One of the most popular prescription sleeping pills in the pharmacy is zolpidem (Ambien). At last count, over 19 million prescriptions were dispensed annually. Despite its popularity, zolpidem remains highly controversial. On April 30, 2019 the FDA warned about “sleep behaviors, including sleepwalking, sleep driving, and engaging in other activities while not fully awake. These complex sleep behaviors have also resulted in deaths.” In other words, some people turned into zolpidem zombies. That’s what happened to this reader.
Flight Attendants Call Them Zolpidem Zombies:
Q. When my daughter-in-law died, I was too distressed to sleep and my doctor prescribed Ambien. Then I went to visit my daughter and accidentally took an Ambien before I left home. Once I got to the airport, I kind of went to sleep.
Somehow or other, I got into the parking lot, boarded a shuttle bus and even got to the right gate. Luckily, I had the shuttle ticket in my pocket to help me figure out where I had parked.
I realized on the plane that something was wrong. When I arrived, my daughter took me to the ER to be checked out. Later I figured out that the problem was flying under the influence of Ambien. I’ll never do that again!
A. Zolpidem (Ambien) is a popular sleeping pill. Many people take it on long flights to help them sleep, but sometimes it can cause amnesia. Flight attendants are aware of a phenomenon they term “zolpidem zombies:” people who are sleep-walking or doing other things on an airplane while not fully awake. This has led to some embarrassing situations.
Sleep Walking, Sleep Driving, Sleep Sex!
In its April 30, 2019 warning the FDA offered the following:
“Serious injuries and death from complex sleep behaviors have occurred in patients with and without a history of such behaviors, even at the lowest recommended doses, and the behaviors can occur after just one dose.
“Patients should stop taking your insomnia medicine and contact your health care professional right away if you experience a complex sleep behavior where you engage in activities while you are not fully awake or if you do not remember activities you have done while taking the medicine.
“We identified 66 cases of complex sleep behaviors occurring with these medicines over the past 26 years that resulted in serious injuries, including death. This number includes only reports submitted to FDA* or those found in the medical literature, so there may be additional cases about which we are unaware. These cases included accidental overdoses, falls, burns, near drowning, exposure to extreme cold temperatures leading to loss of limb, carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, hypothermia, motor vehicle collisions with the patient driving, and self-injuries such as gunshot wounds and apparent suicide attempts. Patients usually did not remember these events.”
*The cases were reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).
Sexsomnia:
The FDA did not mention sleep sex in its list of cases, but we have heard about this from readers. There’s even a name for this phenomenon: “sexsomnia” (Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, June, 2003). It is listed as a potential adverse reaction associated with zolpidem (Australian Prescriber, Dec. 1, 2008).
Zolpidem Zombies: Stories from Readers:
K.D. fell and broke her wrist and toe:
“I have been taking zolpidem for about 10 years. I just cannot sleep if I don’t take it. I have been sleep-eating. My boyfriend found me in the back yard in my nightgown, not making any sense. I fell and broke my wrist and toe (it still looks horrible).
“I sent emails out to EVERYONE in my email address book that said “Mild, blue tarantula (dot) com”–I have NO idea what that means. Now I unplug my landline pc at night–my sisters were really frightened by the email. I also sent one that was just letters, jibberish.
“I asked my doctor how to get off of it and, the one I go to now, says it’s “almost impossible” and that he doesn’t like using it at all…another guinea pig who will be going into retirement years miserable. Thanks, Big Pharma”
This reader reports problems with generic zolpidem ER:
“I have been on Ambien CR for seven years now. It’s worked well for a long time. Recently my pill was changed to generic zolpidem ER. These pills take way too long to put me to sleep. Now I’m up at night eating candy. When I wake up the next morning my wife describes behavior that’s definitely not me!”
Elle became one of the zolpidem zombies:
“My psychiatrist prescribed zolpidem as an aid to eliminate depression-induced insomnia. Within a few short months, I experienced a night-eating episode.
“One morning I woke up out on my back porch (I had gone to sleep in my second floor bedroom) and my mouth was filled with blue-black bits which I first thought to be cockroaches. I had no idea how I had gotten out on the porch. When I went in the house to look in the mirror to see what was in my mouth, I saw the blue tortilla corn chips strewn about. I blamed my cat, Winston, who loved them, until I saw them in my own mouth in the mirror.
“I was horrified, having not one shred of a memory of even awakening in the night. I later found the bag stashed in the refrigerator. (I usually keep them in the pantry.)
“I discussed this at my next appointment. My MD immediately took me off the drug and told me that I was the fourth person in two months that had had a scary nocturnal episode such as mine and that she would no longer be prescribing it as a result. It might not seem scary to simply read this, but to experience the complete loss of control over your behavior and also your memory of the event is frightening indeed.”
Other Ways to Get Some Sleep:
You can learn more about zolpidem and other sleep aids as well as non-drug approaches in our eGuide to Getting a Good Night’s Sleep. This online resource may be accessed at the Guide section of www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.
Share your own sleeping pill story in the comment section.
