Ambien + Phenergan + Driving = A Big No-No
Seems like there is a good deal of interest today in Rep Patrick Kennedy's one-car accident last evening that he has attributed to taking a combination of the prescription sleep aid, Ambien (zolpidem tartrate), and Phenergan (promethazine), an old phenothiazine antipsychotic drug most often used now to treat nausea and gastrointestinal upset.Then, Abel PharmBoy proceeds to explains how Ambien and Phenergan work and ends on this note:
However, this should be a lesson to all who take Ambien that they should 1) go immediately to bed after taking the drug, 2) do not combine it with any other CNS depressant, including OTC antihistamines or alcohol, and 3) certainly do not drive an automobile after taking such a drug combination.
Alcohol is not necessary to explain this case... unless one is trying to make a tabloid story out of this unfortunate incident.
posted by Bora Zivkovic at 1:39 PM
2 Comments:
But booze just sounds so much better!
That's some interesting background on Phenergan though - I never know it was /is an antipsychotic.
The minute I heard this story, I told my husband I believed every bit of it.
I've seen Ambien alone turn a normal person into a four-point-restrained violent person after waking up in the middle of the night after taking it.
Add that to Phenergan and I have no doubt that,in this case, this particular Kennedy really was the victim of a drug interaction.
And for me to think a Kennedy is innocent of anything says a lot (end of political addendum). LOL!
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