Zzz-Mail
[Guest post by DRJ]
Sleep researchers at the University of Toledo report a woman has been emailing in her sleep:
“The 44-year-old woman, whose case is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of medical journal Sleep Medicine, had gone to bed at around 10pm, but got up two hours later and walked to the next room.
She then turned on the computer, connected to the internet, and logged on by typing her username and password to her email account. She then composed and sent three emails.
Each was in a random mix of upper and lower cases, not well formatted and written in strange language.
One read: “Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only.”
Another said simply, “What the…….”
Researchers believe the incidents were triggered by a specific prescription medication. The abstract in Sleep Medicine is here [it's a fee-based site] as well as links to articles that report incidents of sleepwalking and similar behaviors caused by the same medication.
Can sleep-blogging be far behind?
– DRJ
“Can sleep-blogging be far behind?”
Considering what has been posted here recently, and the level of confusion shown by the sleep-mailer, that might be an intellectual step-up from what we’re having to digest.
Comment by Another Drew — 12/21/2008 @ 5:04 pm
The only time I used a prescription sleep medication was in the hospital, and it was the popular Ambien. Had the worst nightmare of my life (or at least the worst nightmare I’ve actually remembered), and the nurses told me the next day that “that happens all the time with that drug.” So yeah, I think these types of altered states are quite real and much more pronounced than has been previously reported.
Comment by Dmac — 12/21/2008 @ 5:07 pm
Sleep blogging would explain 85% of the crap out sullivan’s rantings.
Comment by h0mi — 12/21/2008 @ 5:10 pm
Another Drew has been sucking on sour pickles again!
Comment by GM Roper — 12/21/2008 @ 5:15 pm
I used to make a lot of phone calls late at night that I wouldn’t remember the next day. Sounds sort of similar to what they’re talking about.
Hmmmmm.
Comment by daleyrocks — 12/21/2008 @ 5:16 pm
daleyrocks - Drunk dialing does not count …
Weren’t there stories about people on Ambien binge eating in their sleep ?
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 5:20 pm
JD, yes, and yikes! This is a full range of unwanted behaviors associated with Ambien,
. Reports are surfacing people taking Ambien are experiencing sleepwalking, memory loss / amnesia, binge eating while sleeping, having sex while sleeping, and other disturbing side effects. Some of the most serious side effects involve Ambien users having auto accidents the day after taking Ambien due to daytime sleepiness and the lingering feeling of being drugged. One disturbing report concerned a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who could not recall advising residents on rounds the morning after taking Ambien.
Comment by Dana — 12/21/2008 @ 5:22 pm
Wasn’t a certain “Vaccines cause Autism” Kennedy basically absolved from a car accident (in front of the Capitol), because of his Ambien prescription?
Comment by Dmac — 12/21/2008 @ 5:25 pm
JD - I grew out of the dialing. It got too embarrassing.
Comment by daleyrocks — 12/21/2008 @ 5:26 pm
This is an UNWANTED side effect ?!?!
I am calling my doctor tomorrow …
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 5:32 pm
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 5:32 pm
Um, not to get personal but being awake is generally a plus!
Comment by Dana — 12/21/2008 @ 5:37 pm
Well sure … but that does not make it any less of a good thing to have it while your are sleeping.
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 5:40 pm
having sex while sleeping, and other disturbing side effects
Hold on, JD, it might depend on who’s asleep and who’s not…you might want to wait for that determination to be ascertained before going off half-cocked, so to speak.
Comment by allan — 12/21/2008 @ 5:41 pm
Bada - boom.
Comment by Dmac — 12/21/2008 @ 5:42 pm
Come on, guys. Are any of you going to complain if you get a little lovin’ while you are asleep?
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 5:48 pm
“having sex while sleeping”
Can I order some for my wife?
Comment by daleyrocks — 12/21/2008 @ 5:58 pm
I would too, but the lack of someone to have that sex with would likely just leave me sore and chaffed…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/21/2008 @ 6:05 pm
Scott - Borrow some lotion from tnj.
Comment by daleyrocks — 12/21/2008 @ 6:07 pm
Whatever you do, for God’s sake, DO NOT USE PUMICE LOTION !!!!
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 6:12 pm
So you don’t want to get a little Lavalovin?
Comment by Dmac — 12/21/2008 @ 6:13 pm
The prescription medicine in this case is Zolpidem, the active ingredient in Ambien. Ambien has been successfully used in legal cases as a defense to criminal charges but that pales in comparison to reports (such as the one Patterico blogged about here) that it’s been known to wake up vegetative patients.
Comment by DRJ — 12/21/2008 @ 6:19 pm
There was some bit on the television “30 Rock” where the Alec Baldwin character urged the Tina Fey character to take this drug while flying…the name of the fake drug escapes me, but the side effects included:
Also, Dennis Miller tells the story of being on Ambien and waking up in the middle of the night, noshing on ham in the fridge.
Comment by Eric Blair — 12/21/2008 @ 6:23 pm
I went and looked it up. The called it “Comanaprocil.”
I’m still bemused by the “sleep crimes” business.
Comment by Eric Blair — 12/21/2008 @ 6:32 pm
I only grudginly laugh at Baldwin and Fey on 30 Rocks. Especially Baldwin, that swelling Leftist twatwaffle.
Comment by JD — 12/21/2008 @ 6:42 pm
-known to wake up vegetative patients….
Ambien or Blogging?
Comment by EricPWJohnson — 12/21/2008 @ 7:38 pm
However this sleep blogging phenom could explain those recent warm and squishy comments jacobs has been making lately
Comment by EricPWJohnson — 12/21/2008 @ 7:40 pm
Shush you
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/21/2008 @ 8:43 pm
Oh goody, now I have a NEW excuse to blog.
Comment by GM Roper — 12/22/2008 @ 7:33 am
Or at least for what you blog…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/22/2008 @ 7:38 am
“Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only.”
It’s a perfectly lucid note. In fact, this could be the opening paragraph of a great short story.
Comment by tim maguire — 12/22/2008 @ 9:42 am
@ Scott: “Or at least for what you blog… ”
Pbbbtttttttt!!!
Comment by GM Roper — 12/22/2008 @ 1:00 pm