I just found out I had an unnerving Ambien sleepwalking episode last August

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was scrolling through Google Photos earlier this week looking for some vacation pics I took last year with my smartphone.

I stopped scrolling when I saw about a dozen photos that were just black, plus 4 videos that were also black.

This surprised me because I don’t remember anything like this – and because I go through my photos regularly and delete the mistakes or the crappy pics.

Anyway, 3 of the videos were short and from the images captured, I gathered that I was working to prop up my phone on my bedroom window sill, aiming it outward toward my backyard and the 2-car garage adjacent to the back alley.

According to the time stamp on the videos, these images were captured starting at 4:30 in the morning.

But the 4th video was a whopper: a nearly 30-minute video showing nothing but a dark night scene for about the first 15 minutes, and then I watched the backyard get lit up a bit, which I later deduced was me turning on the overhead light in the back room … in preparation for me exiting the house and walking to the garage.

I get to the service door, and I see myself from behind, becauses the motion-activated flood light turned on.

I enter the garage, switch on the main light, and for the rest of the video I can see myself intermittently through the open service door and the horizontal window that’s on the side of the garage facing the house.

I see the big garage door go up, and I see that I had collected a flashlight by then, and I seemed to be at the door using the flashlight to illuminate the alley, moving it left and right, and then upwards.

The other two things I see – through the horizontal window – are me opening one of the car doors and looking inside, and getting a box down from a high shelf.

Then the video ends. I don’t why it ends when it did. I certainly did not turn off my cell phone camera, otherwise I would have seen myself in the video returning to the house to do so.

Anyway, I don’t remember any of this, and so I have deduced that I must have taken one or two pills of Ambien (actually, the generic ‘zolpidem’) and had a sleepwalking episode.

It’s so weird, because I’ve taken zolpidem for occasional sleeplessness – about once every two weeks – for 4-5 years.

I’ve never had such an episode before – or maybe I have … and just didn’t record it! (And that’s scary!)

Any Google search will return results showing that some of these Ambien-induced sleepwalking side effects are terrible: people driving, cooking large meals, bulk buying on Amazon things they would never need, etc., – all without knowing it!

I’ve heard that flight attendants have a special code they use to alert each other that they are dealing with an Ambien sleepwalker, who can be especially disruptive and hard to deal with, especially if they mix Ambien with alcohol.

Me, I’m glad to have found this video. I’m also glad it showed me doing innocuous (and safe) things and not driving my car somewhere or taking a stroll down the alley and beyond. I’m also glad I put on a pair of shorts and a shirt … because I always sleep in the nude.

I don’t think I’ll take Ambien/zolpidem ever again.

Please feel free to share your weird Ambien experiences.

2

Oh my. That is scary.

I had a couple incidents so I’ve never used it again.

And I was taking half dose.

Once I was sitting on the floor in the pantry eating red jello powder caused quite the uproar when my daughter opened the pantry and saw me there with bright red stuff allover my face and hands.

The thing is, I’m a sleepwalker anyway. It took us a little detective work to figure out it was Ambien causing this increase in nighttime wanderings.

No more for me.

3

I’ve used Ambien for decades. No issues for me. It’s like a light switch on and off. I wake up fully awake, no grogginess or lack of energy to get out of bed.

One friend had sleepwalking/memory loss side effects.

If you didn’t know, half an Ambien works half as long. I usually take a half dose if I need to fall asleep, if I wake up wide awake in the middle of the night, and nothing if not needed. Ambien is my friend for jet lag. Again, same thing, only take it (and usually just a half dose) when jet lag wakes me up in the middle of the night

4

I have nothing good to say about Ambien.

Postscript: we got married a month after that post, she never took Ambien again, and 15 years later we’re still happily married. Somehow, my snoring is no longer as bad, even though I’m a bit heavier now than I was then.

5

With the important caveat that IANAD nor a pharmacist, I will say that I hear a great deal too much fear-mongering about non-benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic medications – so-called “Z-drugs” like Ambien (zolpidem), Sonata (zaleplon), or zopliclone.

Their effects of course vary with individuals so consult your doctor and obviously stop using if it has adverse affects. I rarely have trouble falling asleep but when I do – sometimes due to some stressful event the next day – the hypnotics are miracles. I take the pill, and then I read a book in bed or watch a movie or something and note that it has no effect. And then I notice that the sun is shining and it’s morning. And there are no after-effects that I’ve ever noticed.

6

I’m with you, China_Guy. I absolutely need one to get to sleep, otherwise I just lie there with “racing thoughts.” My dose has been the same for over 15 years. Never had a negative event.

My mother, on the other hand, started taking it and woke up on the third night to find she was ironing clothes. The iron was turned on, though she was apparently doing a poor job of actually getting anything done.

7

Wow. I’ve never researched this. Black box warning and approved for short term use only.

And the only way to know whether it’ll make you an unconscious animated zombie is to try it. Might happen the first time, might happen the thousandth. Might happen every time and you don’t know it.

I’m kind of surprised the stuff is still approved as of late 2023. After 2024 started, there is no meaningful regulation of anything in the USA. Rhyme or reason has comprehensively left the building

8

Well, that’s scary! For a moment I was afraid you were going to tell us that you got in your car and drove off! I know, it sounds crazy but, if you can sleep walk and do the other stuff you described, you might just give a try.

