Why all the hate for Hamilton? He's the most entertaining Vice reporter Most of his "reports" are just excuses to get really fucked up on weird drugs. Man's a legend.

Love that Ambien......I wake up in the morning all refreshed......my kitchen has been mysteriously cleaned, a quart of ice cream vanished and somehow my beard is shaved off.

I have a lazy eye, and the few times I took Ambien I was able to see clearly through that eye, it was actually one of the most relieving experiences of my life and I finally felt like I was able to see life the way everyone else does. I hope this drug can become more accessible because just mentioning it makes me come across like a junkie unfortunately

Louis’s mum is so strong talking about it and not shedding a tear.

my grandmother took this after about 3 years living with Alzheimer and it was amazing she could talk and remembered me and my family.

I know someone who was in the hospital, after a car accident, and was given Ambien for the first time. The nurses later found him naked in the break room (IV and all) cooking some of his clothes in the microwave. When they asked him what he was doing, he said he was making chocolate.

I love you Hamilton for being there, face to face, with so much pain and complication in the name of science. Thank you for trying to give us a better quality of life.

I'm one of those people who got wrecked by Ambien from taking it for insomnia but now after watching this I believe that Ambien should be re-labeled for treatment of nerulogoical disorders rather than being taken off the market entirely.

i want to hug everyone in this. feel good dudes. all of us watching this love you.

I am crying. Because of _this_ video, _your_ video VICE. I _might_ get to speak with my grandmother again! She suffered a stroke & we are going to try this road to see if there's a positive change. We'll be working closely with her doctor during the process. Please keep up the great work. Thank you _all_ for the stories like these. xo

*man in a coma* “Should probably give him a sleeping pill” *man in a coma* wakes up

I read an article on this in 2006, tried to interest my MD friends...I worked with some persistent vegetative children. They looked at me like I was insane, I said, "What do we have to loose?" Nope, years passed and I heard about studies in SA and even in the USA, but so low key. God bless the researchers, this needs to be mainstream already!

When I was younger I took Ambien and drank some vodka. Woke up at 4am in an abandoned K-mart parking lot with patches of burnt grass around me and a lighter in my hand. Good times.

I love Hamilton's coverage of these psycho-pharmacological miracles, I hope in the future more people come to understand the importance and fundamental connection our mind has with these incredible compounds. There is so much to be discovered, the minds eye remains open.

This popped up in feed today. When the dude said "It feels like being alive, when I do that." after he just repeats a script. This man has a passion for the commercial spokesman's business.

Doctor wally is so pure I'm actually crying wtf

How is it that, if you have brain damage and take 20 mg you can do math and stuff, but if the average person does 20 mg they're out stealing cars?

I took Ambien once. Was prescribed to me years ago for insomnia. I "woke up" in the middle of the night, drank an entire bottle of scotch, rearranged all the heavy furniture in my bedroom, and then peed all over the hallway floor right outside the bathroom. Woke up with my bedroom window wide open in the coldest month of the winter and absolutely *zero* recollection of doing ANY of it... Terrifying stuff. I flushed the rest of the bottle the next day.

Before social media voices like Tom were the golden age of advertising. It’s sad to see his talent stripped from him but also amazing to see it come right back via “sleep meds”. Wishing him nothing but the best. 👍

One thing I learned earning my bachelors degree in psychology: A scary amount of the medications we use to treat problems of the mind, we have no idea why they work. They just do, so we prescribe them.

I personally like his voice, its very relaxing. I watch these documentaries before i go to bed, better than ambien.

This is such a ground breaking story... I've never seen anything like it. We really wish Hamilton's Pharmacopia would come back! He's done some of the best videos on KZfaq.

Who though the guy was on Ambien when he couldn't speak properly.

"I didn't hear it fast enough so I lost it". What an interesting perspective on perception. It's probably another one of those skills that you don't realize you have until you lose it.

