Side effects of Ambien

[Boni]

Does anyone take Ambien and know of any serious side effects?

I have been taking 10 mg. for about a month and I think it is making me stupid (er).

Seriously, I can't remember things and it seems it's getting worse.

Good News: Ambien works great! I was in such a deep sleep the first night, my husband couldn't wake me and it scared him.

Bad news...I may be hooked.

I tried to go back to Melatonin and it didn't work anymore.

:help:

[Babs RN]

I take Ambien CR with no problems. I have been on it for 3 weeks.

Hugs,
Barb :grouphug:

[Katrina]

I only ever take regular Ambien. I also use many natural means to help me sleep...seems to work best to alternate between them for me. I can't tollerate the Valerian to well because my body is very sensitive to gas.
There are non prescriptions herbs that can helps you sleep….please talk to your doc before adding any herb or vitamin but since many of us struggle with sleeping having some remedies on hand can help. Herb list: catnip, Melontin, Valerian, Chamomile, Hops, Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Self help: warm milk, chamomile tea, Exercise regularly, but not within two hours of going to bed. Sleep in a well-ventilated room. A relaxful warm bath is helpful. Avoid things too stimulating close to bedtime. Sex is always helpful (but not if it increases your symptoms too much). Full body message really helps but in doing to yourself ears and forehead…facial area message is the most efficient. Self hypnosis can help. I enjoy trying to remember a peaceful dream I have had and focus on the picture as I breathe deeply and in rhythm in and out…

:grouphug:

[IcyAngel23]

Oh yeah I became really dumb on it. I would get up in the middle of the night and sleep drive and shop. I would wake up the next morning with weird purchases. I felt stupid all the time and once I took it at night I would becaome another person. My family called me Crash (not because I crashed anything) because I wouldn't remember anything after i took the pill. I'm off of it now. I was on it for 6 months. The ambien helped me sleep and not get up to pee at all hours of the night. So I can relate to you feeling stupid.
Kristin

[IcyAngel23]

I wouldn't say you are hooked but the Ambien keeps you in a drug induced sleep. That's why you are sleeping so sound. It is a wonderful drug and I wa told it wasn't habbit forming. I had a little trouble sleeping a few days after I went off the meds. It helped me get some much needed sleep and not be so irratated all the time. With IC as you know lets you get little sleep with the neverending trips to the bathroom. My dr was surprised that it helped with my night trips to the bathroom but its the utter fact that you are in such a deep sleep you don't feel the urge or need to void. Your dr will monitor you very carefully so don't wory about addiction. The stupid thing won't pass until you are off the meds but for a goodnights sleep I didn't mind being stupid for a few months. Take care.
Kristin

[ellienor]

I had the same thing with lunesta too.
Read the side effects, impares your short term memory big time.
Sort of give you a mini version of alzhiemers disease.

all these drugs we are supposted to take for this disease are so bad and toxic to the body.
I am trying to get away with as little as possible.
our bodies are already too toxic.

elavil is one of the worst for us.

I would rather be sleepy from lack of sleep than to be hung over all day.

eg

[dbdab]

I have been taking Ambien between 5 and 10 mg for a year now and I am almost immune to that dosage amount. It makes me fall asleep, but then I'm up 3 or 4 times during the night to pee, which would be much higher without the Ambien. I feel like I don't get enough sleep to get the stuff out of my system, so I'm tired anyway. I take I get a few hours of relief when I first fall asleep. I am worried about it's effects on my memory and also about it being addictive. I tried Ambien CR and that doesn't work for me at all.

Deb

[pomeranianic]

I love my ambein. I have been taking it for about 6 years now. I take 10 mg.
The first thing is with ambein you must not take it till you go right to bed. I keep mine on my nightstand. It is very quick acting. Ambein will make you forget what you have done if you don’t go to bed and to sleep.
Don’t answer the phone. You will not remember the call the next day.
Don’t pay bills at all.
You may think your function normally but your not.
Say your write a letter to someone. The next day you read it. It will look like a two year old wrote it.
I can’t tell you how many times I woke up the next morning with my clothes on floor and didn’t remember being with my husband.
I have talked to people and call them the next day and they tell me I told them the same thing last night. One time I talked to my mother In-law. Boy was I embarrassed.
Ambein works so well you cant give it up. That’s why I have been on it so many years.
I am total dependant on it now. If I try to sleep with out it. I don’t sleep well and get bad headaches and nightmares. Hope this helps.

