strangely enough I had just posted on another story reporting on the skyrocketing prescriptions being doled out to young adults---of crap like ambian and lunesta...the claim is there is no addiction which is a load of crap...

I updated my post with a link to this lovely tidbit about how wonderful ambien can be.

A heart-stopping thought: Ambien is probably your Congresscritter's favourite drug.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/18/opinion/18dowd.html?_r=1

Dear Lord!
I've sleepwalked for two nights due to side effect. Never in my life I did it.
Fortunately I woke up in my living-room making a speech.
I don't remember if it was Donaren or Zyprexa.

My daughter walked in her sleep the first night she ever took an antidepressant. She had never done so before. I think she was walking in her sleep when she took her own life. She didn't turn on any lights or make any noise -- I was in a nearby room fitfully trying to sleep and heard her fall on the floor. She had been told abruptly to stop Paxil the day before. She had recently been started on an atypical and then that very day on Depakote. One of the side effects of Depakote is "sleep abnormalities." And antidepressants suppress the muscle paralysis that normally occurs during REM sleep. I am sure many of these psych drugs affect sleep and sleep architecture in ways that are very poorly understood and I think it's one of the most dangerous things about them. How can we "monitor" people who are walking and acting out in bizarre ways in their sleep? It's just not possible.

Last year I gave my husband some Ambien. We had some samples and he wasn't sleeping. I was desperate for him to sleep. Shortly after taking the Ambien, he acted so goofy that I got scared. I phoned my alternative MD and put my husband on the phone. The MD was also shocked at his behavior and weird speech and said maybe I should take him to the hospital for his own safety. I am glad I didn't because they would have thougth it was a psych condition...What I didn't know was that my husband had drank some alcohol. The combination of Ambien and alcohol is very dangerous. It isn't something to fool around with.

Sara,
I'm very sorry.
I didn't know what has happened to your daughter.
Isn't it a crime?
If it's not a crime I have to reconsider the meaning of this concept.

What better proof can you have that people on this drug can do things not in their right mind?
Some people might think after a crime or something severe people use the drug as an excuse for their actions. Actions under their control. Someone dying from sleepwalking proves people can not be conscious of their actions while under the drugs influences.

That's a good point Mark.

Mark,
Great point.
Unfortunately only those who have experienced these drugs can understand.
Other people can say:
"People who sleepwalk without medication suffer the same. This man would suffer the same sleepwalking naturally.
This is anedoctical and not scientifically proven.
We need to make a double-blind test in order to be sure that Ambien has caused the sleepwalking.. blah blah blah........"

It's amazing.

German sleepwalker dies after seven-storey fall
December 31st, 2008 - 8:01 pm ICT by IANS -

Ulm (Germany), Dec 31 (DPA) An 18-year-old sleepwalker who climbed out of his bedroom window while asleep died of his injuries after falling seven storeys, the German police said Wednesday.His family, who had worried for years about his disorder, called emergency services at 5 a.m. (0400 GMT) Tuesday to their apartment block in the southern German city of Ulm after finding the youth seriously injured on the ground.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/german-sleepwalker-dies-after-seven-storey-fall_100136962.html
January 06, 2008
Article from: The Australian

SPORTS commentator Clinton Grybas, who has been found dead in his Melbourne apartment, may have fallen while sleepwalking.
Mr Grybas, 32, was found dead yesterday after he failed to turn up for 3AW's Sports Today show, which runs from midday until 2pm (AEDT).
Friends and family said Mr Grybas was a known sleepwalker, News Ltd newspapers reported today.
They said Mr Grybas had told them of sleepwalking incidents, including one in which he had woken on his 15th-floor balcony at Southbank, giving himself a scare.
In another episode, Mr Grybas believed an intruder had attacked him after waking up with a head injury.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23013441-2702,00.html?from=public_rss

"blah blah blah... this is normal. There's no evidence that it was Ambien who made this man sleepwalking blah blah blah...."

I'll ride under the bed.
I have never sleepwalked in my life. Only the two nights I was on Donaren (I guess it was the one).
But it's not scientific data.
It's not scientific data.
It's not scientific data.
It's not scientific data.
End of discussion!