WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — In March, we brought you Linda Meade's story. The Warner Robins woman says she took an Ambien one night and the next morning, blacked out behind the wheel and drove the wrong way down Highway 96.
Now, the FDA is warning Americans nationwide that what happened to Meade was not an isolated case.
"I turned on (Highway) 96 and the next thing, I knew the (deputy) sheriff was asking me to get out of the car," said Meade.
According to her, she took a prescription Ambien one night before bed. When she woke up the next morning, she hit the road, blacked out after leaving her neighborhood, and drove the wrong way down the highway.
"I was very embarrassed, very humiliated," she recalls. Houston County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested her and charged her with a DUI.
Her blood toxicology later showed she hadn't been drinking or using any drugs besides the sleeping pill, which she says was prescribed by her doctor.
Still, Meade ended up losing her license for 6 months and had to spend two nights in jail, all for a sleeping pill she says she took the right way.
"This drug was taken directed by my doctor for me exactly the way he said to do it, it had not been abused, I didn't use it very much, I didn't feel compromised when I got up, and look at what happened," said Meade.
Now, the FDA says Meade's wasn't an isolated experience.
In a news release, the federal agency says serious, sometimes fatal injuries --though extremely rare -- have been reported in people having adverse reactions to sleeping pills like Ambien.
The cases the FDA cited included car crashes by people who were taking the drug. The agency says most patients did not remember what happened.
The FDA now requires its most prominent warning label be placed on prescription sleeping aids, like Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata to try to make using them more safe.
The FDA says its also asking physicians and patients to report sleep aid side effects so they can track them more effectively.