Ambien Side Effects | Addiction & Abuse | Dosage & Reviews

I have felt this dark cloud over me since i was fourteen. i have been on a few meds, but to me none of them have made me feel better. I feel that i am lost and alone. I know i have all these people around me who love me and care about me, but yet i feel numb to there love. I have been struggling to be happy for years, self medicating myself with drugs and alcohol. I mean i know its not the best way to handle things but its the only thing i know. I have Ambien prescribed to me, and have thought alot about taking them all. I am scared but i feel that this is the only way i will be happy.! I don’t wanna leave all my loved ones behind but feel that it would just be better if i wasn’t here anymore.! Alot of my family wants me to go to impatient treatment but i’m scared. i don’t wanna go.

can someone help me before it’s too late.? I just need someone to talk too…. I am lost.

mclean.shanise@gmail.com

After a week adding Ambien (10mg) to my regular daily 20mg of Prozac, I’ve had a major depressive episode. Haven’t experienced anything like this since SFX from taking Effexor. I don’t care how sleep deprived I am, I won’t be taking Ambien ever again. This has been scary, although I feel like I’m starting to improve after skipping the Ambien and staying up almost all night.

I have 44 ambien at 10 mg each, I have 53 seroquel at 100 mg each, I have at least 200 xanax at 1 mg. I have been unemployed for 18 months, everything I do is wrong, I cannot find a descent job, we used to have a life. We were married at age 15/17–first child at 18/20 second at 23/25. Married 33 years. Both kids out of house before we were 40! We planned it that way to have a life afterwards-now, my being unemployed causes fights every single day. I don’t know what to do-I made 50k a year…now IF I can find a job, it will be @9,000. My husband is very critical of me-what I do, what I buy, where I go, he hasn’t had anything to do with me in months. We both have health problems, although people care about his–mine is never mentioned, we cannot afford them. I do have a life insurance policy of a few hundred thousand. I am so tired of everyday being a disappointment to myself and my husband. I have no friends, I hate my relatives, I am so very alone. I was in therapy but stopped b/c I wasn’t getting any ‘tools’ to help, yet going once a week and spending money. I cancel dr. appt because we can’t afford them and afterall–it’s HIS coverage. I can think of no other way–the ONLY concerns I have are:
A. I DO have an implanted ICD device-which is a three lead pacemaker plus defibrillator surgically implanted in the chest wall-just this past June. I Hate IT!! plus I have adhd-taking 60 mg a day of adderall along with the xanax, lisinopril, seroquel and spironalate (sp?)
B. Do I have enough medication to end this once and for all, I don’t want to be a vegetable and I don’t want my implant to ‘save me’ Please just give me the facts, I have am looking for the usual–please don’t, there is always an answer…I am tired of hearing it, waiting for it and just want it over. Thank you in advance, I appreciate your comments.

bobbieminard@gmail.com

I am a 56 year old transgender female. I grew up in a time when being transgender was treated as a mental disorder. I grew up in a very large catholic family I was the middle child of nine. My father was emotionally unavailable to his crazy son. At age 15 he drove me to a state mental hospital and dropped me off and never came to visit. In fact he tried to have the state declare me an encouragable child in order to have me taken away.
He never touched me unless he was beating me with a belt. An older brother love to get his amusement by sitting on my chest with his knees on my hands and holding a pillow over my head till I passed out. I soon became terrified to be alnone with him.

During the months at the state mental hospital I endured days locked in a room alone with only my own thoughts, misuse by those charged with my care, forced injections of some sort of medications and threats of Electro shock therapy. I lived in hell and survived barely. Afterwards I learned to hide who I was inside and learned to appear as macho as I could possibly appear.

I eventually married and fathered two children, all as part of the persona of protection I had built around me. My children grew up with a dad who was always sad and depressed. Who though he did love them could never ever fully connect with them. I was in and out of mental wards for a long time. In the mid 80′s I attempted suicide a full bottle of an anti-dpressant (Trazodone) 500 mg tabs. I spent a few weeks in ICU afterwards was tranfered to a mental hospital and was there several months and suffered several severe grand mal siezures. A temporary after effect from the suicide attempt.

