Please tell us about your experiences with Ambien – good or bad. The purpose of this site is to collect information and encourage discussion, not to cast judgment. Thanks for contributing!
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Side Effects
If you are looking for a detailed list of Ambien Side Effects, please visit ambienoverdose.org/side-effect and ambienoverdose.org/category/ambien-side-effects.
This website is dedicated to the discussion of Ambien user experiences. We do not have a bias; all relevant stories will be posted. All content on ambienoverdose.org was written by our visitors, for whom we are very thankful. Please contribute!
Note on Suicide
Sadly, visitors often find this site in a state of suicidal depression, and we have lost several readers along the way. If you are feeling depressed and suicidal, *please* do not do it. Your life is meaningful and important to many people, including me. In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, visit contactwecare.org, or email economistian@gmail.com Suicide is a long term solution to a short term problem. No matter how bad you feel today, there is a very high chance that you will feel better (normal, even) in the future. In fact, it's likely that you are depressed because your sleep cycles are so damaged. New, credible studies are showing that there is virtually no chemical difference between depression and sleep deprivation. They are virtually the same thing. Instead of killing yourself, try changing your life. Research sleep strategies, start working out, find a hobby you are passionate about, and things will get better. I promise. About AmbienOverdose.org: This began as a relatively short article that offered basic information on the drug. Thanks to a constant stream of user comments documenting Ambien experiences good and bad, the site has become a valuable repository of information on experiences people have had with Ambien. If you have something you'd like to share, please do. All stories on AmbienOverdose.org are written, posted, and owned by our visitors. We cannot verify truthfulness or accuracy in them.
Follow Us on Twitter- I took ambien as directed. Did not mix with drink or other drugs and I totally lost control of my life within 4 months. 02:41:29 PM August 18, 2010 from web
- 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... 03:03:29 PM August 09, 2010 from web
- Looking back, I can see all the warning signs now. 04:54:53 PM July 28, 2010 from web
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Acne Treatment
Acne appears to be strongly correlated with sleep quality. Read more about how to treat acne with vitamins & sleep: acneresearch.orgMeta
your drug as easily as proscribed by any doctor made one of my friends commit suicide. A thought i will never forget.
Encourage the family to report to the FDA! My father also took his own life after being on Ambien CR. If people don’t report EVEN 1 instance of memory loss or sleep walking and doing things they don’t know, they aren’t helping others!
hi,
i have a story to tell when i was 20 i got put on ambien dude to having nightmares and not able to sleep. i got in a huge argument w ith my husband after i had a miscarriage.. he held that against mw for a while and i never felt like shit in my life… i went home and took 3 pills because iwanted a good sleep and well after fighting i decided that i was going to sleep in the other room.. and well i guess i end up grabbing the whole bottle and swallod the wholde bottle i remeber writting my suicidal note to my husband. and i remeber tell ing him that i was sorry for everything.. all i remeber was him wwalking with 13 people dressed in white cloaks and no faces … he told me that i had to get my stomach pumped and stayd at the hospital for a week he told my family that i went on vacatio.. im still married but right now im depressed and the doc gave me more pills im devating if i want to be alive anymore.. my parents dissown me and mi lost my husband and now im getting investaged for adultry my life just looks like shit… im sitting here with a bottle 10mg 25 pills of ambien.. i dont want to be alive anymore.. and my parents disown me…im tired of my life!
Remember this is the worst, it can only get better, you don’t know what the future holds for you, and will look back and think how glad you did not do what you are thinking. I’ve been there, and glad I didn’t. Good Luck!
Carl
My mom took ambien and I am very scared, b/c she overdosed tonight and she could barely walk. Her eyes were like a fish, like she was trying to close them but couldn’t. She was asking the same questions over and over. She sounds crazy. Her and my dad were arguing. She cried alot. I think she’s suicidal, I need help. What should I do. I can’ t call the police b/c I don’t want her to go to a psych hospital like last time. And I can’t make the problems of her and my dad disappear. I just want her to be happy and I don’t know how to that. PLEASE HELP!!!!
Sometimes it helps to write down what you would like to say to them and plant the letter.
Perhaps I am lost in this site but I would like to contribute if it will help others with depression, which seems to be very common theme when discussing sleep problems. I have been through childhood, teen and now adult depression, all slightly different i guess. I”m sad so many commentors are obviously deep into those feelings. Depression is terrible and I get how you are feeling. I have described myself as suicidal before but I hope i dont have to again. PLEASE guys, i dont even know you and I care that you are in pain. People care. Here are some really basic tricks I learned just this year to help me sleep at least – working late? Use the “flux” program on your computer to automatically change the color and contrast of your monitor, or wear some orange glasses to watch tv. Turn on a fan in your bedroom.
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!
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!
My father took his own life after Ambien CR completely changed his whole personality! Please report your side-effects to the FDA.
I have a question for you. I’m taking Ambien for a long time and it seems like it’s not working that well anymore.. I’m taking 10 mgs right now…. can I take a little more? would it be safe?
After a while the drug does lose it’s effectiveness & so I started taking more. I feel compelled to tell you my story because I got hooked & a side effect of this drug is depression. I became severely depressed. I had everything going for me but I was sad because of over using this drug. I tried to overdose on it even after reading all of the stories here, knowing it was the drug causing my depression but not being willing to give it up. Fortunately I didn’t die but I did call the suicide hotline when I woke up. Thank God the person on the end of the line wouldn’t let me off the phone. She forced me to call my mom for help. I spent a week in a facility and while I thought it would be the worst thing that has ever happened to me, it turned out to be the best experience because it saved my life.
If you are on this pill and taking more than the doctor prescribed and hiding it from your friends and loved ones, you have a drug addiction and you need help. Don’t let your loss of sleep be what makes you want to take your life. As soon as you quit taking it, within 12 hrs it is out of your system. You do return to normal. There are other meds you can take to sleep that don’t have depression as a side effect. It makes me so sad to read all the stories here of people who want to commit suicide. It is all because of this drug. It was meant to be a short term drug so if you’ve been taking it for years and you don’t feel like your old self, please get off this medication. It can save your life like it did mine.
I want to thank you, Rhonda, for your comment to my dear friend, Danielle, trying to warn her of the dangers of this medication. I found this while searching online for her obituary. She committed suicide last week. An overdose.
Help me, i don’t know what to do. I can’t tell my husband about over using my abien. 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 DON”T HURT!!! I have been on it for years and have tried to talk to my dortcor 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 memoery. I was a school teacher and i can’t even spell descently. HELP I don’t know what to do!
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 option.
They will be angry at first. Later on, they may not take it too personally especially if they know why you did it. I don’t your story, do you have a terminal illness or is it something else?
no one should ever feel the need to take there own life all those negative feelings and thoughts should be allowed to control you . dont fall i na devils trap. have faith in yourself and move foward once you hit rock bottom you need to get back up. all you need is a friend somone to talk to.im here
Everyone in my family blames themselves for my brother killing himself. Even his 9 year old daughter feels guilty sometimes. Death can be honored without regret or guilt if you expect it I think.
no one should ever feel the need to take there own life all those negative feelings and thoughts should be allowed to control you . dont fall i na devils trap. have faith in yourself and move foward once you hit rock bottom you need to get back up. all you need is a friend somone to talk to.im here
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.
Report to the FDA
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.
I have taken ambien for a couple of years sometimes it doesn’t do anything others I have to double the dose. I think it makes my depression worse.
how much ambien cr 6.25 do you think it would take a 6’2″ 200 male to overdose?
I have just started taken Ambien but I also take a few other Rx drug. The doctor told me to go straight to bed after taking it but I did not listen. My husband and I got into a fight he says I pointed a loaded gun with the safety off at his head. I don’t remember this. Then I guess he left to remove all the guns from the house and when he came back I had hung myself, he says he got there just in time. I do remember laying on the floor thinking how in the heck did I get here taking deep breaths with him leaning over me like he was going to kiss me but I guess he was giving rescue breaths. This isn’t me I just wanted to sleep with out having bad dreams. I am totally in love with my husband. How am I every going to make this right or get him to understand…
I cannot take this site seriously. Admin made some stupid religious posts and no, I do not need a relationship with your nonexistant ‘God’ because I am suicidal. Don’t you have a clue?! Don’t you know how counterproductive that is, to say the solution lies in God?! So what if I don’t believe in God?? Then there must be no solution!
You sicken me with your ignorance.
Hopefully in the future you will take a less biased and less ridiculous view of your website.
All posts on this site are written by users. None are written by the site administrators.
You don’t have to believe in god. Seems like you’d like to believe in something though with your username “invisible pink unicorns”. Nothing like something you can’t see but can still believe in to make you happy.
You don’t need a god. You have your unicorn.
I have had sleep problems for 8+ years. I am a 37 year old woman who has mild anxiety/depression. I am college educated and had never had an addiction to any substance, etc. I first took ambien 3 years ago. I started with 1 – 10 mg pill/night. The first few months seemed fine. Great rest, but my husband said I did some very odd things after taking it. Driving, sexual oddities, eating excessively, panic attacks, and major forgetfullness (w/o any knowledge of what he was talking about.) After awhile I upped it myself to 2 a night, then 3 a night, then taking it during the day. I was having a terrible marriage and taking the ambien made me feel (so I thought) much better. After 9 months of taking ambien, I was up to 7-10 pills per day for at least a month. I would not remember taking them. I would wake in the middle of the night and take more and more, you get the picture. One day I had no refills (and I dr. shopped for them!) and decided that I had to quit cold turkey. It was the worst week of my life. I had horrible panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, NO sleep, and finally I had a grand mal seizure at my local mall, due to stopping it cold turkey. Ambulance brought me to hospital and my seizure was so bad, it broke 2 bones, lost a tooth, etc. But I DID NOT LOSE MY LIFE! Thank God!
I am scared for anyone who uses it. I have read people saying nothing is wrong with ambien. Well, congratualtions because you are one in a million. Anyone I know who has taken it, has had horrible problems/death. I pray it is banned someday. I took NO other drugs, no liquor, nothing while I was on ambien. Seek help if you have a problem!!!!! It seems like it will never get better, but it will. You can beat it! If I did, you can. I still get cravings for it. I did take a few pills from a relatives cupboard about a year ago and they found out and are quite upset with me. The euphoric feeling was unbelievable and I seemed to “forget” about all my problems while taking it. Now that I am off of it, I have my life back! This is just my experience. I am not preaching, but I do believe ambien was the cause of many many problems in my life, as did 3 doctors I had see due to the addiction. Believe what you will, but ambien is nothing but a killer in my eyes!
Cathy, I did the same thing. I increased the dosage. Then, I would get a fresh bottle & by morning, they would all be gone. I would be blitzed & try to go to work. This cost me my job of 22 years & my career as a paramedic for 33 years.
I have used 10mg Ambien per night for about 3 years. Occasionally, because of how long I’ve been on it, it will not work so well, but I never increase my dose. This is how I believe one becomes addicted to it and gets into trouble.
I started having sleep problems during menapause. Mostly incessant worrying and the feeling that my mind won’t shut off at bedtime. I was also under a lot of stress with family and work, and still am. I was prescibed Xanex, and that helped stop the worrying and racing thoughts, but I feared it would be habit-forming and I would still wake up several times a night. Ambien was litterally a “dream” drug. If I relax and get into bed before taking it, it provides the best night’s sleep and I awake feeling refreshed. You need to allow 7-8 hours sleep. You can’t skimp on this! However, if I have drunk wine or alcohol while taking Ambien, strange things will occur. Mostly, I have experienced eating without memory of it the next morning. It makes me crave things like Fritos and Gummy Bears! One morning I woke up with Gummy Bears stuck to my pyjamas! I looked over the side of the bed and saw an empty bag laying on the floor! Things like that are funny, and I joke about it to my co-workers. But it wasn’t so funny the night I was finishing some wine as I took my pill then decided to boil some water for pasta which I forgot about and let boil dry for about an hour! I was so lucky the house didn’t catch fire because no one was home and I would have been out cold, but I think God intervened that night and saved me. I believe the Ambien is affecting my memory to a degree worse than would be considered normal for my age. I am now taking steps to see a neurologist who is a sleep specialist in an effort to get off Ambien and regain the ability to have a normal sleep pattern again. I’m certain my problems with Ambien are my own doing. I like to drink a little with or just after I take it to make it “work better”, but really don’t like to have to go to bed. I stay up too late and don’t get the proper amount of sleep with it, thus contributing to my memory problems. My boyfriend thinks my “pill talk” is cute, but my mom and sister are concerned by what they’ve heard. I love Ambien, when I take it as directed. It is the only sleep aid I’ve tried that lets me get a great night sleep and wake up refreshed and full of energy without feeling groggy or drugged. And I know it won’t be as fun to have to shut off the tv and the computer and stop texting my friends late at night and to meditate and turn off the lights instead. I have been depressed too, and have had one or two suicidal thoughts, but chalked them up to my family and work situation, not the Ambien, but now I don’t know. Best to wean myself off and get professional help. Wish me luck. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but hopefully worth it in the long run.
I had been taking Ambien for 3 years when on 8/27/2010 I took it as I normally would to go to sleep, and I went to bed, and got up out of my sleep, no shoes, no purse, no phone, and grabbed my spare keys to my car and (from the police and other witnesses stories) I drove my car in to a curb, a iron fence, another vehicle, and then 3 phone polls. I was arrested for DUI, passed the alcohol tests, (I had not been drinking) and totaled my vehicle. I was NOT taken to the hospital for an examination, and do NOT remember any of these events. I awoke at my grandmothers house with a pile of tickets, glass still in my hair and clothes from where my head hit the windshield and very confused. THANK GOD I put my seatbelt on. THANK GOD I didn’t kill myself or someone else during this horrible nightmare. This drug needs to be BANNED.
I agree with Dawn.
I *was* a minister who developed a heinous addiction to this drug which required 3 months in rehab. I rarely use the word “evil” and prefer instead to use “ignorance” but I am certain of this – this drug is absolute evil. It felt like a gateway – like the drug put a “glitch in the matrix” and once you stepped across those lines between this world and the neither world, you realized you were dealing with a very, very dark world. At first it felt like a heightened spiritual experience and was not menacing but curious… then the dark entities started showing up more and more… In this world (on the outside) I was destroying everything and was not even aware of it. I lost everything. I am 2 years clean now… Please do not mess with this medication. I can see exactly how people become suicidal from this drug – the dark gets darker and the voices of the entities are very ominous. This life is precious! Live healthy WITHOUT toxins and chemicals in your body and do not open the door to this world.
That’s the perfect way to put it! A “glitch in the matrix”. It’s impossible to go back to normal after experiencing what the world is outside. It’s a trap though, being stuck in chemical la-la-land. How in the world does it exist?
