Elderly man symptoms and conditions

My experience with Ambien CR is from a family member point of view. My father-in-law has only been taking it for 2 weeks and I was unaware of any side effects, until last night. My husband & I live directly across the street from my father-in-law - so at about 9:30 pm we received a call from his dad saying he had fell (he is not an elderly man either - 44 yrs. old) walking to his door & needed help up. He told my husband he had taken 2 - 5mg of Ambien about 40 minutes ago so he was tired & going to bed- so my husband walked him into the house. Everything seemed okay so he came home. An hour later I went out on our porch and noticed his dad was lying at the end of the drive way face up not moving. I yelled for my husband and he went over and woke his dad up - my husband & brother-in-law helped him in the house. He got undressed and got into bed.
About 20 minutes later (I was still on the porch at this point) I saw him walk out of the house AGAIN and get a beer out of the cooler and start walking down the street in his underwear. I again yelled for my husband and when he caught up to him he was talking to the shrubs and telling my husband our neighbors cat was out (which it wasn't) and he was trying to catch it. Again we put him in his room and told him to lay down - which he did. We went home and were watching a movie in the living room and all of sudden we hear his dad's truck start up! My husband ran out the door - thankfully in time to catch him. His dad proceeded to tell him he needed to go get ice for the cooler (which BTW - was full of ice) and he is still just in his underwear. We convince him to come inside and lay down (at this point very argumentative). This time my husband stays there for a long time. An hour later he came out again ate half a gallon of ice cream and went to bed. This morning he got up went to work and has no memory of anything that I just described.
This medication seems horrible. My husband caught him the other night eating a pack of 20 cupcakes and didn't realize he was sleepwalking/eating. The more I read about this medication it seems like our trouble is just beginning. I just fear that one night we won't be home and something will happen to him or someone else. Please consider all the risks before taking it - it not only effects you, it puts your family at risk also.

I am in the family with the 86 year old man that committed suicide because of this drug. He was my father and I will never be able to see him again. This drug caused such severe side effects for him that he did not know what he was doing and killed himself leaving his wife of 59 years, 7 children and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had everything to live for and had no effects of depression or other problems until he started taking the medicine. The drug made him sicker instead of better. My family has asked that we received a drug screening from the Medical Examiner to determine the combination of drugs that were in my dad's system at his death. He was also prescribed prednisone, which we have since found out should that the drugs should not have been given together. I would like to take this doctor to task for his incompetence in prescribing an elderly man medication that could cause this result. I am very angry at the physician and will pursue legal actions when we receive the Medical Examiners information. No family should have to suffer the loss that we have had and no experience the void that we have in our lives. My father was a healthy, 86 year old man with a family history of living past the age of 100. We figured he had another 20 years to go. I know that my taking legal action will not bring back my father but I would like to somehow make this drug side effects public knowledge so this DOES NOT happen to another family. This weekend is Father's Day and my only way to talk to my father is standing my his graveside. I should not be doing that. I should be celebrating another Father's Day with him at his home. This drug and his doctor caused his death. DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG....consult your doctor if he even mentions it in a course of treatment. I would like to be able to present evidence to the Food and Drug Administration of the terrible effects of this drug and the combination of drugs that are given with it. My daughter even said she would like to be the one presenting our family story to Congress during hearing concerning removing this drug from the market. That is my goal....this drug should be removed. I have contacted the Food and Drug Administration and suggest that everyone else do the same. If they get enough complaints, they will have to open a dialog on the drug and some of the families will have the opportunity to speak about the effects of the drug on their lives. I will always miss my father and love him dearly. I know that he was not in his right state of mind when he committed suicide and that the drug caused his actions. My mother found him that day in April when she came home from the store. She will never be the same nor will our family. Again, DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG!!!!!

My father took Amantadine for his Parkinson's disease and a few weeks after starting, went in to neuroleptic malignant syndrome. He was hospitalized for 10 days, and was unresponsive for 4-5 days. As an elderly man, he did not exhibit the exact symptoms of NMS, but showed almost all of the symptoms on a decreased level.