Pill users report more bizarre behaviour

[apothecary]

Would've posted this in an older Stilnox thread but the search engine playing up

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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...5005961,00.html

HUNDREDS of Australians have reported bizarre behaviour, including one case of jumping off a high-rise balcony, after taking the popular sleeping pill Stilnox.

A national medical hotline for adverse drug reactions has been swamped with more than 400 calls from people taking the controversial prescription medication.

Callers have reported unusual behaviour such as smoking, driving, painting, cooking and stabbing themselves while they were asleep.

"We've had an unprecedented number of calls," said Dr Geraldine Moses, a pharmacist with the Adverse Medical Events Line.

The findings come after a spate of bizarre side-effects were made public last month, in which users reported gaining up to 20kg from regular binge-eating during the night.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the national drugs regulator, is currently in discussions with sedative drug manufacturers about adding new warnings to packets.

Among the more recent complaints to the hotline, one Stilnox user reportedly drank half a bottle of whisky and plunged from a 12-storey balcony while asleep.

A middle-aged woman had to have her leg amputated after falling over in the bathroom while she was on the medication.

Dr Moses said she and other hotline workers had been shocked by both the volume of calls and the extent of the reactions.

"The drug has been around for almost 10 years and the reactions would have been happening the whole time but obviously people didn't know where to report them," she said.

Recent media coverage of the hotline raised its profile and contributed to the increased number of people calling with their concerns.

Dr Moses urged users to avoid taking the full 10mg dosage and instead just pop half a pill to limit side-effects.

Meanwhile, the Australian drug reactions committee has met and made several undisclosed recommendations regarding the drug, manufactured by pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis.

A TGA spokeswoman said these would be referred to a parent committee and then passed on to the TGA for final decision-making regarding any regulatory changes.

"It's a bit early to report any potential action by the TGA," she said.

"In the meantime, the TGA is currently in discussion with sponsors of sedative medicines regarding changes to the wording of their product information as a result of recent concerns regarding adverse reactions.

Edited March 28, 2007 by apothecary

[Conan Troutman]

I find it odd that all of these cases are suddenly finding there way to the media...anyway for those who havent seen the Ambien Cookbook here it is...couldnt help myself

Sorpresa con Queso Ingredients: 7 bags Cheetos, 17 to 19 glasses tap water, 5 mg. Ambien Place Cheetos bags in cupboard. Take Ambien, fall asleep. Wait 2-3 hours, then sleepwalk to kitchen, tear cupboard doors off hinges in search of Cheetos…eat contents of all 7 bags…

Icebox Melange…Take Ambien, fall asleep…sleepwalk to kitchen. Devour everything in refrigerator…Belch loud enough to wake wife or girlfriend. When she enters kitchen, bellow, “Can't you see I'm working here?”…

Tummy Cake…Take Ambien, fall asleep. Wake up in kitchen, mixing eggs, flour, Crisco, and milk in-for some reason-a mop bucket…Retrieve bucket from kitchen, drink entire contents in 3-5 gulps…

Nhi Ho Trang Phu…Lay out beef jerky and Gatorade on nightstand…Take Ambien, fall asleep. After 2-3 hours, awaken half-submerged in a rice paddy in the jungle lowlands just north of the Mekong Delta….

Paul Simms, "The Ambien Cookbook," The New Yorker, July 31, 2006, p. 34

[Conan Troutman]

Just checked out TGA site seems the number aren't quite as high as the media is making out...

please check out this link and the table of common reported side effects...

http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/aadrbltn/aadr0202.htm#zolpi

Seeing things with zolpidem

Zolpidem (Stilnox) was marketed in Australia in late 2000 for the short term treatment of insomnia. It is structurally unrelated to the benzodiazepines, but has a similar pharmacological action. In 2001, ADRAC received 72 reports describing 170 reactions in association with zolpidem as shown in Table 1.

Of these 72 reports, 56 described one or more neurological or psychiatric reactions, especially visual hallucinations, confusion, depression and amnesia. Most reactions occurred with a daily dose of 10 mg and 70% occurred after the first dose. Most of the 15 reports of hallucinations occurred within a few hours, often soon after the drug was taken. Half of the reports of amnesia described a total loss of memory for events immediately after the drug was taken, although two described poor memory in subsequent days. The onset of confusion and depression was sometimes apparent within hours of taking the drug but in most cases occurred the following day.

Prescribers should be alert to the fact that zolpidem may be associated with distressing neurological or psychiatric reactions.

[t st tantra]

just shows their[the tga] real values,pursuing piracetam and the hardly used kratom and salvia d, while this has been going on since at least 2001.

t s t .

[simon_marklar]

So Someone jumps out of a balcony on this stuff, and the packets get stronger warnings.

Someone jumps of a balcony on acid/shrooms, and the TGA is saying "OMG like these are dangerous drugz, we gotta banzorz them!"

that makes so much sense!

[Thelema]

About 3 years ago I started experimenting with hallucinogenic GABA agents. I started taking about 25mg Z per night after hearing that Zolpidem brought on hallucinations. The first few nights were OK, Xanax-like sedation with "scratchy" LSA type visuals, but nothing ++.

After about a month of taking, it would send me into a deep sleep of about 3 hours, and then I would be wide awake again straight afterwards. (it's not very nice waking from deep sleep at 2.45am and not feeling like going back)

The overall impression is that the crazy shit these reporters mention would happen with ANY GABA agent used long-term at high dose. Zolpidem used occasionally at 10mg is fine. Longer and higher than that, the statistical creeps will start to emerge that it contains a hallucinogenic potential and a paradoxical sleep potential.

What we are seeing here is statistical creeps crawling out of the woodwork due to media coverage. Sure, what is in issue is not that these events occurred, but to what extent they are being noticed due to hysterical reaction. (I use the word hysterical in its academic sense)

If a "paracetamol reaction grassroots association" got themselves together, they too could inundate press and TGA figures with an influx of reaction against paracetamol.