Ambien ruined my life. Period. I was the biggest fan of Ambien for years. I absolutely could NOT sleep for days & days without it. I would defend this drug like a momma defending her baby. The reality was much different. I did things when I was on this poison that I would never do. I ate mass amounts of food. I would make a huge mess of the kitchen & the living room eating like a sobering madman. My poor wife put up with it. She cleaned up after me. She knew the nightmare of insomnia & thought Ambien was a God sent for me. No, Ambien was from the Devil himself. I started taking more & more. I had my wife get Ambien from her doctor & give it to me. When I ran out, I would buy it from friends or go Doctor shopping. I got home from work at 4 PM & I was on Ambien by 5. I just wanted to “blank out” & “disappear”. I started leaving the house & driving for hours not knowing where I was going & not knowing where I was. On a couple of occasions, I was pulled over by police for suspicion of DUI. The officers sent me to the hospital by ambulance thinking I was having a medical disorder. On one of those occasions I slammed into the rear end of a car while on my way to work. I called someone at work at had them take me into the office. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance from there. I have NO memory of any of these. Finally, in April, I lost my job. I lost my family. I lost my home. In June, it finally happened. I hit a car & was arrested for DUI. Thank God no one was hurt. I went to jail. I do NOT remember this. I lost my driver’s license. I am homeless & without hope. I haven’t touched Ambien since then but it’s too late for me. Don’t let this happen to you.
my story is a little different than most. about 7 years ago, my ex-wife started working at night. she started not sleeping well and the dr. put her on ambien(she was not taking anything else). to make a long story short, when we divorced, she was taking about 10 ambien, 25 lorcet 10′s, 10 soma’s and a plethora of other drugs. she has lost her children, her husband, two cars and many other things in the process. the sad part is she hasnt quit.
I have been taking Ambien on and off for 1 year. i love the feeling it gives me before i go to sleep, but when i wake up i feel like i was hit by a battery ram.
Last Nov. 30th Needed sleep bad had been prescribed Ambien and taken one about 7:30 pm….about 2:30 am I awoke in jail in my gown and barefooted and didn’t know what I was doing there or how I got there. Soon to find out the next afternoon around lunch time I got the police report and it read that I had wrecked my car (totaled) it and walked back home and luckily I was going around a curve and instead went straight and hit a fire hydrant and then the curb and trees stopped me. The state patrol sent deputies to my house to wake me up and take me to jail…….I DON’T STILL REMEMBER ANYTHING……NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was not hurt I really don’t know if it was me….when I was released from jail and got to my house my front porch railing was broken all to pieces there were skid marks like I tried to run up the porch and there were peices of the front end of the car broken all on the ground along with the railing of the porch….I was charged DUI drugs, faliure to show proof of license ( they were here at the house) I didn’t know where they were I didn’t know where I was, charged with failure to maintain lane, and leaving the scene of an accident and refused to give a blood test….I told them I had taken Adavan, Ambien and Percocet and didnt take anything but Ambien that is the craziest drug ever!!!!! I got everything dropped and was charged with reckless driving I guess cause they really could’t prove it was me……$850.00 fine turned into about $2100.00 and the lawyer was $1500.00 plus Now I still don’t have a car…there are no jobs here and Husband only home on weekends….I have a 14 yr old We are stuck…except for 70yr old parents to take us everywhere…OH and 1 yr probabtion!!!!!! That’s almost enough to make you really want something potent to take…..Just pray alot now for a break…I do wish I could sue somebody at least for a car>……….I hear so many stories since this happend about Ambien…….I just need a car so bad somebody should be help responsibel for this DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been taking one 10mg Zolpiderm (Ambien) for a number of years now. It’s prescribed by my doctor and I’m never increased the dosage. If I take it and stay up to watch T.V. longer than I’d planned, I do find that I forget what I watched. I also forget that I’ve eaten something as well. These aren’t life threatening side effects. Each drug will affect each person differently.
For me, Ambien allows me to go to sleep and stay asleep for about 6 or 7 hours. I know that what’s best for me is to take the medication, as directed, immediately prior to going to bed. I’ll climb in bed and even if I feel that I won’t be able to fall asleep, I find that I do fall asleep quickly.
The important thing is to take any medication under a doctor’s supervision. If you find that the original dosage isn’t working, please let your doctor know immediately. The only way they can help you is if you let them know. Don’t self medicate or increase your dosage on your own. If do increase from one to two pills, please tell your doctor.
I rarely drink but, I have had a couple of glasses of wine and still taken my regular Zolpiderm/Ambien dosage without a problem. Drugs have side effects but, it doesn’t mean that they should be taken off the market. One person may have no problem with a medication while someone else may have unpleasant or very bad side effects. Anti-depressants also have side effects and you can’t just stop taking them either. The important thing is to talk to a doctor you trust, do you own research and follow your own common sense.
Ambien may be of great help to you or, it may not be the right medication for you. The internet is never the only or best place to find solutions for health care. It’s not even like going to the library because you don’t know the source of the information. Please take all of these “stories” with a grain of salt. Talk to one or more doctors, look into getting a prescription for a “sleep study”, etc. I wish you all “sweet dreams” and a good night’s sleep! I don’t always follow my own suggestions but, if you try to go to bed at the same time, set your alarm and get up at the same time, avoid caffeine in the late afternoon, evening, get some light regular exercise everyday… all of these things will help. I also find “books on tape” to be very helpful. They help me to relax and just listen to a story and before I know it, I’m asleep.
Last night my husband and I were having a normal evening until he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I was in the bedroom goofing off on my laptop. However, after awhile I noticed my husband talking to himself and the water was running for a long time. I went to check and I had to open the door to the bathroom. He was in some kind of mind altered state, acting like he was doing some kind of Indian ritual and mumbling what seemed to be passages out of the book he’s currently reading, (at book about Shawnee Indians). Earlier he mentioned to me how this tribe hated the white man. He had taken some kind of red/brownish hair dye and smeared it all over his arms and it looked just like blood. And around his fingers he had twisted his nose strips (they look like bandaids) and also used toilet paper as bandages. He kept talking to himself (sleered speech and hardly able to stand) about the ritual using indian names and talking about sacrifices. He had his hands and arms resting into the sink like he was truly bleeding and letting it go down the drain. I thought at first it was a joke….I was shocked. I don’t know why and I think I was stupid now but I got him on my cell phone video for a few seconds but he didn’t realize it though. I think I really thought it was a joke. When he didn’t stop I knew it wasn’t and act and I freaked as I was so scared. He came after me and I was on the couch with my legs up in the air trying to protect myself and I called 911. When I was on the phone he stopped with the Indian gibberish and kept saying that we were just playing a game over and over again. The police and an ambulance arrived in minutes. He swung at one of the cops. I was able to show the cops my video. He was taken for a eval at the emergency room. When I got there he started screaming to get my ugly face away from him and they had me removed. The hospital laison later told me that he had been taking ambien and alcohol. He didn’t want me there, and she said that I should watch out for my protection. She mentioned that he’d be able to get back home by other means and that they couldn’t hold him. Ambien was prescribed to him, he didn’t break the law. I have another home and I’m staying there now. He called me repeatedly all through the rest of the night leaving me messages asking me what I did to him. What happened? Blaming me, etc. I’m so surprised the hospital would release him in such condition. I won’t go around him and now I know why I’ve encountered other phychotic episodes. I called his doctor to report this issue and I hope my husband can get some kind of help.
I was in a car wreck and had broken leg, ribs, hand, and other painful abrasions. The docs were not big on giving out pain meds. They gave me some vicodin (puked) and something else (more puke). I told them that I had percocet a long time ago and didn’t get sick. This possibly put me in the “addict suspect” catagory. The doc instead gave me prozac and ambien. I went crazy~I mean really crazy! My Dad had to tackle me to stop me from taking a header off my deck. I am told that I turned into someone else wiith a different voice and even looked different. My Mom described it as “a monster”. they took me to the ER, and was IVed up on benadryl and morphine and some other drugs. After they did this, I started to cry and wanted to know where I was and why I was not home. If my family had not been there, I don’t know if I could have handled the missing time block of memory. The docs went on and on about taking too high dosage and allergies and many more words and more words; until I sat up and said, “I took half the dosage that was prescribed”. I do not believe in taking drugs unless you hurt badly. However, my firm and solid belief is that people should not be pushed into taking new designer drugs. My real question is, “what are docs getting out of dispensing drugs that have hurt and even killed people”? A good friend of mine went to doc for headaches and was given prozac. He asked to stop taking it, but docs told him to take for 30 days. After 16 days on prozac, he shot himself and died two days later. I will do everything I can to fight these “designer drugs”. Think about what what has happened with the use of methadone! I have read that methadone gets people off heroin and saves their lives~so why kill them with a different drug?
Wow…prozac and ambien what a horrible combo! Have you ever noticed the tissue boxes, pens you use to sign things at the doctor, etc. Sadly some doctors are sales people watch out for those. Question any doctor that is too quick to write a prescription. The hesitant doctors are the better ones.
To make a long story short, Zolpidem is a horrible drug. When taken “the right way” it does have good calming affects and usually will make a real insomniac go to sleep. I have been on ambien for a year now, being prescribed 20 mgs a night along with two 0.25 mgs of Triazolam. Been on Triazolam for a year and half. Tried everything from Melatonin to skull cap root L-theanine. Started out with lunesta and then it stopped working even with being taken with 60 mgs of temazepam. Been on Benzodiazepines for 2 years now, I am 24 years old and plan to be on this crap forever. I refuse to go to rehab since I know all they will give me is a horrible combination of Trazodone and Quetiapine(Seraquel). I support all people that have been able to come off of Benzodiazepines…even if it means you have to become a pothead. Good luck everyone and remember you can do it and be “Benzo free.”
Robyn S
So last night, I took a 10mg generic ambien with (2) 600 mg lithium tablets, this is my normal ritual (the one 10 mg ambien, two 600 mg lithium tablets for insomnia and bipolar). I passed the falling asleep point 30 minutes later and took another ambien after that. That puts me at 20 mg, I believe I ended up taking 2 more, so that put me at 40 mg and I started hallucinating and randomly bought a coffeemaker online (wtf?). It felt similar to doing ecstasy (did this a handful of times like 6 years ago), even though my intention wasn’t to get loaded. I remember laying in bed with my girlfriend and trying to talk to her at like 2AM in the morning, about God only knows what. I felt like there were other people in the room and I was in some cove on a beach or something. Totally tripped out. Anyway, I apparently eventually fell asleep and apparentlly have a new coffeemaker on it’s way. Today I feel like shit. I work out of my home and today and I have felt a little ill, like the beginnings of a cold and have had no motivation to do anything save play on facebook, music, blah blah.
You want to know what’s weird? I haven’t really had the chance to read through all of the experiences, but I’m finding a striking resemblance to another chemical that I am all too familiar with.
Years ago, I was a flat out junkie. A functional junkie, but a junkie nonetheless. I had a good job and selling drugs on the side kept my heroin addiction well lubricated. I was easily burning through thousands a month while keeping up with bills.
The side effects that are repeated over and over on this page remind me of so many heroin induced days. When you do enough of it (a lot of it actually), you experience pipe dreaming. You’re awake, but not really. You’re asleep, but not actual asleep – stuck in limbo, that area in between. You can talk to people that aren’t there and you swear that you’re doing things that you really aren’t doing (that’s more like the opposite of the Ambien sleep walking). While on heroin, you can do things that you don’t remember doing, including the sleep walking. It’s all fun and games until someone needs rehab though.
The withdrawls from heroin are exactly as described for Ambien. I’m not too sure if they are as severe, but they are real regardless. At $6 for a 30 script though, Ambien is much less expensive – heroin generally runs $10 a balloon if you were wondering. Some dealers are nice enough to give you free ones if you spend more than $50 or $100 though. I’m surprised pharmacists don’t do that. Wait… Doctors do though – FREE SAMPLES!
My curiosity is more about the side effects and the withdrawls. It’s disconcerting that Ambien so closely resembles heroin. It really is a tragedy that people would rather die than have to give up their chemical vice; but when you’re comfortably numb like that, everything you’ve failed at in life or sad about can’t laugh in your face.
For a few years Ambien worked well for me for when I took it on an infrequent, as-needed basis, but I had very rough time with it this last refill. I started taking Ambien in my pre-menopausal years when I went from a sleep queen to a hyper insomniac. This fall, when my life seemed to be making my head spin at bedtime, I went to my doctor to get a new prescription. (To her credit, she will not prescribe or refill it over the phone.) I easily got a new prescription for Ambien. Pretty soon I started having some very, very dark and scary moods and thoughts. I was weepy, confused, panicky and all over the place with my moods….up and then very down within hours for no apparent reason. I wrote off my roller coaster feelings as a being caused by an increased workload, eldercare concerns and not always loving my “empty nest.” My dear husband and I have a large network of caring, wonderful friends and family members, but that was not enough to keep me buoyed up. I began wondering if anyone would miss me if I was gone, feeling insecure and worthless at work, feeling old and ugly and all I saw in the mirror was a 55 year old failure. I erroneously thought my friends only acted like they cared about me because they felt sorry for me. These new, depressed, black thoughts were darker than I have ever had. Fortunately, I started analyzing things and putting the pieces together with Ambien factored in. Pretty soon I realized the only thing it could be was Ambien. I got rid of the Ambien and my scary thoughts are history. I still have some rough nights when sleep is wacky and my mind races, but, if need be, I resort to an over counter sleep aid like Tylenol PM.
Doctors don’t tell patients enough about prescriptions so we all must research any medicines that we or family members take.
Share this website with any friends who take Ambien so they are aware of possible side effects.
Please be careful and aware of any changes in your thoughts or behaviors. Also, make sure your children do not know where you keep your medicines because kids will be kids.
Check out this link about the dark side of sleeping pills http://www.darksideofsleepingpills.com/ .
i had been taking ambien and then ambien cr for a long time. i was overcome by these crazy feelings of sorrow and despair. i told my doctor about these thoughts. he switched me to silenor. i sleep much better and the next morning do not feel bad. my head is clear finally. it was getting a little scary for me and i came across this website which helped to point out that i was not alone in experiencing these effects. thank you to everyone for clearing this up for me. glad to be off ambien. why is this drug still on the market? stories are so sad.