[Baba Yaga]

What is CR? Controlled release?


I have memory problems with Ambien, but only for things done between taking the pill and going to sleep. I think the following day I am fine.

Boni, what if you reduced your dose?

[Katrina]

Yes CR stands for controlled release. Obviously not everyone responds the same....it isn't a majorly strong drug to me. Deb, maybe you would have some luck with taking a herbal sleep remedy with the CR ambien??? that way the first effect may be stronger and the you would still have the continual effect??? Just a guess....not sure if you would even want to hold it longer in the night or night or not ......:grouphug:

[Judith56]

I can not take Ambien or other sleeping pills. They do wierd things to me too. I have actually become psychotic on them. Once when I was in the hospital they found me wandering into other patients rooms saying that I had to get to the library! I remember waking up in a gerry chair tied in by the nurses station. I was hallucinating and that lasted for days. They tied me in the bed - it was awful. Now I know what people who are hallucinating go through. The drug was Halcion that really made crazy- it may have been taken off the market. There are things like smelling lavender and other scents that are natural that are also supposed help with sleep. Now when I am going through a rough period with not sleeping I take antihistimines, phenergan, or xanax. But that rarely happens anymore. Judith

[Boni]

I break my 10 mg cap in half and I also take 2 melatonins WITH it! But, it works great and I am out like a light in 10 minutes. I wake up at 2:00 and 4:00 to pee and I can't really get back to sleep, I lie there and half sleep until 6:00. I take it right when I am ready to go to sleep and also keep it on my nightstand.

However, I read the instructions that came with my new bottle and it clearly states that it is to be used no longer than for a two week period...and it falls into the category of a hypnotic.

I used to go to sleep with melatonin only, but, I had a bad problem sleeping in the month of January.

Now, I can't go back to the malatonin alone, it doesn't work. I seem to have a high tolerance for drugs, my body adjusts to them quickly.

[Baba Yaga]

OMG Boni I am in the same boat with the Ambien -- I wrote a long post quite a while back about how this is affecting my job (which I go back to in one week). I lie wake tired for a few hours, and then, despite myself, fall into a deep sleep with dreams, after which I can wake up refreshed or strangely exhausted (as if the dreams were scary or stressful) and refreshed -- 11 to 13 hours after i took my sleeping pill, ugh.

My IC doctor recommended Benadryl, which helps and also is good for bladder pain. I have tried Sonata and I don't think it did anything for me. I am still trying to iron things out. i also just switched from Paxil to Zoloft in hopes that i can tolerate more painkillers and antispasmotics, which are so sedating.

You might try an ativan at night or valium too -- I suspect that those MAY keep by abdomen/bladder from distracting me after my night time pee.

We may also be candidates for Ambien CR. i do think a lot of people take it way beyond only two weeks. my prescribing doctor has never cautioned me about that.

[Boni]

Well Baba...to tell you the truth. I haven't slept for more than 4 hours a night in 3 or more years. I am a light sleeper anyway and my husband's snoring coupled with menopause and IC has made it near impossible. When I started on the Ambien I slept like a log and it felt sooooo good to get some much needed rest! I woke amazingly refreshed. I just can't remember things very well at all now. It's like BLANK. Also, at my job I a responsible for a great deal and I forget simple conversations that took place earlier that day.

This is why I started this post. To see if others were having the same problem. I know many people here take Ambien. I don't need the antidepressants, I just want some sleep!

[Katrina]

Ambien alone isn't enough for me either....I seem to not be able to fall asleep with my night dose of Keppra, Tegretol, Neurontin, than there are the herbs: Melatonin, maybe Chammomile and/or catnip...I have better luck if I switch them around. I am guessing that being on so many meds for so long has lessoned the effect some others have on me...just a guess. :grouphug:

[tigger_gal]

I have been taking ambien for a year.. I stopped getting it when my body got use to it, and it quit working. I am goping to go back to the doctor, and get a refill but next time the CR..
I never had any problems like you have explained..

[Briza]

Ambien knocks me out...for 6 hours. Never can get back to sleep after that. I hate waking up at 4 am. I am not a morning person. Elavil and an occasional ativan work better for staying asleep til I need to get up at 6.

