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Ambien vs. The Rush to Kill
Posted by Raven on October 31st, 2007
I hope those who think dehydrating to death people who are in a coma reconsider their harsh ignorance. Doctors all over the world are using trials of this drug, Zolpidem- brand name Ambien- to see if it does indeed bring back a level of alertness to those once considered brain dead.
AFTER her teenage daughter slipped into a coma, Thelma Pickard never lost hope of recovery.
Six years on, the devoted mother is daring to believe her hopes may be answered.
Daughter Amy, now 23, has begun to show signs of life after being given an over-the-counter sleeping pill. Last night Mrs Pickard said the ‘old sparkle’ returned to her daughter’s eyes when she was given a pill and described the change as ‘amazing’.
Until last month she remained seemingly lifeless in bed in a nursing home.
But now, barely four weeks after taking her first Zolpidem pill as part of a worldwide trial, she is breathing by herself, instead of through a hole in her throat, reacting to food and showing signs of awareness.
Mrs Pickard, 54, said: ‘She is changing and it is amazing. When she takes the pill, I see her face relax and the old sparkle return to her eyes. It’s incredible. When I look at her now I can see the old Amy coming through, fighting to get out.’
Two weeks ago Amy stood up – with support from two nurses – for the first time since she lost consciousness. She is also focusing on objects and making voluntary noises rather than staring into space with no sign of life.
Amy was 17 and preparing for the birth of her first child when she slipped into a coma six years ago.
She collapsed and suffered severe brain damage after experimenting with heroin. Shortly afterwards, former nurse Mrs Pickard, a
mother of two from Hastings, East Sussex, allowed an image of the teenager in her hospital bed to be released as a poignant plea to persuade others not to use drugs.Since then she has spent hours at her daughter’s bedside at the Raphael Medical Centre in Tonbridge, Kent, visiting every day.
[...]
Doctors have warned it could take months for a major breakthrough-in her daughter’s condition- but Mrs Pickard says progress is already obvious.‘Her eyes are now focusing on things, she’s more aware of her surroundings and she’s making so much noise – almost forming actual words. It’s remarkable.’
Amy is also reacting to food and drink – grimacing when given a lemon or something sour and smiling when given something sweet.
Why rush to kill someone who is in a state of consciousness we know so little about? Terri Schiavo was a victim of many things, most of all the denial by many who claimed she wasn’t…really…alive…yet she was. In fact her state of awareness was higher than Amy’s. Terri was condemned to die. Had that happened a couple years later, she may have been given this drug to see if it altered her state of being, and perhaps we would see Terri differently now. We’ll never know since her husband and his friends in the court system killed her. How shameful has society become?
