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America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other

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  • America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other

    On March 29, 2009, Robert Stewart, 45, stormed into the Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina and opened fire, killing eight people and wounding two. Stewart’s apparent target was his estranged wife, who worked as a nurse in the home. She hid in a bathroom and was unharmed. Stewart was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder; if convicted, he could face the death penalty. Even though there was evidence that Stewart’s actions were premeditated (he allegedly had a target), Stewart’s defense team successfully argued that since he was under the influence of Ambien, a sleep aid, at the time of the shooting, he was not in control of his actions. Instead of the charges sought by the prosecutors, Stewart was convicted on eight counts of second-degree murder. He received 142 – 179 years in prison.

    Ambien, a member of the class of medications known as hypnotics, was approved by the FDA in 1992. It was designed for short term use to combat insomnia and was a welcome change from the prevailing sleep aid at the time, Halcion, which had been implicated in psychosis, suicide, and addiction and had been banned in half a dozen countries. Ambien works by activating the neurotransmitter GABA and binding it to the GABA receptors in the same location as the benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium. The extra GABA activity triggered by the drug inhibits the neuron activity that is associated with insomnia. In other words, it slows down the brain. Ambien is extremely effective at initiating sleep, usually working within 20 minutes. It does not, however, have an effect on sustaining sleep unless it is taken in the controlled release form.
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    I can attest to this. When my mother was recently hospitalized they immediately started giving her xanax and ambien in order to sleep and in order to be more compliant with respect to some of her procedures. She had driven herself to the hospital on a Monday morning. She "woke up" from the drug induced stupor the doctors had put her in on Thursday evening, despite having no recollection of anything prior to the previous Saturday night. The lost time of Sunday and early Monday is probably due to a cardiac event, but the rest of it was clearly due to the drugs. Despite this, the doctors seemed to have absolutely no understanding of this potential effect of the drugs and were "discussing" with me the potential of skilled nursing scare and possible dementia. I had to research the drugs she was on and demand that they take her off all ambien and xanax, as well as narcotics. In 24 hours there was a remarkable change and she once again became oriented to time and place and was no longer "crazy".

    My mother had taken an ambien one time in the prior weeks and significantly hallucinated, thereby causing her to fall. It's frightening how many people are prescribed these medications with no warning and no real followup as to the effects. In addition, there is no real education on the addictive nature of these medications (they are highly addictive).
    Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live...
    Robert Southwell, S.J.

  • #2
    Oh for god's sake! I have taken Ambien and it's fabulous. It's the most effective sleeping pill I have ever taken and had zero hangover the next day.
    The year's at the spring
    And day's at the morn;
    Morning's at seven;
    The hill-side's dew-pearled;
    The lark's on the wing;
    The snail's on the thorn:
    God's in his heaven—
    All's right with the world!

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Novaheart View Post
      Oh for god's sake! I have taken Ambien and it's fabulous. It's the most effective sleeping pill I have ever taken and had zero hangover the next day.
      You are the first person that I've heard say that. Most I know have said it didn't work at all, and others had horrible consequences, such as my mother. She does, however, tend to be hypersensitive to any drugs, so that was a contributing factor, I thought, to her issue. But she most definitely hallucinated and "lost time" due to it.
      Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live...
      Robert Southwell, S.J.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by phillygirl View Post
        You are the first person that I've heard say that. Most I know have said it didn't work at all, and others had horrible consequences, such as my mother. She does, however, tend to be hypersensitive to any drugs, so that was a contributing factor, I thought, to her issue. But she most definitely hallucinated and "lost time" due to it.
        That was certainly the case with my ex. Though she didn't take Ambien often, she did take it occasionally, and it would usually mean an hour or so of sleep and then after that it was completely unpredictable: could be a solid 8-10 hours of sleep, could be an almost manic episode, most often it would be what can only really be described as zombie-like behavior, and she would have no memory of the events whatsoever.

        The Xanax was considerably worse as far as duration and such, but she was taking a massive amount of that, so I don't think that's really comparable. Usually when she gorked out on Xanax, she would just sit there and drool on herself for 36 hours or so, and was generally docile. Ambien, though, would cause all sorts of strange behavior, sometimes violent, for several hours.


        WAAAAAAYYYYY too much of this stuff getting handed out like candy.
        It's been ten years since that lonely day I left you
        In the morning rain, smoking gun in hand
        Ten lonely years but how my heart, it still remembers
        Pray for me, momma, I'm a gypsy now

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        • #5
          Nova, you are a study of one as is every other example sited here.

          I've had plenty of patients who do well with occasional Ambien use. I don't recommend or condone every night use.

          I've had two patients with significant amnesiac episodes, one funny, one not so funny.

          One patient woke up and thought someone broke into his house because he found a half eaten Ham sandwich on the kitchen table. He has no memory of waking and making the sandwich let alone eating it. The mustard on his PJ's told a different story.

          Other not so funny. Patient "woke-up" in a holding cell. He apparent got pulled over and was found to be acting strange. He took his Son to school at 0700, drove fine, but has no memory of any events from waking to holding cell time.
          If it pays, it stays

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          • #6
            The odd thing was that when my mother took one, at home, she hallucinated, but she *knew* she was hallucinating. She tried to go down the hall to use the bathroom, but saw a man who kept putting up walls, blocking her way there. The "walls" caused her to fall down the steps. She later said she knew she was hallucinating, but couldn't stop herself from seeing the walls and kept trying to go around them.

            I need to get the actual nurses notes to see how much ambien and how much xanax they gave her while she was in there. She completely regressed to an almost childlike state; lost all short term memory, hallucinated, and thought some family members were different family members. She had no recollection of her time in the hospital (I understand that when she was really drugged and sleeping) but there were times that she was lucid and yet she later had no recollection of those 4 days, nor did she have any recollection of the day before her hospitalization.
            Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live...
            Robert Southwell, S.J.

            Comment


            • #7
              I'm suspicious of all this stuff but think it's fine for other people.

              Personally, if I really need to go sleep (not an emergency in my house most of the time), I use Valerian or Benadryl and a shot of whiskey.

              If I still can't go to sleep, I figure I don't need to and just read or knit or something until I get naturally tired.
              "Alexa, slaughter the fatted calf."

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