Last week The Huffington Post included an article on the Extremely Popular current sleeping aid du jour, Ambien. The information was disturbing. I've written of a few experiences I've had in the past while taking the meds when I was having difficulty sleeping.
In place of sleeping, I unknowingly-to-me made a middle-of-the-night dinner, cleaned the kitchen, among other things not so benign…only to awake while in the midst of whatever it was I was doing (which was NOT sleeping) to discover the activity I had been engaged in during what can only be described as a Walking Blackout. This is not an isolated story or incident. I have a point to make regarding why Ambien remains on the market while other sleeping aid solutions exist and have existed, only to be taken off the market at very suspicious times. First, check out the following article. It's well-written and extremely informative. Side Effects of Ambien. Now that you have further knowledge about the drug, the Whipping of Big Pharma and the FDA for keeping such a dangerous drug around to roam free in our society with a little slip of paper from a doctor will make further sense to you…and the dots will become connected.
Do you remember when L-tryptophan (an Amino Acid) was widely used as a natural "sleeping pill"? Did anyone ever tell you how effective it was for their sleep issues? I'm sure at least a few of you know about all of that and may have used it yourself until,1989/1990, when the unregulated supplement was suddenly tossed from all shelves and banned because there had been a few deaths and side effects that weren't so great? Yep. That happened.
In the beginning, it was puzzling to see how fast the FDA made sure the primarily effective and, in the majority, harmless amino acid was GONE! Now you saw it, now you didn't. It was like magic! Poof! So what were people like me who had insomnia or a body rhythm that refused to go to sleep until it was too late when one had to be at their job early in the morning and needed to ensure at least 6-7 hours sleep to function to do? Well, for some, it was drinking. If not that, a hit of marijuana – an excellent sleep aid for most, by the way – or, a trip to the doctor for an Rx.
Why, you may wonder, was all of the fuss over an Amino Acid about? Almost every drug on the market - by Rx or OTC - has been the cause of terrible side effects and death for some. Yet, this effective aid seemed to have The Pill/Drug Authorities on a fast-track to the trash bin. The next link is full of clarifying information with regard to answering those questions. L-tryptophan .
Now it all makes sense, doesn't it? I didn't use it for depression, nor did anyone I know. But that part of its use was certainly surpassed STAT, wasn't it? Nevertheless, now we have Ambien and all of its risks of death, yet it's the Most Prescribed Sleeping Aid in America. And no one seems to care about this: Death Risk Higher - as they did with L-tryptophan.
Although the Once-Banned substance is "back on the market" its return was as quiet as a Silence Retreat. Melatonin had become the next "natural" supplement of choice over the years, although its effectiveness as a sleeping aid for heavy-duty insomnia or stress-related sleeplessness hasn't been as spectacular.
THEREFORE, why is Ambien still ON THE MARKET? The best I can do is write this rant, hoping those who are interested will learn something helpful through all or at least one of the links in this post. Think about what you're taking if Ambien is prescribed. Talk to your friends who may use it. There are alternatives. Ones where when you take the pill you actually fall asleep instead of getting into your car and driving to a store to buy a few not-needed items only to awake when pulled over by a police car due to your erratic driving. I don't think anyone was ever found to be L-tryptophan Blackout Driving.
Quasi-Rant over.
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