Oh man! What a night! My Mom came & spent the night with me last night. She was started on Ambien CR 2 weeks ago. Despite saying that she was sleeping great, she was still complaining of being tired & also complaining of having a unexplained weight gain.

When my Dad dropped her off last night he chuckled & told me that Mom had gotten up yesterday morning & chewed him out for eating her piece of cake (she likes the middle pieces). He proceeded to tell me that he watched her get up at 1am & eat a huge piece of chocolate cake. She is sleep walking & eating in her sleep!!!!! How scarey is that? :der:

It doesn't end there. I had about 8 hours sleep in the past 2 previous nights. We went to bed at midnight. At 1:30am she woke me up asking where my chocolate & Cookies were. I said, "MOM. I don't have any chocolate or cookies." She insisted that I had to have something in the house. She ended up making cinnamon toast in the microwave! (I have a oven & a toaster oven). :help:

So after she eats she calms down. I went back to bed.

2:15 - She wakes me up & says, "Here's the flashlight." At this point I know what's going on so I just say thanks. I layed it on my night stand & fell back asleep.

2:30 - She wakes me up & asks for the flashlight. :censored:

sometime between 2:30 & 2:45 - She climbs into bed with me (Lonnie's out of town). I wake up to her talking to someone. She has the phone. I hear her say, "HI! What are you doing? Are you ready to get up & go to work?" (she thinks she is talking to my Dad). She dialed the wrong number :bored . She hangs up & says, " I don't know who that was! It was some woman!" I explained that she dialed the wrong number. She insists that I dial her number so she can talk to my Dad & find out what's going on! I did. I hand her the phone & hear her say, "May I speak to Reggie!?" Then she says, "Who was that woman!?" I hear the callwaiting beep - the woman she woke up has caller ID & has called me back. I don't know what Dad said, but she handed the phone to me. I explained what was going on & he just dies laughing. He tells me that she called him at 10:00, 2:00 & @ 2:30-2:45. I found out today that she also called him at 4:00 & 6:00.:eek:

My Mother also has a unique gift. She can make a clicking noise with her mouth while it is closed. She did this ALL NIGHT LONG!!! She sounded like she had F***ING CRICKETS IN HER MOUTH!! I even asked her if she had crickets in her mouth. She just smiled & proceeded to click. We call her & my Grandma "Clickin' & Lickin' ". Grandma has a annoying habit of licking her lips loudly. CONSTANTLY! We named them this after riding with them in our backseat for 10 hours to & from Illinois. But I digress............

After that she stayed in bed & EVERY TIME I TURNED OVER SHE ASKED ME IF I WAS READY TO GET UP!!!!!! I finally told her that I wasn't getting up until 10:00am. At 8:30am she asked me if I was ready to get up. I asked her what time it was. She replied, "10:00." :puke:

I got up. I'm out of cigarettes. I get dressed & tell her where I'm going. She decides she wants doughnuts & coffee. We get home & she eats a half of EACH of the doughnuts in the box. I bought her one of every kind that they had ( I didn't want that arguement if I had gotten the wrong kind - 12 total). She was saving the other half of each for me.:puke:

After this she passed out for about 4 hours. She got up & got ready just as happy as can be. I told her what happened last night & she threw the Ambiens down the toilet. Beware of Ambien CR!!!!

It's funny now, but I was ready to choke her.

My girlfriend had a hallucination like being on LSD while on Ambien -- curtains moving, walls waffling the works.....the next day she called her Dr and he said casually...."Oh, hallucinations are common on Ambien". Her reply was: "Thanks Doc....maybe someone could have mentioned this BEFORE I thought I was going insane". I guess her "episode" lasted a few hours! Scary!

WOW those stories are funny and scary. Thanks

Oh Jessie - I was laughing so hard tears were coming out my eyes.. Poor you!! I had heard that it caused problems but not to this extent...Wow

I wonder what the lady on the other end of the phone was thinking... Good your mom did not get dependent on them or got hurt in anyway...