I was prescribed Ambien, about a year or so after having a gastric by-pass, six hernia’s repaired and my gall bladder removed. I don’t know if any of this had anything to do with the Hypo-Insomnia I developed, but it was MISERABLE. When I was prescribed the drug, almost 10 years ago, I remember, I was in town with a friend and we went by the pharmacy to pick up my Rx. I assumed, it would be like Benadryl…and, take a while to kick in. I took one immediately…around 8:00 pm..thinking I’d become drowsy around 10:00 pm. Wrong. Within 10/15 minutes..I was laughing (my friend told me all of this, as I had just a vague, vague memory), trying to get out of the car..acting drunk. My husband came out to help her get me out of the car and I began crawling on all fours..barking like a dog. He put to bed..and I slept all night..woke up feeling great..not remembering a thing. I called my Doc, after he insisted, and was told..to get in bed, take the med..lay down and don’t move. I had NEVER taken ANY types of meds. Not even pain meds with my surgeries! I didn’t drink, either. But…the feeling of Euphoria was wonderful when the Ambien kicked in..so, I’d stay awake..to “feel” something. Unforunately…this led to the “Zombie” like state Ambien causes. I was on the medication for nearly seven years, before entering a rehab treatment center. I made phone calls while on the medication..constantly throughout the night..saying, embarrasing things. My husband took the phone out of the bedroom. He woke to me riding the lawn mower down the driveway..headed to the road. I jogged in my underwear..ONLY my underwear at 2:00 am. I ate ALL through the night..and never remembered. I gained 75 pounds. Sometimes, when the meds kicked in…I would cry hysterically, and bring up things that, had happened many, many years ago…like losing a family member, etc. If I had EVER been mad, or didn’t like anyone..I’d call and tell them. I cooked 5 casseroles one night and ate an entire jar of mayonnaise. I drove one night…and could have killed myself, or someone else. I have no recollection. But..I had apparently, been to McDonald’s. I was in my nightgown..in the front yard asleep…with the car running and McDonald wrappers everywhere. Also, I had hit the side of the McDonald’s drive thru. I spent over $2,000 on my debit card…with no recollection….until, for about a month, I started receiving shipments of STUPID things I had ordered. Yarn, shoe strings, etc…and in BULK. So…the computer was hid from me at night. Finally…I had to take 20 mg for the meds to work..then 30..then 40. One night…I took my meds…and, got back up…and, must have taken more and more. I had NO intention, consciously of hurting myself. But…I ended up in the ER…with my stomach pumped. This happened twice. Yes…my husband had a fit…and had my Dr. take me off the meds long before this point. But..I just went to another Dr. and got the prescriptions. I was definately addicted. These are only a fraction of the stupid things I did, while under the influence of Ambien..which my kid’s called my crazy medicine. If they had spend the night company…they’d say…just ignore my mom…she took her crazy medicine. How awful was that??? Always, I’d run out of the script early…and would not sleep at all…up to 12 days straight once. I hallucinated, my lips and face went numb….I felt like ice water was running through my arms and was a BITCH!! So..finally..I decided this had to stop…it wasn’t even working anymore…just making me feel horrible. In the beginning…I definately believe I became addicted to the wonderful feeling of Euphoria..like none I’ve ever, ever experienced, when taking the medication. Also….on a good night…you’d almost feel like you drifted away into a pretend land…..I can’t explain it. But…this drug is DANGEROUS. Maybe not for everyone…but, if you have any of the effects, I had….TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR!!! It’s not worth losing your life or hurting someone. My main excuse was…”I can’t be addicted…the Dr. prescribed it.” I was addicted…though not by choice…and it’s seven years of hell I can’t get back.
Dr. placed me on Ambien for chronic insomnia. It worked to an extent, but I took myself off of it after about 3 months. During that time, I sleepwalked, slept-ate, sleep-drank, sleep drove into another car, and became psychologically hooked. One day I woke up one day to a massive headache and dizziness. I quickly learned I was drunk when I found 2 empty wine bottles on the floor. This happened after I went to bed.
I found ambien induced facebook rants and inappropriate comments on my friends wall, after going to bed. Very embarrassing. I have peed on the floor in my sleep, and woke up in other rooms in the house. The final straw was waking up in my car after I cruised slowly into another vehicle (twice). I was double locking the front door and found often found one lock open in the morning.
If you take ambien – follow your dose. Place your keys someplace out of the ordinary and not by the front door. GO TO BED after taking it. Read until you sleep. Stay off the computer while you wait. Re evaluate the food and alcohol in your house or lock up the liquor cabinet. NO Alcohol before Ambien, period. DO NOT TAKE IT unless you have exhausted the simple over the counter’s first. Exercise and you will start to back off the meds too.
Melatonin is a much safer alternative to try first. 3mg’s of Melatonin from Wal-mart and I am ready for sleep in less than 30 minutes. Much cheaper and safer.
Im 15 and iv been taking ambien for about a year. I had tried every medicine under the sun for my insomnia but nothing worked except for marijuana. Unfortunately my dad found out about my pot use and forced me to quit or I would be sent away. Since I had no weed to help me sleep I had to turn back to ambien and I took it for about a year when I realized it was becoming a problem and I couldn’t sleep at all without it. Then I started smoking again because I couldn’t take it anymore and my dad drug tested me and caught me and I got in huge trouble and again had to switch back to ambien. I have now been on it for another half year and its awful. I do stupid shit (say weird stuff to friends, knock shit over, make food) without any memory at all. And I will go nights without sleep if i dont have my ambien. I cant tell my parents about my problem because they will think im a huge drug abuser and they will cut me off and I will go into horrible withdrawal.
So now since I have no hope of getting help im just planning on taking ambien everynight until im 18 and im able to start smoking again and get off this shit.
Hey guys im new to this site but one night I took my ambien under my tongue (sub-lingually) and it was way stronger, faster onset and even if I had recently eaten it would still work. Ever sense I have taken it under my tongue every night and im wondering what the health risks of this are?
I was pretty excited to have received a prescription for ambien. After I got the pills, I went for a run around Central Park, had a warm shower and popped all 30 pills before climbing into bed. 8 1/2 hours later, I woke up feeling quite refreshed after a great night’s sleep. I guess next time, I’ll try mints.
It is fucking amazing this dangerous is still on market.
WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
TAKE THIS OFF THE MARKET NOW.
I don’t have much to say about Ambien except that after my mother took it, she committed suicide. Medications and chemicals that go into people’s bodies’ should be a little more thought out. It’s so unnatural for these chemicals to be circulating through your body, and if there is an accompanied side affect that includes suicide, especially…it shouldn’t be on the market. I hope more than anything that she is in a beautiful and peaceful place, but more so, I wish it didn’t have to be this way…
Well when i was in 5th grade, Me and one of my friends we just each took 2 of them for no reason all, we didn’t think that we were gonna have to go to the hospital for it…So we take it and like my brother was there and he was like don’t take it, but we did anyways, we were young…you do dumb things sometimes when your young. Anyways my mom wasn’t there cause she was at an AA meeting. After an hour passed i don’t really remember anything because i felt like i was awake and then i wasn’t awake, and i was seeing things that weren’t going on…and i remember i was just wanted to go to sleep. but my brother was trying to keep me awake cause he knew something was wrong w me cause i was unconcious and then i was concious and talking to him , but i was in such a dazed an confused state that its hard to remember everything. But my brother called one of our neihbors and they came over and put me on the couch and i i was trying to sleep and i kept slapp’n me in the face to keep me awake, I was just pissed at them. I was sweating really bad. When my mom got home they brought me and my friend to the hospital. I don’t remember anything really , um the doctors were ripping my clothes off and i was really confused and like whats goin on you know. I didn’t think it was that serious but it was. They put a tube down my nose…THAT SUCKED!!! they pumped my stomach, that also sucked!….and i was in the hospital for awhile. So that was my 1st expeiriance with ambien
Someone killed his doctor because he give this medicine..
stories of ambien are very sad. I would never let this come
to market if i could, never.
hey i just fouind this site. Im really high on ambien. I just tried to talk to a close friend but he said i was causeing hiiom stress bbecaasu hes at work . . so. Amaybe i was going to the doctor i don;t know but ti seems like everythung is moving really fast and walking is crazy haah. I don’t know what to do my belly is hurting too. will i bee ok
My brother took this late Dec 24th, he didn’t feel it was working- 4 hours later he took another one. Sometime around 1am he took the dog and went for a walk. He ened up walking for hours with his dog- the dog broke away from the leash. My brother went after him and both where hit on the highway- killed instantly. He was sleep walking- he was out of it-
He had called me to talk at 1:30 am
he called another friend at 2am
He was lost- asking for help, he had fallen, gotten scraped, he needed help- I wasn’t there for him-
He is gone so suddenly- so tragically- had to be creamated-
I hate Ambien- hate it, even when he took the correct dose it was too muich for him- I am going to get to the bottom of this drug and research it, figure out how many people are dying because of this drug-
I have had depression most of my life due to a number of reasons related to my physical and mental health. Obviously, one of which…..I have tried to accept(but cannot since I have taken meds/counseling for years) is mental illness. Between once while in high school and three more times within just the past 2 or 3 years I have attempted suicide by OD on prescribed pills. One time I even took 70+ pills of Flexiril, and was found. I have Ambien and have been thinking about it for a couple weeks, but this time I am thinking about my mom and my grandma. I know it would hurt them SO BAD, and others too. Plus I’m afriad it wont work again even if I do drink this time. But, dang it, I am tired of fighting. I am fighting so hard to not try it again!! If I knew it would work for sure, I would prolly do it.
I feel for families and loved ones who are affected by living with or knowing someone close who is suffering from depression. I know the need to find fault or blame for this. The truth is that if you take Ambien as prescribed by a qualified doctor, preferably by a board certified psychiatrist, this does not cause depression, and if anything, can help with depression by getting you more quality sleep. I have been on 10mg Ambien since July 2010 (not Ambien CR) and I have never felt better. I am a 52 year old male, and being properly regulated on dose levels of your meds is essential for getting the best results. I wish more people would who are benefitting from Ambien would post their stories. People need to hear the facts, not myths.
Back in 2010, I stole a bottle of ambien from my friends house. I at first was using it to actually get sleep. Later on it became used to get high. As time went on the ambien got weaker and weaker, It was taking 3 10mg pills to make me sleep, and almost 5 to get me high. Thats beside the point, one day I felt as tho I had no other way to turn than suicide. I figured, no one gives a damn about what happens to me anyways, so I swollowed 15 pills.
I remember falling down my stairs, being held in a corner, and being rushed out of my house on the stretcher; I showed up at the hospital, and I remember the docter telling my dad totake my pants off. I awoke hours later to see my father, mother, step mother, and my nephews mother, at my bed side. I could see the disappointment in their faces.
The next day everyone knew what I had done. Everyone was glad I was alive, but they were appauled at the idea that I could even think to do something like that. The girl who had always been there for me, NO MATTER what else I had ever done wrong in the past, has never spoken to me since then. I’ve lost many friends, respect from my family, and trust from almost everybody.
The insident had caused me to sink into a very deep depression where I attempted suicide on 4 other seperate occasions. I live with a scar on the back of my neck from cutting myself because I mixed Pain Killers and Ambien. My sister started taking the drug to get high, and would walk around like a complete retard on the shit. It makes me sick… Its not worth it, this drug should be tooken off the market, thats all I really have to say lol
My wonderful mother in law was found dead this morning. She threw up in her sleep and aspirated because she took ambien and couldn’t wake up because she was sleeping so hard. I’m just trying to find out exactly what made her so that. If anyone can help me it would be most appreciated.
Kalie.Knight@yahoo.com
Kalie Knight
i take ambien and it can be taken responsibily, however if someone around you is depressing you and you feel you have no other way out and have a bottle around, then why not try it if that is your choice. just hopefully you wont wake up or else if you wake up it could be a whole new situation that you didn’t want to deal with. and that could make things worse. Thank about it
My 2 month old neice recently passed away… they confirmed it as SIDS. Now the police are saying that they found adult amounts of Ambien in her system and it must have been the cause. They are blamming my brother in law saying he put it in her bottle ((which is ridiculous!)) My sister was breastfeeding and after having complications during birth they gave her Ambien at the hospital, knowing that she was breastfeeding and said it was safe…… now two months later my baby neice passes and the ambien is still in her system… and they blame her father — it is ridiculous… they do NOT own any ambien in there house and could/would never do anything like that to there baby (which is 1 of 3 children!) … so my question is .. can this really be possible.. can the ambien given to my sister in the hospital still be in a two month olds system — and be the cause of death???
This last October, I tried to commit suicide. I had just turned 17 and nothing was going right. Its been wired in my brain that i am worthless because of the 6 years of constant bulling in the past. It stopped for a bit in high school then picked back up again. I Have serious trust issues and cannot find a way to keep friends close enough to tell them anything. Im so scared of telling them because they could turn around and use it against me like in the past. so a few weeks after my birthday, I attempted. I took Adavan at school, got on the bus to my other school, attended a 3 hour class and when my mother came to get me, we went to pet smart and i got lost. When she found me, she took me to the hospital. Of course I don’t remember anything of that day. in fact i don’t remember that ENTIRE WEEK. when i woke up i was in the hospital stuck to an IV with a babysitter. i then got transfered to a Phyc hospital and was there for two weeks.
Its been only 4 months but i feel today is the day ambien will be my relief. I cant hold myself together anymore and i cant fake happy anymore. Im suffocating and i truly am alone in these troubles. My protective wall i put up a long time ago wont let me reach out. I will hold out the best i can but if i get one more misfit joke thrown at me i swear, Ambien will be my relief.
I am tired of life. I’m a psychiatrist. I want to die. I’m a mother, too, and worry intensely about that. Maybe homicide/suicide is the best choice to limit the suffering. I’m not sure about that. My child is beautiful, brilliant, sensitive. Maybe if I can get her to her father’s he can save her. I tried to be a good mom but I was neglectful in my depression and social withdrawal.
It’s time for me to go. I’m ready. I’m at peace. I will try to ask God for forgiveness right before I lose consciousness. Last time I made the mistake of answering my husbands phone call. That resulted inEMS. Was in respiratory arrest upon their arrival. That time was Trileptal, Lamictal, Ambien, Lunesta, klonopin, seroquel and Geodon samples. Maybe benadryl and phenergan. I don’t remember.
Have been thinking of getting a gun, how to make a noose, accidental auto accident (but where – and how). For gun or hanging I need to be away from where my family can find me. I’ve seen both up close. Not pretty.
Consistent care for my daughter is another issue. The problem is I think shed be better off without me. My medical practice is not profitable. Maybe life insurance will be.
The most impt tactical issue is to make sure I’m not discovered until I have passed.
I have had 4 beers and a bunch of ambien. I’m praying for respiratory arrest. Probably this will be a silent trial run. I will try to arrange an “accident.”
I’ve spent my life in service to humanity and now I’m broken and exhausted and hopeless.
I hope I’m found dead in the morning, too.
Suicide is selfish. The people who love someone who commits suicide never recover from the loss. Suicide is tempting because you think it will bring an end to your suffering. But you would be dealing a blow to your friends and family from which they will never recover. You would be making each and every one of them suffer like you are suffering now.
See a mental health professional, and get a prescription for antidepressants. Generic Prozac is cheap, and works great. There is hope!