[Baba Yaga]

Well Baba...to tell you the truth. I haven't slept for more than 4 hours a night in 3 or more years. I am a light sleeper anyway and my husband's snoring coupled with menopause and IC has made it near impossible. When I started on the Ambien I slept like a log and it felt sooooo good to get some much needed rest! I woke amazingly refreshed. I just can't remember things very well at all now. It's like BLANK. Also, at my job I a responsible for a great deal and I forget simple conversations that took place earlier that day.

This is why I started this post. To see if others were having the same problem. I know many people here take Ambien. I don't need the antidepressants, I just want some sleep!

Thanks everyone for your informative posts.

Boni, now I think the Ambien CR in your case, possibly mine too, might exacerbate the memory blanking. You may also be affected by low estrogen, since you mention menopause.

In the past two months, a poster mentioned getting much benefit from Seroquel -- usually for bi-polar, but prescribed for sleep in much lower doses.

Don't worry about whether or not you "need antidepressants". For one, sleep disorders often fit into a diagnosis of depression. More importantly, drugs formulated for one purpose often end up useful for complely different things. Take klonopin and neurontin, which were orginally used for epilepsy, then found use in psychiatry AND pain management. Valium -- originally for anxiety, used by some IC patients for bladder spasm pain. Elavil and ther tricyclics -- originally antidepressants, now helpful to IC (and other pain0 sufferes via exploitation of their side-effects, on top of their effect on serotonin. Prozac also has use in pain management. Prozac, paxil, zoloft are all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and were formulated as antidepressants. But guess what, serotonin is a KEY FACTOR in sleep.

i would not be alive today possibly if paxil had not been keeping me more stable and ensuring some ability to sleep. it just isn't ideal for me now because it is too sedating for me if i am going to be on other pain killing drugs -- and my midnight reverse-siestas are also still not fully explained or fixed. i hope I am not reinventing the wheel here and patronizing you with information you already know, but it sounds like you may have been dismissing some available options simply because they came with the remotely attahed label of "antidepressant."


p.s. What if you slept separately from hubby a few nights a week?

[dbdab]

Boni,
You described my night with Ambien exactly. Most nights I break it in half and it gets me to sleep fast, but I wake up like you do and can't get back to sleep in the early morning. I hate early morning, I am not a morning person at all. I seem to have alot of pain at that time and I feel like I can't get up yet because all of the Ambien hasn't worn off yet. Now, I definetely think I am starting to become immune to Ambien because I have been taking the whole 10mg and the same thing happens as when I take half. I have been thinking about trying something herbal. My brother works for a health food store in Vermont and I just sent him an email about getting me something for sleep. I'll let you know. Ambien CR has the weirdest effect on me. I feel like I am just half asleep all night and then I am exhausted the whole next day like the stuff is still releasing into my system. Oh well, guess this stuff effects everyone different too.

Deb

[IC SARAH-CPP]

The thing I do when I have to take Ambien is to break a 10 mg cap in half and take half early, like at 8:30 and then I will wake up around midnight or 1 am and take the other half. It has worked really well for me, I sleep okay and I am not very groggy in the AM. I always have about 2 hours from the time I wake up to the time I leave for work, so I can shake off any groggy feeling in time.
I do find I sleep very weirdly with sleeping pills though, all of them. Kinda a restless sleep.
Sarah

[Baba Yaga]

Thanks Sarah. I thought of that but didn't try it. Maybe it will work for me too.

i am also hoping that if my treatments help my bladder and I learn more pain tricks like maybe calcium citrate at night and/or a valium, or other things, maybe I will sleep more normally as I used to before my bladder got weird.

[Katrina]

I really think you should discuss that with your doctor first!!!!

[candy12345]

I took Ambien twice....it wired me out, I couldn't sleep...I had to go go go go go go. It made me crazy, I flipped out. I'll never touch it again! :loco:

[sleepyangel30]

I take ambiem I been on them since summer 05. When I first started taking them I was doing all kinds of crazy things lol.. I would get up cooking late at night and get on the phone dailing all kinds of numbers and I would call my friends and they would get angry at me lol. I'm ok with them now my body got use to them. I love ambiem it helps me sleep.

[SandyRN]

I just saw this post so I'm sorry I'm responding so late. I have been taking Ambien 10 mg for about a year now, but did take a break for about a month to try Lunesta. I didnt like the lunesta at all, not to mention the rotten egg taste it left in my mouth, but it didnt help me sleep! With the ambien I am able to fall into a deep, very deep sleep and stay that way for at least 6 hours. I can not take it unless I am on my way to bed because I will say and do very odd things that I rarely remember. I have posted several 'midnight' posts on this board that have made absolutely no sense whatsoever and I find myself trying to remember what possessed me to turn the computer on at all!

