Ambien May Have Led To Sleepwalking Death

[OhioChick]

Source: Internet Broadcasting

Man Froze To Death In 20-Below-Zero Temps

POSTED: 10:13 am EST January 15, 2009

A Wisconsin man who was found barefoot and frozen to death may have been taken the sleeping pill Ambien, which has been linked to some episodes of people performing normal activities without being conscious, police said.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that investigators found a bottle of the medication in the home of Timothy Brueggman after he was found dead after a night when temperatures dropped to 20 below zero.

The newspaper said that Ambien maker Sanofi-Aventis did not respond to requests Wednesday, though it has said in the past that the drug is safe when taken as directed and not mixed with alcohol.

Brueggman's friends told the paper that he once drove his truck without waking after taking Ambien. His mother said that she asked him to stop taking the drug after that. She also said that some empty cans of beer were found in his garage, and other friends reported that he would sometimes have a few drinks then take Ambien.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/health/18486723/detail.html

[hedgehog]

1. How ironic that physicians are allowed to prescribe Ambien but not

marijuana!

[meegbear]

8. Hear! Hear!

Some good weed would put me to sleep and I would stay PUT.

[blue_onyx]

12. I know...it doesn't make sense

Luckily Michigan approved medical marijuana in November and hopefully more states do too.

[blendermax]

24. It does make sense

big pharma doesn't want anything competing with their overpriced, side-effect ridden products

[Arkansas Granny]

31. Exactly. Big pharma is one of the biggest reasons (if not the biggest)

that marijuana is still ellegal.

[bitchkitty]

22. I know - with pot he'd probably have stayed home.

He damned sure wouldn't have been sleepwalking.

[blendermax]

23. They arent allowed to prescribe anything

that big pharma can't make a healthy profit on.

[rvablue]

32. delete

[CoffeeCat]

2. I seriously think...

..that our entire species needs to take a personal inventory regarding these designer drugs.

Drug companies make it so easy to solve all of our problems with pills. Maybe we need to
look inward and face challenges , as opposed to relying on drug companies, that
often lie about the safety and the side effects of their drugs.

I'm sick of drug companies convincing us that they have the easy solutions. If someone isn't
sleeping well, maybe it's time to evaluate your life and your stress level. Maybe some yoga
would help, or evaluating if you really want to work in a stressful job. But no, we're marketed
a pill to solve everything.

We're also told that being sad or shy is a frickin crime. We must all be happy and never anxious
about anything. It's come to the point that if you aren't on some drug to neutralize your moods,
then you're at a disadvantage.

Not everyone who takes these drugs sleep walks into their death. However, aren't we tired of
reading about these horrendous side effect, and then listening to the drug companies lying or
rationalizing the side effect--in order to increase profits? Public safety be damned!

The drug companies are devolving our society and stunting our ability to actually live our lives.

[LeftyMom]

28. It's really easy to give advice like that if you don't suffer from serious insomnia.

Yoga. :rofl:

I don't know about Ambien sleepwalking, because that shit doesn't put me to sleep, but I do know that lack of sleep has damned near killed me more than once, usually because I had a hard time keeping my car on the road due to exhaustion. And I've been like this since puberty, so no, it's not my job, my stress or my whatever.

So kindly stuff your minimizing dismissive bullshit. If this was your affliction you'd be demanding a safer treatment now, not some useless hippie bullshit about doing some yoga or whatever.

[SOS]

3. My wife cleaned our windows, in an Ambien blackout at 3 AM.

Inside and out.
We live on the fourth floor.

Thankfully she didn't fall.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. A friend of mine went into her kitchen the morning after taking Ambien

and found evidence that she had gotten up and raided the refrigerator in the middle of the night. She had no memory of it.

[Bette Noir]

4. Ambien is a dangerous drug.

As a nurse, I've given it to dozens of patients, most of whom had chronic illnesses, as well as insomnia. While the drug makers would have you believe that severe side effects are rare, almost everyone I've given Ambien to had hallucinations or sleepwalking. In my opinion, it shouldn't be used outside a hospital setting, where there are nurses around the clock to prevent potentially fatal sleepwalking incidents.

As for insomnia in otherwise healthy people, the best solution I have found is to get an hour of hard exercise in daylight, preferably in the morning.