A year and a half ago I finally found the courage to announce to my children and my family my intention to transition. This was the last time and communication with any of them occurred. Though this greatly saddened me I continued along and have been living successfully as a female ever since.

That is of course till recently. The memories of the past have come back with a vengence. The pain and confusion, the hurt and terror of those times have become as fresh as they were then. I am trapped here, with no one who cares. My life has been one long nightmare. It’s time to stop it now. I have 24 vicodin 5/500mg and 20 ambien 10mg along with a 90 day supply of metformin 500mg.

I just want someone to know the pain I intend to leave behind.

Downward Spiral
by: Priscilla Millano 01/06/2012

On a downward spiral my life has been;
With this pain and despair I’m trapped here within.
To not be the one you are deep inside
And, to know from all others you must always hide.
This daily game of hide and seek
Soon one’s hope of tomorrow becomes so, so bleak.

I’ve fought so hard to gain control of my life,
Yet, I’m left trapped here with this pain and misery and even strife.
All those around me say, “Its forward, forward you must go!”
But, in this direction I just can’t go.
I’m tired of acting, and no longer want to pretend,
I want this pain and misery just to come to an end.

Yet if I go by the plan I’ve contrived,
What will happen to the one who hides here inside?
See she’s never experienced the true joy of life
It’s her existence that’s caused everyone’s strife
They hate her, despise her and wish she was gone.
And wish she would see not another dawn.

I am her and she is me
Why, oh why can they not see?
I am invisible the one without form
Yes of my existence there just is no norm!
So many things that I have done,
to get the attention of even one.

But they do not see me that I am here
And never acknowledge my behavior severe.
I’ve run out of options, to find my life
And now I’m trapped here in pain, misery and strife.
So what happens next I do not know
But, from this place, I must surely go.

My friend died yesterday morning. She had been on Ambien for several years and I had discussed with her the problems she was having, but because she couldn’t remember them happening, she didn’t take me seriously. She was driving without lights the wrong way on a one-way street and had a head-on with a much bigger vehicle. Slight injuries to the other people; very dead friend. I consider the pharmaceutical companies, that continue to make this product, murderers.

I just started taking Ambien 2 months ago. In that time I have experienced debillitating depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, memory loss and general fuzziness or brain fog. I quit one of my jobs because I couldn’t socially interact with my clients because I was so “raw” emotionally. I started going to therapy because I couldn’t figure out what happened, why I was so untethered. Thought maybe it was early onset of menopause. Just this week realized that it coincided with taking the Ambien. Will be stopping right away to see how my mood/mental function/depression changes. Would rather not sleep than feel this way. Good luck to you all.

I have been taking ambien on and off since February 2011 after having a hysterectomy. I began to notice and finally made mention of not being able to sleep to my gynecologist. He 1st prescribe ambein 5 mg and it did nothing. Then he prescribed 10 mg and it allows me to sleep pretty well however, I have noticed a change of some things. I have a lot of nightmares, I have gained about 30lbs, my lobito is low,I sweat whent I sleep (not sure if that’s due to my hysterctomy) and my bones ache. I am not sure that my bone ache because of the extra weight I have to carry or because of some type of deterioration going on with my bones. I do know that before taking the ambien I was not experiencing these things. I have gained too much weight. I am 48 yrs old and have never been so heavy, even when I was pregnant. I do, however carry it well (not flabby weight gain)I have always been pretty active. I understand that as we grow older our bone do the same, but the daily pain I experience is hard to beleive that it’s from aging. I hurt when I stand, walk, type..my back, knees, hands and wrist, etc.. FYI– Only if I take 2 pills (that’s when I really can’t sleep) do I experience amneisia. I am trying to lose weight but I hurt when I exercise and that’s why I decided to really start doing some research on ambeim which is what led me to this page. I have an appointment with an orthopedic specialist and and will update you guys on the results of my eximination. If anyone is experiecing the anything similar with you bones please let me know.

