Phone calls symptoms and conditions

after taking ambien CR for a few months with no real side effects all of a sudden I started doing bizarre things with very little memory of doing them, I walked around the house in the middle of the night in a blackout I cleaned things, ate things, made phone calls to friends and they couldn't understand me because I was slurring my words, My family said I was acting very drunk swaying back and forth and not making any sense. I"ve driven places and don't remember driving and that is enough to make you say o.k. something is wrong with this medication

About a year ago my doctor put me on Zoloft for depression and anxiety. I only gave it a chance for about 3 weeks though. In the first week I thought I felt pretty good and things were fairly smooth sailing, aside from feeling a little loopy. Once I got into the second week though, I started feeling a lot more dizzy and like my head was in a constant fog. I started feeling a lot more depressed than I was before being on the drug and I was sleeping all the time. There was even a day where I had slept right through my alarm clock AND phone calls from work. I'd missed an entire shift of work because of it, which is when I decided I didn't want to take Zoloft anymore because I didn't want a drug to affect my life so negatively. When I was talking to a coworker about it after the fact she had told me that she noticed that I seemed really off recently, that I was talking slower and didn't seem myself at all. I didn't have a very good experience with this drug at all.

Because of a couple tragedies that ocurred in my life, I was unable to sleep. Ambien was prescribed and with it, I woke up completely rested! BUT there were several dangerous events to share with you.

I drove several times & have no recollection! If it weren't for receipts, checks, etc. I wouldn't know anything about it! I'm a married woman and I took a male acquaintance to a liquor store 1/2 hour away once!
I drove to a city an hour from my home at least once!

Additionally, I've had phone conversations, conducted business meetings, taught a religion class...ALL with no knowledge or memory of these acts.

Yes, I would find dirty dishes in the sink in the morning too! I ate so much food! I didn't gain weight though...probably because the Ambien also removed ALL inhibitions in my life. My husband selfishly took complete advantage of this...if you know what I mean. This was not right! I'm still angry about this. It wasn't until he realized that I was driving in my sleep that he encouraged me not to take the Ambien anymore...I haven't taken it for two years. I do miss it because it really left me rested. Now I only take over-the-counter products and they leave me groggy.

Wow!!! Should have done my homework when they switched me to this nasty Budeprion!!! I have been on Wellbutrin XL for over two years, after being on quite a few other drugs for depression, with great results and absolutely no side effects. Then about two months ago my insurance company would only pay for the generic, so unless I wanted to pay a lot more for the Wellbutrin, I decided to switch. This was also after many phone calls and being assured by the pharmacist and the nurses at my doctors office that it was the exact same drug. I have had lots of trouble with generic drugs in the past, and this is why I was so leary to switch since I was doing so well. For the last week I have felt like absolute crap! I have had a constant headache, nausea, stomach pains, indigestion and lots of crying!!! Never in a million years did I think it was the drug, since it is suppose to be the exact same make-up and I never thought it would take two months to feel these terrible side effects when I never had any before. Sure wish I had come across this website two months ago. I have fibromyalgia as well, and thought a lot of the additional joint pain and numbness in my hands was from that, although I have had my fibro under control for a couple of years now. Thinking back now over the past few months and all the crazy symptoms I have been having, it all makes sense!!! At least I know I am not CRAZY and hopefully I can stop this nasty drug and feel better soon. How can this Budeprion be on the market and how can pharmacists tell people that it is the same. Now I have to fight my insurance company, and hope they will pay for the Wellbutrin.

Hey. Just a disclaimer, before I list my experience. Keep in mind that everybody is going to react to a new drug differently. All drugs, especially drugs like Ambien CR, come with warnings in bold print and all caps saying that if you experience ANYTHING...ANYTHING abnormal after you start a new medication, to immediately call your doctor or pharmacist. Don't let it get to the point where your loved ones are driving. If you notice things have happened and you have no recollection...CALL YOUR DOCTOR! It takes maybe ten minutes to call your doctor or pharmacist. This ten minutes could potentially save your life and others. This goes for ALL medications, even ones like Tylenol PM.

Okay. Here is my observations of my mother (55 yrs. old) while on Ambien CR.

Ever since she’s been on the medication, I’ve encountered strange behavior on her part. These are the most common:

1. Phone calls, with no particular purpose or intent. She sounds like she is very lonely and just wants to chat, but her speech is slurred and her thoughts impaired. Most of what she says is not in coherent sentences, just mixed up phrases. Sometimes she starts off sounding somewhat normal and then fades into the slurred speech. I usually terminate the conversation once she starts repeating herself, asking questions she had either asked earlier that day or even just minutes before in the same conversation.

2. Eccentric “projects.” She recently said, “I’ve found that after I take my medicine, I get very creative.” This particular comment was after I found her in the kitchen putting Hot Tamales (the candy) in her ice water, after she had taken her medicine. Another time, she was standing on a trunk, trying to put up shades in her window.

3. Binge Eating. Just the other night she baked an entire batch of cookies...and ate them ALL within 30 minutes of them coming out of the oven. This is just one of the many times I've seen her eat like this after taking her medicine.

