NEWS: March 14, 2007
FDA warning on Ambien:
WASHINGTON - All known prescription sleeping pills may at times cause a bizarre behavior called sleep-driving, federal health officials warned Wednesday.
It is similar to sleepwalking, but while driving your car. Imagine getting up in the middle of the night and going for a drive, with no memory of doing so.
The Food and Drug Administration has more than a dozen reports would not say exactly how many cases of sleep-driving it had linked to insomnia drugs, but they believe many more case exist.
Being unable to get a restful night's sleep can seem like the worst experience in the world; consequently, the constant lack of "zzz"s can lead you to ask your doctor for a medical solution to your problem. However, if you (or a loved one) has been taking Ambien to induce slumber, you may be putting yourself at a great risk.
Commonly prescribed and heavily marketed as a cure for insomnia, Ambien (also known as Zolpidem, Stilnox, Stilnoct, Hypnogen, or Myslee) has only been around since the early-to-mid 1990s. Its uses have varied over the years, with many physicians prescribing the drug for those with conditions such as restless leg syndrome and seizures as well as insomnia.
Unfortunately, some drug addicts, particularly those addicted to drugs such as cocaine and crack, have started to use Ambien as a means of "coming down" from a high. Though this is an illegal use of the legal drug, it still gives a clear indication that Ambien is far from being "safe," especially in the wrong hands.
Although Ambien received FDA approval over a decade ago, Ambien has been recently linked to severe negative side effects including hallucinations and/or amnesia when taken in high doses. This gives pause to anyone concerned about what they are putting into their bodies (or the bodies of those they love.)
Some patients of Ambien have also claimed that its effectiveness comes with a high price of addiction. Even when they have taken Ambien for short periods, they feel a remarkable sense of "let down" after discontinuing its use.
Additionally, Ambien has been connected to cases of persistent vegetative states (PVS), conditions from which patients are usually not expected to recover. In fact, United Kingdom medical reports tell of clients who have fallen into a PVS after taking Ambien.
We, too, are concerned about Ambien and want to educate the public about its defections. However, we need your help to prevent further damage to any other innocent persons, as without specific data, it will be impossible to stop the drug makers of Ambien from endangering other adults.
If you or someone you know have taken Ambien and experienced severe or permanent side effects, we urge you to call our office today. You'll owe us no money; what we request is your experience, not your savings. Without your help, the makers of defective drug products such as Ambien will never get the message that their medications may be causing irreparable harm.
| Dawn Thompson says: | 2010-07-26 20:27:53 |
| I lost my father and was very upset, so my dr. prescribed Ambien to help me get some rest. I took one pill that evening around 6pm and tried to finish eating my salad. I had two of children sitting next to me. I awoke the next late morning, not remembering how I got to bed, where my kids went, let alone my salad, how I got undressed or how I was violated. It really made me feel lost of selfworth and confused. | |
| Jim L. says: | 2010-07-15 17:15:57 |
| Arrested for sleep driving in July 2009. Although no-one was injured I may have to go to jail for quit some time. | |
| Barb says: | 2010-06-24 14:21:15 |
| My husband accidently took 2 10mg pills this a.m. He thought it was his pain pills. We had to go to the airport and he was driving strangely and crossing the center line. It was like he was "high" and I knew for sure he wasn't. It was very scary. I ended up making him pull over because I thought he was having a stroke. This is his first and last experience with the drug. | |
| Amy LaBorde says: | 2010-03-19 00:31:12 |
| My best friend Pam took an Ambien the other night because she could not sleep. Then around midnight, she got in her car, drove quite a ways down the street and slammed her car into a tree. She did not survive the accident. She told her boyfriend she had taken an Ambien around 10:00pm and that she was going to bed. I can't even believe that this drug could have killed my friend who loved life so much. I so wish this drug gets pulled from the shelves. I can't believe how many stories I have heard about people sleep driving and they are still prescribing it. A warning label that warns you not to drive would do nothing to prevent you from getting behind the wheel completely unconsciously. | |
| Valerie says: | 2009-12-17 18:19:47 |
| I am so sorry to hear all of your stories. Back in 2003 I was prescribed Ambien for insomnia. Apparently, I sleep drove with my 11 yr old daughter in the vehicle (who said I was acting strange, so she insisted on going to the post office with me at 3am). On the way back I ran up over a curb and hit a sign. The next morning when I went out to the garage my car was damaged and parked crooked. (My car didn't even have a scratch on it before this incident.) I yelled at my daughter asking her what happened to my car. After sleep walking and eating (without remembering any of these events) my daughter made me give her my keys and cell phone right before I took my Ambien. This year I got desperate (lack of sleep for days at a time) so I took it again. Only this time I live alone with my two dogs. I awoke to a stove on (cookies burning inside) things half-eaten in the trash. No memory of any of it. Ambien is dangerous and it is my personal experience that leads me to believe that even after discontinued use your memory is never the same. | |
| Scott Little says: | 2009-11-19 11:11:40 |