I had taken Ambien in the past because I worked the night shift. I haven’t taken it in about 8 months due to my change in shift. I recently had my 3rd miscarriage (I’m 41 and have no children, so this was devastating) and the day of my D&C I called my primary doctor to refill my Rx because I wasn’t able to sleep for 4 nights since I was told. I took 10mg every night. I was very sensitive to it since I hadn’t been on it for a while. I was sluggish and down, which I believed to be a normal response to my situation. A week later, I got worse news. That next week I went from being down to being depressed. Staying in bed until the afternoon, impatient (I’m the most patient person in the world), short tempered (I’m a people-pleaser), anxious, tearful, hopeless, I didn’t care if something bad were to happen to me, I was overwhelmed, everything was a big deal. My voice was different (slow, down) and I lost my smile. I was ready to go to counseling and then I stopped taking Ambien because my husband was leaving town and I had to get used to a normal schedule for work in another week. All of a sudden my mood changed, daily getting better. My best friend noticed the quick transformation and asked what changed. I thought that maybe my hormones were getting back to normal and maybe it was a normal phase that I was going through. I later realized that I started feeling less depressed and more to my positive, hopeful self after I had stopped taking Ambien. Though I didn’t sleep much, I had more energy and motivation. Was it the Ambien? hormones? the miscarriage? maybe bad combination of them all. Would I have handled everything differently if I hadn’t taken the Ambien? All I know is that I was able to manage and function better when I stopped it.

I am seventeen,I suffer from seasonal depression,but it’s a getting used to it thing.I began taking Ambien this summer,and I still take it every now and then,I’m on it right now.I’m unsure if I want to die,but I enjoy the feelings Ambien gives me,I like the idea of blocking out parts of my past,life is easier that way.

I feel the same way sometimes. I lost my husband three years ago. He was the love of my life, and my very best friend. I waited a year before allowing myself to meet someone new… I even spoke with him over the phone for more than 2 months before choosing to meet him. When we met, he idolized me, then slowly , but surely he wittled away at my self confidence and self respect. He is a drunk… He refuses to admit it, because he drinks only beer… But he drinks an 18-30 pack a day. I was initially brought up on a pedestal, then slowly, the “eveil twin” introduced himself to me, by throwing me across the table, twisting my ankle ~ almost to the point of breaking, then my wrist, to my neck & to having bruises all over my body… Yes, he beat me up, twisted my leg, grabbed my neck, & got within inches of slamming my face in the door, because I said the wrong thing while he was drinking. I hate myself for allowing myself to fall in love with Craig, and simply want the bad stuff to go away. I want it to be over, & stop feeling this way. My Mom needed me, and I let her down, because this man was at the edge of his rope, and wanted to give up… But I know now I cannot help him, and in trying, he broke me down. I am sorry, but the pain of giving one’s heart to another, while letting go of the goals I had to help my mother, is all to much for me. I failed my Mom who needed me, just to try to heal the pain of someone who no longer knows how to love. I am so tired, and lost, and feel so guilty for thee choices I made, it is simply time to go.

My best friend had a few back operations over the last 5 years. He was having problems sleeping and was prescribed Ambien. We lived in different towns and kept in touch with weekly telephone conversations and twice yearly visits. On October 13, 2011 he had out of town friends stay with him and they went to a Jacksonville Jaguar game. At about 3:00 AM he went into his den loaded his gun and committed suicide. His story sounds the same as a lot of them on this website. There are too many related stories for there not to be an issue with Ambien.