I thought I knew what frustration felt like.... nothing like what these guys go through! What an awesome opportunity for them to get their lives back!

Why is everyone hating on Hamilton? I like the vice documentaries that he's in personally speaking.

Can anyone imagine that moment your 3 years in a comma son pops up wide awake complaing about having to piss and wanting breakfast completely unaware he'd been out for years....

Ive taken Ambien only once in my life and I was up watching television with my mom. it was a late night TV show, something like David Letterman and I kept asking my mom what was going on in the show. I simply couldn't figure it out, even though there was nothing to figure out. It was simply a host asking his guest questions and the crowd laughing and whatnot. However, it made absolutely no sense to me. very strange chemical.

hamilton is a fucking good journalist in my opinion. the best vice series going this is.

I took ambien for years due to severe insomnia and it worked wonders for me. Never slept so good never had any strange things happen..But here recently it's the total opposite. When I take them I don't get sleepy I start to focus on tasks that I've put to the side, if I'm already in bed when I take them I will start to hear a conversation between 2 people in my head. It worked so well for me for so long but not anymore

Hamilton is an amazing person that has the best interest for humanity at heart. I am heartwarmed by this documentary.

Why hasn’t more research been done into this? This video came out 9 years ago and I haven’t seen scientific reports on it at all. Hamilton deserves more recognition

Poor Louis with his little cat :r I remember reading about his story in the news, I'm glad he's still doing well.

16:54 "and now with the ambien in full effect I once more asked tom..." Swear to god I thought he was gonna say "If he could sell me some ambien."

Gotta say one of the most positive, encouraging episodes EVER!!!! Makes me really appreciate what I have!

it's so weird to watch a man say that promoting Chevys is what makes him feel alive again, but when you remember that he was stripped of something we all take for granted it sort of makes sense

Mr. Rowe, we respect you. So much, I'm so sorry you had your wisdom tooth pulled and nerve issues took place. I hope and believe you will be better than ever

More videos with Hamilton please! This man is your best, vice.

I suffer from mild to moderate tinnitus and find that Zolpidem eases the ringing radically. I had this epiphany while not sleeping on them and it's a great relief to know that I can hear something close to silence on them. So happy for the people suffering in this video that they can find relief. EDIT: Oh and I know that I could never get them prescribed where I'm at so I don't bother trying.

I just watched this for the first time and I'm almost to tears. Im normally sarcastic or complimentary on my comments, but this one hit home. Years ago, my brother apparently had some sort of trully undiagnosed episode where he lost his ability to speak fluidly and resembles all of the patients shown here. The restrictive tongue positioning and all. I've taken him to several doctors and it has not cleared matters up one bit. I am taking him to his doctor's office to get a script and pray for the best outcome. If we can achieve 50% of these results, it would be half my brother back. Wish me luck.

I hate how everyone bashes Hamilton all the time, if you don't like him.. Don't fuckin' watch this, this is not hard people.. >

Many medications are already prescribed for off label use. I am especially interested in the South African doctor's claims of treating near drownings with Ambien, it may have saved my son's life after his near drowning.

Just lost my father to dementia. I wish I saw this a year ago. Never had a chance to have him understand how proud I was to be his son.

All the skeptic opinions, Who Cares; if the medecine helps these ppl, thats Great for them & their families.

I have a chronic illness that no pain medication (or any other medication)could help. I've been on ambian for 6 years because within a hour of taking it I can get up and do things...feel and act like my old self. My Drs could never understand why it worked the way it did for me but they knew it did what nothing else could do. I have my career back and my family time...I'm living again. I'm not just suffering in debilitating pain locked in a broken body. I still don't know why it does what it does for me (I don't even feel sleepy from it) but it does work!

The one time I’ve taken Ambien I was sitting in a spinny-chair when it hit and suddenly I was in space. I saw galaxy’s around me. I moved to a different room to fall asleep, I was in bed alone and I started watching Netflix and realized there were people behind me watching Netflix with me. Spirits in the house. Trippy!

