near Denver took a single Ambien and went to bed, according to her lawyer, Mr. Boyer of Englewood, Colo. Mr. Boyer said that only when the woman returned home after her arrest did she discover a partly consumed bottle of wine on her counter — unopened when she went to bed, she said — leading her to suspect she had begun drinking after taking Ambien.
Research by Dr. Schenck and others elsewhere have found evidence that Ambien users engaged, unawares, in various middle-of-the-night behaviors. In a study published in 2001, researchers at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center reported on five cases of unusual nighttime eating, sometimes while sleepwalking, in patients taking Ambien. The chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the VA North Texas Health System in Dallas, Dr. Weibin Yang, said he became aware of Ambien's potential side effects while at another hospital treating a 55-year-old patient after hip surgery.
The man, who had no history of sleepwalking, walked into a hospital corridor one night, where he urinated on the floor. On another night, he got out of bed and told nurses he was going to church. Dr. Yang said the patient was also taking other medications, but the sleepwalking stopped when Ambien was discontinued. The patient, he said, had no recollection of either event.
Dr. Yang said such experiences persuaded him that people could drive, without realizing it, after taking Ambien.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, Mr. Cribb, who has already pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, still faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He says he has sworn off Ambien. "There has to be a stronger warning," he said, "about what this drug does to you."
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Home
Posts: 178
Thank you Ms B.
I have decided not to take the pills-who needs
complications? I slept okay last nite without
them. I think I will try meditation.
Sorry about the Lunesta- that is awful.
Stef
I have decided not to take the pills-who needs
complications? I slept okay last nite without
them. I think I will try meditation.
Sorry about the Lunesta- that is awful.
Stef
Obsessed Pug Momma
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Probably at Wal-Mart
Posts: 1,331
Ambien has a high abuse potential, develops tolerance (requiring more to get same effect) and is physically addictive. I got hooked bad on that stuff. I had some hallucinations with even one pill, but after taking it for only a short time, it required 1 1/2 pills, then 2... then i discovered the "feel good" effect and gradually increased my dose to 7-11 10mg pills per night and often a few during the day too. And because it felt so good, I started taking it during the day too. Here's what happened when I took ambien and didn't go straight to bed: When I took more than 2, I crashed into walls and stuff. I was in a trance and soon all the lines on a computer monitor all ran together. I fell out of bed several times, even banged my head on the nightstand. I walked around with lots of bruises. I had hallucinations. I had what ya would call lowered inhibitions, doing things that weren't ok at all, but seemed ok at the time (like filling my grocery cart with 3 tubs of very expensive ice cream and all the sugary goodies I could find). I also had lots of blackouts (how did all that ice cream get in my freezer?? i bought all that stuff?? lets see what else i bought. hmmm). When under the influence of ambien, I drove to the store sometimds, telling myself i wasn't too messed up to drive. I had 3 fender-bender's...that i can remember, under the influence of only ambien. There were sexual indiscretions. I also blacked out for an entire night once. [Here I wrote about all the things that happened just in one 18 hour period, but decided it was too close to a confession and I might end up in a courtroom lol, soooo I deleted it]. Many people can take ambien without problems, although the pdr recommends it only be taken for short-term use. My father has been on 1 pill per night for 10 years. He is physically addicted and goes into withdrawals if he runs out. I was taking a lot of it, so my withdrawals were really scary and I should have been in a hospital. During that last 9 month run, I tried to quit many times. I detoxed myself at home at least 6 times, but never could stay quit. I couldn't sleep without it. I could no longer cope with life without using ambien to escape. Withdrawals were severe. I was sick as a dog, I was seeing things, hearing things and I really was afraid I was going to die because my heart was beating so hard. It's something I wouldn't wish on anyone. Someone might be saying, "well, if i take it as prescribed, i'll be fine." Probably...if you CAN take it as prescribed. I can't, because I'm an addict. I started at one, but I couldn't KEEP it at one. I have an obsession and compulsion that kicks in and vetoes whatever promises I made to myself. Some of the stuff that I did on that stuff I can't even write about here. Bad memories. Bad, bad, bad....
I choose to live
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Antwerp (Belgium)
Posts: 390
Hello Stefanie;;;We have the same name written the same way...First of all I never heard of the product...maybe its becos I live in Belgium..but today I'm also goin' to see a doctor to get some sleeping pills but they aren't addective;;;The real name I don't remember but I will post it when I know it
Love from Stefanie
Love from Stefanie
I choose to live
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Antwerp (Belgium)
Posts: 390
Originally Posted by ARIES
The real name I don't remember but I will post it when I know it
Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Bristol TN/VA
Posts: 12,431
Ambien gave me night terrors...it was worse than not sleeping at all. I didn't seem to develop a tolerance...I guess because I quit taking them early on because of the night terrors.