As a former Ambien user of 11 years, I understand the hell of insomnia…I have been a flight attendant for the better part of 20 years and successfully killed my circadian rhythm (wake up in CA…go to sleep in NYC…land in Paris, Rome, Hong Kong, Lagos…NOT GLAMOUROUS, I assure you)…while I am still struggling to find sleep, there are people on this earth that would suffer unenduring pain if you were to depart this realm…there is hope, I struggle with it everyday, but find strength in those who love you…I too feel at the end of my rope (especially at this time of the year), but you are loved and needed…and cannot be missed…you are not alone

I am at the end of a two year experience with sleep medication, benzo’s and anti-depressants. I came through hell and today I feel awesome. Whoever reads this and might be thinking of suicide or feels like this will never get better… it will get better.
In the fall of 2009 I started taking OTC sleeping pills. Pretty much every night for 3 or 4 months. I am a teacher and I usually have some sleeping issues when school starts up. So I didn’t think it was a big deal. I woke up one day mildly depressed in Dec of 2009. I didn’t relate it to the sleeping pills. Over Christmas break I went to the doctor and he prescribed Lunesta. I told him I was depressed….he didn’t think it would hurt. Within 3 days I was extremely depressed. I finally started to see that the sleeping meds were making everything worse. But when you have a bad sleeping problem you are willing to do just about anything to get sleep… including taking more sleep meds. So I went back to the doctor. He even prescribed Ambien, as well as anything else I wanted to try, I actually tried a couple of them. I would get maybe 2-3 hours of sleep with the meds. I went back to my doctor. He said, “now we will try the big dogs.” He gave me a script for Ativan. Loved the stuff at first…. slept like a baby, and it didnt seem to make me depressed. In fact I felt better the day after taking it. This made me scared of it. I didnt want to get hooked. So I developed a plan to only take it once a week or so. Eventually it didn’t do the job anymore anyway. I knew that Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson were on some or all of this stuff at some point – you naturally build a tolerance to it and need more and more of it to sleep. This really scared me so I refused to up the dosage of any of it – even though Im sure my doctor would have been fine with it. Oh, I also had started on Lexapro in January of 2010. I thought often of taking my own life, I missed a week or two of school but somehow dragged myself back to school. I would sit there at my desk… the clock never moving. I would spend hours on the computer searching for answers to my misery. My episodes seem to take about 6 months to clear up. I found the website “The Road Back.” This program helped me taper off of Lexapro and probably everything else. Slowly over the course of Feb-June of 2010 I felt better and better and began sleeping. I stopped taking all meds as I tapered off of Lexapro. The final stage of my education occurred in May of 2011. I had been off of everything for months and felt great. I got a bad sinus infection and took Nyquil for a week or so in late April early May of 2011. That was stupid. I didnt sleep much for two nights after this…. I freaked out, added a good dose of worry to it and was in the midst of another battle of depression and anxiety. This was horrendous. I diagnosed myself with generalized anxiety disorder and believed that I would suffer forever. It was horrible. I was taking lots of lunesta, back on lexapro. One night I took trazadone (cause I asked for it) and benadryl. Very strange reaction. I can’t even describe the horror that I was feeling. For the month of May and most of June I would have the most horrible bouts of tension – agony. All I could do was pace and writhe in agony on the floor. I contacted a lawyer about disability because I thought I would never work again. I thought about suicide everyday. This was the summer of 2011. I finally stopped taking all sleep meds during the summer of 2011. By August I was able to feel like I could work, and feel a little like myself again. Its January 2012 and I feel great. I have absolutely no depression, tension or anxiety. I have tapered down to 5 mgs of Lexapro and will be off of it in the next month. Now I know that I can never ever take any form of sleep medication… something happens when I take it and it takes 6 months to recover from it. I take some supplements now that I think helped me heal, and keeps me healthy. I would suggest reading everything on The Road Back website. Medication, drugs, alcohol, etc all harm our nervous system and our neuro transmitters. My doctor admittedly didnt know what to do for me, and the psych I saw was not much better. He prescribed more anti depressants on top of lexapro after I told him I felt fine. (I didnt fill that script) While I cant deny that Lexapro may have helped me, I do get off of it as soon as I think I feel fine. I try to eat healthy and take supplements. I did gain a lot of weight both times I took Lexapro but that could have been from me not caring about what I was eating because I was just trying to keep from killing myself.
Don’t give in to ending it…. life is awesome…. learn from your struggles, pray your brains out, cry out to God for help and answers – don’t make things worse with drugs or alcohol. Your body and brain need to find a balance. Just keep searching.

