Sonata™ (zaleplon) and Tagamet™ (cimetidine) Interaction Danger
So the kid around the corner was sharing with me what unknowingly happened last weekend.
In short, after eating some really good pizza and deciding to take cimetidine for heartburn TKATC was ready for bed. After taking 20 mg of zaleplon (the therapeutic dose) the rest of the night and well into the next day is gone: total black-out. The kid around the corner woke up in the hospital listening to stories of what happened "last night". Luckily, nobody was hurt (physically or emotionally).
One of the described benefits of zaleplon is its the wonderfully short half-life. However, cimetidine greatly increases the amount of zaleplon in the blood. To make matters worse, TKATC "forgot" (if you can call it that) that the medicine had already been taken and took again, multiple times. A total of 150 mg were consumed.
So be careful and read all the warnings. The kid around the corner admits to not being as careful as one should've been when taking a new medicine.