| I had been prescribed Ambien to offset the energizing affect of an anti-depressant called Paxil. I took Ambien nightly for over a year. Back in June 2009, I started to notice that I was sleep walking in my apartment. I would notice furniture moved and uneaten food left all over. On July 28, I took Ambien and went to bed. The next thing I remember is waking up in jail. I was charged with DWI. Apparently I refused to take a breathalyzer test. I was in jail for 3 days. After my release, I returned home and couldnā??t find my car. I went through towing agencies and finally found it. I had been involved in an accident with a parked car on the street in front of my apartment complex. The car was totaled. I had to hire an attorney to try and deal with the DWI. Last week I lost my driverā??s license for 6 months for failure to take the breathalyzer test. The police officers who arrested me said that they had smelled alcohol on my breath. All I know is that I didnā??t drink before taking Ambien. After that, I may have. The DWI has so far cost me $3000.00. I have a court date in December about the DWI conviction. If Iā??m convicted. I will be finer $2000.00 and will have a surcharge tacked onto my license for 3 years. The surcharge will cost between $1000.00 to $2000.00 for 3 years. Any help would be appreciated. If there are any document you have that you feel would be helpful to me, please e-mail them to me. I had never heard about Ambien causing sleep driving until I started to research it on the Internet after what happened to me. This drug is dangerous. Many medications list that a person may be impaired and shouldn't drive. With Ambien, I had no impairment. I went from being asleep to unconciously driving a car | |
| Ginger Cole says: | 2009-11-05 17:16:34 |
| I was put on ambien and went to sleep only to get up, go get into my car and drive it into the hotel I was staying in put the car in reverse -parked it and got out went back inside and went back to bed only to have my nextdoor neighbor knock on my door about an hour later to ask me if I was all right. I had no knowledge of what I had done. the next day two detectives knocked on my door and ask me what happened. I had no idea what I was going to say because I could not remember. I know this falls under a civil matter and I think that is the only reason I was not taken to jail, because these cops thought I was on drugs. | |
| Understand says: | 2009-09-26 18:19:47 |
| I am sorry to hear your story and as I am reading this after your court date I hope all went well. Ambien almost caused my boyfriend to kill me, he had taken a months worth of Ambien in two days, he only remembers taking one and then he violently attacked me holding me down with a knife to my neck. I was able to get away and call 911 and he is currently in rehab for addition to ambien. He will still have several charges and may face jail time along with his job he has had for the past 16 years with the state is most likely gone. These sleeping pills are extremely dangerous and no one should take them | |
| Rose Marie Casilli says: | 2009-09-14 09:43:42 |
| I will be 65 years old the end of Sept. 2009. I have one MV ticket during all my years of driving (and that was 26 years ago). On Sat. Sept. 5, 2009 I took Ambien, went to bed and then was picked up for DUI. I have no memory of getting up and getting in my car. I am devastated. My court date is Sept. 22, 2009. I don't know what I will do if I lose my license. I never thought something like this could ever happen to me. | |
Some uses of Sanofi-Aventis's medication Ambien are getting much more than they bargained for when they take their bedtime prescriptions. Though the drug is prescribed for those who cannot sleep, it has been linked to a strange behavior in some insomniacs - sleepwalking.
Though these people ostensibly get mental "rest" while taking Ambien, their bodies certainly do not. And the pills seem to make them do even crazier things than stroll through the house in the wee hours of the morning. Some have driven while in a state of half-wake/half-asleep. Some have had phone conversations with friends and families while they somnambulate. And some are evening claiming that the drug has led to their committing illegal acts.
In fact, a navy lieutenant based in Tampa, Florida, reportedly stole groceries from a local store while taking Ambien. She claims to have no recollection of the event, nor did a polygraph test reveal that she was being deceitful when she said she didn't remember her theft.
Not surprisingly, Ambien's marketer Sanofi-Aventis is doing research on its own before making any settlements; however, attorneys on the side of the claimants are confident that their clients will receive some form of restitution for Ambien's unwelcome and unwanted side effects.
Since 2002, more and more patients who took Ambien have described this adverse reaction to the drug, leading many in the medical world to wonder about the safety of the most prescribed sleep-aid medication. For instance, if people who take Ambien can commit acts without any memory of them, is it really fair to have Ambien on the market? After all, Ambien users who are driving in their sleep could wind up hurting or killing other people, which would lead to even greater troubles for Sanofi-Aventis.
The Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) has not pulled Ambien from the market, but at our law firm, we're concerned that Ambien may actually be defective. Therefore, if you or someone you care about has suffered ill effects from using the medication to treat episodes of insomnia, we encourage you to give us a call.
Our team of legal experts is here for you and will represent you with integrity, respect, and confidentiality. Together, we'll let makers like Sanofi-Aventis know that they cannot continue to put people's lives in jeopardy by marketing drugs that may not have been completed tested for safety before being introduced to the public.