My wife has had chronic insomnia for 3 1/2 years. Currently she is going to the Stanford University Sleep Clinic. They have her shorten her time in bed to force her to only sleep during those hours. She was told to go to bed at 11pm and get up at 5am. They wanted her to go to bed at midnight but she said she couldn’t do that. So she started at 11. She had her cell phone set on vibrate alarm for 5am which seemed to work OK. She’s been getting off of Zyprexa too which made the insomnia worse. Now she’s going to quit the Ambien and hoping she can do that. Her doctor made it sound like she could just quit taking it. We’ll see.

To the lady who just lost her 34 year old husband. I lost my wife when we were 40 and I can tell you that you can and will get over this. You really do not even have to try, it will happen, it does for everyone, really. There is not one shred of evidence that you could meet your former husband in an afterlife, or that there is an afterlife. Your children are your purpose in life, your job is to prepare them to live as adults. You cannot leave them. You can research this, but Freud discovered that children of suicide parents lose there innate fear of suicide. If you killed yourself, you would be opening a naturally closed door on your children killing themselves. Hang in there, it will get better and some day, your kids will thank you and you will thank yourself that you did not choose a temporary solution to a temporary problem. If you are hell bent on suicide, set a date to do it 10 years from now, the fact is, you will not want to do it.
Don’t you want to meet your grandchildren? What would your previous husband have wanted you to do? Orphan your kids? I highly doubt it.

I have taken ambien on and off over the years. I have really been struggling with sleep. I have taken it for 6 weeks straight and I am having severe anxiety, depression and heart palpitations, which is REALLY extremely unusually for me. Even when I went through a job loss and divorce, I never have experienced this cascade of symptoms before. I am will no longer take this and I want to let people know.

Ambien is a dangerous drug, it nearly ruined my life. Note that the FDA advisory panel last year recommended to the FDA comissioner that Ambien be reclassified as a schedule 2 drug, right up there with OxyContin. This was refused, and Ambien remains a schedule 4 drug. My personal story is a long one, a person does not realize he is addicted until it is too late. I took Ambien for at least 13 years, the withdrawal symptoms became horrible, very physically as well as mentally. This was with the help of a friendly pharmacist, and soon I was spending $400 a week and taking 200mg per night. This would easily kill a first time user. I have never used any kind of drugs whatsoever, but I was having withdrawal symptoms twice a day, similar to what I have heard heroin addicts experience.

During this terrible experience I had three car accidents, in one I was asleep until I rear-ended another car. I ended up in the insurance high risk pool, and the premiums almost broke me. I also had several occasions where I went out with friends for breakfast and remembered nothing about it. Quitting took several years, I gradually substituted Temazapin (Restoril) which was much milder and did not have the addiction/withdrawal cycle. I now am not dependent on any sleeping medication and it feels wonderful to lay down at night and go directly to sleep. Sixteen years is a long time. Of course there is a lot more to my story, but you get the general idea. I did look into a sleep clinic, but my insurance wouldn’t cover it and the initial evaluation cost $3000. To conclude, I unfortunately can’t advise how to shake this dependency, it would do no good to advise not to start, if you are reading this it is too late for that kind of advice anyway. This cycle can be broken, but it will take patience and perhaps months or even longer.

Two nights ago, I took 16 10mg ambien. I do have a history of depression, but I could never take my own life. I couldn’t do that to my family. The last thing I remember from that night is laying in bed. I woke up to my mom prying car keys out of my hands. It’s like I wasn’t actually there. The scariest thing is that I didn’t even know I had taken that many. Once I realized what had happened, all the depression came flooding back to me. I had several panic attacks within a period of 6 hours. I’m 20 years old, I have a good job, amazing family and the best friends I could ask for. I would NEVER want them to feel as helpless as I do right now, so I’m getting help.

