Sleep and side effects

June 28, 2003

Not sure how many of you remember....several years ago, around Christmas time I

think it was....I sent out a post that I wrote shortly after taking Ambien.

What I remember is that I " thought " I had about 30 minutes before the pill would

hit...so was busying myself with bed stuff. Then found myself in the bathroom

plucking my eyebrows. That's the last thing that I can really recall....the

rest was very, very fuzzy....and didn't come to me till the next morning.

Next thing I knew...I saw just these huge lines...wrinkles...like a Klingon, or

Romulan or Ferengi...across my forehead...and I felt compelled to write everyone

on my address book, all the groups I belonged to, to tell them that when they

were 3 years out this would happen to them when they made the " eyebrow plucking "

face.

Next day I had lots and lots of emails. Many laughing, many concerned...and I

was clueless till I read what I wrote. Then I was totally embarassed!!

Lesson learned....if I take ambien or sonata...I MUST BE IN BED FIRST!

But do I learn? Oh no!! One night I sat at the computer, yelling for hubby to

come and put me to bed. I just couldn't get up!! I kept falling and

staggering. Punch drunk! Another night I decided (again, after I took the dang

pill) to get a certain picture frame and put certain pictures in it to take to

work. Of course, my dexterity wasn't the best at that point and I couldn't get

the pictures in the frame straight. Soooooo, I wake Bob up!! Have him fix the

pictures and tuck me safely into bed.

Have I told you what a wonderful man I'm married to? He teases me the next day,

but makes sure I'm safe.

Guess one thing I'm driving at is that I have seen myself and others have

different reactions to sleeping meds. All ambien and sonata do is get you to

sleep but they don't keep you there. Restoril and ativan work longer. After a

few days that sleeping pill hangover seems to go away. I try not to rely on

pills to sleep but find that without them I wake in 2-3 hours then my worries

kick in and at that point I may as well get up. With a good nights sleep I can

function as a somewhat productive person during the day.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Sue

Open RNY 10/26/98

From 500 lbs to 158

Dr Barry L Fisher

Pease visit my site:

I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet

when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

Recommended Posts