I once took 10 10mg ambien, watched my tv, my dresser and my desk melt into a puddle right before my eyes. Then I passed out, and what I can only describe as watching the entire universe condense into one singularity, it felt like meeting god. But the one thing I can tell you, I couldn't speak worth a damn

The way Tom describes his pain sounds like the way he speaks is exactly like how you would speak if your face was stretched in all those ways like clay. It's like his nerves are projecting portions of his head out at separate directions entirely. With things like phantom limb syndrome being real documented occurrences I have no doubt that what he's experiencing is absolutely real, and if you forgive my amateurish understanding of the concept, operates in a similar fashion.

Ambien can cause sleep driving. This has happened to two members of the Kennedy family. They crashed their cars after taking Ambien, and a bottle of Chivas Regal scotch. Both were found not guilty of DUI due to Ambien and being a Kennedy.

I have severe insomnia because I’m autistic Ambien is the only thing that helps me sleep. It really changed my life

Hamilton is awesome. Most people with his knowledge would proudly spew it uncontrollably. Hamilton however patiently observes the story and finds out how can this benefit humans. Thank you HM

Man, my heart went out to that last guy. Goes to get his wisdom teeth removed and finds himself unable to speak clearly and in chronic pain. His entire career was talking to add insult to injuring. On a lighter note, I recall an advertisement for Ambien and in the small print it added some of the side effects including sleep driving, stating that sleep driving can be dangerous. Like when is sleep driving not dangerous?!

This was 7 years ago would be interesting to see what is happening in the research and development of this in regards to brain injury 🤗

So much hate for a guy just doing his job. He has a relatively relaxed way of working that's about it.

I was prescribed Ambien took it for a while and let me tell you, I have taken many street drugs and Ambien takes the cake with most bizzare drugs I have ever taken. I think more research is needed but this drug is POWERFUL!!!!!!!!

I would sue whoever took out that tooth, at least the company. He deserves compensation.

I take Ambien as a part of an anticonvulsant regimen prescribed by my neurologist to help suppress the effects that my seizures have on my neurological function.

When the cameraman says, “Wow”, you know it’s real. Cause he seen some shit.

I once took an Ambien, walked into the bathroom, stood on the toilet, tried to "pick" the flowers off the wallpaper, fell off the toilet, busted my lip open, fell asleep on the floor, and woke up the next morning in a pool of my own blood. So there's that.

Im 6 years tardy watching this and I wish Id known about the potential of this drug when my dad was recovering from a brain aneurysm followed by 3 strokes from his brain swelling. He was literally a 60 year old infant; having to learn to speak, read, write, walk, bathe, dress, etc himself exactly how my now 4 year old son has. This drug could have taken YEARS off the amount of time we spent in speach therapy and I pray strides have been made in the last 6 years with this miracle drug. Brain injuries seem to be talked about more now than they werev11 years ago when my dad suffered his yet I have not heard of this at all until this video. With the chance of my dad reverting to infancy with each fall and seizure I feel very blessed to know about this just in case the almost worst happens. Not just as a daughter but an 11 year caregiver 24/7 to abrain injury patient I'm beyond grateful for this education and knowledge! Many thanks to Vice and Hamilton ❤

As a personal experience, I have a neurological disorder that causes intense nerve pain and (many) other associated problems.. the first time I took ambien, it was 1 drug prescribed out of many different kinds for insomnia. For some reason, I could feel my hands and feet about an hour later, and felt "normal" for the first time ina LONG time. I also have incredibly less pain.. but it doesn't last long. I sleep, I wake- then I go back to my normal of pain and loss of feeling and weakness. I look forward to my "ambien" time every night. It's the most wonderful part of the day and I've discussed this with my neurologist, and he says he has heard the same thing from quite a few of his patients (who he DOESN'T prescribe ambien to, they just happen to be on it from regular MD's) He is as perplexed as me.

