Ambien Reviews and Side Effects

Ambien CR Side Effects

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:22:36 +0000

My father was taking Ambien CR to help him sleep! He ended up in the hospital on a WED. because he had been out “sleep driving.” After that Wed. in the hospital he was never the same! My father was full of life and lived for his children! He inspired hundreds of people at his work through his leadership and high-spirits, he raised money for numerous charities such as Race for the Cure and Make a Wish Foundation. He was an active member at church and taught children’s church! After that Wed. he was never the same. By Monday Aug. 2, 2010 he took his own life……

Since then everyone around me knows someone who has taken Ambien or Ambien CR and experienced or witnessed loved ones doing things and not remembering. That alone is a serious side effect and you definitely don’t want it to lead to putting your loved one in a confused state of hallucinations and psychosis and then they end up taking their own life because their minds can no longer understand what is going on.

The FDA doesn’t know about these things if no one reports the side effects!
Please report the side effects if have ever taken Ambien/Ambien CR!
And if you have a loved one taking it, educate yourself on the side-effects so that you can keep a better eye on it!

I was uneducated about the side-effects and what was happing to my dad until it was too late. Don’t let that happen to you! God Bless you

-Britney

Ambien

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:58:49 +0000

I’ve had the complete opposite happen to me. Before I started taking ambien I never got any sleep, I was very depression, thoughts of suicide, and lazy. After starting to take it and be able to SLEEP at night; my depression is gone, no thoughts of suicide, and I’ve been very productive. This drug is not for people who just think they have insomnia…but I think for the ones that have severe insomnia that it’s a lifesaver.

Clonazepam Withdrawal

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:04:56 +0000

I have been withdrawing from Clonazepam (2-4mg) for 8 days after 3 months. During that time I also have been taking 20-40mg of ambien at night. In the last 8 days just taking the ambien has made my withdrawl during the day absolutely unbearable. I want to sleep but I am afraid because my blood pressure has subsequently gone through the roof (170/105/heartbeat 96). Am I going to survive. Need help and advice. Thanks.

-Adam

Ambien Patient Review

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:10:43 +0000

I am an avid user of Ambien, prescribed by my doctor for my incredible Insomnia – I will be awake for literally 3 days without sleep if I’m not on Ambien, true story. And I have never one time experienced anything like you people are describing. I take 20mg a night. A night! It puts me in a beautiful, euphoric, state that provides me the luxury of sleep. I have never had one single thought of suicide. I never wanted to drive a car or buy booze. I never wanted to kill someone else. I never wanted to do any of that stupid shit. What’s wrong with you people? You all need something more than Ambien to get you through, that’s for sure. Maybe some Zolof.

You people are nuts. Ambien is the best sleep aid in the world today and I am thankful to have it because being awake and feeling run down and tired and agitated because of the fact you can’t sleep is an entirely new game to play.

Baltis~

Depression & Help

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:00:29 +0000

If you are thinking of suicide, then you are suicidal and need help. Life is a gift and you are precious and have a purpose in this world. I know you are hurting and feel as though it will never get better, but it will. If you don’t have the money for a therapist, talk to your family and tell them how you are feeling. Go to any church and talk to the pastor. They will talk with you and pray with you. And, they are free. Please don’t take your life. God created you and he loves you very much. Cry out to him and ask him to help you. My sister tried to overdose on ambien the other night. She has been depressed and we have been talking with her and encouraging her, but she just took a nosedive and did it. She was really crying out for help, but she almost killed herself this time. She has been in so much pain lately, but taking your life is not the answer. Life is very hard and no one said it would be easy. Reach out, talk to others, look around, there are many resources available that can help. Most of all, pray and develop a relationship with God and you will then see how valuable you really are. He paid a price for you for your life. Don’t you think it’s worth trying to live it?

Suicide

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:10:56 +0000

My dad took his own life Aug.8 after being on Ambien for only a few days. My dad loved life and was a joker and prankster. My mom got up to go to the restroom and that’s when it happened. No sooner did she close the door to the restroom she heard the back door shut and a “pop”.

–

My husband took Ambien to help him sleep due to a stressful job. After having meetings/conversations with customers and not remembering he stopped taking it. My dad wasn’t so lucky. He recently started taking Ambien and after only a few days he took his own life on Aug. 8, 2010. My dad enjoyed life and the last thing he would do is end his own life. My dad would never intentionally cause the hurt and pain our family is in. We miss him dearly.

