March 14, 2006

"But they wake up to find telltale clues: mouthfuls of peanut butter, Tostitos in their beds..."

Ambien-induced sleep eating.
A woman in Salinas, Calif., whose case is to be included in the Minnesota study, said she would awaken to find candy bar wrappers next to her bed and Popsicle sticks on the floor near the refrigerator. She blamed her husband and sons before finally believing their claims that she was eating at night, unaware.

Worried that she would choke, "my son was so afraid at night, he'd come sit by the bed and watch me," said the woman, Brenda Pobre, 54. Despite seeing several doctors, Ms. Pobre did not link Ambien to her nocturnal eating until after she gained 100 pounds.
Then there's this lady:
"I got up — my husband describes this in great detail — I got a package of hamburger buns and I just tore it open like a grizzly bear and just stood there and ate the whole package. He said a couple things to me and then he realized I was asleep."
I'd be rather pissed at the guy for not waking me up or at least offering me a pint of Haagen-Dazs. I mean, if I'm going to eat that many calories... Hamburger buns! Ugh!

11 comments:

bearbee said...

Uh huh...its not McDonalds after all, its the French.....turning us into a nation of the obese........!

Gear up the trial lawyers.

Ron said...

Wow, honey, it was the Ambien that made me cuddle up with the Cuervo bottle!

It's stuff like this that makes me wish for more funding for the sciences...

chuck b. said...

Sounds like there are some insomniac cancer and HIV/AIDS patients out there who could really benefit from Ambien.

I'm happy this particular side effect has not manifested in me because I sure loves me Ambien.

And who keeps candy bars and popsicles in their kitchen anyway? Come on.

Unknown said...

This sounds like one of those "news" articles placed by publicists.

Yeah, right, this lady gained 100 pounds from night eating. 'That's my story and I'm sticking to it.'

I wonder who funded the studies that revealed this horrible side effect? How convenient that it was first listed as such on the packet. Golly, I wonder who the attorney is going to use for his expert in the class action suit??

howzerdo said...

Funny, last week I got an email about the risk of having traffic accidents while taking Ambien. The Ambien label indicates that the medication can cause sleepwalking, among other side effects. On Thursday, The New York Times had an article on Ambien which reported that the medication has "led to a new species of impaired motorist and is showing up with regularity in traffic arrests." A spokesperson for the manufacturer responded that they are aware of the reports of people driving while sleepwalking. Scary. What surprised me the most was not that Ambien may be creating impaired drivers - but the number of people who are taking the drug...the power of advertising.
Gina

Jennifer said...

Ms. Pobre did not link Ambien to her nocturnal eating until after she gained 100 pounds

Talk about a delayed reaction. Am I the only one who would have vaporized my kitchen before I let it get to that point? Or at least removed everything edible from the house?

vbspurs said...

Heh. It's the Twinkie Defense for the 21st Century.

*LOL*

Twentieth Century = over-eating.
Twenty First Century = over-medicating.

Super Size Me indeed.

Cheers,
Victoria

Word verification: gssuv(i think)wbmv(i think, the vs and ws are so alike)...here goes. Gulp.

vbspurs said...

Pobrecita.

(pause for bilingual laughter)

Cheers,
Victoria

Ron said...

Twentieth Century = over-eating.
Twenty First Century = over-medicating.


The Twentieth Century thought we would put the food into pills, but now we think we're going to put the pills into the food!

vbspurs said...

The Twentieth Century thought we would put the food into pills, but now we think we're going to put the pills into the food!

I think the FDA will have to rethink the Food Pyramid.

Grains, Cereals, Dairy, Meat and Prozac.

Cheers,
Victoria

Choey said...

I took ambien once. I woke up the next morning in the guest room. My wife says I rearranged the pictures on the living room walls. I never took it again....