Kennedy took Ambien...that explains what happened.

Observing Kennedy on CNN when acosted by media today he seemed
to me to be very natural when saying to the press that there would be a statement later. He smiled unselfconciously and did not looked stressed out as he would have if he was trying to cover up. The medication, Ambien which he took has been in the news lately for causing weird reactions, if I am not mistaken. I believe that is the medication which has been causing people to get out of bed in the middle of the night, and cook food and drive places etc., without waking up. This explains what happened and why he appeared intoxicated. Having watched how the guilty deal with the media and the seemingly open and unworried manner of Kennedy....I believe Kennedy.

and puke?

Or am I just having a happy old flashback?

Ambien is evil. Really bad stuff.

It's always wonderful to come across a DUer who knows the score on sleep meds.

That stuff still on the market, I wonder?

and generally not available outside a hospital or nursing home.

People who ran into real trouble were people who took it at home, night after night, to PREVENT insomnia, not TREAT it.

They also had a habit of forgetting they'd taken a pill (since they all lose their effectiveness after 3 consecutive nights or so) and would take another and maybe a third.

That is a recipe for disaster with any drug.

eat everything in the fridge and then not have any idea why they have just gained 100 pounds.

had to watch him. He was seeing things that weren't there and walking off, sometimes in his undies. He was totally unable to remember it. Ambien is crap.

specially sleeping pills

He took the Ambien and then went to sleep. A while later he woke up disoriented, thinking he had to go vote. So, he got in the car and drove toward the Capitol.

If he's telling the truth, he didn't intend to drive after taking Ambien.

nm

Let's see, what do the stenographers cover.

Ambien is quite dangerous, I've heard. People say you don't dare take it until you are sitting in bed. That's how fast it puts you out. But, I had not heard about cooking in the middle of the night, LOL!

the weird effects. People were gaining weight and didn't realize it was because they were getting up at night and cooking meals!...It's weird but sort of funny too!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/business/08ambien.html?ex=1299474000&en=17cf99894f297014&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
...' With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver. ...best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug. ....

My wife used to take Ambien and if I didn't make sure she was in bed within five minutes after taking it she definitely turned into a zombie. It's even worst if you take it with an alcoholic beverage. If you want to get a good nights sleep without any side effects, try "Temazepam", brand name, "Restoril". It's been on the market a long time and works great.

is that similar to diazepam ( benadryl?) i take a third of a tylenol pm and it affects me for 12 hrs. i don't do any driving tho. my dr. is amazed that such a small amt can affect me.

one time.

I am allergic to Medicines, it's scary.

My Mom was on Aricept(Memory Meds) and she went into a deep depression. Would not come out of her room.

Her body ached all over.
I had to carry her from the bed to the walker.

Off Aricept for 2 weeks and it is like a miracle!

Others may not be affected and how can you tell you will be the one that can't handle it!

They need to take all of these Med Commercials off of the TV set. :mad:

pharmaceutical companies very very rich. but there are just so many, and they do make up diseases/symptoms for taking them. what the hell is restless leg syndrome, this is so sick.

i don't know if that's what my husband has, but i can't sleep in the same bed as him. leg twitches every 15 seconds ( i counted ! lol )

It's a sort of twitchy, crawly feeling you get in your legs at night when you are in bed. It's hard to explain. It's not painful, just uncomfortable. I don't get it every night. It seems to happen to me about once a month or so. I relieve it by stretching my legs or standing on the floor.

Temazepam (RESTORIL) are Benzodiazepines.

If it was Ambien, he needed to be tested for booze. That would prove he wasn't drunk.

I don't know if he was drunk or not, but dammit, he should have been tested!

ask any night shift nurse (I am one) what that drug combination
might do.

that's even without factoring in the weird reported side effects of
Ambien.
I have taken Ambien to help with my strange sleep schedule, and
I have to say, that's one hell of a drug.

I only took it once.

Nearly two whole days of my life were just eliminated. Just like that. No memory, no sense of time having passed. I took it Monday night, and the next thing I knew, I was watching Wednesday evening TV.

It was the scariest damned thing I'd ever experienced -- even more so than Sleep Paralysis, which I've had all my life.

--p!

while she was in the hospital fighting off pre-term labor for our firstborn.
The hallucinations she was having..: A school of goldfish swam up to her and tried to sell her magazine subscriptions.
I kid you not.

Sometimes those goldfish have really good deals on Rolling Stone subscriptions.

Nothing as dramatic as your wife's experience, but still pretty weird.

And it never really would knock me out sufficiently for restful sleep -- I would sleep fitfully and be a total wreck the following day.

It may work wonders for some lucky people, but It was a no-go for me.

Seriously, the signs of addiction in Patrick Kennedy are rife and longstanding. One of the biggest problems substance abusers face is their enablers, who help them stay in denial. He has a whole family and staff who have covered his ass for too long. I hate to see that happen here on DU, too.

The first of the famous 12 Steps is to admit you're an addict. Making up fairy stories at three am after you speed with no lights on, nearly swipe a police cruiser, and then crash into a barricade is a textbook case of denial.

Believing such fairy stories because you and the addict share the same political party is also an act of denial.

My opinions, nothing more, nothing less.

Peace.

He has admitted he has a problem with prescription drugs, be it Ambien or any other mind-altering drug - and he's going to get treatment. I give him full credit for speaking out; would have been easy for him to cover it up, especially with the cops willing to do so.

I hope he gets the treatment he needs and comes back to serve with a clear head.

It made me do strange things ....
- wandering around my apartment aimlessly
- doing the dishes
- cooking a meal
All this in my sleep! And that's just the stuff I remember.

Doing ordinary things can be dangerous when you're doing it in your *sleep*!!! And no, I don't have a history of sleep-walking. Good thing I stopped using it before getting into the car to go for a ride....

This drug is dangerous to some people, and Ambien needs to be more forthcoming about it!

not say anything like that when Cheney shot someone in the face and didn't allow the police to question him till the next day!...I don't remember this guy's name. He was talking to the anchorman Harris. I've seen the guy many times before. He had something to do with law enforcement in the past and CNN calls on him as a "consultant" from time to time.

will soon be one of those drugs that they will stop prescribing soon.

too many weird side effects.

the pharmacy 24 hour commercials!

that he's not being honest when he insists he wasn't drinking.