Sonata did all those crazy things to me mentioned before...I was psychotic.
Had to be taken to ER.
I use trazadone. And am good with it. It is not a hypnotic as the others are.
I am now afraid of all they hypnotics.
Sonata did all those crazy things to me mentioned before...I was psychotic.
Had to be taken to ER.
I use trazadone. And am good with it. It is not a hypnotic as the others are.
I am now afraid of all they hypnotics.
Its_me_jen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Salina, Ks
Posts: 8,547
I used to be on Ambien - but built up a tolerance. I didn't have the addiction that you did daydream, nor did I have any negative effects from it. Just the tolerance.
My doc switched me to lunesta. I've been on it for over 4 months now. I do not take it every night. Only when I can tell I won't be able to get to sleep. And I always take it 30 minutes or less before I get into bed. Every so often I feel a little drugged in the morning but not usually.
I think if you do decide to take it, the key is 1. take only take it as directed 2. only take it if you need it 4. take it no more than 30 minutes before getting into bed and 3. tell your doc if you notice anything "funny".
Hope it works out for you Stefanie!
~doll
My doc switched me to lunesta. I've been on it for over 4 months now. I do not take it every night. Only when I can tell I won't be able to get to sleep. And I always take it 30 minutes or less before I get into bed. Every so often I feel a little drugged in the morning but not usually.
I think if you do decide to take it, the key is 1. take only take it as directed 2. only take it if you need it 4. take it no more than 30 minutes before getting into bed and 3. tell your doc if you notice anything "funny".
Hope it works out for you Stefanie!
~doll
Obsessed Pug Momma
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Probably at Wal-Mart
Posts: 1,331
I just ran across this thread again and read the replies since my last post. Aries, I just noticed that after 503 posts over nearly 2 years here, you disappeared just 8 days after getting the Zolpidem. Your last few posts were about drinking again. Aries, your "good non addictive sleeping pill" IS Ambien. Zolpidem tartrate is the generic version of the name-brand Ambien. Lots of docs will tell you something is not addictive, either because they don't realize it's potential or because they don't understand the psychological component of our addiction. I have to wonder if your return to drinking and your subsequent disappearance was in any way related to being under the influence of ambien. I pray that you are doing ok. Please check in.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: A place called space
Posts: 2
I was on ambien for a good six months, and not once did I end up behind the wheel in a crashed car down the road. I started taking it to get off temazepam, and it just knocked me flat out until the next morning. However then I started to notice the "fun" effects, and began taking it in the day.
You do some crazy **** on ambien.. sometimes I would go completely dissociate and black out. The "body high" is not unlike that of morphine (without the rush). I would hallucinate heavily, and come up with strange new insights that would make absolutely no sense to anyone who was sober.
For a while there, ambien was my favourite drug. Withdrawal is a pain though.
You do some crazy **** on ambien.. sometimes I would go completely dissociate and black out. The "body high" is not unlike that of morphine (without the rush). I would hallucinate heavily, and come up with strange new insights that would make absolutely no sense to anyone who was sober.
