Every drug has horror stories.
This could have just as easily happened on a psychedelic, a barbiturate, meth, etc.
I’m not saying at all that she was taking illegal drugs but I’m pretty sure her husband/family would know if she was prescribed ambien or her friend would know if she had given one of her own to her. That would be a pretty big chunk of the investigation automatically cleared up even before toxicology.
If you “fight” a sleep aid like ambien or lunesta past the 30-45 minute window that it’s supposed to put you down, “riding the ambien walrus” happens. Basically you do a bunch of strange stuff like order 500 rolls of toilet paper off amazon or go for a drive or cook, etc.
I’ve been on sleep aids since I was 16 after seeing neurology and having a sleep study to determine I actually do have a problem with my sleep phases. A lot of people get prescribed it in short term cases like “I’m really stressed and having a hard time sleeping” or “my work shift changed so my internal clock is off”... no, no, no. Such a strong drug does NOT need to be given unless all other options are exhausted, like zzzquil.
Let’s not advocate for it to be taken off the market though, it’s a highly controlled substance already. It being misperscribed by doctors not educated on issues of sleep disturbances (like many other drugs) is the issue.
Tbh, the worst for me is always robotussin/NyQuil. Those types of sleep aids lead me to the refrigerator, ugh.
This could have just as easily happened on a psychedelic, a barbiturate, meth, etc.
I’m not saying at all that she was taking illegal drugs but I’m pretty sure her husband/family would know if she was prescribed ambien or her friend would know if she had given one of her own to her. That would be a pretty big chunk of the investigation automatically cleared up even before toxicology.
If you “fight” a sleep aid like ambien or lunesta past the 30-45 minute window that it’s supposed to put you down, “riding the ambien walrus” happens. Basically you do a bunch of strange stuff like order 500 rolls of toilet paper off amazon or go for a drive or cook, etc.
I’ve been on sleep aids since I was 16 after seeing neurology and having a sleep study to determine I actually do have a problem with my sleep phases. A lot of people get prescribed it in short term cases like “I’m really stressed and having a hard time sleeping” or “my work shift changed so my internal clock is off”... no, no, no. Such a strong drug does NOT need to be given unless all other options are exhausted, like zzzquil.
Let’s not advocate for it to be taken off the market though, it’s a highly controlled substance already. It being misperscribed by doctors not educated on issues of sleep disturbances (like many other drugs) is the issue.
Tbh, the worst for me is always robotussin/NyQuil. Those types of sleep aids lead me to the refrigerator, ugh.