Feel free to contact me! M
A few days ago my Father/best friend took his own life. I spent the last few days asking myself “why”. My dad was not a selfish man by any means and for him to take himself away from all of us was completly out character. After looking around a little bit we found his sleeping pills. There was an almost empty bottle of Ambien and some xanex and some generic restiril. I knew one of them or a combination of them had to be my answer to “why”. He was not in his proper state of mind! When i got home i did a google on ambien suicide and found this site. Im shocked. With so many similar stories how can this drug still be on the market. I have been taking ambien for a few months now with no issues, but i have taken my last one after this experience. Someone is going to pay hell for this, my fathers death will not be in vain because of some crappy pharmacutical company. Please help me get this drug off the market so no more families have to go through this pain that is in my heart. My dad wasnt supposed to go like this. As for those wishing for death, please seek professional help. The pain of losing a loved one leaves so many questions unanswered and a heavy burden on the heart. I wouldnt wish this upon anyone, ever. Suicide is a selfish act unless you are terminally ill and have come to terms with your loved ones. Depression is treatable and hopefully is your first option. I love you Dad and your death will not be without consequences……..Michael
I’m a 28 year old guy and I’ve taken one 10mg Ambien every night now for the last two or three years. It only costs me $15 a month which is not too expensive. It seemed to do the trick at first. The side effects I noticed from the very beginning were a drugged like state similar to how a drink or two of alcohol feels. I would loose my balance after about 20 min and rarely experience an amazing sense of euphoria before falling asleep. If I had a tiny bit of alcohol in my system nothing bad happened. If I had more than a little bit I would just have unusual dreams and sometime nightmares. I almost always avoid those two combinations though. Its weird because over the last few years I’ve had weeks were one pill a night keeps me asleep perfectly. However, sometimes I’ve taken a second after 45 min or so just to finally get me asleep. The only real side effects I’ve experience with Ambien the next day are anxiety and dizziness. Lately I’ve been taking one before sleep and then another about 4-5 hours later when I wake up in the middle of the night all restless stuck in some terrible dream loop. I’m definitely not taking it tonight. I’ve noticed when I go without Ambien for a few days my sleep is disrupted. However, once it’s completely out my system I actually feel a lot better. Anyone who maybe feels addicted to Ambien should try some other sleep aid for a week to see if depression, anxiety, and any other negative side effect subside. I recommend half to a full dose of Nyquil in it’s place. Sometimes Nyquil only works for 4 hours or so. Maybe try half a dose to get you to sleep and the other half if you wake up again during the night. Just be careful because the acetaminophen (tylanol) in Nyquil is not good for your body in large doses or with alcohol. Benadryl also works, it just takes forever and isn’t very strong. You can buy liquid benadryl (children allergy medicine) that will work a lot faster. (Liquid medicines always work quicker). I’ve tried taking one 10mg Ambien with a full dose (25mg) of Equate brand children’s allergy medicine and I actually would stay asleep for a nice 9-10 hours. The Ambien puts me to sleep and the allergy medicine keeps me asleep. Don’t waste your time with sleep aids like melatonin though. It doesn’t work very well. I’ve also noticed that I sleep really good during the night when I go running during the day for an hour or so. Anyways, I hope all that info was useful to someone out there
It has been four months since I dumped a half-full bottle of Ambien down the drain in the presence of my loving and supportive girlfriend. There is no doubt in my mind, I was abusing Ambien for two years.
Notwithstanding the side effects of this medication, Ambien is a drug that certainly can help a person get a good night’s sleep but it is not a drug that I really every used for sleep. I used it to get high, plain and simple. I have a psychiatrist who, until I told him that I could NEVER take this medication again, would prescribe it to me without question.
Although I would give the drug to some of my friends, for the most part I would take it night after night until it ran out and I could get another prescription the next month. Usually I would take it while alone in my apartment around 9 p.m. or so and watch television, basking in the warmth and pleasant feeling that this medication gave me. Within about 40 minutes the drug would kick in and the walls would begin to feel as if they were moving. If there was a photograph I was editing on my laptop it would sometimes begin to bounce around. I was consciously aware these were because of the drug and not really things that were happening. In that sense, I was able to control myself. In other ways, I was not. Sometimes, when in an Ambien high I would eat a ton of food or zone out watching television for hours on end as if I were in a catatonic state. Watching my favorite MLB team, the players would be unrecognizable and it would be as if I’d never seen them before. Other times I would begin cleaning my apartment and having conversations in my own head. Sometimes I would call friends and family, even for brief chit chats. The night when I realized I had a problem was last May when I took two pills, got high and then as the high began to wear off, I drove to a fastfood restaurant after deeming myself conscious enough to drive. I felt terrible shame afterwards. Still, I took it about a dozen more times – thankfully uneventfully – before finally dumping it down the drain.
I still very much wish I could get high off of these pills. Sometimes I wish I could just get high off of any type of sedative or relaxing medication. The other night I considered pilfering some hydrocodone from a family member but realized this was not a good idea. She would certainly know that one was missing. Regardless, I don’t want to live like this. Certainly there are other ways of dealing with stress and dissapointment than getting high. I have a great woman in my life and good health and a job I enjoy and a hobby that brings me a lot of fun. To risk it all with a tablet that could make me sleep walk, get in a car and hurt someone or overdose is not worth it. Something has to give, but it wont be my life.
That said, I am sure that there are others out there who take Ambien as prescribed and don’t suffer side effects such as loss of memory, sleepwalking or agression/depression. For those of us who abuse this medication, sleep must be found somewhere else and not in a bottle of pills. It’s just not worth it. Good luck to those of you who may be struggling with substance abuse problems. It’s tough.
I can relate to a lot of what you said. 9p.m. is usually when I would pop my ambien too. What is sad is that I would actually turn down plans with friends so I could go home and take my ambien at 9. Two boyfriends and my family have both brought to my attention that my reliance on ambien concerns them. The battle hasn’t been easybut having people in our life that love us makes it easier. When we feel our life has purpose, we will do everything to protect ourselves and our health.
I recently went through moving out of my house from my husband and 2 kids…stress in itself, but I moved out cause I lost a sense of me, living numb. I am a free spirit and always have been and living the “numb” life is just more depressing. My doctor who is a fabulous doctor, actually sat and talked to me and was concerned. She prescribed me ambien cause she knew I just needed sleep…to rest after all the stress. Which worked for a few days.
After a few weeks (slept perfect for about 2 weeks) with the ambien I started to wake up during the night, afraid I slept past my alarm (even when it was the weekend and had nothing to do), getting attached to pointless hobbies that I hated just to pass the time, doing things or wearing certain things at work just to get attention ANY attention – as if in my head…”how much do these people really pay attention to me?”, push the limits with all friends; piss them off to see how long before they forgive or stop talking to them to see how long it takes them to see how I am doing, etc.
I was on anti-depressant before, a few years ago, but I can honestly say those symptoms were NOTHING compared to what its been like since I have been on ambien (heck before it was probably just pms compared to now), I have been more emotional crying at just about everything, paranoia, thoughts about being in rush hour traffic and just slamming on the brakes in front of a semi, etc. these things never occurred to me before ambien.
It is just sad…all we want to do is sleep a full, at least, 7 hours…why does there have to be such a mental side effect?!?! We can put a man on the moon but we can’t figure out…or I should say there isn’t one big-wig in a pharmacutical company that has a heart left, that can just let us sleep without wanting more money for an anti-depressant that we now have to have, because its the ambien causing it!!!!!!!
er
I’m 22 years old male.
I’m a gay and I noticed this when I was in middle school. Ever since I noticed it, I thought I could live my life while keeping my secret. However, I am too tired from hiding my secret. I don’t have courage to tell this secret to people around me. Cuz I am scared if they would accept me as a person. If they know about this, they will leave me behind in their life.
So I decided to end my life. I’m trying to save up ambient. How much does it need to kill a person?
The first step is realizing that is does not matter what they think. Leave their ambit, and they become as insignificant as last week’s magazine. So stop saving for Ambien, and start saving for a plane ticket to NYC, where you will be much happier, I assure you. I personally will show you around, and you will meet lots of folks like yourself, which believe me would be a lot harder if you had floated off to Valhalla somewhere. Please contact me before any rash moves.
Your friend, Anonymous
Hello, I felt the need to share my experience with Zolpidem Tartrate 10 mg tablets. I am almost 50 and going through the night sweats and hot flashes and lack of sleep as a result of them. My hormone replacement doctor prescribed this drug (Ambien) to help me sleep. I was advised to take it only when I was in the actual bed and not before. I found this odd but complied. I should also add that I drink vodka and grapefruit juice and had consumed my usual nightly amount that night. My cat awoke me at 5:30 for breakfast as was standard practice. I went downstairs only to find all the lights on, the TV on, a package of Oreo cookies open and empty on the floor by the couch. I had pain in my head/face and upon looking in the mirror I realized I had broken my nose somehow. I had no other injuries of the kind that might be associated with breaking a fall so either I did a “face plant” or walked into something. I immediately checked the garage to make sure I had not driven anywhere and was very relieved that I had not. I remember nothing after swallowing that 1 pill in bed.
I recall seeing Kathy Griffen taping her assistant roaming around and eating without recollection and found it funny. Not so much when it is you that does the acts without recollection and realizing after reading some of these stories how tragic it could have been! The thought of my endangering some one else over the side effects of this tiny little pill is mind boggling!! Please pass on the dangers of this “sleep aid”!
I have been using Ambien for (3 years) now for insomnia. I tried everything and Ambien was the only thing that worked and didnt make me feel extremely groggy the next day. At first, it worked great. I would take the pill and no matter what or where, I was taken to the ground and asleep within 20 minutes. Two years ago, I would take the Ambien and not remember having sex or saying certain things or speaking to people on the phone…complete amnesia. My husband didnt have this effect when he took ambien in the past in fact, ambien didnt do anything for him, so he doesnt understand. Currently, it doesn’t work as great as it once did and I end up taking 1 1/2 or 2 which my Dr says wont do anything but I feel it does. I find myself waking up several times a night and eating. I especially eat sweets and cereals. I also will sleep walk out to the living room and watch TV although I wont remember what I watched the next day. I also will text people or email and make more sexual innuendos towards them, I do not remember the next day and suffer embarrassment as I dont want everyone to know I take ambien and its hard for people to believe this med does these things. In the past, I have left my home while being on Ambien and not remembered how I even got home or where I drove to. Taking Ambien and being in an argument with someone should be avoided at all costs as you arent really you during this time! Also dont take this med if you are really depressed or suicidal at the moment! You shouldn’t take ambien unless you are going right to bed and you should explain to your partner (if you have one) that this drug has these side effects and they should be aware!I feel like the medication can make people gain weight as you eat without being aware of it..there have been times I have awoken with food or crumbs in my mouth and even drool stains on my pillow from chocolate I’ve eaten etc. I also have taken food to bed with me and it has gotten the whole bed a mess. I feel that this medication can really put people in scary situations where they APPEAR that they are awake and mentally aware but they are in fact in a dream like state from the medication.
I have been taking ambien on and off for @3years, consistantly mixxing with beer to help me get to sleep. I have had many close call, but thank god nothing bad has happened. I feel sorry for my wife and kids to have to put up with me. I work nights 3-4 nights a week and use ambien to sleep on my nights off. I makes you feel groggy the next day. I took @2-3 last night and i feel like shit today and a bit moody. I hopefully will try to to stop it, the main reason is for my wife. I don’t want to lose her and want to give her the best of me. It will tough. I have some really embarrsing stories that I don’t want to go into. The main thing is that is addictive and when mixxed with alchol you will do things that you do not remember.
My precious daughter passed away just a few months ago having been prescribed Ambien. She was taking other medications, which she had been taking for years. The Ambien was a new drug in the mix, added to help her sleep which she could not do because of both pain and insomnia. The coroner ruled her death “accidental” due to combined drug poisoning. She had fibromyalgia and was taking tramadol and vicoden. She was 35, alone, and left an 8 year old son. No life should be ended by a drug that is supposed to help. I cannot understand why any doctor would prescribe such a medication, with so many dangerous side effects, to someone who is alone…whether they are taking other medications or not. Now we have lost a wonderful girl – a young life is ended, and a little boy has no mother. All just simply because she wanted to sleep rest.
I don’t know how aware she was of the dangers, but this is a medication that should be given only in a hospital setting, or for people who have others around to watch them, or only one pill at a time allowed to fill a prescription. This tragedy will haunt us the rest of our lives.
If anyone knows of any class action suites against Ambien or Zolpidem (its drug name) please post that information.
What the suicide-averse don’t understand is the pointless nature of life after serial failures and humiliations, compared to which an easy exit is imminently preferable. If one is a loser for haven chosen suicide, he was a loser anyway, and faced a life far more difficult than death. It’s a simple cost-benefits calculation.
I am so sorry you feel that way. Life is what you make it. We go through life making mistakes and failures. It is just a fact. You are not destitute, its what you do after that shows your strength. We can all get up after we fall, I have had a life of addiction and bad choices, but I never stopped trying. Now I can hold my head up because its not what you have, its who you are that counts.
ok so i’ve been taking ambien for about two weeks. i’m about to stop cold turkey because it’s making me do strange things. i started off taking 10 mg a night then i bumped it up to 20 mg. instead of making me go to sleep it would keep me up and i would just hallucinate for a few hours before passing out. these last few nights i’ve been getting up after taking my normal dose of 20 and taking more. i don’t know why but i can’t stop myself. i end up taking 60 mg a night. this is very bad because the hallucinations keep getting more intense. i wouldn’t suggest this drug to anyone. if you start taking it absolutely do not take more than necessary. if it starts making you take more stop immediately.
I hate ambien. I hate what it has done to my life. I can’t stand doctors that like to overprescribe meds because that is what got me in this mess. As a sophomore in high school, I seeked treatment for a.d.d. along with adderall they found it neccessary to prescribe me an antidepressant and ambien. I stopped taking the antidepressants cause they made me crazy, but I couldn’t stop the ambien. I have done some things ia am not so proud of. Once I started building a tolerance my doctor’s solution was to up it to 20mg a night. Then when I mentioned I might have a dependency my doctor informed me that she didn’t know of any other medicines to treat my problem. When I do something stupid while under the influence of ambien, I. Will stop for a while, but, eventually I always come back. Today I feel really horrible and I know its because the ambien is taking a toll on my body. I feel anger towards the drugs and the doctors that only know how to solve issues by writing a prescriptions.
After my aunt committed suicide on Ambien I have created a cause against Ambien, I would like everyone to join
http://www.causes.com/causes/595469-stop-ambien-zolpidem-induced-death-illness-and-damages?recruiter_id=26599445
If I get enough people started then I will start a non-profit to either fund researching or attorneys to sue on people’s behalf…
I was just put on Ambien 5 days ago…I have slept 1 night. Why am I not getting sleepy when I take this pill? I am so aggravated, I need SLEEP! Can anyone give me any advice? Can the dosage be increased and does it work that way. I am going nuts with 1-2 hours of sleep everynight, I feel crazy. Is their other sleep aids that are better than Ambien? I tried all of the over the counter crap-no good for me. Please help. I am so overwhelmed and aggitated from non sleep.
Amanda
I don’t even get sleepy when I take it, can anyone answer me why?
My wife and I have been on ambien for almost 3 years now. She will take it with a handful of benadryl and glass of wine. Our relationship is now destroyed. She has been suicidal and depressed. I have PTSD and Bipolar disorder. Recently I suffered from a Post Traumatic Schizoid Delusion enduced by ambien, and am now facing a 25 year prison sentence for alleged attempted murder and domestic violence. I love her, very much, for the past 15 years, but now she is so paranoid and scared because of what happened and I dont really know what the hell was going on. When I realized I was being a danger I called 911 for help, and with her long term addiction, paranoia, and depression, im in a ton of legal trouble. I will likely never see her again. Ambien ruined our lives. I have quit, but shes still on them and doesnt accept that she has a problem. I expect to find out she overdosed one night because of her recently suicidal depression from this medication.
A similar situation happenend to me.
