Ambien Discussion & Q/A

Posts Tagged ‘month’

PS. the ambien was given to me by a friend and i only plan on taking it tonight, the drug test is a month away

Answer:

Nope.

ive been on it for about a month and a half and have found that im having major mood swings and seem to have some memory loss issues. i also CANNOT sleep without it! i didnt take it tonight and now i cant sleep at all and im extremely moody ands shakey but i want to break the addictive cycle. what do i do?!

Answer:

Yes, it can be very addictive. If you feel that you have developed a dependency on this drug, I would suggest getting help immediately before things get even worse. I did some research. Maybe this article will help you.

Hi, I have had real bad insomnia for the past couple weeks.My doctor put me on ambien cr about a month ago, and that doesen’t seem to work any more. I keep waking up alot during the night. Are there any other pills that might work better. I’ve also tried kava, melatonin, and valerian root. And they didn’t work. Does anyone know of any pills that will work better. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer:

I’m not sure whether or not you are open to this option, but marijuana helped me with my insomnia, maybe it can help you too.

I’m 26 years old and I’ve been living in South Korea teaching English for the last 4 months. Although my sleeping pattern changed after I got here, I never had sleeping trouble until about a month ago. I’m hoping not to become dependent on Ambien or anything else, but I must sleep. Any suggestions, experience or input would be great. Thanks. -Al-

Answer:

i am currently on melatonin bc i have delayed sleep phase syndrome. so far (i have been on it for about 3 months), i haven’t really noticed a difference. i have read that for some people it works wonders, while others it doesn’t help much. melatonin is found in our bodies naturally, so its not addictive.

i tried ambien for a few nights, a few years ago bc we had a lot of stress going on in our family and wasn’t sleeping (i was about 16-17 at the time, so i was still in hs). it helped, but wanted to get off of it as soon as possible bc i didn’t want to run the risk of become addicted.

so, if i were you, i would try the melatonin first (make sure you get the “synthetic” kind). if that doesn’t work, try the ambien. maybe your doctor would have some other suggestions for helping with your sleep problems, too. (before trying ambien i tried taking tylenol pm but i had a reaction to it, which made me more wide awake and jittery).

hope this helps a little!

i have been on ambien cr for about a month. over that time i have gained weight. i exercise regularly so the only thing i can think of is that its a side effect of the ambien cr…anyone else experience this problem???

Answer:

I think that might be the drug where people will wake up and eat in their sleep. I heard that on the news…??

1. when taken normally
2. when taken at a higher dosage that perscribed
3. when snorted

Answer:

Your questions indicate a willingness to abuse Ambien. There IS a possibility of addiction at higher dosages than prescribed. And snorting is just plain stupid.

When taken normally (5 mg a night or less), there are some who have problems but most are OK. Stop after a month or two, and it takes a week to get back to normal sleep. You MUST be able to get at least 7 hours sleep–do not take otherwise.

There are examples of sleep-=walking. Check out www.askapatient.com for some scary stories.

If you have insomnia, you might also have sleep apnea–if you have insurance get a sleep test.

I dont think my insurance will pay for lunesta because it doesn’t have a generic. And I don;t want psychological drugs to sleep. I was on Remeron because it’s side effect was sleepiness but it makes you gain weight ahd I don’t a psych drug just to sleep? Any suggestions. Any pills work for you?

Answer:

If you cannot afford Lunesta, then you may ask your doctor about Trazadone. It is an old medication and when used in low doses can be a great sleep aid.

If not, then maybe you could ask about a benzo type drug, such as Xanax or Valium, although I would suggest the Trazadone first.

Also it appears that Lunesta will not be up for its patent exp until 2012 at the earliest, so you will need to go the Trazadone or other med route for awhile. This issue with sleep aids is that your body builds up tolerance to them, so the idea is that you switch back and forth…once you build up tolerance on one compound you switch to another and can start over again at a lower dose, then once you build up tolerance to that one, you can typically go back to the previous one and start at the bottom dosages again, and then keep rotating.

