Kennedy Blames Accident on Medications

Kennedy Blames Accident on Medications
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness.

Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said, "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."

Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes in Congress and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien, another prescribed drug that he occasionally takes to fall asleep.

more at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060505/ap_on_go_co/patrick_kennedy

with warnings against driving and operating heavy equipment.

I'm pretty sure ambien instructions warn you not to drive after taking it. :dunce: Phenerghen also warns you that it makes you drowsy, but driving after taking a sleeping pill is just F'in stupid.

Like driving while asleep. Like waking up the next day and having no recollection of having gone for a drive.

It would be interesting if he would clarify that.

And if the cop is telling the truth about Kennedy claiming to be heading to vote, I'm thinking that would fall in line with sleep driving on Ambien. :shrug:

It is a documented problem with Ambien. Phenergan/Ambien is a potent combination, too. Any alcohol would exacerbate the CNS effects of both drugs. God dammit, I hope he is telling the truth. Otherwise, he just Cheneyed-up, big time.

and if anybody wants to make a deal out of this Kennedy's got a built-in defense.

Bet this goes nowhere.

Sorry, Glitch. Two things: KENNEDY and 3 AM. I can just picture Freeperville: This story has legs! At least no one was shot in the face.

Otherwise I'd agree with you. We'll see how much pull they have.

Exactly why I love DU! A salient point that I did not even consider. Thanks, Glitch!

Pardon the pun.:blush:
But with people sleep driving? I see lawsuits coming soon.

I've taken Phenergan several times and it always knocks me out.

and if he told the cop he had to go to vote, then I'm thinking sleep driving on Ambien. But I'm not a doctor or anything. :D

You know, I'm not in any hurry to take Ambien, based on these stories. :D

And what a defense!

Now this is a man with a very colorful drug background from his younger days...

At about 220lbs, he took one Ambien and vowed never to take it again. It's known to cause hallucinations if you stay up for more than an hour after taking it. Well, it didn't knock him out. He said he laid awake reliving the worst acid trip ever for hours. It's a freaky drug. I'm scared to take it and I'm the experimental sort.

The crash was at 2:45 AM, and the last vote was 6 hours earlier. Most people are sleeping by that time - especially if they took sleep medication. Why would he suddenly get up, get dressed & start driving to the Capitol?

Concern Over Ambien And Driving

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/eveningnews/main1384884.shtml

Forensic toxicologist Laura Liddicoat – reporting on tests on blood samples of 2,300 impaired drivers in the state of Wisconsin - says that in 53 of the most extreme cases of erratic behavior at the wheel, the drivers had one thing in common: they all had Ambien in their blood.

And did I mention that it was a really bad decision?

Phenergan alone makes me goofy. I never had Ambien, but anything that makes you sleep should clue someone in to not drive.

Unless there was a breathalyzer he should try not to make stupid excuses. He's adding fuel to the fire.

How about this: No, I wasn't drinking. Staggering? No, but I was a little shook up after CRASHING MY CAR!

Yeah I can't think of anything more important in this world than a single-car crash involving a sleepy Representative driving around at 2:45 am.

I don't watch TV news very often but I just can't believe how it's degenerated into covering such tabloidish local news stories.

But of course when it's Cheney, everything is hush-hush. Goddam librul press.

...or at least charged with something.

Whether it was alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs he put other people at risk by getting behind the wheel.

If WE have to pay when we make stupid decisions like this, why shouldn't he?

numerous stories quite recently describing people who unknowingly
eat or walk around while on Ambien. I doubt jail time would be meted out to unsuspecting users.

It was given to me in connection with outpatient surgery a few months ago and though I don't recall a thing, my daughter found me quite 'amusing' during the trip home. This has made me afraid to use the remainder of the prescription. I think I'll accept that the drug had a similar effect on Patrick.

Whether you're drunk or under the influence of prescription drugs, you put others in danger when you choose to drive.

The drug apparently causes 'involuntary' action. Sleepwalking, if you will. It's possible he did not know he was driving until the accident roused him.

You're applying a one-in-a-million possibility to this individual case. It's possible that it happened that way, but damned unlikely.

There HAVE been reports of people doing just such a thing, sleep-walking, sleep-driving, whatever you want to call it. Unless you would have called all the people in these reports liars when these stories were in the NYT and on TV, why go at him? Thank Christ, no one was hurt in this accident, so why give him the fifth degree? Because he got preferential treatment? Well, I can't say in this instance if he did. But if he did, he got no better than any other elected official. With the exception of this being BREAKING NEWS on CNN for hours and insinuations that he was drunk all through it without a spec of evidence and endless rumors repeated without substantiation presented as "news".

I will bet any amount of money none of this would have happened to a republican, and would have happened even without the Kennedy name, as long as it was a Dem.

