[Kuuipo]

The trouble with prescription sleeping pills and tranquilizers are that they cause amnesia and the user forgets that they took a dose, sleeps a little and takes additional doses while in a "blackout". People who take zolpidem (ambien) have been known to binge eat while "sleeping" (on things that may not even be edible as well) sleepwalk or drive. Mixing alcohol with these medications also depress the central nervous system and the respiration center in the brain that controls breathing. If a person has undiagnosed apnea (pauses in breathing while asleep), takes tranquilizers, pain medications and alcohol the result can be anoxia (can damage the brain or result in death in some cases).