Ambien and clonazapam are two great therapeutic tools for me. Such cured seizures and muscle spasms due to neurological complications

I grew up in Orlando and hearing this guys voice just gave me some intense flashbacks!

I knew that he wasn't yawning but I couldn't stop yawning back at him.

I have no complaints on this med. my quality of life has improved tremendously. As with Gabapentin and Duloxetine. I know all about the possible side effects, but I guess I’ve been lucky or it simply works with my particular brain. I do a LOT of homeopathy. And of course, I’d love to not need any meds. But, I have Lupus, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, with Polymyositis, Fibro, Endometriosis, CFS/ME, and a LOT of other issues. Basically, pain is my ‘normal’ state. It’s depressing as hell. I’m a single, working mom. It’s super hard! It took me a while to relent as I became more and more disabled. A lady at work set me straight. She has MS and her illness is tougher than mine. She was always happy. So, one day she saw me w a nasty attitude and she confronted me. I explained that I didn’t wanna be a ‘pill popper’ and she told me, better to be a bit popper and be happy. 😂 My health has improved dramatically and so has my attitude. I was becoming increasingly immobile until I decided otherwise. I still use alternative medicine. But, I refuse to not sleep. I’m still not a ‘pill popper,’ but definitely live happier. Addiction issues are a mental disorder more than a chemical issue. I did 12 step for alcoholism at 23. So, my medications do not place me at risk as a recovering addict, because I now DEAL with my issues, rather than drinking them away. I was diagnosed in 2006 with my first successful pregnancy. Just 3 years after 12 step. Had I not done 12 step, I would’ve already lost a kidney or my liver. I was lucky, I guess.

I have chronic pain and ambien reduces that as well as depression. It's really an amazing medicine.

Wow! This is an extremely obscure and little known treatment, even in the medical community. I believe Zopiclone has similar effects as it is in the "Z" class along with Ambien.

This is very intriguing to me as I have now taken Ambien for 10 years for Insomnia. BUT there is an amazing thing that happens to me when I take it...I calm down, feel less anxious, have no anger (I have severe anger issues) and feel like my absolute best self. I suffer from depression, severe anxiety and take an antidepressant but its only after I take my Ambien that I feel like I am no longer depressed or anxious. I never do the crazy things people talk about on Ambien, in fact, its the exact opposite. I feel like I can calmly deal with my life and have rational discussions with my family. It is a miracle drug to me and I wish I could take it 3x per day. As it is, my dr wants to take me off it cause of all the weird stories people report but that is NOT the case with me ever. I think this drug is a miracle cure for depression and we need to study it as an aide for that and anxiety. I want to broach this idea with my dr but am afraid. Thank you for making this documentary...it just might empower me to discuss it and maybe empower my doctor to think differently.

I don't understand the hate for hamilton. He seems like a chill as fuck guy to be with, and he's not nearly as pretentious as most of the other vice reporters. In fact, if you haven't noticed, he's parodying them when he acts pretentious.

I have been dealing with sleep issues for years, so my doctor prescribed me Zolpidem (the generic brand of Ambien here in Spain). As soon as I started using it I noticed some side effects, like mild hallucinations and stuff, but nothing to be concerned about. But what happened me past week is beyond normal and plain scary. I took my Zolpidem dope as usual and headed to bed, but like half an hour later I (or my impaired brain) somewhat decided that would be a good idea sleeping in a hotel near to my work instead (I have to commute like one hour every day) so in the middle of the night I booked a hotel room thru a popular app, put my clothes on (fortunately) and drove 50 kms to that hotel. Or that was the idea. What should had been a 30 minutes drive turned out to last two solid hours, I got lost and drove randomly around Madrid, as I could find out the next day checking my google maps timeline. I went to three different hotels until I found mine, what happened by 3 am. Checked in and went to sleep, next morning woke up (fortunately my phone alarms have a fixed preset schedule) had a shower and went to work. I am pretty scared of what could had happened that night, I could had a crash or ran over somebody, fortunately due the late hours there was very little traffic. I don't know how this nasty stuff can be legal, and marijuana, for example, is not. Big pharma lobbyists do well their job it seems. My biggest warnings here.

