Ambien Rambling II - Your face contains an impressive geography of regions.

I previously posted one of my Ambien-induced ramblings as recorded by my wife.  A much more interesting and complex example of an Ambien rambling took place a few years ago while I was reading in bed.  My wife was apparently falling asleep after taking an Ambien when quite unexpectedly, she sat up and stretched her neck in my direction, placing her head between me and my book.  Her head swaying like a newborn's, she playfully inspected my face, tracing out its contours with her index finger.  "Your face contains an impressive geography of regions," she  informed me.  As if overcome by a stroke of genius, she rolled over and comandeered a notebook and a red pen that she often used for grading.

She proceeded with her narrative, carefully recording each word as she spoke.  When done, she rolled over and fell asleep.  As time passed, my wife used the notebook to jot down ideas, ripping out pages for shopping lists, etc.  While the notebook remained in the bedroom, over time, it thinned out and got used up.  Sadly, the Ambien rambling eventually got separated from the notebook and was lost.

For years, I searched for it.

This past week, we visited out family in Philadelphia, and once again we used Ambien to fight the jet lag.  Our last night in Philadelphia, we took an Ambien at 9:15 pm so that we could get some sleep before getting up at 4:00 am for the early flight.  When we woke up to our phone alarm, Pat was horrified to find that she had sent a text message to our friend,

"Change dinner time on Monday to 7 pm please."

She had no memory of sending the text, but was understandably embarrassed.  She quickly sent an apologetic text message explaining the circumstances.

This incident once again reminded me of the poetic rambling from years past.  Just this morning, my wife was reorganizing a dresser.  As she removed a drawer stuffed with clothing, a piece of paper floated to the floor.  It was the infamous Ambien rambling.  It is reproduced verbatim below. Even under the influence of Ambien, my wife's penmanship is perfect.

"Your face contains an impressive geography of regions. The central nasal range dominates the visual landscape.

"As you speak, the little creatures in your eyes listen and they respond by speaking back. It’s surprising, but they’ve been exposed to the whole vocabulary, just as you. 

"She’s a tender little creature like a small colorful caterpillar – fluffy, but strong enough to stand up with ease. When you would talk she would stand in your eye socket (careful not to get her feet wet in tearducts) and talk back to you. She was your very own, mythical whispering eye."

Ambien Ramblings

Me: "I'm happy I'm not in the state one-one-prime."

Pat: "What's that?"

Me: "That's where I don't know what I'm doing and the next adjacent state is an oscillation parameter of the first."

 --  A conversation I had with Pat after taking an Ambien.

Pat just found a notebook where she recorded our conversation.  Too busy these days to write, through I have lots of material to report.  Next time...

Ambien® Ramblings

Ambien ®, or its generic name Zolpidem, is a sleeping pill. A good night's sleep is not common for me, especially when my biological clock responds chaotically to overseas travel through many time zones. On the road, I suffer from continual insomnia, headaches and exhaustion. This response is suboptimal since the purpose of my travels is to awe other scientists about the beauty of my work, and to convince R&D agencies to give me precious funding for my research.

Zolpidem has been a godsend for my travel woes, but it is not without consequences. My wife and I sometimes observe each other under the spell of Zolpidem just before passing out. In one such episode, my wife was aware of her own gibberish, so she pulled out a notebook and recorded her own ramblings. The results are quite poetic.

I am told that I too say some very strange things.

This past weekend, I played 5 games of ice hockey over a 36 hour period. I would get home at 10:30 and get up at 6:45am the next morning. Since I had to air out my gear and shower in the evening and repack my bag in the morning, as well as eat, etc., the net time I had for sleep was substantially less than 8 hours. Add to that the bright glaring lights at the rink and the intense exercise; and, it was a sure recipe for sleeplessness. I needed my Zolpidem!

Two nights ago, I took a Zolipidem and then spent a few minutes composing a word for the iPhone® App "Words Free," basically a Scrabble® game that one can play with others over the internet. (I have recently been playing a game with my daughter.) I then plugged my iPhone® into the outlet to recharge it before going to sleep.

The following night, when preparing for my next move, I noticed that there were two games in progress with my daughter. I called her to ask her if she had started it, and she had not. The second game had started the previous night 20 minutes after my first, so it was certainly at a time consistent with the Zolpidem taking hold of my neurons. I must have gotten up, grabbed my phone, started the game, made my move, plugged in the phone again to recharge, and returned to bed.

I have also done some other crazy things on Zolpidem, like sending bizarre emails that I had to later retract.

My daughter's friend once drove through a blizzard and showed up at her place well after midnight with a wound on his head and no memory of how he had gotten there. Again, Zolpidem.

Have you had similar experiences?