America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other Disturbing Beh
America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other Disturbing BehaviorOn 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.
Although the Ambien prescribing information warned, in small print, that medications in the hypnotic class had occasional side effects including sleep walking, “abnormal thinking,” and “strange behavior,” these behaviors were listed as extremely rare, and any anecdotal evidence of “sleep driving,” “sleep eating,” or “sleep shopping”—all behaviors now associated with Ambien blackouts—were characterized as unusual quirks, or attributed to mixing the medication with alcohol. It wasn’t until Patrick Kennedy’s 2006 middle-of-the-night car accident and subsequent explanation to arriving officers that he was running late for a vote that the bizarre side effects of Ambien began to receive national attention. Kennedy claimed that he had taken the sleep aid and had no recollection of the events that night. After its approval, Ambien quickly rose to dominance in the sleep aid market. Travelers swore by it to combat jet lag, and women, who suffer more insomnia than men, bought it in droves. Sanofi, Ambien’s French manufacturer, made $2 billion in sales at its peak. In 2007 the generic version of Ambien was released, Zolpidem, and at less than $2 per pill, it still remains one of the most prescribed drugs in America, outselling popular painkillers like Percocet and prescription strength ibuprofen.
Shortly after the Kennedy incident, Ambien users sued Sanofi because of bizarre sleep-eating behaviors while on the drugs. According to Chana Lask, attorney for the class action suit, people were eating things like buttered cigarettes and eggs, complete with the shells, while under the influence of Ambien. Lask called people in this state “Ambien zombies.” As a result of the lawsuit, and of increasing reports coming in about “sleep driving,” the FDA ordered all hypnotics to issue stronger warnings on their labels.
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/americas-number-one-prescription-sleep-aid-could-trigger-zombies-murder-and-other-disturbing?ak_proof=1&akid=.1121926.wDJK8-&rd=1&src=newsletter948677&t=11
= new reply since forum marked as read
sleep driving, even without Ambien 
Go to an American doctor, he or she may talk to you for a few minutes, perhaps even look you in the eyes for a moment or two (you have been sitting there freezing in a paper disposable hospital gown for over an hour and a half for your "appointment" , writes a script and gets paid $500 for the office visit.
No mention of changing your diet, dealing with stress, exercising during the day and exercises at night that can help you sleep. How nighttime light exposure, especially the blue light from computer screens or electronic devices ruins your sleep patterns. And that there is a free little app that can help with that.
Doctors are good with dealing with disease and trauma. But they know nothing anymore it seems about creating health.
In any DU thread about medicine, it is exceedingly likely that someone will invoke the specter of "big pharma" within the first three replies.
This has been true for years and remains true today.
out loud even. I bet my wife is wondering about right now if I finally did fall off my rocker. 
Woo, Crazed and Abandon.
When I graduated from high school I'd never heard the word marijuana and when I left to go to the Navy, Dad, told me not to be taking and or smoking cigarettes from strangers. I was perplexed as to what he was getting at until much later. The Navy showed us a movie, Reefer Madness, and kept on with bullshit on what all pot would do to you if you tried it to the point that I tried it the first chance I got as did many of the guys in my boot camp company. What we found out was that what they were telling us was nothing but bullshit and out right lies. I went on to use it for years and to this day I don't think it slowed me down one bit. In fact It helps with the creativity that I was born with a lot of anyway. I'd go back to using it today if I thought I could get by with it. I can't so I won't but I damn sure would if I thought I could.
a damn good sleep aid I must say.
Quaalude 714 Man o did a lot of us like these pills and that like was what done them in. The feds just couldn't have us having a good time
No stupid after effects at all that I can remember.