UPDATE
Ambien dependency sends Eminem to rehab
August 20, 2005 by other medical issues."
Rap superstar Eminem was at Brighton Hospital in suburban Detroit Friday fighting an addiction to Ambien, a commonly prescribed sleeping pill.
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The Detroit Free Press Friday described how Marshall Mathers -- the rapper's real name -- fought insomnia throughout his five-week Anger Management 3 tour, which wrapped up last weekend in Detroit.
Sources told the Free Press Mathers reached a point during the tour where he was only getting about an hour of sleep per night.
A relative told the newspaper insomnia runs through the maternal side of the rapper's family.
"We don't require much rest, so we tend to go until we drop," the family member said. "Kind of like racehorses, racing until falling over."
As he grew more tired during the tour, sources said Mathers increased his dose of the legal prescription. But, higher doses of Ambien have the opposite effect -- they will keep the insomniac awake instead of inducing sleep, the Free Press said.
After meeting with friends and associates at his suburban Detroit estate Monday, Mathers decided to check himself into the hospital. A day later, it was announced he was canceling his European tour because of "exhaustion".
source: teenmmusic.com/Detroit Press
This sort of explains what I was trying to say about how serious ambien dependency can be... I'm not defending eminem I wouldn't give a rat's ass if hes really shooting heroin. But to down play ambien as its bendryl or something similar is not a good idea. Following days of Ambien use CAUSES depression at least for me.... only way to ease it is my 10-15 mg of xanax daily. POINT BLANK ambien fucked up my social life...at least for a extent