Those Ambien Side Effects Aren't Amusing to the FDA Any More

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Dr. Mercola
March 15 2007

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Those Ambien Side Effects Aren't Amusing to the FDA Any More

News reports began cropping up about a year ago regarding some of the strangest side effects associated with the useless drug Ambien, including nocturnal eating and driving.

The FDA finally got the message about those side effects yesterday, mandating new warnings on Ambien and 12 other drugs about complex behaviors like the previously listed ones along with potentially fatal allergic reactions and severe head swelling. (By the way, both of the later side effects can occur anytime after taking a sleep drug).Some of the other drugs affect by these more cautionary warnings:

Makes you wonder how much the agency really downplayed the true number of Ambien-stoked episodes like talking on the phone or making love in the first place, considering more Americans are using sleeping pills than ever before. Better to skip the sleep drugs and optimize your health by reviewing some of the proven solutions found in my 29 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep manual.

USA Today March 15, 2007

East Valley Tribune.com March 14, 2007

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Community Comments (19)

Posted On Mar 15, 2007

Like the creepy TV commercials for one of these sleep aid brands that portrays Abraham Lincoln and a talking beaver at a kitchen table to some sleep walking guy, also avoid combining these drugs with equally harmful 'happy drugs' like Prozac; I have been reading several reports the combination of the two is even more lethal and trigger suicide...

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Russ Bianchi

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enzo

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Posted On Mar 15, 2007

Is that a beaver? I thought it was a ground hog (along with the deep sea diver in the background cooking at the stove)…Whatever…"We just want you back".

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Russ Bianchi

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Posted On Mar 15, 2007

Enzo, maybe it is a ground hog...but the even creepier "we just want you back" tag line, sounds like some sicko line from The Matrix, or The Borg on Star Trek - The Next Generation...or a B-Movie on Jim Jones Kool-Aid.

It even looks like the Abe and cloned animal, or marsupial/puppet are on the stuff they are pushing...!

If they had any sense of humor, perhaps the could plug in some subliminal "White Punks On Dope" lyrics and melody...yeah, that's the ticket.

Maybe a Rod Serling voice "we control the vertical, we control the horizontal, you are about to enter The Twilight Zone...."

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SamanthaLynn

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Posted On Mar 17, 2007

I used Rozerem for a long time and it was so great! I just slept well and woke up easily. I did become allergic to it, however. I am hyper-allergenic when it comes to drugs in the first place.

I had horrible reactions to Ambien--it made me angrier than I have ever been. Needless to say I called my doctor the next day and switched.

I now use tiny amounts (1-1.5mg) of melatonin and that works quite nicely. If I take too much of it I get sugar cravings from here the Sunday. Bodies are weird, man.

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007

i took ambien for about 6 months until i noticed that i started doing weird things at night. i started eating everything in the refrigerator and i normally stop eating after dinner around 7pm. i also became really forgetfull. apparently i started doing and saying weird things that i had no memory of. i even started groping my boyfriend while he's sleeping. and that my friends is a big no-no. he hates being woken up period. imagine my surprise when he told me what i was doing and i didn't even remember it. now i just take valerian root or melatonin. at least these 2 sleeping aids are all natural and have no weird side effects.

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latingrrl1

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Posted On Jun 07, 2007

I had a sleep-driving incident after taking Ambien for three weeks and found myself being arrested for DWI at 3am miles away from my home. I had no recollection of leaving my home, driving or running my car into a curb!! I have been in touch w/an attorney in Denver who is pursuing a class action suit against Ambien and I will be part of that if it ever comes to fruition! Please email me if you have had a similar incident and would like to participate in a suit against Sanofi-Aventis, the manufacturer.

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lisaf

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shereeann

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Posted On Jul 26, 2007

iv had a bad exsperince with this med. iv been turned down by numerous lawyers. i need help and need where to turn. this drug is so dangerous and needs to have more warnings and more side effects listed. or taken out...........i was told by a lawyer, i dont have a case, cuz i didnt die. well if it wasnt for my husband getting up at 4:30 am i would of been dead... i cant belelive i was told that.....

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Posted On Mar 16, 2007

I was on Ambien because of a spine fusion gone wrong, constant pain and could not sleep. I would scare the living daylights out of my husband when I was driving, he would yell all the time to watch out for cars, I would turn right in front of them and had many near misses. Not even being aware of how I was driving. This is very dangerous medicine! I now take Melatonin 3mg if I have to and it works great. No more complaints from my husband for the way I am driving. There are other alternatives for sleep on the market that much safer with no side effects.

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karrus

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Posted On Aug 23, 2007

Here is what I have figured out about Ambien. If you are not laying in bed waiting to go to bed and take it you are bound to have crazy things go on. I have taken Ambien and have sex while asleep, ate an entire packet of crackers, bit my husband and woke him up to have sex. I have actually had sex and not remembered it. The amnesia part is what is scary and at times embarassing.

The craziest thing I have done is walk around the house cleaning and then decided to change the air filter. This wouldn't be that big of a deal but my husband said it was 2 in the morning and I had taken my pants off. Just strange. I whole heartedly believe that people do many strange things that are not normal when they take this. Anytime I hear that someone is going to take this I tell them to be careful because the amnesia part is no joke and that they may end up with a broomstick in their a** and not remember anything.

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swtjen01

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