That is what is pissing ME off.

We see reports in the news daily about Republican wrongdoing. Had this been a Republican, I don't think he/she would have been treated any differently by the press.

No sobriety tests were conducted and a server at one of his regular hangouts said she saw him drinking there earlier that evening.

I'd like to suggest that we wait until all of the facts are in, but it doesn't appear as if we'll be getting any facts. Rank has its privileges.

That is the story. Same set of rules for him that the rest of us have to follow.

If people take medications and they have a strange reaction to it, it is their fault??? Come on Hate Kennedys much????

It was the "big Story Of the Day" of course and to hear it discussed by the likes of Mark Furman and Hannity, I thought maybe someone was killed.

Of course as the story unraveled, I discovered that he was involved in a minor traffic accident with no injuries. The focus was, of course, on whether he was drunk (like his father). All concerned on the show decided that he definitely was(!) Then they went on to mention Chappaquiddick (saw that coming).

The entire time the words "Kennedy Scandal" appeared at the bottom of the screen.
The upside was that the Duke rape incident was finally bumped to the second story. It's been day after day of rape, Aruba, and Immigrant on H&C since Buxh's numbers hit 32%.

I guess democrat scandals are so far and wide between that McKinney and Kennedy are "stop the presses" news on Fox.

I don't watch H&C every night anymore, but I don't recall any mention of Rush, hookergate, or even DeLay on the show....at all.

Disgusting

I have bad allergies, and my doctor gave me a bunch of medicines to try out. Zyrtec was one of them.

I had no idea how powerful that stuff is, and I have a pretty high tolerance level. It was only 10 milligrams at that.

I damn near fell asleep driving to work. Once I got to work, I walked into a wall.

Yes - I walked into a wall.

I guess my point is, there is no telling how certain medicines will affect you.

After about a month, the medication didn't drag me down so bad like that anymore.

which is also a potent anti-emetic (Vistaril) and is also given in combination with narcotics (notably Demerol) to potentiate the effects of the narcotics.
It is stout--however, it is also a drug that you build up a tolerance to very easily--thus the side effects diminish with use.

too many meds . So I take 2 and that is it. what a weird feeling when you are zonked out on an allergy med! Edited to add an o.

times call for desperate late breaking news segments that can find themselves being repeated for quite some time to come to ensure a large enough segment of the population has a chance to hear this tragic news story...

Meanwhile in another late breaking story, oh wait, I didn't hear this one but I do wonder...how many have lost their lives in Iraq?

Why are people so eager to give him a pass and accept his story? Cause he's a Democrat? If a GOP lawmaker did the same thing and came up with the same excuse, would you also give him or her the benefit of the doubt? I dont know for sure if he was drunk or not, but Im not blind to reality either.

No...I am not eager to crucify 'anyone', without some kind of 'proof' or wrong-doing...say like lying about reasons for a war and killing hundreds of thousands of people....how's that for blind to reality?

I'm guessing that by the same token you're inclined to believe the Duke University lacrosse players over their accuser?

I leave that for bigoted, small-minded, self-righteous types, that seem to get off on it. Mirrors are everywhere.

Given the laws of the land, you MUST assign innocence.

I really have to respect that.

I KNEW you weren't calling people who were possibly innocent guilty just to appease a certain group.

Yer Awesome!

do you need? If you don't think he should be charged with a crime, you are giving him a pass.

not oxycontin or anything like that. What would you like to charge him with?

it's not as if the guy shot someone in the face, hid from the police immediately afterward, and didn't even bother to visit the victim in the hospital.

I mean, come on.

Where's the "newsworthiness" in that? :sarcasm:

that you will wait until the facts are in before making any assumptions, correct?

what were your thoughts when cheney was "given a pass" for SHOOTING A PERSON in the face, neck and upper chest, resulting in a heart attack? were you "not blind to reality" then, too?

where you there? Kennedy hatred much????

They do a pretty good job of it themselves....

people might notice a pattern.

...PERIOD. He should know better than that.

In the first place. In other words, sleep walking.

I don't fucking know except we won't hear the end of it. *sigh*

if the doctor said it was ok, Kennedy should still know everything!

Doctors are keep getting richer even as they become more sloppy with every prescription they write. But dammit, it's the patient's fault...why should any patient expect anything back for his money?

Hell those liberals are always dumping on the AMA anyway, Kennedy shouldn't be taking medication for any kind of problem..unless he just stops driving!

plan to drive.. He was in a drug induced state.. Phenergan can take you for a wild ride.. It makes you feel very sleepy and drowsy....

since I take Ambien - that he probably did exactly what he said he did--he must have thought he really needed to vote on some issue and got himself up and tried to drive there. I couldn't do it, either. I have to take it about 1/2 hr before I'm ready to fall asleep and if I need to get up ( for a potty break ;>0 ), I stagger all over the place, just as if I were REALLY drunk. I fell off the toilet once---that's almost like crashing a car into a barrier!