Overall, she seemingly "stays up" until she either crashes from exhaustion or only after repeated commands to turn off everything and go to sleep. I recently, after researching further, have found out that she actually is asleep, but medications such as Ambien CR can induce a complex form of sleep-walking and talking, as well as sleep-driving (though my mother has never done this.) It looks, to an observer, like the person is aware of their surroundings because they can carry on complex conversations, or complete a complex task, even though, they are really asleep.

The most concerning thing to me is that she walks up and down the stairs (or gets up on things, like the trunk in her bedroom) even though she is consciously aware that she gets dizzy and has little control over her balance. Most of the time she is living alone, so if she happened to trip and fall, it could turn into a very dangerous situation very quickly.

Another note: She only seems to remember her strange actions once she is reminded of them. Sometimes she will remember them accurately, and sometimes she has a distorted memory of the events, but almost always must be reminded of her actions before she has any memory of doing it.

Since me and our family have taken time to talk to my mother about this, she (an RN for over 30 years) is calling her doctor tomorrow to talk about alternative solutions to her insomnia.

My 5 years old son has been on Singulair for 9 months. His allergy symptoms have completely gone away. He’s no longer has his night time cough, bloody nose, and frequent croup due to allergies.
My life has been a living HELL from the moment I started this medicine. Before he was on this medicine he was always a pleasant, smart, well-behaved child. Right after he started singulair he began having temper tantrums, becoming increasingly argumentative, not listening. He gets mood swings like you would not believe cry and/or yell at us over the silliest things, kicking, screaming, nightmares, and became very physically aggressive. We were unable to take him places because we never knew how he would behave in public .He was extremely unhappy little 5 year old boy. He also complained of upset stomach and fatigue. Even his school complained about his behavior and they said that he might have PDD. After consulting with doctors we got the assurance that he does not have PDD, but we end up changing his school anyway.
Being a first time mom I never thought it was the medication, I thought it was just a normal behavior. I thought as a parent I must be doing something wrong! I couldn't believe that other parents have gone through the same nightmare.
Two weeks ago the doctor handed me a report about singulair and its suicidal side effect and ask me to stop using this medicine for a while. Since then I started to notice a dramatic change in our son's behavior. He woke up singing, laughing. He wants to help with chores. He is doing great with his school lessons, and very patient with everyone. He is now a more stable and friendly 5 years old.
Wow, I have a completely different child, and thank God I took him off singulair.
As parents, please let’s do something to stop poisoning our children.

My 5yo son is one week removed from Singulair, and we are starting to see a gradual improvement. When I first started reading these posts, I just sat and cried. My son started the meds last fall for allergy induced asthma and his behavoir has gotten progressively worse this January and February, so much so that I contacted the pediatrician to start the process of having him see a counselor. He was fine before last August. I blamed his problems in the fall to his adjustment to kindergarten, then my grandmother got sick and passed away February, so I thought this time his obsession with death and bad behavior at school was related to her. I never once even thought it was the Singulair. Looking back I realized the behavoir coincided with his Singulair use (I took him off it in December because there was nothing in the air to cause him to cough and he was fine). In January we started back up full steam ahead and the doctor increased dose...Hello!! He was so angry sometimes and had a multitude of the symptoms listed on this site. He would constantly say he hated school. He chewed his shirts repeatedly, actually chewing holes in the neck and sleeves, he would blink his eyes weirdly which I have equate to the "tick" other people described. He would say he was stupid, that no one loved him, that no kids wanted to play with him and that he was an idiot. He said he wished he was in heaven and wanted to leave this world. My mom found him wrapped in blankets over spring break and when she asked what he was doing he said he was trying to suffocate himself. His crying wasn't even a normal cry, it was in a word: soulful. It would make me cry just hearing it because it was such a mournful sound. At his aftercare program he would try and leave and say he wanted to get hit by a car, they actually had to restrain him. He had instances of aggression with other kids in school, which resulted in phone calls from the teacher and principal. Again I thought it was related to the death in the family and him having no other way of expressing his anger. I even blamed the other parent thinking they were overreacting - embarrassed about that now to say the least. I started getting names of dr's to get grief counseling to determine if it was the loss or if he was in the throes of depression. Then I see the news about Singulair and looked it up on the web since he was on it. Talk about taking your breath away. Then his stomach cramps made sense too. I would have to massage his stomach to make it feel better, thinking it was the milk causing it. People can say we are all making this up, or the posts are fake...even his allergist said they feel the benefits outweight the risks, but until you live it you really just don't get it. I took him off it that night. Each day is getting better. Today was a great day and I am cautiously optimistic for tomorrow. He was happy. Even his sister remarked about what a good mood he was in and that he wasn't whining or crying. Putting him to bed tonight he told me he loved me more than tomato pie...and in his world that's at the top of everything The sad thing is that the medicine works for the asthma and controlled his coughing. The cough is now back in force so it is a double edged sword. It's amazing how similiar the symptoms are with other kids. I guess hindsight truly is 20/20 huh?