Could Sleeping Pills Make An Eating Disorder Worse?

By Martha Rosenberg

Many heard the "good news" during Thanksgiving of a newly approved sleeping pill to treat a "new type of insomnia" characterized by middle-of-the-night awakenings.

Actually, it's the same drug as Ambien only a lighter dose and taken sublingually so it works faster. And "middle-of-the-night" insomnia is not new but one of many varieties of insomnia Pharma has rolled out to expand the insomnia drug market. Others are chronic, acute, transient, initial, delayed-onset, and terminal insomnia and of course non-restful sleep which can co-exist with all of the above.

There are two reasons the approval of the new sleeping pill, Intermezzo, is good news to Pharma.  One reason is that new variations on a disease always produce new people diagnosing themselves with the disease, thanks to direct to consumer TV advertising.  

The other reason is a new patent on an existing drug means Pharma had to do no research and development. It is pure profit like when Prozac resurfaced as the PMS pill Sarafem, and the antidepressant Effexor was tweaked into the antidepressant Pristiq. This year, the seizure drug Neurontin resurfaced as Horizant, a treatment for restless legs (though many say Neurontin causes restless legs).

Of course, Ambien also has quite a pedigree. It is the drug Tiger Woods reportedly cavorted with his consorts on and the drug former Rhode Island Representative Patrick Kennedy crashed his car on in 2006. He drove to Capitol Hill to "vote" at 2:45 AM.

Nor was Kennedy the only person to walk, drive and engage in purposeful behavior in an Ambien blackout. Law enforcement officials reported that traffic accidents increased under Ambien, with some drivers not even recognizing the police officers there to arrest them. ("Dude--where's my car?") Ambien's manufacturer was forced to publish ads telling people if they were going to take Ambien, to get in bed and stay there after Kennedy's over zealous parliamentarianism. (Or you'll break out in handcuffs, added cynics.) The FDA issued warnings about the potential of "complex sleep-related behaviors" on Ambien and other sleeping pills which may include "sleep-driving, making phone calls and preparing and eating food (while asleep)." 

 

In fact it was EWI-- eating while intoxicated or "preparing and eating food (while asleep)" -- that gave Ambien its worst rap. Fit and sexy people awoke amid mountains of pizza, Krispy Kreme and Häagen-Dazs cartons consumed by their evil twin, on Ambien. Weeks of dieting and treadmill time shot to hell. 

In fact, waking up in the middle of the night and "sleep feasting" is such an Ambien side effect, people might need to take Intermezzo for the middle-of-the-night awakening! Except, of course, it's the same drug. Either way, "Thanksgiving remorse" could be a nightly occurrence instead of a once-a-year phenomenon thanks to the heavily marketed sleeping pills. END

Martha Rosenberg's first book, "Born With A Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp The Public Health," will be published by Prometheus Books this spring.