Furious Seasons

May 07, 2008

New Sleeping Pills As Bad As Old Ones

Now that we've been getting flooded for a few years with ads for Ambien, Rozerem and Lunesta--the new age, totally safe sleeping pills!--it's becoming clear that these drugs create as many problems as the old prescription sleeping pills which were addiction-producing benzos such as Halcion (which was so bad it was pulled from the market). That's what popped up in a recent Wall Street Journal piece (sadly, behind the subscription firewall).

"The WHO Collaborating Center for International Drug Monitoring received 867 reports from 24 countries of people encountering amnesia, often coupled with confusion, agitation and other behavior disturbances, while taking the new sleeping pills, like Lunesta and Ambien, through March, 2007. That compares with 1,032 adverse reports with the older class of benzodiazepines, even though they have been on the market for decades longer.
"People under the influence of these drugs have gone on eating binges, driven their cars and engaged in other activities that they later cannot remember. The Wall Street Journal relates one story of a woman who painted her front door in her sleep, and in some cases, people have had serious car accidents and even set fire to their homes while in the seemingly-hypnotic state sometimes caused by the drugs."

Yep, that's a nice new class of sleeping pills the pharma companies have bestowed upon us.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at May 7, 2008 06:58 AM

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Comments

I hated Lunesta. It felt like this oppressive force suffocating me at night, and made me even more angry and agitated when I woke up. I'll stick with the occasional benzo, thank you very much...

Posted by: Garth at May 7, 2008 08:35 AM

I had early morning amnesia for years...my doctor was totally unimpressed. I don't even know what caused it...I was on so much shit...(benzo included which can cause amnesia)

Now that I'm off the majority of my meds I don't have amnesia anymore but I have severe cognitive and memory problems which will hopefully fade in time.

Posted by: Gianna at May 7, 2008 10:40 AM

This is unbelievable, the woman who painted her door and people setting houses on fire--what the hell. Though I have to say, that after not using Benadryl for 3 months, and using that as a sleep aid recently, I have been finding things out of place, or it appears I've gone on a cleaning binge (finding the refrigerator cleaned out and contents in the trash, and paperwork in the trash)at some point during the night and I have NO recollection of doing any of it. It's a frightening thing to think about, and if these reports are coming in regarding these new pills it is imperative they be scrutinized for public safety.

The reaction I am having with a tapering of a Benzo and the addition of the Benadryl has been quite alarming. It's like the brain short circuited. No way would I take a rx sleep medication now, or ever as a result.

Posted by: Stephany at May 7, 2008 12:28 PM

I had memory black-outs with Ambien. Got to the point where my husband would have to come to bed at the same time as me the nights I used it...he was afraid I'd fall down the stairs "sleepwalking." He also reported quite a few really incoherent conversations in which I was obviously hallucinating ("There are muppets in the bed!") that I have no memory of. Scary stuff.

Posted by: Jazz at May 7, 2008 02:00 PM

Psst... Melatonin.

Posted by: Lilly NC at May 7, 2008 02:18 PM

I abused Ambien quite heavily for a few months when prescribed it. I often took 2 or 3 pills multiple times during the day, once I discovered I could force myself awake and take advantage of its hallucinatory, coast-through-life effects. I almost never see information about the deliberate abuse of these hypnotics, but I suspect I'm not the only one who has done it. Incidentally, it never worked well as a sleep-aid for me.

Posted by: T.E. at May 9, 2008 04:05 PM

I work night shift. I am only able to sleep during the day. Can't sleep at night. Ambien has been a god send on the nights I have to sleep (usually when I have to be awake early the next day). However, I have had numerous episodes of amnesia. As long as I go straight to bed I'm good. If I even stay up just a little while, I end up leaving goofy myspace comments on my friends pages, redecorating the house and having sex with my boyfriend with no recollection of the event. You have to be smart about this med, go straight to bed!

Posted by: klh at May 18, 2008 07:50 AM