Since its release thirteen years ago, the powerful sleeping pill Ambien (also known as Zolpidem) has proved to be a blockbuster drug for the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, with an estimated 26 million prescriptions filled last year alone. Its popularity is due in no small part to the fact that it is fast-acting (you are pretty much comatose within 15 minutes of taking it) and that it has a short half life (2-3 hours). How can you go wrong with a little pill that promises instant sleep gratification followed by a well-rested and productive day? Where do I even begin?

The frankly bizarre side effects that have been reported by Ambien users should be enough to give even the most desperate insomniacs a moment’s pause. Many users have reported unexplained sleepwalking, sleep driving, sleep eating, sleep sexing and even sleep texting!

In 2007, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that an Ambien user’s insomnia was permanently cured after he sleepwalked off the balcony of his high-rise apartment building. This story prompted over 40 readers to send letters to the newspaper about their own Ambien-induced sleepwalking experiences. In February 2008, after a thorough review conducted by the Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Committee, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration decided to affix a Black Box warning on all Ambien prescriptions, reading in pertinent part:

“Zolpidem may be associated with potentially dangerous complex sleep-related behaviors which may include sleep walking, sleep driving and other bizarre behaviors. Zolpidem is not to be taken with alcohol…”

However, sleepwalking off your balcony looks like a cake walk compared to the perils posed by the pantry for the Ambien users who have reported incidents of compulsive nocturnal binge eating. One woman mysteriously gained a whopping 100 lbs. after she started taking Ambien; she finally connected the dots when she woke up one too many times with her bed covered in crumbs and candy wrappers. Horrifying, nocturnal eaters also eat indiscriminately, and it has been reported that buttered cigarettes, salt sandwiches and raw bacon have been popular nighttime snacks amongst the Ambien bingers.

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