My sister in law takes it and apparently does very stupid things while it's taking effect. At least I'm not that bad.

At least it got the Duke case out of the MSM for a day - as foolish as it is.

he came home late at night, then took sleep medication that causes drowsiness, then got up around 2:00 AM & decided to go out for a spin? Either he was pretty careless here or there's more to this.

This is sort of silly: Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes in Congress and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien, another prescribed drug that he occasionally takes to fall asleep. "Some time around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote," his second statement said. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication."

Does Ambien also cause delusions? How come a sobriety test wasn't done at the scene if he appeared intoxicated? Somehow I don't think Ambien is to blame for Rep. Kennedy's actions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/eveningnews/main1384884.shtml

CBS) Are there really people out there who have been driving in their sleep? And then claimed they couldn't remember where they had been?

CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports that is what some people are claiming after taking Ambien, the most popular insomnia medication in the U.S.

Over 26 million prescriptions were sold last year, ringing up more than $2 billion in sales for the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, the third largest drug company in the world.

Regan reports new research indicates Ambien's popularity could be contributing to accidents on the roads.

What I don't understand is why he'd be driving around at 3 AM at all. Ambien is supposed to be taken before going to sleep, right? So did he wait till 2 AM, take some Ambien & go driving? If he took it at a normal bed-time (12:00), wouldn't it be hard for him to wake up at 2:00 anyway? What would inspire him to suddenly drive to the Capitol? I dunno, it just seems kind of weak to me, but it's not like I know much (or care much) about this incident.

"driving in their sleep"

Would you consider that he was sleep walking/driving?

I did look at the article - but what it seemed to be saying is that people try to become active & drive before the 8-hour period it takes for Ambien to clear the system & have accidents. Like, someone takes it at 12:00 & then tries to commute to work at 7:00 w/Ambien still affecting them. But it doesn't say anywhere that Ambien could cause delusions or false beliefs (like that you need to go to a House vote at 3:00.) That's what seems off to me. And I don't understand why he didn't at least get a Breathalyzer test after running into a barrier at 3:00 & appearing intoxicated. That would seem to be a given, for most people.

for some reason, I started sleepwalking.

I was under a tremendous amount of stress at the time. Go figure.

One day my boyfriend told me that the night before, I was outside, completely naked, ringing the doorbell.

He said the I looked as if I were in a trance, and that my eyes looked funny.

He somehow got me back into the house with no incident, but I did not remember a single thing. Not one thing.

I thought he was lying, until it happened again after we broke up.

And that boyfriend told me the exact same thing. Again I didn't remember a damn thing.

It scared the hell out of me.

On both occurrences I had drank a lot of cognac.

It's pretty embarrassing put this out there.

But I'm trying to get you to understand, and make a point.

Perhaps he didn't "intentionally" get up, dressed, and thinking he had somewhere to go.

Sleepwalking actually DOES happen to people.

Interesting story! I've never sleepwalked, so I don't know what it's like. I guess it's possible he was sleepwalking here - it's also possible he was intoxicated, or maybe it was a combo of medications & alcohol that impaired his judgment. And I guess we'll probably never know, since no sobriety test was done at the scene.

:)

:rofl:

:hi:

:toast:

I have trouble seeing why people are taking this crap. A sister in law thinks everyone should be on anti-depressants even after her son hung himself after complaining that he didn't like the meds.

I suggest that people stay awake or read awhile and maybe sleep will come. My sister has sleep apnia (sp?) and was waking 140 times an hour. Hard to believe, I know, but it affected her metabolism and she gained a ton of weight and the apnia and weight gain had a synergistic effect.

I'm gonna get ragged on it big time!!!

I thought sleep apnea had to do something with snoring?

Good story- thanks for the spelling.

Ambien is suspected of making people do all sorts of weird crap in their sleep - cooking, eating, driving. And not remembering one minute of it. :shrug:

phenergan could really add to an already existing problem...

mixed with the Ambien that caused this reaction. Phenergan can make you very drowsy as well...

Kennedy not being tested for DUI, but where was the outrage about Cheney not being tested after he shot the man in the face with his high dollar shotgun?

for republicans and all Democrats are guilty until proven guilty....

If I was him and the only real problem was being on meds the first thing I would have asked the cop for is a breath test. I would have volunteered. He should know how it would play out in the media and have been proactive if the only issue was meds.

Given the fact he did not get the test done which just about any of us here would have done whether we wanted it or not I am skeptical of what he is saying.