I am a therapist and am here for you.
pinkerbell5421@yahoo.com
I moved to Antwerp, Belgium, last year to do research. On my birthday I went to visit a friend in Amsterdam; on the same day I got a prescription from my doctor back home for 60 Zolpidem. I have a history of using it to get high.
Last thing I remember was getting on the train to Antwerp at 16:00 – getting off at Den Haag (no idea of the time) – and then waking up in Schipol Airport the next morning. I realized I took all the pills….. IN ONE NIGHT…..
I just got a phone call this week telling me that my dear friend had passed away. I talked with a family member, because I had just seen him recently and he didn’t look ill. I never considered that he would take his own life. He was a wonderful man, without financial problems, not really anything for him to worry about compared to others in this economy. I never met anyone so giving and he would help people he didn’t even know, he was amazing. After the deaths of his sister and mother he became depressed, but was managing. He began having problems with sleep, as we all do when we get older. Yet he was a very active 55 years old. He began taking Ambien to help with his sleep, I imagine that is when everything changed in his life. He was never a person who talked about his thoughts, so there was no clue on what he was planning. Completely out of character he took his own life, a man who cherished and loved everyone around him. The Ambien, which his doctor has recently increased dosage had to be the cause of this man’s demise. As I read the other stories I can’t help thinking that there are probably so many more stories that are untold, about the horrible side effects of this drug. It is so easy today to replace good sense with drugs, try to find the causes for your alignment, don’t mask them with drugs of any kind. Find your own answers, before taking the little pill that could end your life.
I know what your going through…
email me: pinkerbell5421@yahoo.com
I’ve been on 5 mg of Ambien nightly for about 2 years. My doctor insists that is too long. This has been the best, least interupted sleep I’ve had over the past 12-14 years. When I forget to take a pill at bedtime, I wake up at 1-3 a.m. and then I’m up for the duration of the night… may fall asleep around 6 and up by 7 or so. This was my sleep issue prior to taking Ambien. There are days I feel tired but other than that I’ve noticed no particular mood or behavior issues. Addiction to Ambien….. probably…. my real addiction is to the wonderful, full nights of sleep I’ve experienced over the past 2 years. I anxious about the process of eliminating Ambien but know I know it needs to be done. My physcians advice is to add exercise and melatonin. Hopefully, this will get me through the worst of it. Good luck to others that may be going through this type of transition.
I was diagnosed bipolar given 600 mg to take daily. I still felt depressed so my doctor prespribed prozac 20 mg. I notice whenever I do chronic I feel very relaxed especially if I’m extra sleep deprieved.
i love telling my sotry
Been on Ambien for 90 days 20mg nightly ..best sleep ever. Last time i felt this rested was preteen.
My recommendation to anyone taking ambien (or any other narcotic or sleep medication) is to proceed with caution. Be aware of what is happening. If you are having such things such as hallucinations or suicidal thoughts talk to your doctor immediately and try something that doesn’t cause problems. If you can have someone with you when you first start taking the medication. I saw someone mention the fact that they have not seen anyone hallucinate. I was prescribed medication of ambien while pregnant with my daughter. The first time using medication I had bad hallucinations (only know because my husband and roomate told me). The only medication I have ever taken is levothyroxine.
My mom is taking ambien now and she is having terrible hallucinations. She has fell once and the second time she almost fell and hit her head. She has had problems with this medication and we are trying to convince her to try something with less side effects. She talks about the unicorns dancing and weird things like that. She as me had no recollection of doing so aside from the people who were there to make sure she was okay. She does have a history of drug abuse and depression. Be aware of the known side effects of the medication you take and only take as prescribed.
I have similar experiences. However, it isn’t a narcotic. The FDA has it at the bottom of the lists for danger, and addiction. This drug does stuff that no other drug does. Something isn’t right.
I am 63 and thought I was Getting Allshimers. I was getting stupid just plain stupid. I was scared to death. My friend was on ambien and she thought she was getting stupid too. Then one night she found herself out side barefoot in her pajamas in a blizzard. We live in Vermont. Sooo I looked up AMBIEN STUPID and couldn’t believe what I saw pages and pages of AMBIEN STUPID. WHAT THE HELL is going on here. Now after finding this sight I guess just becoming stupid isn’t that bad. This is unbeleiveably amazing. I am really sorry to here all of these truly sad events that have taken place with others, and for so longsome of the comments are from 2005????? All I can say again is WHAT THE HELL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Ambien was perscribed to me by a doctor to help with my insomna issues. Took the regular 10mg on the first night and ended up staring at my computer wallpaper, watching the vivid colors while the woman on my screen tried to slowly push herself out of my monitor.
After taking it for four months, almost every night to put me to sleep, I had a friend come over to hang out one night. By then I needed at least 20mg to put me to sleep at night but I kept waking up without feeling very rested. This night, I popped two 10mg pills, thought about taking four more but decided against it then climbed into bed. That was all I remember doing. Next day I wake up in complete confusion. There are cigarettes all over the house, food cooking in the crock pot, and various other things that I thought my friend had done. According to him, I took four more pills right after taking the other two, bringing the complete total to 60mg. A few minutes after that I tried to take the other six pills in my bottle before he stopped me and took the pills as well as the bottle out, hiding them where I wouldn’t find them again. For several hours I was babbling incoherently, stumbling all over myself, and laughing uncontrollably. We played video games for two hours then walked to the gas station and back home which takes another hour in itself. After two more hours, he had passed out on the couch and left me to do what I would do. All of the events after taking the original 20 mg, I had no memory of but am now slowly remembering after being off ambien for a month. Weather it is for tripping or perscribed, be very careful or you might end up blacking out like I did and losing a good chunk of memory over the time you had been taking it.
I’ve had problems with insomnia for years, and have tried several other sleep aids, Lunesta, etc. Ambien helped more than any of the prior drugs, at first. After about a year, I noticed my memory was terrible. My husband would tell me things I had done or said, and I didn’t remember at all. I began falling alot. Which was odd, I’d been in every sport imaginable that required good balance. I had started to have terrible, very realistic nightmares. I was chased, stabbed, shot, etc almost every night, and then thought about these dreams frequently during the day. Then the day terrors started. While working out in the gym, I began to hallucinate. I was being stalked by a killer, who chased me all over the gym. When I came to my senses, I was sitting on a weight machine, drenched in sweat, heart racing and completely lost. I was so embarrased, I could hardly tell my husband what had happened to me. At 50 years old, I was beginning to think I had dementia or early onset alzheimers disease. For months, I’ve woried about diminished mental capacity and how I would deal with this. The nightmares, loss of memory, sadness and loss of motor skills has continued, all the while taking ambien. I heard about possible side effects on TV and immediately decided to cut my dosage in half. Oddly, this seems to have helped. I can concentrate again, and haven’t had a nightmare in several days. I’ll never sleep normally. so it will always be a battle. But I’d rather be sleep deprived and have my senses about me than risk taking such a powerful drug that makes me feel like I’ve lost my mind.
I took Ambien for over ten years. The last five of those I struggled to stop. I’ve been off it for a little over six months.
I started taking it because I was an airline pilot flying international routes, and my circadian rhythms were completely messed up. I wasn’t able to sleep at my destination hotels, and coming back to the States, I was exhausted but sleeepless
Ambien worked well for the first two years (5 mg) but eventually I had to go up to 10 mg. I started noticing that my sleep time may have been longer, but the quality of my sleep was worse. I’d wake up feeling extremely anxious and not be able to go back to sleep. I also experienced feeling very hungry right before i was ready to sleep, maybe a ½ hour after taking it, then eating.
During the times I’d quit, I’d have withdrawal and would feel very out of it. But slowly, I’d be getting a better quality sleep and would wake up feeling more rested and relaxed than when I was taking Ambien.
I have to say that I’ve felt better in years since quitting Ambien. So many people working non-traditional schedules are taking Ambien to help them sleep. My advice to them is to be really careful how much you take, and get off it when you’re not working the strange hours.
I have used Ambien as directed for 2 years. Gradually up from 5mg a night now to 20mg a night. The worst decision I ever made was to start snorting these things about a week ago after some people did it at a party! Now, when I have a day off, I drink coffee and snort and ambien to get through the day. It’s ridiculous, just ridiculous!!!! I can’t believe I’m doing it. Last night I snorted 2 and I guess I made pancakes and didn’t remember until just now!
However, it’s not physically dependent for me… I ran out a week ago and 4 days I just took benedryl to sleep (with a bottle of wine;). But I was rushing back to the Pharmacy to get more. I’ve also gone to the last resort and ordered from India. Word to the wise… the average cost of 30 pills is $150 and they may get stuck in customs for weeks. 30 will probably last me 15 days now, so yes, it’s a habit now and I’d like to get valium instead to try and get off this stuff. Which one is worse? Don’t know….
2 stories.
The first–my sister took Ambien and had a normal amount in her body, took two shots of liquor and sometime later hung herself. Knowing her and knowing how the drug effects people from personal experience (relayed below) I can safely say that if she had not taken the Ambien, she would be with us today.
I recall taking Ambien while at a friend’s house. I took two pills (sometimes one pill seemed to have no affect on me and I would lie awake and take another pill to try to get to sleep). I lay down on the couch to watch a movie and fall asleep. Somehow I did not fall asleep. I ended up taking more of the pills (for a total of 4 or so) I then drove to my uncle’s house where I sometimes stayed. My friend was not aware that I was in an “Ambien state of mind” when I got up and said I was going to go home. I got in my car and drove home, only to crash into a marker on the side of the road. I can recall only snippets of the night–seeing snow on the road, seeing markers on the side of the road, and then checking my car for damage and riding off again. I am lucky to have my life! I woke up in the morning thinking that it had all been a dream and then I saw the damage to my car……
Ambien causes people to act almost like robots under the control of the drug without their own knowledge. People do things that they would not normally do—they KILL THEMSELVES, crash a car, who knows–maybe someone could even kill someone else–this drug needs to be banned. Any drugs that take over your consciousness need to be banned. If you take Ambien you, you could be giving up control of your body.
I just came to this site by accident i guess im a 18yr old new mother and have been having trouble falling asleep for years it takes hours i just dont know how to fall asleep i take ambien every other night for the past week im on them now and i was just looking up how safe they were and i came across on here and im just shocked at how many people are talking about killing them selves on here. iv had depression and anxiety for years and felt that way plenty of times and came close to killing myself but i never gave into my depression or let the devil win ever!. its a cold world but faith inyourslef and loveing yourself is all you need . everyone has there own story mine is like a book of the hell ive been thru growing up trust me i have been in hell and back and things that kept me going is that sadness dosnt last forever it comes and go and you fight threw it. I am going to be visiting this site much more often and i would love to hear peoples stories and help in any way i can. iv been through alot more then i should for my age but i am a very strong wise women i benefited from all the hell iv been through so if any one needs to talk about anything im here . my email is also XxmissCaKesxX@aol.com
please any one who feels the need to kill themselves or is having trouble getting off this drug email me communcate with me any way you can. Iv been in this situation alot of times and i have overcome them i never let my inner demons take complete control over me and now im a strong wise women and ill dedicate my time to help any one who needs it on here. we are all Gods children and l will love you and fight with you to get out of your struggles.so please its never too late ever to ask for help.Im here!!!!!
XxMissCaKesxX@aol.com that is my email and feel free to write me ill listen to any ones story.wether you want my advice ,my opinion,or jus someone to listen and understand you im here for whatever.
I used to be afraid to take any kind of pill. I’d get anxious about everything that was prescribed to me. The first time I took ambien, I was in the hospital and I was desperate to get some sleep, but kept being waken up by nurses and roommates. The doctor told me not to worry so much. It worked so well, I started feeling more comfortable with it. After several months, my defenses were pretty much down, but I was still too anxious to abuse the drug. After about a year, I switched doctors, and the new one was happy to give me 20mg a night, since the 10 was not keeping me asleep long enough. There were side effects I didn’t like. I didn’t like being so sleepy the next day. My husband didn’t like me being knocked out so cold, and he started having sleep problems. I had horrible, vivid nightmares that caused me to wake up screaming sometimes. I dissociated more and hallucinated a little. But all in all, I was getting comfortable. I was able to go to sleep in minutes.
I started to think, well, 20mg isn’t hurting me…and after several months of that dosage I realized I was comfortable enough to start experimenting. When I felt suicidal I now had more control over the situation. Something that would be easy. Painless. And effective. It felt good to wield that kind of power over my life. I took 3 one night. This was going too far. I stepped back. I felt a little guilty. But the next time I wanted to overdose, I felt comfortable taking four. Of course, I spit them out. But each time I put more and more in my mouth. Usually I’d spit them out before they dissolved, but I could have taken 4 without a problem.
One night I had taken 3 and my husband and I had an argument. I was so knocked out with the 3 that I couldn’t remember how many I taken or if I’d taken them at all, and I was still angry, so I took 4 more. My husband found me on the floor of the bathroom after he heard a loud THUD. I was so out of it, I could barely tell him how many I’d taken, and he wasn’t even sure I knew. He called poison control, and they told him to stay awake all night and watch me to make sure I was breathing. When I talked to my doctor about his incident, he said he’d never had a patient take more than 7 and not end up in the ICU. So I had taken 7. And I guess I felt a little proud, like I could handle the drug. I’d never been addicted to any drug before and I didn’t recognize the signs here. I took about 7 pills another time, and 8 the final time before my doctor stopped prescribing them to me. I was devastated when he told me I could no longer get them. I mean, I respected that, and I wasn’t surprised at all…but I felt so out of control that I went into a rage on the inside. I was completely addicted to ambien. Not so much physically–there was that, but the side effects mostly wore off a few days later. Psychologically I was a slave. I couldn’t go a night without them because I feared I wouldn’t sleep and I’d stay up and get more and more anxious and irritated until I started bashing my head against the wall. I also feared not having control. Of course there are other things to overdose on, but I felt so comfortable with the ambien, it would have been a cinch. It was my little friend. It represented power and comfort to me. I have taken other things for sleep, and none of them have held that same meaning for me. They don’t matter to me like the ambien did. And even worse, soon after that, I found myself thinking about how I could forge a prescription. I stopped myself before going through with that, luckily, or I’d probably be in jail right now. I know someone who was so desperate for pain pills, she wrote her own prescriptions and went to prison for half a decade. Her example made me stop before I’d attempted anything, but the fact that I even entertained the thought scared the crap out of me.
I realize that this is a true addiction, and that rather than me controlling the ambien, it was controlling me. It was a gateway down a very slippery slope, one so steep I shouldn’t have been able to climb out on my own. I don’t know how I didn’t end up with a tube down my throat in a hospital. Maybe that would have been better for me–if that had happened at the very beginning. The thing is, I was never satisfied with 4 pills once I had safely taken 4 pills. The next time it would have to be 5. Everyone’s body is different. I don’t know how many it would have taken to kill me, but I do know, with absolute certainty, that if I had not stopped taking them, I would be dead right now. And thank God I am not. I have gone through a lot of hell since I stopped taking the ambien. Some days I think why why why, didn’t I finish the job when I had the means? But that feeling is much more brief than it used to be. My mind is quickly flooded with relief that I am still alive and hope that things will continue to get better. I don’t know the future, but I trust that there is a purpose to the pain I experience, a purpose that will give me strength and satisfaction. A purpose that in the end will make me happy and meet my needs that have gone unmet and relieve my suffering. The pain has given depth to my soul. My good days are better because that depth makes it possible to feel more happiness, too.
