I hope they didn't eat any giant marshmallows

My friend Joe's mention of Ambien reminded me that I had been meaning to post this:


From The New York Times:

The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands.

The next morning, the night eaters remember nothing about their foraging. But they wake up to find telltale clues -- mouthfuls of peanut butter, Tostitos in their beds, kitchen counters overflowing with flour, missing food, and even lighted ovens and stoves. Some are so embarrassed, they delay telling anyone, even as they gain weight.

"These people are hell-bent to eat," said Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis and one of the sleep experts researching the problem. He and colleagues are preparing a scientific paper based on their findings -- that a sleep-related eating disorder is one of the unusual side effects showing up with the widespread use of Ambien.

Most of the people who use Ambien say the drug puts them to sleep and that they wake up without incident. But several doctors and a number of patients say that sleep-eating is one of a variety of unusual reactions to the drug. The reactions range from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to hallucinations, violent outbursts and, most troubling of all, driving while asleep.

From Newsweek:

Lori Cox didn’t remember ordering the ring she had just got in the mail. But her phone records said otherwise, showing she’d made a middle-of-the-night call to a home-shopping channel. She also discovered she’d made cell-phone calls to her ex-boyfriend in her sleep. And a few times, she woke up to find empty beer bottles and cracker crumbs in her kitchen -- evidence of predawn snacks she didn’t remember eating.

“It’s scary,” she says. “One side of your brain is asleep and the other side is directing you into this secret life.”

What caused the odd behavior? Cox believes she has found the answer: Ambien. Cox began taking the sleep medication a year ago, after a traumatic breakup with her longtime boyfriend kept her awake at night. Until recently, Cox thought she was alone with her odd nocturnal habits. But recent weeks have seen a spate of reports about patients blaming strange behavior on America’s most popular sleep aid.

Some patients drove in their sleep and ended up in accidents with no recollection of them the next morning. Others report eating or, like Cox, shopping in their sleep after taking the drug. Earlier this month, after interviewing a number of patients across the nation, New York City attorney Susan Chana Lask filed a class-action complaint citing clients who’d driven, shoplifted and feasted on raw eggs and uncooked vegetables in their sleep after taking Ambien.