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Posted by: dfw ® 04/03/2007, 20:55:00 |
I was diagnosed with abductor spasmodic dysphonia four years ago. Since then, I’ve had Botox injections, gel foam injections, hundreds of voice therapy sessions, and many other treatments. A few months ago, my doctor prescribed the sleeping aid Ambien to help me with insomnia. Usually, I would take a pill as needed and then go to bed, unaware of any effects beyond drowsiness. However, about two weeks ago, my son came in to talk to me before I had fallen asleep and I noticed that my voice was really good. I didn't realize the significance at the time. Then a few days later, I read a news article (pasted below) about a woman who awoke from a coma after a dose of Ambien. This especially caught my attention because the type of coma she suffers from (akinetic mutism) specifically affects speech.
Unfortunately, I'm not able to take advantage of this improvement during the day because of the sedative effects, although it's not hard for me to stay awake after taking it. I've found that if I take it a little earlier in the evening, I can enjoy a few hours of good voice. I take advantage of this time to practice my vocal exercises and also to make phone calls, which have been very difficult for me in the past. Being able to call my elderly mother and have her be able to hear me has been a true blessing.
Article:
Ambien 'mini-miracle' may give more insight into how the brain works, experts say By Jeffrey Perkel, HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- A dose of the prescription sleep aid Ambien had the opposite effect on one French woman, awakening her from a two-year coma. The 48-year-old woman suffered from akinetic mutism -- a sort of persistent coma in which the patient is alert but can neither speak nor move. She had lain in this state after sustaining damage to the frontal lobe of her brain
But one day she was given zolpidem (Ambien) to treat ongoing insomnia. "Twenty minutes later, her family noticed surprising signs of enhanced arousal," the study authors wrote. "She became able to communicate to her family, to eat without (swallowing) troubles, and to move alone in her bed. These effects started 20 minutes after drug administration and lasted for
After treatment, the patient could walk for short periods, and to speak if prompted, though not spontaneously. "This phenomenon was so reproducible that caregivers used to give her up to three tablets each day without sleepiness as 'side effect,' " the researchers wrote. Using positron emission tomography (PET) scans, the researchers found that the drug treatment caused the woman's frontal lobes to become "way more active," noted Dr. James Grisolia, a neurologist at Scripps Mercy Hospital
Speaking of the case, Grisolia said that, "It is a function of drugs like this that, besides putting you to sleep, they can also increase blood flow. And that activity apparently trumped the sleepiness caused by the medication in this one patient," he explained. The results are published in the March issue of Annals of Neurology. "This is a clinical mini-miracle that may give more insight into how the brain works," Grisolia added. "In the long run, it might help us to help other people that are in unresponsive or semi-coma states." According to Grisolia, other case reports have shown coma patients "awakening" through stimulant medications, but never from a medication like zolpidem. How the drug worked its magic in this case remains unknown. "It needs case reports and further study in the lab to get a handle on this," he
Dr. Tetsuo Ashizawa, professor and chairman of the department of neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, called the report "interesting." But he cautioned against using such a single-patient study as a basis for treating other, seemingly similar cases. "I understand the desire of the family member to give Ambien to patients" as a result of this study, he said, "but I would not tell them that they should expect improvement. As a physician, I would say this worked in this lady but it may not work in your father or mother, so they should not have unreal
Still, Grisolia said he expects more reports on the effect of zolpidem in akinetic mutism will be published as a result of this study. "I'm sure that anyone that has a relative who is in a long-term coma is going to be interested in having the doctor try Ambien and see if it makes a difference. So we may get more case reports very quickly," he said. A spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Ambien, declined to comment on the study. |
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