[OhioChick]

7. As a nurse, I'm sure you're aware of the w/d effects...

Tolerance, dependence and withdrawal

Animal studies of the tolerance inducing properties have shown that in rodents zolpidem has less tolerance producing potential than benzodiazepines but in primates the tolerance producing potential of zolpidem was the same as that of benzodiazepines.<30> Tolerance can develop in some people to the effects of zolpidem in just a few weeks. Abrupt withdrawal of zolpidem may cause seizures or other severe effects especially if used for prolonged periods and at high dosage.<31> When drug tolerance and physical dependence has developed to zolpidem, treatment usually entails a gradual dose reduction over a period of months in order to minimise withdrawal symptoms which can resemble those seen during the benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Failing that an alternative method which may be necessary for some patients is a switch to a benzodiazepine equivalent dose of a more longer acting benzodiazepine drug such as diazepam or chlordiazepoxide followed by a gradual reduction in dosage of the long acting benzodiazepine. Sometimes for difficult to treat patients an inpatient flumazenil detoxification program can be used to detox from a zolpidem drug dependence or addiction.<32> Severe withdrawal symptoms can occur such as delerium but are mainly confined to abrupt withdrawal usually from high doses.<33>

Alcohol has cross tolerance with GABAa receptor positive modulators such as the benzodiazepines and the nonbenzodiazepine drugs. For this reason alcoholics or recovering alcoholics may be at increased risk of physical dependency on zolpidem. Also, alcoholics and drug abusers may be at increased risk of abusing and or becoming psychologically dependent on zolpidem. Zolpidem should be avoided in those with a history of Alcoholism, drug misuse, or in those with history of physical dependency or psychological dependency on sedative-hypnotic drugs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambien

[musette_sf]

5. never had any issues with it

except when i took the generic. the generic caused fitful sleep, and grogginess the next day. but with the Sanofil name brand, never a problem. been taking it for years. to me it is a G-dsend.

[hedgehog]

11. Which goes to show the problem may be that too many doctors are

prescribing this stuff too readily.

[musette_sf]

14. not sure i understand your response

please clarify? as stated i have no issues. been taking the same dosage, no increase.

many people have issues with medications, that others take with no problems whatsoever.

[hedgehog]

25. The medicine works for some people, indeed may be a literal lifesaver.

It's harmful for other people. I suspect that what we are seeing is a result of the manufacturer obscuring or downplaying complkcations and doctors too busy to fully evaluate their patients before grabbing the prescription pad. For example, no one should be prescribed Ambien if there is even the slightest hint of a drinking problem.

[TroglodyteScholar]

18. My doc prescribed it not because I was having difficulty sleeping...

...but because I wasn't feeling well-rested in the morning.

He didn't even bother asking how many hours of sleep I was getting at night.

[pansypoo53219]

6. better 'living'

thru chemistry!

[Tempest]

9. McSame takes this stuff

We dodged a bullet.

[XemaSab]

10. 2 Ambien stories:

A friend of mine was on a trial where a woman was charged with a DUI after taking Ambien and driving from Ojai to Ventura.... at 80 mph.

Also, when my grandma was staying here she was on it, and she would come into my room every night talking ALL KINDS of nonsense.

It's a dangerous drug.

[blue_onyx]

13. This drug is scary

I don't think I would ever take something that would allow me to "perform normal activities without being conscious."

[TrogL]

15. My ex-wife was on a different sleeping pill and did a lot more than sleepwalking

(I swear I was sleepwalking the first time I wrote this)

She'd wander out, have a normal conversation, smoke, do dishes, watch TV and all sorts of things. Eventually, I'd notice something was a bit "off". The next day she'd discover things she'd done but she didn't remember any of it.

One wierd thing was when she was sleepwalking she smoked a different brand of cigarettes (Du Maurier) than when awake (Export). One time she got mad, found a red magic marker and re-coloured the cigarette pack. When she discovered it the next morning she was scared. :scared:

[dysfunctional press]

16. ambien and lunesta are too expensive- i take two flexerils and i am OUT til morning.

nt

[TroglodyteScholar]

19. Er...

Isn't flexeril a muscle relaxer?

[dysfunctional press]

26. yep.

and it relaxes me right to sleep every time.

[Mudoria]

20. Taken it on on several occasions and I've never

had a single problem with it, other than getting a full nights rest and feeling good in the morning.

[customerserviceguy]

21. Well, they tell you not to take alcohol with the stuff

and if there were both fresh empty beer cans in the garage, and friends who knew of this behavior, then I'm not surprised this happened.

It seems to me that if one is going to take drugs of this class, then they should have someone nearby (spouse or significant other sleeping with them) to see if they're one of the people who is prone to the side effects.

[KillCapitalism]

27. Ambien has made me higher than any Mary-J I've ever smoked.

I've smoked some potent one-hit-sh!t back in the day, but that all was nothing compared to Ambien.

The night I had an episode with Ambien, according to my significant other she awoke to find me singing a Matchbox 20 song on a karaoke system we had in our place at the time. She also said I had taken a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black label out of the cabinet and had left it on the counter. We have no idea how much of it I had drank/drunk...shit I can't remember which word is gramatically correct, but anyway I had no idea any of this took place the next morning. She said she had a hard time dragging me back to bed & that I kept saying "No, I've got to finish this show!" Pretty wild huh?

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. I took it for a couple years and had no problems at all

But then I didn't chase it down with beer.

[Dulcinea]

30. It doesn't work for me.

I was prescribed Zolpidem (generic Ambien) for chronic insomnia, & it has had no effect on me whatsoever. I still wake up at 3 or 4 AM whether or not I take it. Maybe I should try getting drunk or stoned instead.