Perhaps I am growing more cynical, but every time I see a new piece of research only lasting one or two years, I wonder why it stopped early. I suppose it is always a balancing act. If you have a specific hypothesis, evidence for or against should be apparent fairly quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

I am constantly amazed (and sometimes amused) by the “science” of futurology. This is, as the name suggests, the willingness of experts to predict what will happen in the future by applying probabilities and other scientific methods. Basically, it is extrapolation from the current state of affairs and, as such, much beloved of those who engage in the “art” of marketing. Read the rest of this entry »

  Three letters can be deceptively simple. DUI = driving under the influence [of] alcohol or some other substance that prevents you driving safely. In the USA, ambien is the best-selling sleeping pill. So should it be DUIA “driving under the influence of ambien”? In real-world CSI labs around the US, ambien makes the top-ten of most identified “drugs” found in people arrested for traffic offences. Fascinatingly, some drivers claim this was “sleep driving”. Read the rest of this entry »

  Talk to any sports team manager and you hear the same answer. Once you are at the top, everyone else is gunning for you. They want the satisfaction of beating you, to prove they are better than you. You have to play your best all the time. One slip-up and you are yesterday’s team, the has-beens. Read the rest of this entry »

When they do not suffer from the disease or disorder, people can be very selfish, not to say, callous. The same problems swirl around the politics of “Libertarianism” in the USA, where some activities such as drug and substance abuse are considered “victimless”. The argument is made that what people choose to do to themselves should not be the concern of the criminal law. Such arguments essentially ignore the real costs to the public exchequer to support the notion that the general tax rate can be reduced. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, yes, I am going to talk about a new book. Appropriately enough for a site devoted to Ambien, it is Insomniac by Gayle Greene (published by the University of California Press in March, 2008 — 978-0-520-24630-0). So here is an autobiographical take on what it is like to live with insomnia by a woman who ought to know. Gayle Greene has the distinction of being a non-professional member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). She wins this prize even though not a medical researcher because she is the “patient representative” on the board of the American Insomnia Association, which operates within the AASM’s umbrella. In her spare time (sic), she labours at the Scripps College, Claremont California as Professor of Literature and Women’s Studies. This latest tome (quite heavy at 520 pages) adds to her impressive resume of academic publications. Read the rest of this entry »

Now here is a question for you. When you reach for a tablet of Ambien, do you have performance anxiety — in the nicest possible sense of the words, of course? It seems that a number of people are finding it difficult to swallow their Ambiens (and others medications). In some, this is a psychological problem. Because the patient resents the idea of being medicated, the resistance is increasingly demonstrated through an inability to swallow the “offending” pills. In others, it is a taste issue. Even though the tablet may only be on the tongue for a few seconds, this is enough to trigger a gagging response. Read the rest of this entry »

It is fascinating to browse around the internet. There is always somebody thinking something interesting somewhere in the world. All you have to do is to find him or her. Take just one story from California as an example. It raises the difficult question of how you should dispose of “pills” you no longer need or which have expired. You could, of course, get in your car and drive down to your local pharmacy. Many offer a service to dispose of old and unwanted medications for you. But, the majority of us probably find the effort involved a deterrent. Why go to so much effort when you have a dumpster just outside your door? Or, if even that is too much effort, there is always the option to flush the problem away. Who would know? Who cares anyway?

Do you ever wonder what happens after casual disposal? Your local waste management authority comes round to collect the refuse which is then dumped. There is little or no effort to sort the waste. Most authorities simply drive to the nearest landfill site and tip each load on to the growing mound of other rubbish. This pile then rots down as rain washes through it so, sooner or later, dissolved drugs end up in the watertable and potentially get recycled into your drinking water. The medications flushed go more directly into the water supply. So here is the worry. The rivers downstream from you supply water to the local towns and cities. That water supply contains what the experts call a “sub-lethal” cocktail of antibiotics, sedatives, painkillers, hormones and whatever else you so casually threw away. Perhaps you have no interest in the people downstream of you. I wonder what the people upstream think of you.

But, back to Ambien. Ambien is, of course, a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic. I am never reassured by the prefix “non”. In fact, Ambien works in exactly the same way as a conventional benzodiazepine and is probably just as addictive. For this reason, Ambien is listed by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as a controlled substance in Schedule IV. You will be pleased and delighted to know that the US Government has your interests at heart. It always wants to protect you and the environment (“always” is probably a slight exaggeration). State and Federal regulations limit the handling and disposal of controlled substances to DEA-authorised individuals and organisations. The DEA’s Office of Diversion Control aims to prevent the diversion of legitimately manufactured (or used) controlled substances into the illegal drug traffic. If there is no-one else immediately available to handle the disposal, the controlled substances should be collected by a law enforcement officer. So, if your local pharmacy has not registered with the DEA, their only way of disposing of your unwanted drugs is to call the cops. No wonder they looked so pleased when you asked.

But San Mateo County, California has placed collection boxes inside the entrance halls of eleven police departments. Anyone can walk in and leave their unwanted medications (including Ambien but excluding all illegal substances) and walk out — no questions asked. And is this a welcome service? Over the first fifteen months of the program, local citizens have deposited 1,800 pounds of medications (not all Ambien, of course). So there is clearly a demand for this kind of service.

It is pure self-interest, of course. Who wants to get high from drinking tap water? Hmmm. Wait, that is not quite the right question. How many men want to take female hormones — I am sure breasts would be alright. And do we really want all those bacteria out there to get used to all those antibiotics in the water? If you don’t know the answers to these and other questions of social conscience (or self-interest), take an Ambien and sleep on it.

It is always curious to see how quietly a brand name slips into public awareness and everyone takes it for granted. There is never any need to explain what it is nor what it does. It seems Ambien has reached that threshold. No longer does Ambien lurk in the shadows. Ambien proudly takes its place alongside Adidas and Apple as instantly recognisable initial “A” brands. Read the rest of this entry »

  Mike had me sitting in his car outside the mall. We’d finished the burgers and now he’s apologising to me. Says the physician down at the hospital has been against this from the out. If I’m to get the best out of Ambien, I’ve to be in on the act. I’m the one who has to make the changes to my life. No-one else can do it for me. The idea of me being like an innocent observer is unethical. It’s all very well for me to write about Ambien but having me trying to guess what it’s supposed to do means I’ve not given informed consent to the treatment. Having Dave give consent for me was always on the borderline because I’ve never been declared incompetent. Read the rest of this entry »