Mixing Jet-Lag Drug, Alcohol Linked to Amnesia

Long-distance air travelers who use a new drug and a drink to bring on a nap may avoid jet lag but wind up with transient amnesia, an episode of memory loss and confusion lasting several hours, researchers say.

“We can’t say to what degree the three components--the drug, drinking and travel--interact,” said Harold Morris III, a neurologist and co-author of the report.

“But what this suggests is that, if you’re planning to go to Europe and they offer free Champagne on the flight, and you’re taking a drug for jet lag, don’t plan on negotiating a peace treaty or conducting any other important business.”

Used to Battle Insomnia

The drug, triazolam, is a form of benzodiazepine, a class of hypnotic agents prescribed by doctors to help induce sleep in people battling insomnia.

Morris said air travelers increasingly have been using the drug to get to sleep quickly on long-distance flights “and get a jump on the next day’s business.”

What resulted instead in three cases reported in today’s Journal of the American Medical Assn. were episodes of transient global amnesia.

Each case involved a neurologist traveling from New York to Europe to attend a scientific meeting, said Morris, who reported the cases with Dr. Melinda Estes, a colleague at The Cleveland Clinic.

None of the three had consumed enough alcohol to be intoxicated, he said.

Able to Function Normally

“In each, people accompanying the amnesiacs noticed nothing abnormal,” Morris said in a telephone interview Thursday. “In fact, it was remarkable because they carried out some very complicated dealings--changing currency, finding their way around foreign cities and the like.

“As it turned out, though, they couldn’t recall the activities the next day, as though the memory were a tape recorder, and someone cut that segment of tape right out,” he said.