-Christina

Ambien Side Effects

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:47:32 +0000

I just wanted to pass on some familiar information about everyone’s wonder-drug for sleep, ambien. I too am a college-educated 44 y.o. female with a high tolerance for most medications. I take 10 mg. of ambien at night and have had many instances of sleep-driving, sleep-eating and a couple of other things I won’t even mention. The scariest part of all of the effects is the sleep-driving. I have had numerous trips made to stores and liquor stores after taking it and I don’t even drink. The only way I would know that I had been somewhere was that my car would be found in a different street-parking place than when I had been the day before and I would find bottles of booze in the freezer. Like I said I don’t drink. I have had several instances where I just go out and drive to the hospital and have no recollection of going but I wake up with an armband on where I had been to the e.r. I have one particular incident where I went driving after ingestion of ambien and had an accident two blocks from home and did $3,000 in damage to my car and $1200 in damage to a parked car. The police were called and apparently I was convincing enough to the officer and he called me a cab ( my car was not drivable) to get to the hospital. That’s apparently where I was going again. I was admitted to the psych floor for 10 days and had no idea of the damage to my car, where it was towed to or the fact that I had hit another car. It also is a convenient method to attempt suicide. I got a new script for it and took the whole month’s supply (30 pills) at once and was upright for about ten minutes after I took it. I was talking to my mother online and she said I needed to call someone to get me to the hospital. I called a cab. I remember walking downstairs to go out of the building to wait for the cab and lighting a cigarette. I remember nothing after that. I had fallen and crushed my meniscus and tore the medial ligament in my knee. The cabbie said they thought I was on the ground from heat stroke or something of that nature…it was 102 degrees that day. He and a neighbor were pouring cold water over me to try to help while waiting for an ambulance. I was in desperate trouble as a result of that attempt. I spent over 24 hours in the e.r. in a trauma room because of the respiratory suppression. They treated me for blood clots as a result of the meds. I spent another 9 days in the psych unit and continued to get ambien for sleep. While in the hospital, I would take sleep showers…with my clothes on. I don’t know what I would do without the sleep-inducing power of this drug because I have horrible insomnia as related to the bipolar part of my diagnosis. I don’t want to be one of those people that gets caught driving without my knowledge and end up on the wrong side of the law. I have hidden my keys to try to curb the situation and that doesn’t even help. I have had to put an alarm on the front door to stop me from going out. That isn’t completely effective either since I know the code to stop the screaming of the alarm. You wouldn’t think you could do such complex tasks while sleeping but that seems to be the case. I don’t want to see this drug removed from the market but you need to be advised of the possible problems. My only education of this med had come through the leaflet from the pharmacy and what I have been able to find on the internet. Please, educate yourself about any and all medications that may be prescribed to you. Don’t feel as though you should place full faith in your physician or psychiatrist and go blindly into a stupor from this medication.