If I was not alive, if I had continued on that crazy-stubborn path, I would never know that happiness. So every time I lapse into wishing that I could take a pill, I remind myself that this is what I truly want, to know what it’s like to live, to walk down this path. Some part of me knows that I will never regret it.
Oh, and I forgot to add–now that I am off of ambien and all sleeping aids, I sleep more soundly than ever. I had no idea this was possible. The thing is, when I was forced to find a way to relax myself, I did. I never could relax myself before. I have PTSD and nightmares and OCD and everything else that makes it hard to sleep. But when I realized it had to be me because I couldn’t take anything for sleep anymore, I found it was possible. It took a few weeks, and I had a crazy elaborate routine for it that included a bath, silk pajamas, no movies or food before bed, darken the room as much as possible, turn on the air filter and the humidifier, and put on a sleep cd. Now, as long as I give it half a try, I can skip most or all of that and just lie down and fall asleep, because I’m not worried about not being able to anymore. It is SO freeing. No addiction, no side effects, I’M in control.
well last night i went to sleep after taking 30mg and today i wake up and notice im missing 120mg and a bunch of my neurontin. that cant be healthy
I started taking Ambien in November of 2008. I was having severe depression and went to see a doctor about it. He gave me an Rx for 75 mg of Effexor and 10 mg of Ambien.
I absolutely LOVED the great sleep and euphoric feeling that I had when I took the ambien.
My Mother was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in November of 2010. The day that she had exploritory surgery to find out what was wrong with her, my Father had a heart attack and had to have a triple bypass. So at 35 years old, I had both of my folks in the hospital on the 12th and 7th floors. They were there for about a month and honestly, if I had not been on the Effexor and Ambien, I don’t know how I would have made it through that horrible time.
We lost my Mother in January of 2010. She was only 56.
I stared taking ambien during the day to sort of numb my pain after she died. It was almost like I did not grieve properly during the first year because I numbed myself.
I have done some really crazy things while taking this drug. Made online purchases that I did not know about until the next morning. Said crazy things to my husband and children. Used my car to run over hay bales in a field and tearing my muffler off my car. Uggh! It is horrible. It also makes me feel very suicidal.
I have been purchasing the pills through an online pharmacy as my doctor will not give me more than 10 days worth at a time ( my request).
I received 60 pills, two weeks ago and I only have 7 left. I need some serious help. When I don’t take them I have terrible nightmares.
I hate the horrible liar and sad person that I have become.
Sorry, My Mother was diagnosed in November 2009 and we lost her in January 2010.
I have been prescibed Zolpidem. I have had a few episods where I seem to be awake but dreaming….I just recently was parading around the room telling my Wife I was Cassanova….yes it is funny, but the scary thing is is that I have NO recollection of these events. NONE. Each time it happens I can’t remember any of it. The last thing I remember is taking the pill and laying down to sleep. I always take it right as I am putting my head on the pillow to shut my eyes. I fall asleep then, apparently, wake back up sometimes and appear as if I am fine. Each time it happens my Wife asks “what did you take last night because…..”. I take an array of pills do to a dibilitating accident, but she now knows Exactly what I have taken. I struggle with concern that I am NOT in control. This bothers me, but Not sleeping due to pain gets to the point I feel I have to take SOMETHING….a rock and a hard place.
im 23 year old and from my early child hood i have had more trouble sleeping than any one i have met and im on my 5th medication for sleep which is ambient and it wont work and im take one after another to sleep and its start to and than stops i keep wanting to take the whole thing and get to sleep this is day 4 of no sleep while im typeing this i am hallucinating and dizzy i just to sleep next to my with are kids and i can not do
sorry no punctuation
im 23 year old and from my early child hood i have had more trouble sleeping than any one i have met and im on my 5th medication for sleep which is ambient and it wont work and im take one after another to sleep and its start to and than stops i keep wanting to take the whole thing and get to sleep this is day 4 of no sleep while im typeing this i am hallucinating and dizzy i just to sleep next to my with are kids and i can not do
sorry no punctuation
Lunesta is a good alternative to Ambien. It is suppose to have less side effects, but it does have a bad taste. It takes a little longer than Ambien to kick in, but puts you to sleep longer. However, since it is not generic is a very expensive. You can pay up to $80 for 30 Lunestas,and that is even with insurance!!!!!
First I would like to express my sincere condolences to anyone on this site who has lost a family member. Many of these postings are very touching. That being said, the common thread I see is people NOT taking this medicine as directed and then having severe side effects. If you are taking something that causes side effects, you must inform your doctor right away. If you do not tell your doctor you are having a problem, how could he possibly know? You have to be honest about what you are feeling. It’s 2011, not 1955. People don’t get locked up in mental institutions for telling their doctor they are sad or depressed.
I do not believe that any person can take Ambien and undergo a complete personality change, unless they already have the addict personality. If your family member wasn’t hooked on Ambien, they would be hooked on something else. Several of my close family members have struggled with addiction. It’s gut wrenching when someone you love doesn’t care if they live or die. But you cannot blame someone else (pharmaceutical company) for it.
I suffer from insomnia that was brought on by a schedule change at my job. Prior to that, I never had a problem falling asleep. I took Xanax for about 2 years but found that it wasn’t keeping me asleep. My doctor then prescribed Ambien. He warned me about devoting at least 8 hours to this medicine. Meaning, make sure you take it and are in bed by 10pm if you need to get up at 6am. When I had my prescription filled at the pharmacy, I was again warned by the pharmacist that I needed to devote a full 8 hours to sleeping. My doctor prescribed this medicine for me because he knows I am not going to abuse it. Ambien has helped me get a restful night of sleep with zero side effects.
On February 24, 2011 my dad committed suicide. For the past year he had been acting completly out of character. A man who loved life and being outdoors no longer wanted to do anything but sit at his computer and a man who was so incredibly smart began saying irrational things. Then he left my mother after 37 years of marriage, there was no reason for it, once again I knew something was wrong, but I wanted to give it time…. then on their 38th anniversay he went into their empty house and shot himself leaving two daughters, three granddaughters and his wife. It wasn’t until we were going through his things and medical records that we seen he had been taking ambien and phentramine (diet pill) for over a year, together. It wasn’t until my mother sat and read the ambien side effects a few days ago that we put his odd behavior and these side effects together: abnormal thinking; behavior changes;hallucinations; memory problems (eg, memory loss); mental or mood changes (eg, aggression, agitation, anxiety); new or worsening depression; suicidal thoughts or ACTIONS!!!
We lost a husband, father and Papa to this drug… if we had known earlier and educated ourselves on these medications instead of thinking it was “safe” because a dr and pharmasist gave it to us, I know I would still have my dad.
I have been taking ambien for over 5 years now,I know I need to get off of it but, am scared because I suffer from insomnia so bad and my situation has got worst in the past 2 years I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer, my sister had part of her intestines removed because of cancer and my 14 year old niece is taking chemo. because of brain cancer not to mention I lost my dog to cancer(Ihad him for nearly 14 years) and we are in the process of filing bankruptcy, I feel like I am slowly goinmg down a dark tunnel and cant find my way out, it has even got to the point that my husband has to hide my ambien because he is afraid I will take more tablets in the night, I have recently started drinking a little with it, which I know is not good but, I think If I drink a little with the medicine I will at least get a few hrs. of sleep.I am so afraid that one day I will take too much of them both.I find my memory has gotten so bad and when I am on the medicine I sometimes say stuff on FB and dont remember saying it or say stuff that doesnt make no sense and I dont remember saying the things.I really need help, I am afraid if I go off of it I will never sleep.please I need some suggestions, I am 41 ears old but fell like I am about 60.
go to a doctor and tell them your symptoms. ambien isn’t the only sleeping pill out there, so there is still hope. and it’s good that your husband hides the ambien at night – chances are that you probably would take more, or at least i think you would – this is obviously something you’re concerned with, and sense it’s on your mind before you go to bed, and maybe a lot in the day, it might actually happen when you hit the blackout stages of ambien.
and i’m sorry for all the stuff that has happened to you. one of those things you listed is awful for anyone to go through, and you have multiple. i really hope everything works out for you. =/
Hi, I’m sort of new to this forum. My name is Melanie and I’ve been taking 10 mg. of Ambien for about two years now. I genuinely have insomnia so my prescription is legitimate. At first I would take my Ambien immediately before bed time, as directed on the bottle and by my doctor. However, for the past year and a half I have begun to take my Ambien about an hour before bed time to experience a bit of a “high.” Lately, I’ve also been getting drunk as well as this enhances the effect of the “Ambien high.” To top it all off, I’ve had major depressive disorder for seven (yes, you read that correctly) years now. I feel absolutely disgusted with myself. I am an intelligent woman with no past history of any type of addiction or drug abuse, yet I feel that the Ambien helps me deal with the monotony of my life. It gives me a little “boost” at the end of the day. Can anyone relate? Anyone have any experience getting over this? Does anyone know if it is dangerous to combine the drug with alcohol?
i definitely wouldn’t drink with ambien. just reading some of the horror stories are enough to get me to drop ambien. i am literally quitting tonight lol. but yes, i’m actually pretty much exactly like you. i have/had depression for 5-6 years and i am clinically an insomniac and my ambien prescription is legit. i too take it to feel the ‘high’ that it gives you. i never tried it with alcohol because alcohol is a depressant and i always get tired so i’ve never needed the ambien. that was before i started taking it to get the euphoric feeling, so i don’t have any first hand experience with alcohol+zolipidem, and i don’t want to find out what would happen.
but yeah, basically we take ambien the same way for the same reasons, and i would drop the ambien when drinking.
When you start taking Ambien, it was harmless enough. All you wanted was a good night’s sleep. But a couple of months later, you’re not only still using the prescription, but it takes more and more of the drug to get you to sleep. You’re frequently mixing Ambien with alcohol, and you’ve even considered other means of ingestion to intensify its effect. Or perhaps you’re one of the many recreational Ambien users who use the drug for the euphoric high you feel when fighting its sedative effects. Ambien abuse has many causes but also many solutions. Turning to an Ambien addiction treatment website for answers or talking with family or friends for support is a step in the process of recovery.
Three years ago, my doctor prescribed Ambien to help me sleep after I suffered through a short bout of wheezing from a viral infection. For the first two-three days, it was great. Then, I stopped, suffered one day of insomnia, then was able to go to sleep on my own. The trouble was, I took it up again after a week or so, along with being on Prednisone (2nd round to really kick my allergies/asthma/sinus infection) and antibiotics. When I stopped, I suffered from insomnia again, but also I noticed that every time I tried to fall asleep, my throat would rise up and convulse or spasm, shut down, waking me up in an adrenaline-fueled panic. I’d keep trying and keep getting the throat closing up thing. Sometimes, I’d get to sleep and only get seven or six hours before my throat would close up, waking me. If I had to pee in the middle of the night, I couldn’t go back to sleep because my throat would close up as I fell back asleep, and keep doing it.
Doctors thought it was because of sleep apnea (had the sleep study, got the CPAP) and GERD. But I’ve been on my CPAP for three years now, with the throat spasm anxiety thing STILL around. I used to only have a few days of it, most of them I could ignore and go back to sleep. But lately, since a month ago, the throat spasms would keep coming back, especially when I tried to go back to sleep and it was early morning. Every now and then, they’d prevent me from even going to sleep at night.
I’ve never had this problem EVER in my life before. I’ve had anxiety, I know what that feels like, but I’d never have it get out of my control like this in the form of throat spasms. I shouldn’t be snoring or get short of breath, gasp for air because my throat shut down–on a working CPAP machine, yet that’s what happens.
I don’t know if it’s Ambien. But it happened after Ambien. I can’t think of any other culprits, other than maybe Prednisone and the antibiotics. Or maybe them in combination. Nobody can help me. Nobody seems to get that this is a serious problem for me and chalks it off to just anxiety.
I’ve been on Ambien for a little less than a year, and thanks to this site, I’m about 99% sure I’m going to quit before something serious happens. It sucks because it’s a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ scenario. I don’t do that well in school because i am tired all the time – i don’t get much sleep (i have insomnia). This affects my motivation day to day, as well as the actual work/homework itself. If i take the Ambien, I get sleep, but there’s a high risk that I will do stupid shit – stories that begin similar to mine, but with potentially catastrophic results.
the ambien is also somewhat alluring because it gives you a drunken feeling. it’s the same thing as drinking a bunch of alcohol wrapped up in to one pill. it’s almost like a game, seeing if i can stay awake enough to feel the effects, but not long enough to get to the blackout stage. i thought it was harmless fun, but these stories are eerily similar to mine, and then get worse. i’m definitely stopping tonight. examples of things that happen when i’m on it:
- the first time that i ever knew about the blackouts was when my friend came over. usually he brings his computer and we play video games well into the night. i’m not sure what he was playing, but i was playing Garry’s mod which is basically a game that lets you pose video game characters to set up scenes. i remember finishing up a picture, noticing that the ambien was taking effect, and went upstairs to go to sleep at 2 am. the next day i was looking at the picture, and noticed another picture. i was talking to my friend about it, and he said we were up until 6 am, and the entire time i was working on that picture (not the one i remember). i called bs on that – i genuinely thought he was messing with me. i went back and checked the timestamp for when the picture was saved and it said 6 am. the closer i looked at it, the more familiar it became. then it hit me – i had seen that picture in a dream… only it wasn’t a dream, it really happened. it felt exactly like thinking back on a dream felt, but it felt like it was days ago. he said i spent hours just sitting there clicking. he would talk to me, but i wouldn’t make much sense. that was the first clue about this stuff.
- i’ll sit and stare at things. i’m on my computer a lot, but i actually do things. on ambien, though, i’ll just stare with a blank expression on my face and slowly click the mouse in almost a rhythmic pattern. i will also bite my lip a lot. not hard, but enough to be annoying to watch.
- apparently i like to take pictures of myself a lot on ambien. i’ll go out with my camera during the day (when i’m not on ambien) and shoot or film stuff. when i get back and look at the memory card, sometimes there will be pictures that look like they were taken by a 5 year old. pictures of my eye, of my hands, and of other really zoomed in parts like my shoulder or forehead. i have no recollection of doing stuff i like that. literally none.