And for the record there are many people who suffer from sleep issues, so do not feel bad. There are many different factors that can lead to sleep disorders, and of course it is always best to try to get to the root cause to your problem and if at all possible to avoid the use of a drug compound to solve it for you. However this is just not as simple as it sounds and any many cases patients sleep cycles have become so disrupted and so thrown off that there is really not much choice but to put them on some type of drug to try to reboot the sleep rythm. So do not feel bad about it, but also do try to continue to work on figuring out the root cause to the problem, as in the end if you can do that, then it could be the best thing for you, as it may be something that can be actually fixed thus eliminating your need for any medications.

EDIT: I have seen many patients who respond extremley well to the use of Trazadone off label for sleep disorders, and the response lasted for much longer than a few weeks. In fact I know of several patients right off the top of my head that have been taking Trazadone for sleep disorder for more than 5 years and are still getting plenty of systemic effects from the drug. I did say that you could try a benzo, BUT, I suggest the Trazadone first. The cumulative drawbacks to being put on a benzo as a treatment for sleep disorder far outweigh those of a low dose anti-depressant like Trazadone. The last thing you want to do is to gain a mental and physical dependency to a drug, and if you go the benzo route that is going to happen, if you try the Trazadone route first and it works well for you, then your chances of developing physical and mental dependency is going to far less and far less severe than with a benzo or a sedative hypnotic for that matter. Also, Trazadone is cheap, has been on the market for a long time, so why not try the more cost effective drug with which we have more data on than the other way around. And FYI, Halcion is really a last resort….you get on that and build up a tolerance and it may take haldol to take you down after that!

Normally Ambien works like a charm for me and is a lifesaver when it comes to sleep. Just for like 3 nights now I seem more alert. Any ideas?
Oh usually ill take it and instead of falling asleep ill be up and when i do fall asleep i sleep alot longer than i normally would on ambien

Answer:

and then is out of them with 7-10 days to go in the month and then struggles to find a way to sleep till they get their next refill, and who else here has no medical insurance and has to pay out of pocket 5 for 30 – 10mg pills, and has to take 2 a night, because one just doesn’t do the job anymore? And who else here was told that Ambien wasn’t addictive and was lied too, and now goes through withdrawls when they don’t have it?

Answer:

I don’t think Ambien is your problem. I know lots of people (including myself) that take it and are taking it correctly and doing just fine – not addicted at all.

I’m prescribed it for pain issues, which a few months ago mean no sleep till 4 or 5 A.M… wondering if I should just stop cold turkey one day, or do some transition routine starting with less busy/stressful days…I read Ambien becomes less effective after a couple weeks, not sure if that’s true yet with me.

Answer:

Zolpidem is a great medication for short-term treatment of insomnia.. which is definitely your situation. It is of a class of atypical hypnotics, and is poorly understood.

I am assuming your pain issues are resolved or much better, thus you are ready to cessate the sleep medication?

If so,.. then yes – It would be prudent to titrate the Ambien down over a course of days. If you are taking instant release this can be done. If CR, it cannot.

I assume you take a usual dosage of 10mg, QPM (Bedtime). If so, and you have been taking it every night. Reduce it by breaking the tablet in half. To take it 5mg, QPM — Bedtime.

Do this for a night or three.. depending on how your sleep is, and then you can choose to break it once more to 2.5mg, (one quarter) – or just stop completely if you so choose.

You see, ambien can be stopped completely cold turkey without any dangerous side effects. This is how it is usually done, and recommended. I always like to allow the body to adjust if the patient has the diligence to do so.

You may find your issues are unresolved, and you still need a sleep agent of some sort to continue the insomnia free nights. It would be perfectly ok to continue taking the Ambien on a longer term basis, and work on the issues keeping you up at night.

Though, again, if those issues have been reduced or eliminated then you have the right idea and you can be off it, gently, within a few days!

Sweet dreams,