Pills Blamed For Sleepwalking Assaults, Binge Eating
POSTED: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
UPDATED: 12:43 pm EST March 15,
2006
The leading prescription sleep medication, Ambien, is being blamed for bizarre behavior from insomniacs, including sex assaults and binge eating and drinking, according to a Local 6 News report.Minnesota researchers are studying cases where people who took Ambien woke up and binged uncontrollably, sometimes not remembering what happened, according to a report.The Local 6 News report featured Judie Evans, who said after taking Ambien for insomnia, she found herself sleepwalking to her kitchen and cooking food.
"I had gotten out of bed and I was cooking," Evans said. "I don't even like eggs and I was cooking eggs and bacon.""You're acting like a zombie and you're rolling the dice," said Dr. Carlos Schenck of the Sleep Disorder Center in Minnesota. "And whenever you roll the dice it is very dangerous."In a statement, Ambiens manufacturer said, "It is difficult to determine with certainty whether a particular instance of sleepwalking is drug induced, spontaneous in origin or a result of an underlying disorder."Also, doctors said Ambien likely could cause sleepwalking in some patients but for most people the drug is safe.About 30 million people in the United States take sleep medications, according to a American Academy of Sleep Medicine report.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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