For a while there, ambien was my favourite drug. Withdrawal is a pain though.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 2
lost a child
After reading everyones comments on ambien, I decided to share, in short, my tragic story of Ambien. My daughter Stefanie started Ambien in 01/06, she was seeing a doctor for anxiety, within a month she was a different person. She was found in a park delusional and could not remember how she had got there. She had smashed the back end of her car, couldn't remember. Three days later she was back in the hospital, because of the ambien. We had even begged the hospital to keep her. The saw no need. We explained to them of how we knew she had become addicted to the Ambien. She was pulled over numerous times, because she was driving irratically. So, Stef's father and myself went to see her doctor to inform him of all these incidents and to let him know that we believe that Stefanie had become addicted to them. After we left his office we did not feel that he was listening to us. I do not know if he thought we were just being over protective, but she is our daughter and we knew she was different. A couple weeks after our visit, Stefanie was involved in a one car accident and total her brand new car she had just purchased. I was very grateful that she was not injured. When I arrived at the scene of the accident the first thing I asked the officer was, "Can I hug my daughter", she was in the back seat of his car. She looked at me and said "mom, I'm all right nothing happened. I was becoming exteremly worried about her. I talked to her everyday and she could not see what her family was seeing. So, I returned to her doctors office, with her, to let him know of the accident. As we dicussed it with her in his office, his word that came out of his mouth will be forever etched in my brain. He says" Well why don't we just have Stefanie promise that she won't take more than prescibed". My reaction was, are you serious, she has a addiction & you want her to promise not to take more than prescribed. I could not believe my ears. Stefanie was not taking them to sleep anymore, she was taken them because she said that she felt better on them. For some reason the doctor did not heed my warnings. Ambien does lead to other addictions. I am not saying this happens to everyone, some people take it and do fine with it. For those it does affect, warnings need to be addressed and more research should be done. This is just a summary of events that happened in the few months Stef was on Ambien. Now my Stefanie is gone. She died June 11, 2006, at the tender young age of 21. Her cause of death was ruled as a homicide from multiple drug intoxication. Our lifes have forever changed. We watched our daughter go from a bright college student to someone she didn't even know. I am lost without her. We tried so very hard to help her & protect her. Stef's father and I will not give up until we can get people to understand how Ambien lead Stef down a dangerous road and it can happen to you.
dum vita est spes est
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: vita secundum nex
Posts: 287
Originally Posted by lostwithouther 
After reading everyones comments on ambien, I decided to share, in short, my tragic story of Ambien. My daughter Stefanie started Ambien in 01/06, she was seeing a doctor for anxiety, within a month she was a different person. She was found in a park delusional and could not remember how she had got there. She had smashed the back end of her car, couldn't remember. Three days later she was back in the hospital, because of the ambien. We had even begged the hospital to keep her. The saw no need. We explained to them of how we knew she had become addicted to the Ambien. She was pulled over numerous times, because she was driving irratically. So, Stef's father and myself went to see her doctor to inform him of all these incidents and to let him know that we believe that Stefanie had become addicted to them. After we left his office we did not feel that he was listening to us. I do not know if he thought we were just being over protective, but she is our daughter and we knew she was different. A couple weeks after our visit, Stefanie was involved in a one car accident and total her brand new car she had just purchased. I was very grateful that she was not injured. When I arrived at the scene of the accident the first thing I asked the officer was, "Can I hug my daughter", she was in the back seat of his car. She looked at me and said "mom, I'm all right nothing happened. I was becoming exteremly worried about her. I talked to her everyday and she could not see what her family was seeing. So, I returned to her doctors office, with her, to let him know of the accident. As we dicussed it with her in his office, his word that came out of his mouth will be forever etched in my brain. He says" Well why don't we just have Stefanie promise that she won't take more than prescibed". My reaction was, are you serious, she has a addiction & you want her to promise not to take more than prescribed. I could not believe my ears. Stefanie was not taking them to sleep anymore, she was taken them because she said that she felt better on them. For some reason the doctor did not heed my warnings. Ambien does lead to other addictions. I am not saying this happens to everyone, some people take it and do fine with it. For those it does affect, warnings need to be addressed and more research should be done. This is just a summary of events that happened in the few months Stef was on Ambien. Now my Stefanie is gone. She died June 11, 2006, at the tender young age of 21. Her cause of death was ruled as a homicide from multiple drug intoxication. Our lifes have forever changed. We watched our daughter go from a bright college student to someone she didn't even know. I am lost without her. We tried so very hard to help her & protect her. Stef's father and I will not give up until we can get people to understand how Ambien lead Stef down a dangerous road and it can happen to you.
"I went to rehab because of this stupid drug. I was taking up to 4 10mg a night after awhile. It's highly highly addictive, I can't stress that enough. Among things I've done on Ambien while "getting a good night's sleep..."
1. Wrecked two company cars. (pulled over on one and by the Grace of God talked my way out of a DUI and just got a fender bender ticket).
2. Had sexual relations with more than one person and had no memory of it the next morning.
3. Feel into the wall and put a hole in it with my knee.
4. Passed out and woke up in strange places in my house.
5. Cooked food, really weird combinations too and made a complete mess of my kitchen.
6. Made phone calls to people, said crazy things with no memory.
I've tried many recreational drugs in my day, but this drug was the worst I've ever had because you truly lose yourself to it - you have zero control over who you are once you swallow this pill.
I'll never touch the crap again.
Just my cautionary tale for you, my advice is to do anything but take sleep meds.
PR"
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
