McCain's Ambien Use: a Security Threat?

Source: ABC News

In a presidential race marked by references to preparedness in the face of the 3 a.m. call, the revelation that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has taken the sleeping pill Ambien during his travels raises concerns that the rare side effects of the medication could impair his judgment.

"Taking more than the recommended dosage of Ambien or combining it with other sedative-hypnotics — for example, alcohol — may result in amnesia, fugue states and sleep walking," said Dr. Peter A. Fotinakes, medical director of the St. Joseph Sleep Disorders Center in Orange, Calif. "Used appropriately, Ambien is a relatively safe medication."

Though rare, such side effects associated with Ambien have made headlines.

Patients who claimed that they engaged in a bizarre variety of activities while asleep after taking the drug — from binge eating to driving their cars while asleep — lodged class action lawsuit in 2006 against Sanofi-Aventis, the maker of the drug.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Politics/story?id=4919842&page=1

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Oh wonderful! 3AM excuse for the nuclear strike on Iran!

"driving cars while asleep" ?

great. just great.

if he is not driving himself around.
In fact unless its proven he has revealed something its just a limp bone to knaw on even, now the whole ethics issue with people in his campaign...now thats a might big bone to chew on *grin*

He can sleep-press the nuclear button.

I had an acquaintance who's wife had a twenty minute conversation with him one evening. She never realized he was asleep until he walked into the bathroom and peed all over the place.
He remembered nothing the next day.

I imagine the Senator still has nightmares from his days as a POW.
PTSD, Ambien, and unlimited power sound like a dangerous combination to me.

...driving sleep zombies! (I kid you not, it's a rare but serious problem.)

sorry if you have your finger on the 'big one' you must not be able to take ANY MIND ALTERING MEDICATION AT ALL! Just my humble opinion...

:shrug:

:hi:

like some current Preznit we know.

"combining it with other sedative-hypnotics — for example, alcohol — may result in amnesia, fugue states and sleep walking"


Makes one wonder why he won't release his psych records.

Then not recall any of it? Yeah, that outta be off limits to anybody seeking to be CIC.

Not a good thing to have in your system if you want to be the one with a finger on the big button.

And why does he need sleeping pills, if he is so healthy and all?

Shit, we have a DEM candidate talking up assassination possibility as a reason for her staying in the race she has already lost, and a GOP candidate who takes a pill known to cause bizarre nocturnal activity.

Obama looking better all the time to this Edwards voter.

Because so many of them used it.

eve in NYC with a 9mm pistol.. took Halcyon and didn't go to sleep

i heard that is why Bu$h41 puked on the Japanese prime minister at the big dinner, took Halcyon for a quick nap.. .

high on power and speed-balling on sleep aids and anti-anxiety pills

Nobody's in their right mind these days. A lot of it has to do w/ pharmaceuticals.
Legal drugs. Bad.

I remember that and was surprised how casually Powell commented that many in the Administration used Ambien.

I remember reading that same article.

scheduling you for a remedial ass-kicking :7

he didn't. ;-)

Gawd, I can hear him roaring from here.

n/t

And the side effects ain't no joke.

In the hospital, she claimed she was tied sitting up in a chair in the hallway. My father was getting ready to go over there and kick someones ass.

He started realizing something just wasn't right when she thought she was in a different hospital.

Thorazine suppositories.. Valium and 18 other prescriptions

Even that Iran trains Al Qaeda, or that we went to war for oil, or that he accepts John Hagee's endorse.... oops!

John McCain answers. "Hello? Hello? Okay, I'll hold... Press 1?"

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

Choke him with his collar."

My younger brothers were sitting next to him as he was sleeping on the couch. They about died laughing, because my dad is so laidback he'd never say anything like that. But yeah, that stuff does some weird things to you I heard.

He was prescribed Ambien when he came back from Iraq because of the really bad images and dreams he had when he slept. He doesn't take it anymore.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a disqualification for President. What if he gets a really bad dream or vision of flashback and he thinks he's in Vietnam again. Yikes!

Of all the things to judge McSame by, sleeping pills don't matter.

Ah yes, the good old days when the severity of world crises was judged by whether the President was awakened and told about them.

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year. She got off Ambien six months ago. She no longer shows any signs of Alzheimers. Ambien is bad juju.

If such news were to be revealed about Obama, his campaign would be over.

Burn Big Media to the ground.

but i'll be happy to use it against him :evilgrin:


the truth is that a president always has plenty of people around him and would recognize him as incapacitated and prevent him from doing anything really damaging like going on t.v.

i mean, really, how can this be any worse than shrub's drinking problem.

yeah, right, like i believe he doesn't drink.

Remember when the Nixon goons went after him when it was disclosed he underwent treatment for exhaustion and depression, and received electroshock therapy a couple times?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Eagleton

I don't use Ambien because I'm lucky enough to have a job that I can work any hours I want as long as I get the work done. I'd probably be taking something of the sort if I had a time-delimited job. And yes, that would disqualify me from the presidency, I think.

If Ambien users were routinely sleepwalking, driving, cooking up a storm, skydiving, hitting the clubs, etc. all the time, and not remembering it, the media would would be having a field day. It's also a virtual certainty that the FDA would be having second thought's about the drug's approval.

This isn't happening, which suggests such behavior is pretty darn rare.

Plus, if McCain were in the White House, you can be sure that the usual cadre of Secret Service agents would never let him leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, much less make any 3am calls.

I've got lots of questions about McCain's White House skills, but this definitely ain't one of them.

The extreme side effects are very rare, and frankly, Ambien is better than most of the alternatives when it comes to preventing grogginess the next morning. I've had periodic bouts with insomnia, and I found that Ambien was easier on the system than trazadone.

I got to the point where I just couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two no matter what I did. I took Ambien CR for a few months and it completely re-regulated my internal clock. Now I almost never have trouble sleeping, and I haven't had an Ambien, or any other sleep aid, since sometime before last winter. And I never had any funny "episodes" with it either. If I did, either my wife, or our roommate who's up nights and uses the apartment's only bed when we're up, would have noticed immediately.

I hate McCain, and I think he's a nutcase, but Ambien is the least of his problems.

even be able to answer the phone.

As a person who travels 200 days a year for business, I love that stuff. Between jetlag and the fact that I'm in a bed that isn't my own more than half the year, I think it's wonderful.

There are a lot of reasons to dislike McCain. I don't think this is one of them.

So what else is new?

...and she'd have entire conversations that she wouldn't remember after the fact.

I think the stuff is pretty scary, and definitely wouldn't want red-button authority to lie with anyone who's using it.

I took it twice, hallucinated both times, couldn't sleep, my body felt like the old 714 days.
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: I wouldn't want to be anywhere near "The Button" on those things. Or the red phone for that matter!