I started taking Ambien 10mg on and off about for about 10 years. However I have noticed over the last few years , my short term and long term memory has been greatly affected. Long term-I can hardly remember significant events that occurred in my daughters lives as they were growing up; those memories are gone forever!! I’ll never get them back. Also, short term memory loss makes it extremely difficult to focus and work. I am contantly struggling to remember how to perform the most simplest task and its effecting my performance. So dealing with all this has caused depression and anxiety and self doubt. Before Ambien I was at the top of my game and when I started taking this medication, it slowly started going downhill. It is a struggle every day just to perform adaquetly at my job. I lost so much in trying to find a quick fix for my insomnia. I stopped taking Ambien about a year ago, but there has been no improvent in my long term and short term memory and sadly I don’t think there ever will be

I started taking Ambien 10mg on and off about for about 10 years. However I have noticed over the last few years , my short term and long term memory has been greatly affected. Long term-I can hardly remember significant events that occured in my daughters lives as they were growing up; those memories are gone forever!! I’ll never get them back. Also, short term memory loss makes it extremely difficult to focus and work. I am contantly struggling to remember how to perform the most simplest task and its effecting my performance. So dealing with all this has caused depression and anxiety and self doubt. Before Ambien I was at the top of my game and when I started taking this medication, it slowly started going downhill. It is a struggle every day just to perform adaquetly at my job. I lost so much in trying to find a quick fix for my insomnia. I stopped taking Ambien about a year ago, but there has been no improvent in my long term and short term memory and sadly I don’t think there ever will be

My husband, the most intelligent, loving, kind, generous person I ever knew, shot himself in the chest. He had been on ambien for many years and the day he killed himself he was supposed to go to the doctor and was going to get a stronger dose because the ambien wasn’t working. My husband would not have ever, ever considered suicide. He never showed any signs of depression. Everyone was shocked and we believe it was a result of the ambien. I know he wasn’t planning this, it happened spur of the moment. We had things planned for the holidays, things planned for the week he died. Ambien killed him.

My finance, bestfriend, lover anf future died Tuesday suddenly. He was only 34 and they think he had a heartattack. He was in the best shape and no medical problems. Since the news I have not been able to eat, sleep or function. I cant stop crying and its killing me. I just want to take a pill and not wake up. The only thing that stops me is my kids. I don’t want them to feel the pain I feel right now. But honestly is it harder everyday tht this pain is not subsiding. I went on your website to see if the medication I was prescribed zolpidem and lorazepa combined or taken can cause me to overdose. I guess looking for a way out painless. I have already taken 4 of the recommened 2 lorazepa. I have a lot of support from family and friends but doesn’t seem to help me. I just need to have him back. If he cant come to me I wanna join him. He was a great guy and should not be alone. I love him more then myself and cant see myself enjoying life without him

I hate when you have a few deaths out of a medicine thats helping millions and those few ppl want to make a big issue about it but im pretty sure they dont put the whole story of that individual and what else they were taking or eating or doing… I LOVE AMBIEN I GET ALOT OF SLEEP AND MY HUSBAND GETS LOTS OF SEX THAT I DONT HAVE TO BE THERE FOR

Hi i am 16 years old and a month I took 100 mg of Ambien in order to commit suicide. If you havnt already guessed by now, it didnt work. I spent 8 hours throwing up (or so i am told) and had no recollection of 16 hours of my life. I do not regret this decision because it has helped me realize how precious life is. Suicide is a selfish act and abusing drugs to cope with pain is a cowardly, destructive path to folllow. Im not going to try and lie and say i havnt had suicidal thought since this incident, but when i do i think to myself there are people in the world suffering far greater pain than you, in terrible situations who make the best of their life and CHOOSE to be HAPPY regardless. Always have faith that things are going to get better. “For every dark night, there’s a brighter day” -Tupac