- i would hallucinate. i would see things in the corner of my eye, but they’d be gone when i looked. i’d hear noises in other noises. like distant voices inside the white noise of a fan. it was short though, not like constant.
i also set up my camera to start filming as soon as i felt the effects – i was experimenting with the ambien to see what it does after i black out. i saw myself just sitting there. that’s how i noticed the lip thing and the clicking thing. i would also try to document it by typing what it felt like. it’s hilarious, creepy, and interesting all at the same time. when i was writing it, i remember it feeling like the most important thing ever, and that everyone should know… but because i was on ambien, not much of it made sense. this one may seem fairly coherent, but that’s because i tried so hard to make it coherent – i typed slowly and edited it all while on ambien, but it still came out weird. here’s how i described the effects:
—————
“first, eyesight gets slightly worsened (blurred). not enough to become alarming.
second, using your lungs feels way more burdened and heavy
thirdly, you move in a daze. your reaction times slow, and the level of which you care about things decreases
fourthly, eye sight begins to worsen – harder to focus (micro/macro)
fifthly, a calming feeling all of a sudden hits and everything doesn’t matter – the lack of motor controls, the lack of focusing, it doesn’t matter — you just want to sit and stare or sit and sleep.
sixth, hallucinations appear. slowly floating keys on keyboards, the surface of the table, medicine bottles, etc. you also begin to notice things in the corner of your eye that are not really there
seventh, not necessarily one of the last symptoms, but you feel warm and safe. nothing can or would hurt you, or at least you know for a fact that no one will break into the room and murder you, and knowing that makes everything else infinately less important – anything beyond the walls of this room is a mystery, but we don’t care. the only threat in the entire planet would be someone coming through the door or through the window. i’m sure no one will. i feel 100% safe in my room.”
—
and another one from a different night:
“feels as though some of your thoughts are real, but others have taken and given bakck
– just noticed the way it sounds, i think i wasa trying to say was that they are your ideas, but they are used from other sources. example, a slow, queit, angel” (keep in mind that the revision happened while under the influence of ambien, still)
—
1. everything gets bright
2. hear voices from random objects (ie – fan blowing)
3. the noise gets louder
4. the shadows. you look somewhere, but they’re already gone, but you feel their presense
5. eyesight degrades at immeasureable speeds – an ‘all at once’ effect
6. past memories start to play in, working with the already loud room
7. you always get the feeling that there are friends near you, even in an open house.
I have been taking ambien for a year now. I don’t take it every night, but if ive had a few sleepless nights, I’ll take one the folowing evening. I take it, I get in bed, and I SLEEP! I’m a very busy mother and it enables me to get enough sleep that I wake up refreshed enough to deal with diapers, lunches, homework, and housework…is it something people should take every single night , no. But for a great majority that use this for it’s purpose and use it responsibly, it a godsend. Know your body… Know that if you did funny or dangerous things after trying it (((((hello ))))) don’t use it again!! It’s called Responsibility!!!!!
My life hasn’t been the easiest ore past been the worst either. Over the pat year and a half my husbands first born son has been living with us. I have been trying to uphold the decision that my husband has been setting for. I also have been trying to help with it comes in regards to his child, who by the way is extraordinary but lazy and 14 to boot. I have turned into being the consistent bitch in the house. All this may sound like excuses ( well at least that is what I keep getting from my husband). but they are really just explanations. Neither here nor there really. Something keep drawing me to this man but I am tired of fighting over his son and our fundamental beliefs on how to raise his boy. I done trying. Now my question is how many Zolpiden(aka Ambien) can I take to make me not wake up in the morning. Does anyone know??
I have been taking Ambien for about 3 years now, as prescribed by my doctor. I take it every night and this is the only way I am able to sleep. I also have bipolar, which I also take medication for. I struggle with having to take Ambien every night because I don’t like being reliant upon something just to sleep. My doctor reassures me that I need it for sleep (which I do) and that I am not abusing it. I have NOT taken it a few times and on those nights, I have not slept. That is what scares me. But what can I do? I don’t feel like I’m abusing it, but I do feel dependent on it. Just thought I’d share that I take it, am “high functioning” (or whatever the professionals call it) and I lead a totally normal life.
I know that many people have had bad experiences from taking it and I really do feel for them. I have had bad and adverse responses to medication and I know what a terrible feeling it is.
Ambien is dangerous, PLEASE don’t kid yourself about handling it. I thought I could – until I found myself thinking about suicide, and combined with depression, memory loss, blackouts etc, I have been off it cold turkey 5 days now. I am not getting much sleep but have balanced this with a couple of tricks that are really helping: I have had absolutely NO coffee (although it’s really tempting cause you haven’t slept enough), NO alcohol, and I am starting every day with a minimum 10 minutes light walking ( outdoors works best but today I just put on some music & danced around for 10 mins. That Ambien was making me sad, insecure & a prescription junkie. Just knowing I am freeing myself is getting me through. Yeah it felt great to know without doubt I was gonna sleep with a 10 mg (3 yrs), but getting off is my motivation. Hope these tips help someone. It breaks my heart to read these posts & see the pain & destruction this drug has caused. Should be outlawed but I know it feels shameful to come out about this, we probably got here in the first place being type A people who do so much we couldn’t rest our minds at night. Really hope this helps someone out there, and sending support to all.
Something I forgot to add was that I’ve been using 3mg good quality melatonin (I confess, also used some tylenol pm a few nights), which doesn’t do that much but I figure it’s helping a little. But a really good help has been putting on headphones to sleep with to listen to talk podcasts – could be anything with the human voice, but avoid commercials, music, or anything too animated or stimulating. I guess you could also try an audiobook. This other dialog shuts out the one on your head keeping you up & restless. I find myself eventually dozing, even though I easily wake up if it goes off, but when I leave it on it really helps. Just keep it low so you don’t hurt your hearing.
NEVER drink alcohol with Ambien. I have been taking 10mg Ambien because the doctor says “it’s not addicting.” I used to take Xanax for sleeplessness a couple times a month and never had any problems with it. The past year and a half has been awful – death in the family, moving out of state, anxiety over finding a job, etc. So my insomnia got worse. I was desperate to sleep so I went to a doctor in my new city. She pretty much pushed Ambien on me saying it’s “safer” than Xanax.
I don’t do anything weird on Ambien but I did a couple of times when I drank wine. The first time I had about 3 glasses over a long evening with friends. It was very late and didn’t think anything would happen because I have friends who drink and take Ambien all the time. So I took one and went to bed. I woke up really late the next day – almost noon, feeling like someone scooped out part of my brain. I didn’t understand why I felt so bad. I ate the night before and while I might drink 3 glasses, I sip it slowly. It takes me an hour or two to finish a glass. I don’t chug wine. Then I noticed that some time during the night I had drank another entire bottle of wine, ate a bunch of Fritos, went into the garage and got sodas and drank them, then I noticed my camera was out. Apparently I took pictures of my bedroom. I didn’t remember any of it.
One other time I thought, well, maybe just a glass and a half won’t hurt. NOPE. It wasn’t as bad as my first episode but I woke up and saw what was left of the bottle of wine next to my bed. I thought OH NO! But luckily, I must have gotten it out of the fridge but I didn’t drink any of it. I also found a sticky note to remind myself of some incoherent crap. I couldn’t make sense of what I wrote. I don’t remember anything of that night either.
I will never drink even a sip of alcohol and touch Ambien. I am going to start weaning off of it today. These stories really scare me. I am also going to try to get off Ambien because it is no longer working for me. I get 3-4 hours of sleep. I don’t want to up the dose so I guess it’s time to tough it out.
8 years ago I learned of Ambien from a boyfriend. He was a plastic surgeon and took Ambien (self-prescribed). I asked him for some. He said to take it every other day. I used to break them in half. I didn’t take them often at all back then. Loved the way it put me to sleep. Then when I was going through relationship issues (different bf) three years ago, I would take the every now again. My bf alternated btwn TylenolPM and AdvilPM and a sleep aid by Kirkland (Costco’s brand). Then I eventually alternated between those three and Ambien. When life got really stressful Iused to create a cocktail. It wasn’t unusual that I would sleep all day. Sometimes I’d sleep all weekend just to check out of the emotional pain. I was amazed at how my GP would keep filling my Rx month after month. Then I found a way to get another Rx, so I was on 60 pills a month. I would have memory loss, weight loss, self-esteem loss, moodiness, isolation/depression…it kept getting worse and so did my ability to manage the relationships in my life. Then one day a girlfriend came along and said I needed to get off them, that it would take several days of sleepless nights, but my body would eventually sleep on its own. That discussion happened over a year ago. I’d still reach for sleep meds when things got rough. I was too weak to stop. Then one day at the end of July, I made a decision to go visit that friend out of state. I would use August 1st as my start date. I can say today that I’ve been off Ambien for over 60 days, and I am just now feeling normal. My dreams are back. My appetite is ravenous. I feel more in control. Yes, every now again I want to pop that little pill, but those fantasies are now few and far between. Thank God for my friend. She saved my life.
I started taking Ambien as prescribed but it gave me massive headaches so I stopped. I then did a little research and found out you could insufflate it so I started doing that because I did get really good sleep on it for once in my life. That eliminated the headaches. Then I started using 2 pills a night instead of 1. Then I would wake up and realize 3-4 were gone and I had no recollection of it. Food was cooked and half eaten. Groceries were in the house and I had no recollection of even going to the store. Texts were made that I’d look at the next day and couldn’t believe I sent. Senseless things. I am finally back to using it as prescribed and hiding it from myself so that when I’m in a stupor, I can’t just grab another one. I can’t live like this anymore. I’m determined to wean off this garbage on my own. The benefits don’t outweigh the risks.
I’ve been taking Zolpidem Tartrate 10 mg tablets to sleep when my stress level increase so much I couldn’t sleep. It works very well for me but for only about 5-6 hours. My life has since declined and I find my self taking it more and more with alcohol. I have 2 degrees and 2 teaching certificates with 18 years of a flawless teaching record but no one will rehire me since moving my residence to another city. It’s been 6 years now and I am on unemployment and trying to make ends meet by pet sitting and substituting. I’m about to lose my house if the bank doesnt approve a loan modification and my family has totally deserted me. I have no other skills for any other job that would come close to supporting me and my house payments and bills. I feel the government has deserted me since I can get no help gettig back in the school system where I should be making 50 thousand a year. Most of my closest friends have also put judgement on me and convicted me when all I have been trying to do is my best with what I’ve got. I feel so alone and downright depressed. I’ve thought of many ways to end my life and am hoping an overdose on ambien and xanax will do the trick. Any other suggestions to ensure success in my suicide? I’m really desperate since I have no one to talk to anymore and I feel so all alone and totoally helpless. I’ve never been one to be happy to be alive anyway and already committed myself to a mental hospital back in 2004. I have no children and my last husband killed my dog in her sleep just out of jeaslously and rage. My life is spiraling down hill faster than I can handle. Any suggestions? Thanks
2 lung transplants, 1 on saint Patricks day 09, 2nd one was Sept.27. Was a total of 4 surgeries
I take 12 pills mornings
I take 15 pills evening
Iv almost died Atleast 10 times from rejection . I shake all the time, can’t sleep but always tired. Hopefully 5 ambien . SLEEP. Next time I will yell at you people who have it so fucking ….
Married, have 3 kids and a grandbaby.
I am caught. I love my family so much, and I’m so terrified of leaving then. Witch will happen. I have to go month by month.40 next month
i love ambien
ambien has helped me stay alive
without it i would never have been able to sleep
my life has been like that of a zombie.
thank you ambien.
i’m suprised there are only negative comments here but
all my friends that have taken ambien have also had their thanks.
I’ve been taking ambien nightly for about 2 years since I started traveling to third-world countries for missions. I’ve had shoulder surgery since then and ambien helps me fall asleep so I don’t have to take any pain medicine. I take 10 mg; sometimes I break it in half to see if that will do the trick. I fall asleep within 60 minutes and sleep at least 4 hours straight. Only once in a while I have a headache, but don’t know if it has anything to do with ambien. Overall, it has been a fantastic medication for me. I can even wake up to my alarm or phone during those 4 hours of sleep with full memory and alertness although taking advantage of the 4-5 hour sleep is preferred, of course!
Anguilla is like a dream.
If you never been to Anguilla, it is time to make that change.
Anguilla is a lot more then beaches and hotels and villas.
I love Anguilla.
I can not wait to get back to Anguilla.
I wish I cound stay in Anguilla all year.
Anguilla is a great place to vist and the worst place to leave.
Why can I not find more info on Anguilla.
I need a trip to Anguilla.
I currently take 10mg of ambien to help me get a full night sleep. I have major side effects, short term memory loss, lack of sleep, night sweats, nightmares, dry mouth, Sensation of Spinning, Confused, Depression, Hallucination and eating disoder. Please make sure you understand signs of serious side effects for the medications you’re taking.
I have been taking Ambien for the last 5 years with no negative side effects. Recently I went out of town and had to get my perscription filled at a pharmarcy that was out of state. They filled my perscription with a generic called Zolpidem Tartrate. I thought they had made a mistake and called my doctor. He said that it was a generic for Ambien and that I would likely be fine taking it. I was hesitant as it looked VERY different. However, after a few days of sleep deprevation, I went ahead and took the drug one evening. I only took one dose. The next thing that I remember is being handcuffed and thrown in the back of a police car. I have absolutely no recollection from the time I took the drug until I was being taken to jail. Apparetnly I experienced one of the very “rare” side effect of amnesia and sleep driving. I hit another car and was involved in a head on collision. Fortunatly the other person was not hurt and I only had a mild concussion. Regardless, I was arrested and spent the night in jail and charged with a DWI. I had not been drinking. I went to court and won my criminal case and now I am fighting the administrative DOR case where I could still lose my license. I have paid over 15k in lawyer fees and fines. If I lose the administrative case then they will take my license for 2 years. I will lose my job as I am in outside sales and have to rent cars on a regular basis. I did more research on the generic drug Zolpidem Tartrate and discovered it has only recently been approved by the FDA. I filed complaints with both the FDA and the drug company. I am now considering a lawsuit against the drug company to get my 15k back and will also ask for more if I lose my license as I will lose my job. It has been a horific experience. I wont even take regualar Ambien anymore. My doctor has me on a very mild sleep medication now to ensure nothing like this happens again.
I was researching how to overdose on ambien myself and came across everybody’s story. WHich all seemed similar to my own. I have been taking ambien for one week and startign Friday all I have been doing is crying and thinking how I want to just leave this world. I am a social worker who has been needing a new job for over a year now becuase of the stress and bills piling up due to the scant money I get paid. I am a college graduate and feel I shoudl have more with my life. I have family who I know love and care but it all seems pointless from my frame of reference. I have to agree with people. Ambien is a very bad drug. My dad has been taking it for years and that worries me very much. He must be going through the same thing or maybe it has surpassed but not sure. I wanted to reach out to everybody for you and myself. I think I need a support network and my problems have brought me here.
My Uncle came home from a long trip. He went to sleep that night perfectly happy, and just loving life. The next day when he woke up he was acting very strange, he took his gun out to the local woods. After being searched for about 5 hours someone found him. The person called out to him, and my uncle took his own life. He was no where near suicide the day before, when he took his Ambien he completely changed, and started to do weird things and became depressed. The family of mine is looking into a lawsuit. Stay away from Ambien, it will only cause devastation. I have felt the effects of it, and so will you.. It’s sad that all of these people committed suicide because of this pill. Please do yourselves and your family a favor, stay away from this pill!
