Ambien does seem to be nasty stuff for some people. My wife was only able to sleep a couple of hours nightly so her doctor gave her Ambien to try. It didn’t help her sleeplessness but just one pill made her so dizzy she needed help up the steps and didn’t dare drive for three days.
However, along the lines of the Kennedy situation, it was quite clear to both of us that she should not drive.
It doesn’t affect everyone that way. I have needed Ambien to sleep for a few years due to a combination of things and while I do sometimes wake up groggy in the morning, it doesn’t take long for me to shake it off.
Granted, I try not to take it every night, and I only take a few milligrams. I had 10 mg pills for a long time, and would break them up into three pieces and just take one piece.
I had three health factors that combined to keep me from getting a good nights sleep (waking up 5-10 times in a five hour stretch) and taking a small dose of Ambien was enough to get me five hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep. It is a Godsend to me, and I cannot tell you how much it improved the quality of my life, just getting the five hours.
I have knocked down a few of the factors, and have been able to go a few months without it, and only wake up once an hour now without it, and that is manageable.
I have a feeling people who have issues with it fall into one of three categories: First, they take too much. The mentality of “Well, if ONE pill can make me sleep, TWO will do a better job, and THREE will really conk me out”. Secondly, they take it at a time of day they shouldn’t, or take it with alcohol or something else. Thirdly, they might just be one of those people it really does have a bad effect on, even at normal doses.
I suspect the Kennedys who are doing this are both category 1 and 2, as in “I REALLY want to get conked out, so I am going to take 30 mg and have a few highballs. NOBODY will interrupt my sleep tonight.”