Insomnia’s no picnic. If you’re suffering with sleeplessness, you’ll rest better knowing that others have fought those same battles and have won. Whether you turn to prescription medications (such as Lunesta or Ambien), over-the-counter sleep aids, or natural methods, you won’t want to miss two remarkable responses from the gnome-o-sphere to last month’s Ambien Midnight Snacking article.

Gnomie Leslie wrote:

Well, here is one person who can vouch for the diet-bustingness of Ambien! Interestingly, though, I took Ambien nightly for MONTHS before this bizarre eating behavior began — behavior I’d never experienced before or since. That is, I’d take the Ambien, settle back with my book while I got sleepy, and drift off to sleep — only to awaken in the morning with crumbs all around, empty chip and other food wrappers on my bed and the floor, and vague memories of having gotten myself a little snack just before falling asleep.

Once it started, this was virtually a nightly ritual, till I finally figured out that it might be connected to the medication, which I promptly discontinued. The barely-remembered late-night binges then stopped. I’d suggest, if you really need a sleeping aid, that you try Ambien (as I said, I took it for months, maybe a year, before I started my nightly pig-outs) — just be on the alert for increased eating late at night, and if you wake up with crumbs in your hair, stop the Ambien ASAP. I’m happy to say that I had no trouble getting to sleep naturally again, even after my long trial of Ambien.

Gnomie Bill wrote:

I’ve taken Ambien in the past and this is one dangerous drug if not taken properly!

My MD did not inform me, nor did I properly read the prescription “fact sheet” provided by CVS as I should have, that Ambien causes temporary memory loss.

See: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202707.html

I had been used to taking previous types of sleeping meds 20 to 30 minutes before bedtime, watching TV in bed, and then falling asleep. But you can not do this with Ambien. You must be ready to go directly to sleep when you take this medication!

I took one and the next day my wife tells me I was acting funny the night before and she thought maybe I had been drinking, even though she didn’t smell alcohol on my breath. She did not know that I had taken the Ambien before bedtime.

Since I couldn’t remember anything she was telling me about what I did that night, I got curious, and concerned, and checked the bottle. I had taken 9 of those pills that night!

When I discussed this with my MD, he said he’d heard of stories about this happening. Someone takes a pill but doesn’t go directly to bed, they start “feeling” real good, and then “forget” they already took one and take another…and so on.

I was ticked off that he didn’t tell me this up front since I was also taking anti-depressants, pain meds and heart meds to lower my blood pressure since I have an aneurysm.

I could have killed myself that night without knowing what I was doing.

I can fully understand why people are “raiding” their fridge at night and not remembering what happened the next morning.

After that episode, I gave my wife the rest of the bottle. When I really needed one, she’d go get one from her hiding place, give it to me, make sure that I went directly to bed, and then keep an eye on me the rest of that night.

That was the only way we could be sure this wouldn’t happen again.

As for myself, I’ve been experimenting with a lifestyle and diet-based approach over the last month or two. The jury’s still out … but I’ll be sure to let you in on the verdict in the very near future …