I've used Zolpidem 20-30 nights a year (trade names: Ambien, Stilnoct, Stilnox etc.) too 'boost' my circadian rythm. It's a sleeping pill with a short half-life (2-3 hours), a light version of the benzodiazepines traditionally used.

I wonder if it would be ok to use it the night before a flight (let's say at least ten hours before). I've experienced no hang over or drowsiness as a side effect of the pills, and with the short half-life there probably wouldn't be any traces in the blood either.

I asked my GP about this, but he was relucant to give definitvie answer.

benzos are NOT that heavy and I don't trust Ambien yet especially for pilots , benzos are old and well characterized. there just a lot of predjudice against them there not that strong and both drugs have a potential for abuse



...as Filed
rhov

I have considerable experience using this sleeper before flights. To be quite frank, I didn't really research the drug very well, and sometimes cut the time down to about ten hours before report. We were working very hard and they were a life-saver for a string of ‘earlies', as I'm naturally an 02:00 to bed person and can fly all night with no problems at all.

This was a bad mistake on my part, especially after my feelings about related drugs. But as you say, there seems to be no after effects...but there was for me...eventually.

Having turned up for a flight, time and time again, feeling clear-headed and full of enthusiasm at 05:00, I felt that as flying is a very good indicator of one's mental agility, there couldn't be much wrong. However, some time later I was retired and going through a very difficult time. Insomnia was just one of the trials that I was faced with. This drug always solved the problem, but...now I was using them as a prop (say 3 times a week) and something was going terribly wrong. As I have mentioned before, an example might be standing staring into the fridge wondering why, only to remember that one is looking for a Black and Decker drill! Under the circumstances it was difficult to determine wether it was psychological, or caused by the drug. I determinedly resisted its use, and improved markedly after about a week. I ran the experiment again about three times over the next year and it was always the same.

I am a very small sample and the experiment was without ‘controls', but I'm pretty sure of the results.

I found that simply having the drug at hand was a help...an escape route if you like. And even if I did give in, I would break a tiny amount off the end of the tablet as try that. It usually worked.

One big difference between benzos and zolpidem is that the latter are allowed by the FAA for occasional use and benzos are not approved at all.

Benzos are (very) old and the side effects and addictive propensities well documented. Zolpidem etc are not all that new either and their side effects are well known. It is indeed true that they can be addictive too (initially it was claimed that they were not) but less so than the benzos.

(Benzos = benzodiazepams such as Diazepam, Temazepam etc)

I personally (this is personally) would not take it and fly. It slows me down mentally a little the next day, and it has some subtle adverse effects on my eyes (even after around 16-20 hours).

That's interesting. Can you describe the effect?

Loose Rivet, they appear to slow down the refocusing of my eyes when refocusing on something closer/further away.

Also it appears to cause a slight double-vision (very slight - almost like a slight blur).

Flyin'Dutch'
Yes, unfortunately the gap between medical wisdom and the law is large
but I'm was speaking medically
and old saying a drug can be used for your patient when it's ten tears old for yourself or family when it's 20


To The Tire Speed Limits And Beyond
rhov

I wonder if it's relaxing away a correction that you are usually putting in subconsciously : altering the datums, so to speak.

If you are getting any eye-strain and/or headaches I'll elaborate.

It did make me wonder why this was. Saying that, it doesn't happen with anything else (e.g. benzos, anaesthetic etc) so I suspect it's something to do with zolpidem. Thankfully, I don't get any eye strain (or I haven't noticed any).