Reactions 1486, p29 - 1 Feb 2014

SZolpidem abuse

Suicide ideation and various other toxicities: casereport

A 27-year-old man with abnormal sleep behaviours whoabused zolpidem developed suicide ideation and various othertoxicities.

The man had self-referred to a medical toxicologist becauseof a new experience with zolpidem abuse. He initially receivedzolpidem as a sleeping drug, but became interested in pleasantmental experiences. He had used zolpidem 5–15mg asrequired during the previous year. The major trigger forcontinuant zolpidem abuse was his bad emotional status, andpressure of thoughts which were dramatically severe at night.In May 2013 he stated that he had no zolpidem dependence,despite continuant use for weeks; zolpidem was no longer ableto make him sleep. He reported side effects, comprisingnausea, vomiting, dizziness and hangover the following day,headache, visual hallucination, insomnia, nightmares, right-sided abdominal pain, increased body temperature,talkativeness, lack of speech control, feeling a bitter taste insaliva, change of skin colour, greasy hair and smell of bodysweat. After a rush of annoying thoughts one night, with agreat desire for zolpidem, he took 2 pills (20mg). He woke upthe following day and remembered taking 2 pills. However,examination of a blister pack which he remembered as beingfull revealed that 6 pills had been taken. After taking zolpidemand experiencing the effect in a few minutes, he consideredtaking 4 other pills in order to suicide and did not rememberafterwards [outcomes not stated].

Author comment: "[T]he number of reports ofneuropsychiatric reactions associated with zolpidem use hasincreased . . . We present a case of [an] individual in whomusing 20 mg of zolpidem was associated with suicide ideation. . . It seems the patient attempted suicide when he wasunder influence of the CNS effects of zolpidem".Mortaz Hejri S, et al. Zolpidem-induced suicide attempt: A case report. DARUJournal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 21: [3 pages], No. 77, 20 Dec 2013. Availablefrom: URL: http://www.darujps.com/content/21/1/77 - Iran 803098648

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Reactions 1 Feb 2014 No. 14860114-9954/14/1486-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2014 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved