I posted the following about six months ago on another forum. Be careful if you choose to use one of these drugs.
I’ve seen a few threads in the past where others have discussed sleep disorders and wanted to share this with any of you who might be using Ambien. Yesterday I told my doctor about driving my kids to school in my PJs, going back home to bed, then not remembering anything about it. He told me one of the side effects of Ambien they’ve found is amnesia and that it’s highly possible that’s what happened to me! I googled “ambien amnesia” and found a lot of instances where this has occurred. These are a little scary:
*Ambien (zolpidem), a central nervous system depressant used to help people sleep, garnered unwanted attention this month with news stories about research showing unusual sleep actions, including walking, driving and eating, but not remembering any of it.
*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. 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.”
*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.
*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.
*One Utah doctor has seen two cases of potentially dangerous sleepwalking, including a businessman who was taking a somnolent stroll in his pajamas through a dark alley when someone found him.
*One of the cases that made news this week, was a woman who took Ambien to sleep during the day because she worked all night. She would get up, still asleep, and eat. The eating aspect is well enough known that it is included as a rare side effect in the warning literature provided by the manufacturer.