Ambien Problems
In the past week a whole bunch of stories have been published about a problem that some people taking the "sleep aid" Ambien are having. There's Sleep Walking. There's Sleep Eating. There's Sleep Driving. People doing things "while asleep" that they don't remember doing the next day, "when they wake up" or get pulled over by the police for driving "under the influence."

Quite a story, actually. As I was listening to another one of the stories about it on the radio this morning I had a sudden thought. Hmmm. This sure sounds a lot like what we in the substance-abuse field call "blackouts." While often misunderstood as passing out, in reality a "blackout" is a chemically-induced amnesia. People continue to do things - usually stupid things - while drunk that they never remember. The scariest words on the "morning after" are- "I can't believe you did THAT last night" - and you have no idea what they are talking about.

Well, it struck me this morning that what we may be dealing with in the Ambien story is a variation on the same phenomenon. Not out of the question since, alcohol, like Ambien, is a "sedative"- it slows the system down. Now I don't know anything about how Ambien works- and very little about the actual neurochemistry of alcohol- but there is a similarity in these symptoms and broadly, in the type of drug involved.

According to the story I was listening to, there is no indication yet whether this problem is completely unique to Ambien or whether the simple fact that Ambien is being prescribed in amounts far greater than any previous "sleep aids" is why it is being seen. There is also uncertainty over whether the two other new "sleep aids" - Sonata and Lunesta have similar problems.

What I didn't know was that each of these three new "sleep aids" has different lengths of time they are to be working. Sonata is in the short-term, Ambien in the middle time frame, and Lunesta for the longer, all-night effect. Alcohol, it would seem to me, to be in that middle 3-4 hour time frame as well.

What I find really scary is the way the drug companies push this stuff on TV. While it is masked under the idea of informing consumers of what's available (education) it has nothing to do with that. It is all about advertising. Getting us to ask our doctor for that particular medicine. As the person on the radio show said this morning- such ads are "reprehensible!" I agree. Perhaps now, with this new info on the "blackout" capabilities of Ambien, some people may wake-up and pay attention to the problem of over-medication.

--btw, the radio show was Mid-morning on Minnesota Public Radio and the guest was Dr. Mark Mahowald: Director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center.