Have you ever layed awake at night trying to get your brain to shut off. You keep thinking of the many things that may have you stressed out and can't sleep. This is how many of my nights go. I usually wind up blogging or catching up on other people's blogs.
I was once given a drug called Ambien to help me sleep. It had just come out and everyone was saying how great it was. No groggy feeling, 8 hours of sleep. Perfect!! When they give it to you they tell you to not take it until you are laying in bed. I kind of laugh, as it usually takes about an hour for medicine to kick into my system.
I go home. I take my shower and take the ambien. I got to bed and sleep well. I used it for a while and then my sleep patern improved so stopped.
Fast forward to this week.
I am stressed out and very worn down. I wasn't getting any sleep at all. So, I break out the ambien. I do my typical night routine and then head to the couch to settle in for the night. I then wake up in bed and it is the next morning. What?? How did I get to the bed from the couch?
I don't think a lot more about it until my girl wakes up. She rolls over and looks at me. I smile and tell her good morning. She says nothing. She glares at me and gets out of bed. Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of bed. She doesn't talk to me for a long time after she gets up.
I finally ask her why she is mad at me. She tells me I came downstairs and sat on the couch next to her. She was eating some cheeries and I asked for a few. She jokingly tells me she has one for me behind her ear. (She likes little kisses behind her ear.) She says the next thing she knew I was biting hard into her ear lobe. She coudn't get me to stop. I was locked on like a snapping turtle. She finally prys me off her ear and then I decide I want to go for a walk. At two in the morning in my pajamas. She tries to talk me out of it but I want to go. I then fall down the stairs. She tells me to get in bed and I once again try and go for a walk. I guess after an hour of fighting me I finally settle in the bedroom and get online. I appearantly emailed everyone on my friends list about how mean my girl is being for not letting me take a walk.
I remember NONE of this. I remeber taking medicine and then heading to the couch, then waking up in bed. I have been banned from ever taking it again. I was shocked I had such a weird reaction to it, so I googled it. This is what I found:
If you suffer from insomnia, and millions of people do, then the prescription drug Zolpidem, commonly called Ambien, might just give you the relief you need. A lot of people are already taking the drug. According to the latest survey, more than 23 million prescriptions for Ambien were written last year, and the number is growing.
It's the most popular drug for the treatment of insomnia, but it can have some strange side effects, especially if you don't take it properly,.
Drugs.com lists the following possible side effects:
allergic reaction including difficulty breathing
hallucinations
abnormal behavior
severe confusion
Other less serious side effects include headache, nausea, depression, muscle pain, vivid dreams, temporary amnesia, and others.
Drugs.com also mentions rebound insomnia. This sometimes occurs when you stop taking a sleep medication, and usually subsides in a night or two.
KEYC television reporter Amy Stone spoke with Keith Matos who is taking Ambien for insomnia. The instructions for the medication include the admonition to take the medication and immediately go to bed.
Matos decided to stay up and make a few phone calls. Later he couldn't remember making the calls, found out he'd said things that made no sense, and had done things around the house that he didn't recall doing. This is known as temporary amnesia.
I was once given a drug called Ambien to help me sleep. It had just come out and everyone was saying how great it was. No groggy feeling, 8 hours of sleep. Perfect!! When they give it to you they tell you to not take it until you are laying in bed. I kind of laugh, as it usually takes about an hour for medicine to kick into my system.
I go home. I take my shower and take the ambien. I got to bed and sleep well. I used it for a while and then my sleep patern improved so stopped.
Fast forward to this week.
I am stressed out and very worn down. I wasn't getting any sleep at all. So, I break out the ambien. I do my typical night routine and then head to the couch to settle in for the night. I then wake up in bed and it is the next morning. What?? How did I get to the bed from the couch?
I don't think a lot more about it until my girl wakes up. She rolls over and looks at me. I smile and tell her good morning. She says nothing. She glares at me and gets out of bed. Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of bed. She doesn't talk to me for a long time after she gets up.
I finally ask her why she is mad at me. She tells me I came downstairs and sat on the couch next to her. She was eating some cheeries and I asked for a few. She jokingly tells me she has one for me behind her ear. (She likes little kisses behind her ear.) She says the next thing she knew I was biting hard into her ear lobe. She coudn't get me to stop. I was locked on like a snapping turtle. She finally prys me off her ear and then I decide I want to go for a walk. At two in the morning in my pajamas. She tries to talk me out of it but I want to go. I then fall down the stairs. She tells me to get in bed and I once again try and go for a walk. I guess after an hour of fighting me I finally settle in the bedroom and get online. I appearantly emailed everyone on my friends list about how mean my girl is being for not letting me take a walk.
I remember NONE of this. I remeber taking medicine and then heading to the couch, then waking up in bed. I have been banned from ever taking it again. I was shocked I had such a weird reaction to it, so I googled it. This is what I found:
If you suffer from insomnia, and millions of people do, then the prescription drug Zolpidem, commonly called Ambien, might just give you the relief you need. A lot of people are already taking the drug. According to the latest survey, more than 23 million prescriptions for Ambien were written last year, and the number is growing.
It's the most popular drug for the treatment of insomnia, but it can have some strange side effects, especially if you don't take it properly,.
Drugs.com lists the following possible side effects:
allergic reaction including difficulty breathing
hallucinations
abnormal behavior
severe confusion
Other less serious side effects include headache, nausea, depression, muscle pain, vivid dreams, temporary amnesia, and others.
Drugs.com also mentions rebound insomnia. This sometimes occurs when you stop taking a sleep medication, and usually subsides in a night or two.
KEYC television reporter Amy Stone spoke with Keith Matos who is taking Ambien for insomnia. The instructions for the medication include the admonition to take the medication and immediately go to bed.
Matos decided to stay up and make a few phone calls. Later he couldn't remember making the calls, found out he'd said things that made no sense, and had done things around the house that he didn't recall doing. This is known as temporary amnesia.
What the hell?? How on earth can a drug like this still be on the market?? I found other forums on the drug as well and one woman even had sex with her neighbor while asleep!
You know some poor insomniac is going to kill their spouse and their defense will be, "Ambien made me do it!"
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5 comments:
Ok not only do you have the honor of being one of the RARE blog entries that ACTUALLY makes me laugh out loud... but.
You are the:
a) First one that ever made me laugh myself to tears and
b) The first one I ever felt FORCED to read to Jess. LOLOL
Good luck with the Ambien.
It's now 11:40pm where I am. Hopefully you're not off somewhere sucking your neighbor's dog's blood.
Meeting you and your girl is moving up on my bucket list.
You know what really makes me worry, is what did I do back when I was sinlge and living by myself and taking it?
I am going to run across someone someday who encountered me while "sleep walking" on ambiem and tell me I stole their underwear or something.
Oh my God, that is so freaky! I've heard of stories of people who drove their car in their sleep while on that stuff.
Oh honey, have I got a tale to tell you! My partner works in Atlanta in neuro ICU and she only works weekends. She went to the motel after her shift, and went to bed after taking her Ambien. She woke up at 3pm and on her bed she had two foot long chili dogs...one was eaten by her Shih-Tsu who's belly was all BIG, and the other one was partially eaten. She also had two grape slushies. One on the nightstand that was melted, and the other one was laying on the bed with her.
The Dairy Queen across a big four lane road and a little ways down from the motel. She doesn't remember driving there, or walking there, and she had on a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt...with no bra of course. LOL
Connie
I took ambeim for a few months after a bad break-up. One night after taking it on was sitting on the stairs in my house talking on the phone. I swear I saw one of the coats that was hanging on the hall tree below start waving at me. From then on, it was straight to be after taking one.
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