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Drug 'prompts eating binge'
By Tamara McLean
February 01, 2007 12:27pm
DOCTORS have been warned about a popular insomnia drug after reports of strange sleepwalking episodes such as binge-eating or driving.
In one report to the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC), a patient put on 23kg over seven months while taking the powerful medication Stilnox.
"It was only when she was discovered eating in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved," the committee reported in its latest bulletin.
Another Stilnox user was discovered by a relative pulling food from the kitchen cupboards at night, explaining her mysterious weight gain.
The committee said it had received 16 reports of sleepwalking, described as "inappropriate or strange automatic behaviour while asleep".
One woman reported waking up with a paintbrush in her hand after having painted the front door while asleep, while a man reported walking around the house like a "mad man" while asleep.
Two reports suggested patients had driven while asleep, while two described binge-eating and subsequent weight gain.
The tales match another media report last year of a Sydney man who had taken two Stilnox tablets at home and later woke to find himself lying on a woman's couch wearing a dress.
The committee also had 104 reports of hallucinations and 62 reports of amnesia since the drug, known generically as zolpidem, was released in 2000.
On the strength of the reports, ADRAC today recommended prescribers be alert to the fact that zolpidem may be "associated with distressing neurological or psychiatric reactions".
"(They) should warn their patients about the possibility of these untoward effects, particularly if they are going to take zolpidem for the first time," the bulletin said.
Pharmacology specialist Rick Day, from the University of NSW, said it was impossible to know who would be most susceptible to such unusual reactions.
"It seems that in some people something happens to their consciousness controls and their sleep mechanisms," Professor Day said.
"With these hypnotic drugs the rule of thumb is to have a very good reason to use them, and not use them for long, because there will always be some kind of adverse effect."
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