Love this guy…he’s certainly a unique individual but strikes gold so often with stories like this

That is indeed an important pharmaceutical. I'm very happy for them, it mist be horrible having found your true passion, a way to live with it and then having taken away. I'm happy that guy found hes way back to the mike!

Wow the horror stories here about ambien... Its really really strong at first, you'll be totally high. I describe it as being really drunk but without the nausea. After like a month my body adjusted, I stopped getting that "super high" feeling. I can still feel it when I take it but its sooooo much weaker now. It sort of gets me buzzed and slows down my higher brain function enough that I can actually lay down and sleep. it doesn't really make me tired as much as just "relaxes" things. The effect totally wears off after about 50 minutes. The feeling is slightly euphoric so it is hard to convince yourself to lay down since you generally feel pretty good. Without ambien I can go about 48+ hours without sleep to the point where I'm so exhausted I can't even function, yet when I try to sleep it still takes me about 3-4 hours to fall asleep and even when I do fall asleep I rarely stay asleep more than 2 hours. Even though ambien doesn't make me tired it does help me fall asleep in about 5 minutes and I typically get a much more deep sleep that lasts about 5 hours. I take 10mg every night before bed. I've done so for about 3 years now. The direct effect is minor now. Sometimes i'll take it and never even feel the effect and since it wears off after about an hour I'll take a 2nd 10mg pill. No matter how wired I am if I take a 2nd pill its going to put me to sleep. I've taken other medications to help me sleep but they usually leave me feeling hazy the next day, I feel like my brain is only running at half capacity but the ambien effects last such a short amount of time that I can still feel mostly functional the next day without any major side effects. Regardless of the scary stories other people are saying, if you have a hard time sleeping due to problems like ADHD, OCD, or anxiety I would still say give ambien a try. It'll help shut down your brain enough to let you lull yourself into sleep. And if you're looking to get high, take 30mg and youll be totally shitfaced for like 1-2 hours and feel fine the next day. I've been suggested to try weed but its not legal where I live and I would rather avoid getting criminal charges....

Hamilton is the poster boy for Ambien.

Twice on Ambien, I lost my self. Once reportedly ate my ice cream with chilies. The other time, I got off from my flight and went through customs etc. I woke up 6 hours later not knowing what I did.

This gives hope for many many other illness, diseases and injuries etc. This is amazing.

Its like Ambien for Algernon.

I have been seizure free since I have been on Ambien. It’s been 10 years now 😊❤😊

Ive seen the most international exposure South Africa has gotten by watching this show

Amazing. My Dad just had a massive stroke about a month ago. And he cannot speak but he is completely coherent and awake. He understands everything perfectly and responds. We must try to see if this helps at all. I will be actively seeking this type of therapy.

people need to realize what monotone really is. He does not have a monotone voice lol

My uncle has severe brain damage from a car wreck. Ambien has been the only medicine to get him to start kind of acting like his old self. Without it he asks the same questions over and over and over in rapid fire. Sadly he's been this way for so long that he's developed a tolerance to the max legal dose of ambien which is 3 10 mg tablets a day so there's really no more of his good days. Basically waiting for dementia to take him but I wonder sometimes if we were allowed to give him more ambien if he would still have his god moments

Amazing, his “being alive” voiceover gave me tingles

And maybe even triples as a painkiller, according to some sources and me

He doesn't get intoxicated, he's just a ham. Shine on you crazy diamond.