16. My dad abused ambien and other sleeping pills for 3 years. Some scary stuff happened. I would never have friends over because i was afraid of the way he would go crazy. I would have to clean up his puke and call the ambulance. This was all 6th to 9th grade. Then the divorce happened, mom cheated on dad. My dad/ my best friend went off the deep end. He started drinking again and with pills. He was no longer himself. My parents separated then my dad tried to commit suicide. My mom was also an emotional wreck and i was just alone. My dad went to a rehab facility in California(where i live). Then after being there for 1 week he said he is going to florida for the best rehab available for 6 weeks. He promised me he would never leave me and would come back. 6 weeks turned into 3 moths,then a year, then goodbye forever. Depression for me has gotten to be to much ive started to abuse alcohol and have thought about trying to OD. Everything in my life disappeared so quickly. My dad was the best friend u could imagine we were inseparable. My mom has been much different also, she’s told me she hates me before and said im a waste of her time and a disappointment. This will probably never be read there has not been much action on this site in the last year. I love u dad and miss u
Hello! I am a recovering Ambien addict. It almost sounds silly to me… I feel as if how can a person be addicted to ambien? But, I have learned over the past few months that others have also suffered the same fate that I had and realized that I wasn’t alone, which was both terrifying and a relief.
Anyhow, my addiction started little over a year ago around this time when I was first introduced to ambien. Like most, I had been an insomniac for years and I wanted some relief! I knew my mother had some in the cabinet, she had been prescribed to use them for a long while and has done just fine on them. She was, however, adamant that I don’t take them from her because she needed them as she was a bad insomniac herself. I figured she wouldn’t notice if just one was gone since she never took them on the weekends. So, I took it. About thirty minutes in, there was no fatigue, but there was this… wave of utter… euphoria, I guess? And it was almost like I was having a mini acid trip. I recall talking to my girlfriend on the phone and telling her that I was on a pirate ship and these pirates were walking by me asking me to plunder with them, but I told them I couldn’t. It seemed very, VERY real to me at the time. A few weeks passed and I realized I had liked that feeling a lot and that I wanted to experience it again. So, I took another.
This continued on and off through out January until my mom approached me and told me to take her xanax if I needed to sleep. Having already dabbled in xanax during the time I started stealing her ambien, I knew it wasn’t going to affect me in the way she had hoped, but I took it as an open invitation to have as much as I liked. Still, I was careful, I didn’t really use it as much as I wanted to.
Skip to about February. I had started a highly stressful job and was trying to balance that, a social life, and school. I was beginning to have trouble sleeping again, so much so that I could go two days without it and be just fine. Finally, I took it upon myself to go to my doctor and tell him of my troubles. He prescribed me Ambien and it was an utter downward spiral from them. The first few weeks were fine, I took them as prescribed, I slept like a baby, school was good.
But then… I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t sleep, no matter how much I took. So, I began taking a xanax on the side and if in two hours I wasn’t asleep, I took another ambien. This led to a lot of times where I would be up after three weeks of having it and have to wait for a week before it could get refilled. It was utter hellish. I couldn’t sleep, all I could think was about when I got the ambien, when I could sleep again and not feel anything. Not care. I liked that when I took the ambien I felt more open and more lively, as compared to when I was sober. When I was sober I felt like I was boring and that no one was at all interested in me. I had nothing to talk about. Little did I know this was my depression that had been setting in. I hadn’t realized the signs and maybe if I had I would have stopped taking the ambien.
Finally, it just came to the point where I felt void of emotion, where I felt numb. I dropped out of school, I slept the day away, and at night, when I was awake, I couldn’t wait to take the ambien so I could sleep again. From April through August feels like an utter… grey, foggy area. I can’t remember nearly anything that had went on through those few months except that I was growing more numb, more empty, and that i just wanted something to relieve that feeling. I was abusing xanax, ambien, and darvocet. I occasionally smoked weed with my friends, I got drunk when I could. But the weed, the alcohol, it couldn’t compare to the chemical high I got from the pills. I wanted more, I need more. I began asking a close friend if there would be any way I could buy xanax or darvocet on the street and, luckily!, he said he had no idea.
I was spiraling into this empty abyss and I had no idea how to help myself, how to get out. I tried dropping hints to my mother, but she never understood and that is my fault, I realize. I should have been more open and more trusting, but it was embarrassing realizing that I was a pill addict. I was so ashamed of my behavior. I didn’t want anyone to know.
I remember there was a time where I could not feel anything. Anything at all. Not when I bumped into something or anything of that nature. As a former and recovering self harmer, there was a night where, feeling so hopeless and empty, I began cutting on my leg while on ambien. I had felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it frightened me. I didn’t do it again, thankfully.
I went to the doctor to ask for some antidepressants, hoping this would help. And it did, for the first month, but because my insurance wouldn’t cover the kind I had taken, my doctor completely took me off that one and switched me to another without trying to ween me off. That’s when things got bad. I couldn’t sleep at all, I was irritable and moody… I was even more numb than before.
Finally, I had hit bottom on one night in… august, I believe. I cannot remember the date, but I have the hospital bracelet saved in a box somewhere. Anyhow, my prescription had been filled for more than a week and I had taken two at the beginning of the night. Two hours later, I took two more and I was on the phone with my girlfriend (now ex) and chatting online with a close friend of mine. After the last two, everything became blurry. I remember hearing a girl crying and I realized, later, it was my ex, who was so worried about me. All in all, I ended up taking about somewhere from 19-22 pills. But not all at once, just over an extended period of time. About four hours after I finally passed out, my girlfriend had called me to woke me up. She said that I was crying on the phone with her and I was hysterical and apologizing. She asked me to call my mother and I did.
I don’t remember what happened next, but my whole family had gathered at the house while we were waiting for my mother to come home from work. I remember nothing except my cousin, who was so quiet. Now that I look back on it, I feel really ashamed. I’m a very private person and to have my family /know/ that I was a pill addict and then for them to think I had been trying to kill myself when I hadn’t been…?
I cannot stress that enough. Suicide has never entered my mind. But, both my mother and my doctor insist that I had tried, despite my efforts to tell them otherwise.
I was taken to the hospital where I confessed everything to my mother. The doctors at the ER said that a high amount of darvocet had also appeared in my system. It seems that, at one point, I had taken four or five darvocet during that night. I was mortified. I remembered nothing.
The next day, my mother took me to the doctors. I hadn’t slept at all that night. I was crying a lot, and I hurt, and I was just… so very ashamed in myself. At how weak I had become and how I had let my entire family down. I remember my doctor asking me if I remembered the past week at all and I told him no. And it was the truth. I was starting to have memory problems, everything was just so vague. It was like walking through a grey fog. Anyhow, he completely stopped my ambien prescription and switched me back to my regular antidepressant, Pristiq. Our insurance company, after both my mother and my PCP had contacted them, okayed me using Pristiq. A very big blessing, for this antidepressant has helped me loads!
Quitting cold turkey was rough, but not as rough as I thought it would be. For the first two days afterwards, I felt high, which was embarrassing. The next couple of days were hellish. I was cold all the time, I suffered from extreme nightmares (i usually never have them!), my sleeping pattern was all off. The terrible part was I had signed up to go back to school for the fall semester, but this all happened a week before school started! The first day I went back, I was still going through withdrawal symptoms. I couldn’t even go the full day. I ended up having a full blow panic attack. I sat in my car, hunched over and sobbing to myself, feeling useless and stupid for being so worried over having to face people. I had become so antisocial and awkward in the year that I had started ambien…!
I had texted a few old friends right before I went to bed the night of my overdose. One of them happened to me an old, super close friend of mine, who texted me back the day of. I told her I had an overdose and it’d be fine.
Finally, after a week, I had the balls to text her back and tell her all that had happened. We had our problems in the past which led to us no longer being friends, but I had told her that I missed her so much and we apologized and now we are closer than ever! A very small blessing. She is one of my few sober friends who knows how to handle things, which is exactly what I needed.
Two months later, I look back and feel as if a year has passed since my accident. While I am still having emotional problems, they are not as severe as they were while on pills. I am happy to say that I am content with my life and that, while I still do miss the xanax and the ambien, I know I will never touch them again. I am so lucky to have such supportive friends and family in my life. I felt like I hadn’t had that but my overdose made me realize how wrong I was.
My overdose woke me up to reality.
So, while people may say that ambien is not addictive, do not listen! It can be for some people and be very cautious if you ever choose to try it out! I wish everyone the best of luck with their endeavors, especially if you are an addict or a recovering addict like I am. Just know, you are never, ever alone.
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.
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? :/
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 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 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 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 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.
I have been taking ambien 10mg for over a year. Tonight was the first time I can remember not taking it and I did fall asleep ok.. But woke up 4 hours later sweating and unable to go back to sleep.
I don’t have suicidel thoughts…
I don’t have night terrors…
I have some anxiety, but was a pre existing condition…
I have never increased or doubled my dose. I am hoping I can go to 5mg for a couple weeks then stop cold turkey.
Please change my name above to Martin and not my Emil address
After reading all of these horror stories I think that it is pertinent to talk about my experiences with Ambien over the past few years. I really think that the drugs effects are strongly dependent on a patients lifestyle, mood and any other prescriptions or habits.
The first time I was put on ambien, I was also taking Klonapin and Seroquel. That ended poorly. I was very depressed and anxious and getting out of a seriously abusive relationship. Under those circumstances, I sometimes too ore than the prescribed about took it every night and experienced side effects ranging from vomiting and nausea to hallucinations, fighting with friends and memory loss. I never tried to drive or do anything especially weird in my sleep but would sometimes wake up in costumes and avant garde makeup with only vague memories of dressing up. However, after contracting swine flu I was running a high fever and ened u taking a half dozen ambien oer the course of the night, which the doctors say made me a lot sicker and unable to get medical attention until it was almost too late. I had to have my roommate call a ambulance when I woke up vomiting and running a 105 fever with a swollen heart. I stopped taking everything when I realized that the drugs were probably making my life worse and have been working hard on recovery for a few years.
Unfortunatly I have been an insomniac since I was 11. The last time I wen to the doctor about it was because I was starting a great new job and couldn’t afford to go in tired all the time. I was wary when he prescribed ambien but this time things have worked out much better. I am not taking any other drugs outside of supplements prescribed by my herbalist. I do yoga and exercise and eat obsessively well. I take 5 to 10 mg most nights and the only time I ever hallucinate or get any weird mental effects is if I dont take it for a few weeks and start back with 10 mg immediately.
This drug can be very very helpful. I am really happy with my life right now and feel like I couldn’t be doing as well without it. As I have had experiences both terrible and beneficial, I just wanted to outline how to take the drug to its maximum beneficial effects:
1. LAY DOWN after you take it. Dont stay up laying ont he computer talking on the phone or watching TV. It is supposed to help you sleep so in the words of Sammy J, go the f* to sleep!
2. Do not take it if you are drinking heavily or taking BZDS. Honestly from all of the stories that I hae read on here, it might not be okay to mix ambien with anything else!
3. Dont put the bottle by your bed. keep it somewhere away from where you sleep. MAybe even portion it out into daily pill bottles.
4. Make sure you hae at least 7 hou or so to sleep. You dont want to wake u in an ambien haze for work.
5. Dont take every night. MY doctor told me specifically to only take it when I felt like I needed it. I only take it on nights when I have to work in the morning.
6. If you are feeling deressed, go see someone. IT doesn’t have to be a professional. Everyone gets depressed sometimes. Talk to friends, call your sister, go to a site for other people experianceing the same problem and dont try to solve it with drugs. if you think its the pills call your doctor and discuss other solutions.
7. Dont take on a full stomach. Takes longer to digest i.e. longer to kick in and will stay in your system longer.
8. Take with plenty of water.
9. Give youself enough time to wake up in the AM. Oh, and set multiple alarms. A nice run or quick 10 minute cardio set will clear your head before you have to drive to work. Vitamin B12 helps me a lot too on those rough mornings.
10. Eat better.
These are just things that have helped me use this drug better this go round. I have struggled with depression before and it really can get better. Take time to wok on yourself. You really can fix your problems. After embracing the utter absurdity of existence and deconstructing first order principals I was taught defined meaning I feel better. Als not drinking to excess or doing street drugs.
Good luck. I know that you can get through it. each person has something to offer the world. Everyone matters to someone. We make the world around us. Now get some sleep and do something delightful when you get up!
My name is Rachel and this Christmas morning my life changed forever. My mother was a beautiful, smart, loving and amazing person. She had her doctorate and was As. Dean at Barnes Jewish College of Nurse here in St. Louis. From the outside she had it good for a divorced mother 2. But only me and my sister knew what happened behind closed doors. It was just me and mom who lived in our house. She started taking Ambien when I was around 14. That was the first time I knew she abused it, cause I found her passed out in the family room. Through the years the abuse got worse and worse, and she started mixing Ambien with Xanex and alcohol. My sister and I always tried to talk to her about it. That what she was doing was bad, that her youngest daughter shouldn’t be putting her own grown mother to bed every night, and that she was smarter than that too. But she never listened. I started just to view it as a joke after so long. My friends would come over and we could hear loud crashes upstairs, and I would just say “oh mom took her pill again.” And a few hours later we would find passed out in some weird position some where. She never went to bed once she took, like you should. She would start cleaning the house, would make dinner at 1 a.m, work out but worse of all take a bath. I started finding her passed out naked in tub in the past two years. I got to the point where I would just drain the tub and leave her there. So she could wake up and see how stupid she looked. I sat her down many times and told that there would be that ONE day that ONE night I wouldn’t come home and check on her, and she would drown in the tub. She would just brush it off, because she would never do that. One night I came home and my boyfriend and I found in the tub. The bathroom was a mess everything was spilled everywhere and me and my boyfriend had to get her out. Cause I was worried she would wake up and slip. When we told her the next morning she was horrified. And the pill popping, and drinking slowed down. Then I woke up Christmas morning 2011, and saw that nothing had changed. I went to bed early cause I had just gotten surgery. Soon I woke up to my moms’ dog barking at me, I got up and saw all the lights on, the t.v was on and the radio. She took her pill again I thought. Then I saw the lights on the bathroom, I walked in and saw her pill bottle out and a glass of wine. I saw her in the tub, her head was slumped down and her body was lifeless. When I went to her I saw no movement. I picked her head up out of the water. Her lips were dark blue and blood was coming from her nose. I stared slapping her checks yelling “MOM MOM WAKE UP!” In my head I knew she was dead. I drained the tub and ran to grab the phone to dial 911. I pulled her lifeless body flat in the tub and started CPR. But it was too late. The cops and Emts came in and they tried too, but they said she had been died for a while. I went numb, I just couldn’t believe all this happened. She took her damn Ambien and had a glass of wine and drowned in the bathtub on Christmas morning. I lost my only parent I had left that day, and my last view of her was seeing her lifeless body get carried out in a body bag. All of this could have prevented. But she had a secret addiction to Ambien, because it made her forget the all bad things that had happened. On her death certified it says Drowning: due to the consumption on Ambien and Alcohol. This little pill does so much more than help you sleep. It can ruin peoples life, and the people around them. That pill led to the death of my amazing mother. And my life will never be the same ever again! RIP MOM LOVE YOU!