Zolpidem (that's Ambien to you non-pharmacists) for jet lag

I am more than a bit of an idol of Rick Steves' travel philosophy: Travel light. No checked baggage. Get off of the beaten path. Do your own laundry in the sink of your room. Etc. Before Lisa and I left on our trip to Spain this past August, I was on his internet bulletin board 80 times daily looking for specific advice about Spain and getting certain questions answered. Very useful.

I also discovered that certain people hate Rick Steves disciples (look here and especially here). Very amusing.

Anyway, back to the point...

I found a post about using Ambien to prevent jet lag. The idea is that you get on your plane in Atlanta or NYC or Houston or wherever, settle in, eat dinner, and then take 5 mg of Ambien to help you fall asleep. Upon arrival in Europe four or five hours later, your small dose of Ambien has worn off, you feel sort of rested, and you are able to get to your touristly duties without too much trouble.

Traveling to Europe is my least favorite part of actually going to Europe. I'm always excited, which impairs sleep. On this trip, a lousy selection of connecting flights paired with flying out of a secondary western US market resulted in 20+ hours of travel time for this trip each way. Worse, I suffer from a genetic condition which prevents me from sleeping on planes. Yes, it's embarrassing, but I am tall. The airlines freely discriminate against tall people. It is nearly impossible for a tall person to sleep on an airplane. As far as I know, there is no Society To Prevent Discrimination Against Tall People that I can turn to for support. The result is that I suffer on airplanes, folded up like giraffe into a sardine can. It's horrible. I can survived when I fly to Chicago, because it's usually only a few hours, but to Europe, it is sheer torture. I need the sleep so that I can hit the ground running upon arrival in the morning in Europe, but I cannot do it.

So I was very excited this year to try out some Ambien. Being someone who dispenses drugs but who avoids taking them, I faithfully took Dr. Rick's prescribed dose of only 5 mg. I figured that I had no tolerance to hypnotic medications and would therefore likely be susceptible to their powers. Still, I had some anxiety about this, because I am aware that my larger size means that those measly 5 mg will be diluted across more body mass than that of a shorter person. On the other hand, many Americans make up for their lack of tallness by eating so much that they end up as wide as I am tall. Such people would have the same dilutional problem as I when it comes to Ambien, although they still wouldn't have the giraffe-in-a-sardine-can problem. For these reasons, I stuck with the recommended 5 mg dose.

Bottom line? It didn't work. Next time, I'll try 10 mg. I took my Ambien as directed not long after the meal. I brushed my teeth in the toxic airplane bathroom. I put on my eye shades and ear plugs. I pulled up a blanket, adjusted my pillow, and took off my shoes. I tried to get comfortable. But it was all for naught. I didn't even feel vaguely drowsy though my brain slowly got more and more fatigued. After an hour or two of trying, I gave up and blearily watched some Kate Winslet movie in which she plays a German woman during WWII who was tried and convicted as a war criminal after the war. It was a very good movie if you're the type to accept having your beliefs and stereotypes challenged. It wasn't real uplifting, though. The other interesting thing was the extensive nudity in the movie. The flight was on liberal, European carrier, Air France. Each passenger has his/her own video console to choose from various movies and TV shows. Several of the movies had mature content. On the flight home on prudish Delta Airlines (a US carrier), all content was edited to prevent some family values loudmouth from having a cow.