My dad is on Ambien for chronic insomnia. He is also wheelchair bound ( leg amputation from bone cancer) He does a lot of odd things and we cant get to his Dr to get him off the mds. One night he fell asleep onthe couch and got up forgetting he only had 1 leg and crashed through his glass coffee table. He has a scar on his arm that literaly looks like a shark took a bite from him. He was home alone at the time. He has also gotten in his wheelchair in the middle of the night and cruise down busy roads, My brother had to call the police department and have them help get him home , He also leaves the doors open at night and has turned the stove on to cook in the middle of the night, he tells my brither people are int he house and he just walks around extremely paranoid, Also to mention my brother while fully capeable is also slightly mentally delayed, He is a huge help to my dad but lately my dad has been calling him names, He wants my brother to mow the lawn at 3 am and if he doesnt he calls him names like moron, F*ing retard, tells him hes a loser and hes ashamed his only son turned out this way, Now my dad is only like this on the ambien.
My father recently called the police on my brother and said he was abusing him. Which is completly untrue, So my brother is in danger of being arrested for elder abuse, Not to mentiont he emotional toll its taking on him, We are workingvery hard to remove my brother from the situation but at the same time we are afraid to leave my dad home alone, My sister and I live in other states, One ther thing to mention,,,,,,,my dad also is a heavy drinker,

so i took ambian yesterday im 18 and i took two to trip..as time passed i felt regret i was a total freaking idot for doing so….my freinds said my eyes were rolling back i wouldnt speak for 20 min….i took it at 1- at about 6-7 i felt functional again….what do you guys think happened to me? :/

Started taking Ambien 4 years ago. Was great at first. After about a year I slowly startedgot more sensitive to stress, light, sound etc. My doctor said I had some fattigue syndrome from stress. At the time I was CEO for a management consulting firm and studying for an MBA, had a lot of things to do so it made sense. Had to quit my job and studies, could only work halftime as an consultant during 2 years, almost lost my marriage. Started taking less Ambien (or Stilnocht as it’s called over here), got my old me back after 2 weeks. Convinced myself it wasn’t the pills that was the problem. Started taking more of them, a month later
I couldn’t work. Realized this is not for me. Back as a manager today and life is good.
Still taking very small doses, can’t sleep without them.
Just saying that the side effects can build up slowly, at least that seems to be thhe case for me. Thanks for reading

I’ve known ambien wasn’t safe to use and that it has it’s side affects but I didn’t know the severity of it! I am an ambien abuser too and just these past months I’ve been SO DOWN and DEPRESSED and I hadn’t a CLUE it was because of this drug! I do agree that it’s addicting but I sure aint going to let it take over me anymore! I’m so very sorry to those of you whom had lost their loved ones and I know by my own current experiences that it is VERY HARD to deal with our daily lives let alone battling minute by minute per day alone. Thank you for this website and May God Bless ALL of you

I was prescribed ambien when I started having trouble sleeping.

I was also very depressed and anxious but I held on to the hope that just one good night’s rest would cure it all.

I took my first pill. Nothing. I gave ambien the benefit of the doubt but when I took it the next day I still couldn’t sleep.
I took two ambien and then three and then four in increasingly desperate attempts to sleep, and at about seven tablets a night, I hit the wall and had to go to a psych ward at a hospital where I was put in the drug addict program. “I’m can’t be addicted to it,” I said, “it doesn’t even work…”
Back out and at home, my doctor tried Klonopin, Lunesta, Ativan, Valium, anything supposed to make you sleep. None worked, and again I fell into the same cycle. Maybe I just need more. 1, 2, 4, 7, 10 pills and I’ll fall right asleep. Nope, not so. I end up getting my stomach pumped and anther inpatient stay.
So here I am lying restless in bed at 2 in the morning wishing I were asleep, even angry or disappointed, but I wouldn’t trade this for pills, anytime.

I was prescribed Ambien 5mg (Zolpidem) about a week ago. I was really nervous about trying a sleep aid medication. But it doesn’t do much for me. I take it right before I lay into bed. And I figure by time I get comfortable, find something to watch… It should be hitting me. I’ve tried it 5 nights now with no results. One night, I fell asleep while watching tv and woke up at 2am and was wildly wide awake. Ended up getting up and getting an early start to my day. Hmmm.

