Australians and Ambien (Zolpidem)

The Therapeutic Goods Administration - Australia's equivalent of the FDA - is investigating claims that Ambien (or Stilnox, as it's marketed Down Under) is causing disproportionately large numbers of reports of bizarre behavior: sleep walking, sleep eating, even sleep suicides. No one has any idea why Australians are reporting side-effects at many times the rate found in other nations:

"Interestingly, we're not seeing nearly the same profile of side effects of Stilnox in other countries as we're seeing in Australia," Dr Hammett said.

"The reports of abnormal sleep behaviour, that are the focus of media attention, appear to be much more common in Australia than other countries."

That could be put down to a number of issues.

"Is that because we have a very good reporting system here in Australia and our health-care professionals and our community know that they can report these adverse reactions? That's certainly a strong possibility," he said.

"Or is the recent focus in the media on this somehow affecting the reporting pattern in Australia?"

As an Australian who gets 20 Stilnox a year (for international air travel), I've been enjoying my sleeping pills. Apparently, other Australians haven't.