9

Wow, I am seriously surprised that you can get Z-series sleeping pills seemingly so easily in the US, and take them for such a long time. Here in the UK they are prescription only, and in my experience very hard to get even then.

10

We were in the midst of moving late spring of 2019. We had a lovely art deco pool table that the new owners didn’t want, and I was to deliver it to a buyer in Moab the next day. I had been insomniac, so took and Ambien at 9pm and went to sleep…

Woke up at 1 am absolutely certain that I had to get to Moab RIGHT NOW. Finished loading the table and my tools by 2:30 and hit the road. Note that at the very least I was not sleep walking, but was definitely under a compulsion. Called the very confused buyer at 5:30 am and was at his house by 7, got the table set up by 9, and in the midst of the drive home basically woke up and had a “what the fuck just happened?” moment. Never took it again.

A neighbor mistook Ambien for his blood pressure meds, took 2 and drove to work. Sideswiped 2 cars…

11

Ambien is a prescription-only medication here in the States, too.

But as revealed in this thread, some U.S. doctors won’t prescribe it.

Of course, anyone really wanting the pills can always shop around to find a doctor who will write a prescription.

12

I’ve had a few incidents. Emails I didn’t remember sending, books I don’t remember finishing, games I don’t remember playing, food I don’t remember eating, etc. It’s 10x worse if alcohol is involved, though I use neither Ambien nor alcohol anymore.

For anybody seeking safer sleep aids, there are some new orexin-receptor meds out there that have zero of the risks of the Z-drugs, no dependence, no behavioral impairment, memory issues, etc. I’ve been on Quvivic for 6 months now. The only real downsides are (a) it’s a bit pricey, and (b) it takes 4-6 weeks to be fully effective. But now that I’m on it, I reliably get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, no problems with late onset or early waking at all. In fact I’m thinking to drop the dosage due to oversleeping, which for me is a nice change, but not sustainable as a lifestyle.

13

For years, decades, I’ve taken 5 mg zolpidem and a melatonin to sleep. I never had an issue, my doctor was comfortable refilling the prescription. I never had to up the dosage. It worked great and I generally slept from 11:00 to 7:00 without an issue. Then my doc retired. I retired, too. New PA wouldn’t prescribe it. Now I still take the melatonin. I fall asleep somewhere between 2-4 AM. I wake up every couple hours, getting up at 6:30 or so to feed the dogs and let them out before going back to bed for another couple hours. It’s miserable, but since I no longer work, I accept it. The rare good night’s sleep I get is so restorative - I’m in a constant state of fatigue.

StG

14

Sounds like you need a new primary care person. The one you have is failing you utterly.

15

I’ve never taken it, but I remember my daughter-in-law telling me that my son was taking it. She woke up one night and he was gone, so she went into the kitchen to find him there. He had torn up his paycheck into tiny pieces in a bowl, poured milk on them and was eating it.

16

“Sleep driving” is a known thing, if rare. And dangerous, of course.

Earlier this year the FDA issued a “black box” warning for the sleep medications eszopiclone, zaleplon, and zolpidem, given reports of sleep behaviors that resulted in injuries from falls, car accidents, and accidental overdoses related to their use.

Thus the mention of car accidents. It can also put you in “zombie mode” even while awake.

Patients and defendants exhibited abnormal behavior characterized by poor motor control and confusion. Although remaining apparently interactive with the environment, all reported amnesia for 3 to 5 hours. In some cases, the episodes began during daytime wakefulness because of accidental or purposeful ingestion of the zolpidem and are considered automatisms. Other cases began after ingestion of zolpidem at the time of going to bed and are considered parasomnias.

It should be kept in mind as well that you are still held legally responsible for what you do under the influence of the drugs (thus “defendants”).

17

I agree. I’m switching to Medicare next month and hope to find a new doc then.

StG

18

Whats for breakfast? Nuttin honey.

19

In the US, ambien is a prescription drug. Not sure the class.

My recent experience at Kaiser after trying some other prescription meds that basically were about as effective as melatonin (marginal at best), was the doc prescribed 15 10mg pills for a month. Depending on what time it is, I usually take 1/3 or 1/2, and occaisionally take the full does.

Well, it turns out that the 10mg dosage triggers red flags. I spent a month trying to sort it out. The pharmacist had a work around where they could give me 7 tablets, and then come back in 2 weeks for another 7 tablets of the 10mg.

However, helpful pharmacist looked into it, then explained that it’s the 10mg that triggered pre-authorization. So, instead of 15 10mg pills per month, I now get hassle free 30 5mg pills a month. If you’re PA is reluctant to prescribe, the 5mg might be the path of least resistance.

FWIW, I started taking ambien for jet lag about 25 years ago. Made a huge difference in my life as I travelled across the pacific 3-10 times/year. Then after moving to the US in a high pressure job with three kids, I started taking on a much more regular basis. Not daily, but if I wake up wide awake at 3am, you bet I’m going to take half or 5mg ambien to put me back to sleep and have a decent night’s sleep. I get that ambien long-term doesn’t have a wealth of studies to show whether or not it’s “safe”. I do know that averaging 4-5 hours of sleep/night is horrible, and impacts health.