Ambien Linked to Sleepwalking
March 14, 2006
Ambien, the leading prescription sleep medication in the United States, may be linked to incidents of sleepwalking and cases of people doing other strange and potentially dangerous things while they're asleep, including eating, talking on the phone, shoplifting, and driving, the Washington Post reported.
When they wake up, people have no memory of doing these activities.
There are a growing , though still inconclusive, number of reports that associate Ambien with such incidents, sleep experts and researchers say. A number of cases have been included in articles published in medical journals.
Patient and doctor reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration indicate that Ambien is associated with more sleepwalking incidents than all other sleep aids combined, the Post reported.
Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center researcher Timothy Morgenthaler said he's seen many cases of people sleepwalking and sleep-eating after taking Ambien.
"I feel pretty comfortable that this is a real phenomenon," he told the Post.
Ambien is made by French company Sanofi-Aventis, which issued a statement saying that sleepwalking and related incidents are a known but rare side effect that's fully disclosed on the drug's labeling.
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