Dr. Bob Rothstein, an emergency physician and vice president of medical affairs at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., said zolpidem is a safe drug. However, he added, “If it’s used more and more by a lot of people, you’re going to see those side effects. … It’s just a law of averages.”Pardon Me? Did you just blow this off?
In the new study, women users seemed especially vulnerable. They made up two-thirds of the ER visits in 2010. Of those nearly 44 million prescriptions for Ambien and zolpidem in 2012, about 64 percent or more than 29 million were filled for women.This is not just side effects.
“I think we know that women clear the drug from their system more slowly than men and, in fact, the FDA recently recommended a lower dose for women just recently,” Rothstein said.
This is a predictable consequence of the low experimental standards the FDA sets for drug approval.
For the record, my friend Janet took some Ambien this week and slept through a TREE FALLING ON HER BEDROOM.