Life with Insomnia

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:36:49 +0000

First, I never abused it, took more than prescribed, or during the day, but would often drink a glass of wine before bed, and occasionally mixed with hydrocodone, tramadol, and/or prednisone. I’m a college educated, classic type A workaholic, who has struggled with Systemic Lupus and Fibromyalgia for 14 years, both of which cause chronic pain and sleep disturbances. I used marijuana for years, with excellent results, but decided to give it up because I was tired of living under the threat of job loss and criminal prosecution (hopefully we can relocate to a medical state in the near future). My husband travels extensively, so he wasn’t home to see much of this, or it never would have escalated like it did. I first tried Ambien in 2007 because my doctor suggested it. I found out quickly it would make me hallucinate before I fell asleep, but remembered most of it. I would freak out my mom and sister on the phone, telling them about chairs running around the room and other oddities. It was funny at first. My sister-in-law has MS and has taken it for years. She’s always quite amusing when she doesn’t go right to bed, gets all giggly, sweet and lovey (she’s normally pretty aloof). Then the ebay packages started arriving. Apparently I was ordering things online with no memory of it. Hideous fabric (I don’t sew), ugly used clothes in sizes that fit no one I know. Weird things I would never buy. Hundreds of dollars wasted. And the hangover/headaches/bodyaches became worse than not sleeping. So I quit taking it in 2008 and went back to the standard tricyclic antidepressants, SSRI’s, SSNRI’s. Frustrating because first of all, I’m not depressed or crazy, and it made me feel that something was wrong with me mentally. I just wanted to be able to sleep. The weight gain, dry mouth (and subsequent dental bills), and sexual problems were not worth it. Benadryl and herbals helped a little, but only lasted a few hours at best. Back to Ambien in early 2010. Always made sure I was in bed, under the covers and about to turn off the light before I took the meds. No wine or pain meds. The first couple weeks, I would find food and dishes that I had used in the middle of the night, no memory of cooking or eating (explained why none of the diets were working!). A couple times I had left the stove on – frightening. Every morning, I would go to turn on the news (same channel as before I went to bed), only to find my tv on a televangelist station, volume full blast (odd, mainly because we’re not Christian, and I’m not deaf). My teenage daughter said she would hear the preaching and come turn the tv off in the middle of the night. I would be sitting up in bed, wide eyed, unresponsive, and staring at a blank wall. It scared her. Again, no recollection of any of this. I keep a gun locked in my nightstand and was extremely worried that with me in that state something horrible would happen. So I started locking my bedroom door and told her not to worry about the tv. One night, my brother came over late in the evening after I had taken the Ambien (he didn’t know), and brought some beer. He was having girlfriend issues and wanted to talk. Apparently I broke out the vodka, drank the entire bottle, threw up all over the bathroom, scrubbed the entire bathroom, then went to sleep. I woke up to find the bathroom rugs were in the washing machine and no clue how they got there. He called the next day to check on me, which I thought was odd, as I had no recollection of ever seeing him that night. He told me the whole story and said while it was highly out of character for me, I had been highly entertaining. I blew it off, telling myself a girl needs sleep if she’s going to function, and sometimes I did actually sleep on the stuff. Then finally, the last straw. After a couple months, I started having horrible, evil nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of the night, haunted with suicidal, even homicidal plans. Detailed, awful plans. I obsessed about how to kill myself during the day. It was all consuming. I thought I was going crazy, but luckily know myself well enough to recognize that something was horribly wrong. I told my husband, who immediately suggested it could be the meds. The only thing new or different in an otherwise great and rewarding (if stressful and sleepless) life was the Ambien. I did more research (had done a little on starting it, but barely scratched the surface), and found that psychotic episodes are actually quite common. I gave my brand new refill to my sister-in-law because she has never had a problem with it. Talked to the doctor, who suggested a trial of Lunesta. It didn’t really help much, and is non-formulary with my insurance plan and therefore prohibitively expensive for the minor benefits it offered. After 2 months of almost no sleep and on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the exhaustion and stress of managing a chronic illness, demanding job, aging parents, and raising 2 teenagers with a husband overseas, doc gave me Xanax today, so we’ll see. Sometimes I think the societal risks of marijuana are almost worth it. Almost. At least it works, and doesn’t have any horrible side effects, other than the occasional bout of laziness and munchies, which actually work out quite well when I’m overstressed and my stomach flares. Anyway, just wanted to share my experience with Ambien, because I was lucky enough to recognize that the dark thoughts were a side effect of the drug before something awful happened. Tragically, lots of others haven’t been so lucky. Ambien does work wonders for some people, and should be an option, but not the first line choice. And people who take it, along with their families MUST be educated to watch out for the potentially life-threatening psychological side effects. And not just with the tiny print in the pharmacy write up or on obscure websites. This is a powerful, hypnotic, mind altering substance and not something to be prescribed to just anyone who complains about a few sleepless nights. My thoughts go out to all who struggle with sleeplessness. Talk to your doctor about ALL the options. If they won’t talk to you, or they talk down to you, find a new one. Remember, your doctor is your partner for wellness, not just someone who prescribes whatever the latest drug rep has sold them on and pushes you out the door.

Detox, Dependence & Addiction

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:34:43 +0000

Sixteen days ago I admitted myself to a detox hospital to get off ambien. I spent eight days in a hospital to detox. I had 2 prescriptions and was always running out. This drug was ruining my life because I constantly obsessed about how I could get more. It was all I seemed to care about. I took about 10 a day – and yes, during the day. Very few people could believe that I was able to take ambien during the day and function, however, my body built up a tolerance to this drug and towards the end, i had to take it to get my head to stop hurting. The euphoric feeling i loved somewhat disappeared and i found myself taking them just to function.

This drug changed my personality and I became a liar and untrustworthy. I would love to see this drug taken off the market. I miss the feeling I had when I first took it but even that disappears after awhile. It feels great to get that monkey off my back. Thank you God!

DUI

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:33:45 +0000

Took ambien at midnight fell asleep at the wheel driving at 8 a.m. totalled car and got dui.

