Ambien maker to Roseanne: Racism is not a side effect of our drug

CLOSE The star of "Roseanne" blamed her racist tweet at a former Obama White House aide on Ambien. But Twitter wasn't having it. USA TODAY

Roseanne Barr recently offered an explanation as to what caused her tweet that ultimately cancelled her ABC show: Ambien. (Photo: Jordan Strauss, Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Sleeping drug Ambien can cause a host of side effects, but it's unlikely racism could be categorized as one, as Roseanne Barr claims.

Tuesday, the comedian wrote in a since-deleted tweet that "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." The "vj" stood for Valerie Jarrett, an Obama White House aide. This led to the cancellation of her hit ABC show Roseanne, and an apology from the comedian, who said at one point she was "Ambien tweeting," in another social media post that has since been removed.

Sanofi, who makes Ambien, tweeted a response Wednesday morning: "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."

Dr. Rachel Salas, associate professor of Neurology in the Sleep Medicine Division at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said “people could text or tweet while on Ambien and not remember.” She advises people to avoid sleeping near their phone or electronics while taking sleep medication.

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Ambien, also known as Zolpidem, is a sleep medication. People use it to treat insomnia.

What are some problems associated with the drug?

Barr isn't the first to blame the drug for disturbing behavior. Years ago, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kerry Kennedy blamed Ambien for a drugged-driving incident. Ambien was also one of the drugs found in Tiger Woods' system after police found him asleep in his car in the middle of a highway.

Other Ambien users have reported a variety of side effects, including sleepwalking, binge eating and even driving at night without realizing or remembering the incidents.

Janet Makinen, one of the lead plaintiffs in a 2006 class-action lawsuit against Ambien maker Sanofi-Aventis’ U.S. division, alleged she “ate hundreds of calories of food, including raw eggs, uncooked yellow rice, cans of vegetables, loaves of bread, bags of chips and bags of candy” while on the medication, according to an amended complaint in the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit alleged that fellow plaintiff Christina Brothers, a financial analyst, remembers taking Ambien one night in May of 2005 and next waking up “on the concrete floor of a jail cell,” the complaint said. The parties agreed to a stipulated dismissal in 2007 because differences in factual issues and the women’s injuries made it impossible for the case to be certified as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of other Ambien users.

The Food and Drug Administration has expressed concern over how Ambien can impair activities (including driving), especially into the morning hours. For that reason, it has recommended the dose be lowered from 10 mg to 5 mg. "Patients with high levels of zolpidem can be impaired even if they feel fully awake," the FDA wrote in fact sheet about the medication.

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Nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and/or diarrhea.

Abnormal thinking and changes in behavior: "Some of these changes may be characterized by decreased inhibition, similar to effects produced by alcohol," according to its FDA-approved labeling.

Hallucinations: "Visual and auditory hallucinations have been reported as well as behavioral changes such as bizarre behavior, agitation and depersonalization." Confusion, disorientation and aggression are also listed side effects, the label states.

The label also warns against a possible worsening of depression or suicidal thinking; impaired alertness and motor coordination and impaired vision also have been reported, according to the manufacturer.

Blackouts, where the person drove, had sex or ate while they thought they were asleep, can be associated with the drug, American Addiction Centers reports. The drug has been linked to amnesia in some case reports.

Pills of Sanofi-Aventis SA's Ambien, a top-selling insomnia drug in the U.S., are arranged in a Cambridge, Massachusetts pharmacy in this file photo. (Photo: JB Reed, Bloomberg News)

Kevin McCoy contributed to this report. Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets

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