Great video, VICE! I feel so bad for all the brain damage sufferers in this video, though it's awesome that zolpidem is allowing them to live more normal lives (even if the guy in the thumbnail still has to live with being a living Me Gusta Meme Face 😟). The therapeutic effect of zolpidem on people with these conditions is so amazing and unusual (especially waking from a supposedly permanent vegetative state!), I'm a little surprised I'd never come across a mention of this before. I wonder if any researchers in this area are also looking at muscimol, the active ingredient in Amanita muscaria mushrooms 🍄, since, as another selective GABAᴀ agonist, it exerts a similar profile of effects to zolpidem.

I have a debilitating disease called catatonic schizophrenia and since being prescribed Ambient in 1998 I have been able to live a normal life at home without having to be institutionalized

I was given an Ambien while extremely pregnant at the hospital when having false contractions. When we got home I jumped in the pool, for like 1 minute, then took a 3 hour shower talking to my shampoo bottles the entire time. That's about it.

Ambien (Zolpidem) shares molecular structure similarities with Kratom (Mitragynine), Kratom is also known to resolve damaged neuron abnormalities and neurological dystonias.

when I was 18, ambien first came out, and my doctor gave me a prescription. I enjoyed taking it because I liked the feelings that the drug would provide. I have never had experiences from any other drug that resembled ambien. It was psychedelic mixed with euphoria, imagine taking xanax and also LSD or mescalin. It was very enjoyable but very short acting also, I have crazy stories I could tell about how ambien would make me do some of the most embarrassing and reckless actions

Lous Dr. Seems like a kind man. Nice to know he's a real professional and person.

The wildest thing about this video was him putting his face down on the public train seat. He’s a wild one.

When I had a wisdom tooth removed recently, I had to sign a form listing the possible negative effects of the procedure, which included jaw/sinus problems. Some of them seemed rather extreme and unlikely- but I guess it has to happen to someone eventually.

thank you Mr Hamilton seriously

I’m curious if other gaba(a) agonists would have the same effect? If zolpidem, which is technically labeled as a sedative hypnotic and has a binding affinity at the (a) subunit, has an ability to create new neural pathways in damaged brains, then wouldn’t a medication with a greater binding affinity at the same receptor site - class of compounds in the Benzodiazepine class - have a higher efficacy? Curious to see what research has been done thus far, as well as the direction that this phenomena has taken.

Omg the ending is so wholesome when he’s doing a bunch of voices for Hamilton. LOL

Wow, that's incredible! The only thing I could be sad about is not becoming a chemist or bio engineer.

My story with Ambien.... I took only one Ambien tablet in my life; it was after I complained about having difficulty sleeping to my mom, so she gave me one of her Ambien pills. I took it, then I got in the car with my husband, and he drove me off to home which was about 50 minutes away. I recall this all very clearly 6 years after the incident. As we were driving, my head began to feel so heavy, and then I felt as though my husband was swerving the steering wheel as if he was avoiding obstacles. The "obstacles" were pine trees jumping into the middle of the street, and the night sky was a bright yellow and purple. We got home, and I drunkenly climbs the stairs into the landing, and I somehow I went to the bathroom to change my clothes, but my fishnet stockings were singing to me in Bob Marley's voice (or something similar) and I must have taken quite a long time in there because my husband came to check on me. We went to bed and thereafter I began to see a plethora of visual and auditory hallucinations including flying rubber ducks, and before I had gone to sleep, I believed we had gone on vacation to Africa and we were in some sort of bungalow. I went to sleep perhaps 2-3 hours after the hallucinations began. I never took it again :/

I see some crazy comments about Ambien.. I've been taking it for about 8 years and though it took a few months to get used to (nothing crazy) I take it now with no side affects but can sleep, which let me tell you, people that can sleep have no idea what a nightmare it is to not be able to

I didnt know listening to a Chevy Tahoe commercial could make me cry, but here we are. It must feel so validating to be able to do something like that again after it was taken from you.