My husband was the perfect dad and loving spouse. He was always happy and very positive and loved life. We have 4 beautiful girls. He was having trouble sleeping so he went to the doctors and they gave him ambeim. He took it for 3 weeks I notice that he seem sad and stressed. He was a strong healthy man and loved his family. A complete shock when they told us he had killed himself. Everyday I wake up and hope this is a bad nightmare. He was 49 and had so much to live for. PLEASE PLEASE get ambeim off the market.

My uncle also took his own life after being on Ambien and tamazepam. He was the happiest person I have EVER met in my entire life!!!! He had an amazing career, a son he loved more than anything. He was very close to his brother, and lived part time with him. Back on September 20, 2011 he had tried to over dose on ambien, his brother found him. He was unresponsive and lifeless, luckily a call to 911 was made in time. He only spent less than 12 hours in the hospital, they pumped his stomach and he talked to a doctor and suicide prevention specialist. He was released from the hospital in the care of his brother where he stayed 2 weeks before returning home. He lived about 4 hours away, in a home by himself as him and his wife were estranged. He made plans with co workers and family members for the future. He had a smile on his face, he was embarassed and humiliated about his attempt in September. He had moved on. Yes, he had a lot going on in his life but definitely was not “planning” on taking his own life. On the night of November 6,2011 after taking a “sleeping aid” he turned into somebody that nobody knew. Unfortunately he felt there was no way out but to take his own life. The stories that are on this website are absolutely chilling. Each one makes me feel physically ill as I read them. I don’t understand how something that is made to HELP a person can cause so much harm to so many people. My Uncle was hands down the COOLEST person that ever walked the face of the earth. He served our country and was extremely proud, he was happy, funny, outgoing and would give the world to those he loved and cared about. I feel it is my duty to spread the word that these sleep aides are bad news. They are killing people. Every story on here is consistent, people are happy, loving and it is definitely out of character to take their own life. I want to send my condolences to everybody on here, my heart truly goes out to you. I feel the pain and anger that goes along with ambien suicide. I hope the pharmaceutical companies sleep well, Lord knows I am not!

I have been taking ambien for a little over a week now, and have been seeing the side effects more and more…and now when even small things don’t go as planned, i get so frustrated more easier. Things with my girlfriend have been going downhill and we just recently got our own place…and after yet another rough weekend we are breaking up, and i knew just after i left….suicide had entered my mind. I haven’t had thoughts of suicide ever. I think because of this drug my mind is now prone to accept things that you would normally block from thinking over the years of becoming an adult. at the moment i still choose to not take my own life…but i am now afraid that if i do take my 5mg dose of ambien…i will not be able to help my self…. I am sorry for everyone on here who has lose someone….i found this page on my search to see how suicide could be done with my pills and alcohol….i feel so crazy right now. god bless all

I know it’s tough. Life doesn’t seem to be as great as you imagined it would be as a kid, huh.
I’m in a position where I should be happy with the things I DO have in my life right now but I’m not. I have a one year old that I stay with all day while my husband (with a $120,000 degree) works 7 nights a week as a cashier so I’m here alone thinking about how much longer this lifestyle is going to last. We have $4 left over in our account just after our bills every month. We don’t have any debt, either. Our son eats soup and bread for meals and saltine crackers for snacks. He wears clothes that are from last christmas that are too small for him.
I could live fine like this if it was just me and my husband but I never wanted this for my son. My friends have houses and careers and no kids, or if they do, they are stay at home moms with husbands who can do it all! Where’s our piece of the pie? I cry a few times a week, too thinking that I’m a failure as a parent. Then I get angry at the people closest to me for no reason.
I know life is stupid sometimes but please don’t give up. Find someone to talk to or if you don’t want to do that, I’ll talk with you. I know it’ll get better. Nothing is permanent. The worst years seem to last forever but when they start to pick up, you’ll look back and see it as a blur. But until then, keep trying..