I have TOTALLY heard of this happening before. But your story had me laughing so hard I had to call my Mom in Florida to read it to her. I am so happy she threw out the pills & happy you were there to help witness it. It can be a very scary & serious situation. But the story really was a "true Classic"!

OH wow Jessie!!! That is scary... good thing she had you there...

TOO FUNNY though... What did your hubby think when you told him what happened?

Glad your mom flushed them!

Jessie, thanks for sharing this story. I just found out Sunday night that my sis in law was taking the same med, so I've emailed her and told her to BEWARE!

My friend was having a hard time breaking up with her boyfriend,....he almost drank himself to death....she felt guilty and the doctor gave her Ambien. She went out to dinner, had a glass of wine, came home, put on her jammies and was going to bed when she remembered she left her purse in her car so she went out to get it and saw her ex-boyfriend drive by real slow looking really sad...She got in her car and followed him to his condo and she says she remembers nothing else. He told her they rode around until she nearly wrecked them several times...he took the wheel, took her home, put her to bed and walked back to his place. He is a local attorney, so he is no liar and is well respected. She says she will never take Ambien again! She could have killed herself and him, or someone else who got in her way! She is convinced that taking the Ambien after having one glass of wine did it. She was at a girlfriends house with several other ladies (in their 50s and 60s) when she drank the wine...so no one drugged her.

Good grief! I just keep hearing more & more stories about this stuff. My Mom was telling someone about what happened & they saw on the news where a man was on a plane & was arrested for things he doesn't remember doing after taking a Ambien CR. Scarey!

When I told Lonnie what had happened he was rolling. He said, " It's never a dull moment with your Mom, but that takes the cake!" She is a nut anyway! But we love her!

Jessie, I had a straight face reading this until you mentioned the *F-in Crickets*, I lost it then (good thing my boss isn't here b/c I burst out laughing).

Your right, it is a very scary thing. God only know's what else the person taking that stuff could be capable of in their sleep.

Glad its over.

Oh my....what a time you've all had!! Are you sure it's the Ambien CR? I've been taking it for a few weeks now and love it!! Maybe I should ask my husband if I'm doing weird things. I'm pretty sure I don't b/c many times I wake up in the same position I last remembered. I usually toss & turn at night.

Good luck and let's hope this doesn't happen again. If it doesn't, at least you'll know it was the Ambien CR.

I started out on Ambien a year or so ago and changed to Ambien CR. I couldn't do without it. I have not gained a pound on it, nor has there been any change in me except getting a great night's sleep. I can confirm that unconditionally now that I'm staying with my daughter and son-in-law. I'm sleeping wonderfully on my Ambien CR and my C-Pap.

I'm concerned something is seriously going on with your mom that may have absolutely nothing to do with Ambien. These are pretty severe symptoms that indicate an underlying problem. Please get her checked out......this could be far more than Ambien CR. Wish you luck.

3Loves...I sent you an e.mail my friend thanking you for all the Tony goodies and I will be sending you another after I go for my appt. on the 26th. I think we are looking at May. If I get approved alright, I have only 8 days of mushies and liquids to do...HORRAY. Vanderbilt informs me that they have never had a slippage or erosion, so that made me feel lots better. They said they have a great weight loss on the lapband so that is encouraging. I'm sooooooooooooo ready...just for the approval. All fills are included for 6 mo. at which time they guarantee you will be exactly where you belong and then you just need a check-up in a mo. or so, and I can do that here.

BTW I tool Lunesta for a few weeks...did gain weight...didn't sleep well...and had a metal taste in my mouth. I was very glad to get the Ambien back.

I'm not saying don't take it. Just beware of the fact that it is causing a lot of people to have severe reactions like this. That being said, there are a lot of people that do take Ambien CR & have absolutely no problems. And believe me, I know the value of getting some good sleep. I worked 4 years doing 12 hour shifts at night. It was totally the Ambien. She talked with her doc. My Mom does have some other stuff going on right now (menopause & thyroid problems), but her doc told her that neither one of those things would have caused this. Plus nothing out of the ordinary happened until she began taking the Ambien. She was previously on Lunesta & didn't have anything like this happen. Thanks though! Glad it is working for you!