March 14, 2006--Tostitos At 2:00 AM
Yesterday I learned that taking vitamin B supplements will not reduce my risk of heart disease. About a week ago I read that a low fat diet also doesn’t work. And today from a report in the NY Times I discovered that though my Ambien may help me sleep through the night, while I’m sleeping, in the words of the article linked below, it may “unlock a primitive desire to eat.” A desire so strong that I won’t be able to wait until I wake up to satisfy it. Rather, the Ambien will turn me into a sleep walker and in that state launch me toward the kitchen where I will “claw my way through the refrigerator and like an animal will consume calories ranging into the thousands.”
I am not really comfortable making fun of people with eating disorders or who are grossly overweight, but occasionally there is a story that unlocks a primitive desire within me to misbehave and thus overcomes this restraint. This is one of those occasions. So I warn you--you might not want to read any further.
* * * *
An Ambien user in Salinas, California would awaken each morning to find candy bar wrappers and Popsicle sticks next to her bed and beside her refrigerator. She of course blamed her husband. Her son was so worried that he sat by her bed at night to see what might be going on. He was afraid that his mother (or father) would choke to death. He discovered that it was in fact his mother who was eating ravenously at night . . . while sleeping. Neither his mother nor her family, by the way, had noticed that she had recently gained 100 pounds!
A second woman recounted how her husband would find her in the kitchen in the middle of the night, initially thinking she was awake. “One day,” she said, “I got up—my husband describes this in great detail—I got a package of hamburger buns and I just tore it open like a grizzly bear and just stood there and ate the whole package.” All while asleep.
Another woman began taking Ambien after back surgery. She had two aides to assist her during the day since she was in a full body cast and was unable to get herself out of bed to go to the bathroom. But things did not go well with the aides—the patient found food missing and accused them of stealing from her refrigerator and pantry. They protested so vigorously that her son (another good son—is there an Oedipal pattern here?) came to stay with her. In spite of the fact that she was encased in the cast, she somehow managed to get out of bed and sleepwalk (or sleep-crawl) into the kitchen where her son found her, standing at the stove, fast asleep, frying bacon and eggs!!
The NY Times, always attempting to be helpful, published a list of safeguards when using Ambien—among them one that is counterintuitive: They recommend taking Ambien on an empty stomach. If you eat first the drug will take longer to work and “you might be more apt to roam around the house.”
Slap me--I suspect looking for dessert.
I am not really comfortable making fun of people with eating disorders or who are grossly overweight, but occasionally there is a story that unlocks a primitive desire within me to misbehave and thus overcomes this restraint. This is one of those occasions. So I warn you--you might not want to read any further.
* * * *
An Ambien user in Salinas, California would awaken each morning to find candy bar wrappers and Popsicle sticks next to her bed and beside her refrigerator. She of course blamed her husband. Her son was so worried that he sat by her bed at night to see what might be going on. He was afraid that his mother (or father) would choke to death. He discovered that it was in fact his mother who was eating ravenously at night . . . while sleeping. Neither his mother nor her family, by the way, had noticed that she had recently gained 100 pounds!
A second woman recounted how her husband would find her in the kitchen in the middle of the night, initially thinking she was awake. “One day,” she said, “I got up—my husband describes this in great detail—I got a package of hamburger buns and I just tore it open like a grizzly bear and just stood there and ate the whole package.” All while asleep.
Another woman began taking Ambien after back surgery. She had two aides to assist her during the day since she was in a full body cast and was unable to get herself out of bed to go to the bathroom. But things did not go well with the aides—the patient found food missing and accused them of stealing from her refrigerator and pantry. They protested so vigorously that her son (another good son—is there an Oedipal pattern here?) came to stay with her. In spite of the fact that she was encased in the cast, she somehow managed to get out of bed and sleepwalk (or sleep-crawl) into the kitchen where her son found her, standing at the stove, fast asleep, frying bacon and eggs!!
The NY Times, always attempting to be helpful, published a list of safeguards when using Ambien—among them one that is counterintuitive: They recommend taking Ambien on an empty stomach. If you eat first the drug will take longer to work and “you might be more apt to roam around the house.”
Slap me--I suspect looking for dessert.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:01 AM
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