View other Ambien addiction stories here..
It is really a huge relief to see all of these stories and know that I am not the only person in the world that has struggled with an addiction to Ambien and dealt with the side effects and aftermath of the drug.
I have always had a hard time sleeping, but usually managed to take an over the counter sleep aid to help me get to sleep. I first took Ambien after going across the boarder to Mexico and obtaining it without a perscription…the stuff that I got there seemed to be a lot different than what I have gotten here..Sure I went to sleep, but when I fought the sleep the hallucinations started…and they were scary!! I would see in 3-D vision snakes coming out of my alarm clock and bugs crawling on the floors and walls…not fun. I stopped taking it, but it got particullarly bad when a few years later I had my now 3 yr old son and also got laid off of my job when the real estate market took a nose dive. With so much stress my mind would not shut off at night and I would go days with out sleep. Sooo…I started out taking Lunesta but it did not seem to do much for me so then I moved on to Restoril and that was o.k. for awhile but then that lost it’s effectiveness, and so I moved onto the big guns…Ambien by a perscription this time- but my perscription is for a 90 day supply oh and another perscription for same medicine by different doctor for a 30 day supply….you see where this is going right?. It has been a nitemare of a rollercoaster taking this medicine. I could probably go on for pages with what has happened to me, but here are just a few incidents.
At one time I don’t remember even taking the Ambien but my husband came home from a friends house and found me with the bottle in my hand and passed out on the bathroom floor. No memory of what happened.
At one time I had just filled a 90 day perscription (10mg) on a Friday afternoon and took a cople that night and pretty much do not have any recolection of that enite weekend other than little snippets here and there and the fact that I saw bugs and spiders crawling on floors and me. Come Monday morning I was a wreck and only had 35 pills left to my perscription.
At one time I was on my period and taking the Ambien and took to many one night and completely blacked out. Did not remember getting up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom and change my tampon. Few weeks later I was feeling horrible- lower backaches, severe abdomin cramps, fever etc. I could not figure out what was wrong and went to the Urgent Care and told them it felt like maybe I had a bladder infection. They gave me antibotics and sent me home. Few days later still feeling horrible, and laying in bed at 2am wide awake because I was in pain…it then dawned on me that I had my period a few weeks before….went into the bathroom and sure enough..I had “forgotten” a tampon inside of my body. I was suffering from Toxic Shock Syndrome.
Well I have tried stopping on my own several times, and have done ok for a few days or weeks, but this time I am hoping to really truely stop. It’s been about a month and half since the last time I took Ambien, and what is so amazing is that yes I actually can sleep on my own!! There are nights when I sleep for crap, but I had nights like that with Ambien because my tolerance had built up. Just this last week though I have been obsessing over wanting to take an Ambien, so went to the internet to try and find something to help me thru this…found this website and after reading all of the stories and horrible outcomes it has reaffirmed my comittment to myself to not take Ambien.
Thank you to all of you who are brave enought to share your stories with us here.