-Mike

Information

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:32:47 +0000

All these stories are ridiculous and completely fabricated ambien won’t make you kill yourself if you have done something stupid on ambien it was probably already deep rooted in your head and the disorientation made you feel more okay with it. If you would try to kill yourself on ambien you would most likely do the same after consuming alcohol just as easily as the sleep medicine

-Chris

Addiction

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:30:30 +0000

I am from London – doctors don’t sell drugs in the UK. I know I was stupid and nieve but the doctor gave me ambien to help me sleep and I was pleased…
I have had problems with addiction in the past – my doctor didn’t ask so I didn’t say.
I took ambien as directed. Did not mix with drink or other drugs and I totally lost control of my life within 4 months.
I cooked a dinner and made love to my boyfriend and had no memory. I woke up on Monday morning and thought it was Sunday – I had lost and forgotten Sunday!
It wasn’t until I was found naked on the roof of my building that i realised this drug is more serous than anything I have ever taken.
I think I was going to jump… but I don’t know. The worst thing is not knowing.

Horror Story

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:16:56 +0000

Hello in 2004 I was on ambien and I came home took mine than before I knew it I was walking to the kitchen and kind of felt out of body I remember taking and counting the other pills 17 if I recall I just got a glass of water and took the rest than I got the phone and call my husband and just told him what I done just in case he can home and I was really out of it than he called ambulances police and from what I was told than I opened the door for the police, I don’t recall anything also he told me that I just chugged the charcoal stuff than I woke up in the hospital a day later not remembering anything.

I was than committed into going to a place since they think I tried to kill myself I didn’t and I just done what they wanted me to do since I had small kids so that they wouldn’t be in jeopardy of being taken away. but like some of the other articles said this is a bad medicine that shouldn’t be used you don’t know what your doing, you don’t know what your able to do under this medicine. I have of course never took this medicine again but I want others to know you don’t know what you could do under this medicine

Multiple Ambien Prescriptions

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:04:03 +0000

My husband has been addicted to Ambien for about eight years. This addiction has caused him to do things he would never do otherwise. Doctor shopping for as many as four prescriptions at a time, eating massive amounts of food at night and making a huge mess, knocking over dressers, falling down the stairs; and when he does get his prescription filled he takes up to 20 in a night if I do not take hide them from him! He has completely lost his ability to fall asleep on his own. When he did try to go off of ambien, he ended up in a psych ward for 72 hours. He threatened suicide several times and we had to remove all of our firearms from the house. It seems to me that a person who uses ambien, ends up abusing ambien. It’s sad to watch my husband’s downward spiral into insanity.

-Amanda

Ambien Suicidal Thoughts

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:36:56 +0000

I am very sorry for your loss. After the experience I have recently had, I would absolutely believe that ambien was the cause. I am not suicidal, nor am I depressed. I started to take this drug and all of a sudden, I had a plan, not just a plan, but a solid plan in place to kill myself. There was no reason to continue on. It was almost like I could not help it. The only reason I am alive today, is because I had to get a few things taken care of. During that time I was able to see that there was something seriously wrong. I am still worried, but I will just keep going day by day until it is out of my system.

-Kim

Ambien Side Effects

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:28:51 +0000

Kerry,

Please stop for a second. I just found this site today while trying to figure out why I am feeling the way I do for the past two weeks. I’m a 33 y/o man, married for almost 10 years, have two daughters (7 and 2). I have been feeling horrible for the last two weeks during the day. I’m forgetting things that I just did, have acute bouts of anxiety and dread, cannot work at my job, am hallucinating (mildly, but still hallucinating), having respiratory problems (bronchitis), can’t seem to think straight……just wondering really where “I” have gone. Had been hiding all of this from my wife until yesterday at work. I went to the bathroom and didn’t remember how I got back to my office. Came home and later that night, I broke down and told her everything that I had been experiencing. She put two and two together and suggested that it was the Ambien that I had been taking for about 2 mo’s. I take 10mg nightly. She clued me into a website that listed ALL of my symptoms/side effects. It was uncanny. After I looked at and studied this site (don’t remember which site it was), instant relief washed over me. I thought I was going crazy up until last night. I didn’t take any last night, and obviously couldn’t get to sleep until around 3am. Woke up today and started off to work again. About half way there I realized where I was and couldn’t remember the entire morning up until that point. I was in my truck headed to work, and honestly couldn’t remember how I got where I was. To make a long story short, I refuse to take Ambien anymore to see if maybe that’ s what was causing my erratic behavior. If I still have these horrible thoughts and moments of dread and confusion after being off of the Ambien for a week, then at least I’ll know it wasn’t the Ambien. I don’t know what specific issues you are going through, or if Ambien is even involved, but all I’m trying to say is try some other things before you resort to the ultimate resort. It will devastate your children, even if they are not children anymore. I’ve lost quite a few friends and even a relative to suicide. I have no respect for any of them anymore. I am willing to correspond with you as often as you need me. I could use someone to help me right now, too. I’m not to the point of suicide, and honestly I don’t think I could ever do something so selfish to my kids, friends, wife and relatives. But things suck real bad right now. I still don’t know for sure if I’m going crazy or not, but I’m going to exhaust all of my options to help myself. That incluedes accepting help from other people….even if I don’t know them. Please……….let’s try to help each other out.

