Enfys posted:

Why did you keep taking ambien? Did you take it right before you got into bed to go to sleep? It often causes problems for people who take it and think they can stay up until it "kicks in", assuming that the medication will make them fall asleep regardless.

Sleeping medication doesn't actually make you fall asleep; it makes it easier to fall asleep and then helps prevent waking for a few hours. If you take it while awake and active, the effects the drug has while you are unconscious are still there, but you are aren't unconscious - thus the parts of the brain used for executive functioning and to form memories are prevented from functioning, but you are still awake. That's why I don't get the appeal of recreational use of ambien - you won't remember what you did, and the part of your brain that understands consequences (such as "if I walk on train tracks when a train is coming, I will die") doesn't work.

However, ambien in particular will cause some people to have crazy reactions regardless, much like some people have sleepwalking episodes.