-Russ

Suicide Question

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:43:39 +0000

I want to know if my kids will hate me if I take my own life? They are grown and have thier own children and I worry about my grandkids too. I just seem to think this is my only … Continue reading →

I love Ambien

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:19:57 +0000

i wanted to tell you that you are my best friend and i love you
i may be on a strange combination of ambien and cognac right now
but i’m finding myself oddly productive

–J

Depression

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:01:40 +0000

I have suffered from depression for years, it has effected many things in my life including sleep. I recently started taking ambien for my sleep issues and now my depression is a hundred times worse. I wake up every morning in tears and I am always dealing with suicidal thoughts. This medicine is NOT for anyone who deals with depression!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Video of Ambien Side Effects

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Ambien Withdrawal Symptoms – Can't Sleep

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:09:32 +0000

Had been taking 10 mg, cut it down to 5 mg (no more than two nights in a row). Still, if I don’t take it (I don’t take it a third night in a row), I have terrible withdrawal–can’t sleep. So, I try to run more, to process whatever “awake” chemicals I am on, to make the withdrawal easier. I use Ambien very carefully, and as little as possible. At 10 mg, It makes me feel euphoric, like I can keep going forever, not so much at 5 mg, but it still has an effect.

I love natural sleep–not Ambien induced sleep.

Ambien Addiction & Memory Loss

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:25:09 +0000

Help me, i don’t know what to do. I can’t tell my husband about over using my ambien. He thinks he has it hidden. I have servere headaches and have had them for years. I have what it callpuseotumor cycerabal (spelling isn’t right) i have been given a VP shunt and it is on the right side of my head behind my ear. it drain fuild down into my artery in my necck. Any way back to the ambien, when i sleep I DONT HURT!!! I have been on it for years and have tried to talk to my doctor in around about way but he dosen’t talk me serious! I’m on 10mg. at night but if i can find them i will take three a day. I sleepwalk, have memory lapses. I have done many cazy things that my family doesn’t know ab out. I have a problem with short term memory. I was a school teacher and i can’t even spell decently. HELP I don’t know what to do!

Ambien Depression

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:21:46 +0000

My father committed suicide two years ago. The official cause of death was overdose of Ambien and hydrocodone. Looking back, I can see all the warning signs now. My father suffered from depression for years. He was on the maximum dosage of Prozac for many years. At first my father raved about Ambien. Then the vivid dreams set in. The Ambien triggered vivid dreams involving past traumatic events and lost loved ones. My father told me that he would wake up crying hysterically and that he couldn’t tell what was real and what was not. Next was the event that scared me. My father, a former marine, had many guns. He was very proficient with firearms. One night my father shot his pinky off with a handgun of his. My father woke up when he heard the shot, saw the blood everywhere and could not figure out how he had gotten to his spare room, loaded an unloaded firearm, and shot his finger off. I think about this and wonder if it was not a first attempt at suicide. I feel that Ambien made the problems my father already had much worse. When I see Ambien commercials now, I notice that they warn people with depression about suicide. Did they know about this before? Could my father have been warned? If a Dr knew about this I think it would be very irresponsible to prescribe such a drug to someone who struggled with such severe depression. I don’t know the first thing about suing but I would very much like to start some sort of action against the makers of Ambien. I know there is a tendency to place blame when a family member takes their own life but I feel that my father had not been on Ambien, I would still have him with me today. If anyone knows how to start something or would like to, please contact me at paul.wyssbrod@gmail.com

Ambien Max Dosage

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:18:44 +0000

To keep it short: I misused it (by not much…2 or 3 times the dose) had awful withdrawals and almost died from a massive seizure.

This is a serious drug that has earned my respect. I’m the only one who knows why I had the seizure. The toxicology screens came back normal. I still use it, responsibly. 12.5mg per night, MAX!

What is an Ambien high like?

Anonymous AmbienOverdose.org Reader — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:00:45 +0000

I appreciate your comment. This is so very true with this drug and you are the first person to mention it. I would often wake up with a rush of guilt and wondering what had happened the previous night b/c it DOES make you forget all of your problems. And also erased my memory. It gave me a false feeling that everything was ok, when I needed to be dealing with the problems head on. Then when I stopped taking the drug I had more worries and things that I ever realized. Ambien = False hope and peace of mind. Not a good thing for someone who suffers from severe depression.