The side effects usually wear off within a month and the short term memory loss is usually gone after that amount of time.

Melatonin has MANY side effects, so many that I felt safer taking the ambien then I did something that was not regulated and knowing the manufacturers had NO accountability for these pills. The absolute MOST you are supposed to take is 3 mg, any more than that can be dangerous. Do a google search on melatonin + side effects.

Sandy

[SrMaggie]

I have been taking Ambien for about a year - I think! It has done a number on my memory at times. I was concerned about the caution about taking it short term. My FNP assured me that it was ok as long as I continued to see her. She also told me it has a half life of 4 hours - hence folks who wake up after a time. Some nights it doesn't help at all. Last night I kept a tally and I was up 10 times. Sometimes the memory problem comes because of lack of sleep.
I once tried to pay bills since I hadn't really fallen asleep. I am so grateful that I hadn't sealed the envelopes and for some reason checked them before I mailed them. That was embarrassing.
I've been so tired lately, that I haven't needed anything to put me to sleep. Just sitting down does it.
I had to close my office door yesterday and put my head down on the desk for awhile just so I knew I would stay awake on the ride home.
All I want for Christmas is a new bladder...

[dbdab]

I have been on Ambien for a year too and it definetely does not work for me anymore. I used to at fall asleep for 3 or 4 hours and now even if I take the full 10 mg I stay asleep for about an hour and then I'm up every hour pretty much after that. In the early morning that burning, having to pee sensation is really strong and somewhat painful. It usually subsides some about an hour after I get up, but it's made me hate mornings even more than I used to, which was alot!! :mad: Deb

[Allyoopa]

I was to have my bladder biopsy today but it had to be cancelled until March 9th. I started with a head cold on the weekend and my mouth broke out in ulcers and my tongue cracked. The pain is horrible! I went to my GP on Monday and he said that my tongue and mouth soreness was due to dry mouth caused by my sleeping pill and being in such a deep sleep I'm sleeping with my mouth open. I hope its short lived!

[Boni]

Baba:

Thanks for the info about diagnosing depression and the crossover of medications into treatment for it. I didn't mean to offend anyone who is taking medication for depression by my comment that I don't "need" it. So, to anyone who took it the wrong way, my apology.

(Heck, I may need it and I don't even know it...) But currently, I am not being treated for depression... is what I meant.

FYI: I tried to take something for depression once. A co-worker recommended something to me and I thought I was pretty depressed, so I ordered some off the internet and took it. It made me feel like I had the flu. Messed up my immune syustem really bad. I gave it all to her and it wasn't cheap. Cost me about $80.00.

Note on the snoring. IF I take Ambien and I am asleep FIRST, then the snoring doesn't bother me, However, if my HUSBAND falls asleep first, then it doesn't matter...EVEN AMBIEN can't do the trick!! I have to go to the spare bedroom, which I do often.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[sandi303]

SandyRN: I'm sooo glad you posted about melatonin & side effects. I have been taking melatonin for some time and when I did the google search & read what it said, I was astounded!! Half of the side effects listed, I was having trouble with! Needless to say, I'm not taking the melatonin -- last night was my first night without it (or anything) for sleep. It was rough, but guess I'll have to find something else. Thanks for the heads up!!

[Boni]

There's always 5 HTP. Recommended for people who don't like Melatonin.

[Bianchi]

I am on 10mg of ambien, which I break in half to only take 5 mg. Lots of medicine has weird side effects on me, so I am very careful at first. Well, I really like the ambien, get a good nichts sleep and it lets me wake up early. (I am a morning person). The only thing is that my face gets beet red, when I get up I look like a lobster. So that micht be some kind of allergy. Now I dont take them much any more, I just dont know about the red face, if that is dangerous.
Bianchi

[Sroan]

I have been taking ambien for three years, first with a female urologist who prescribed for two years; then with a pain in the neck doctor who prescribed and witout even an appointment cut me down to 8 a month.

I have never had ill effects....I sleep well and wake refreshed. (I teach school, so I need to be awake and alert.

MY PCP does not believe in many drugs. I am near Boston. Does anyone know a compassionate doctor who will prescribe ambient.

I have had IC for 15 or 16 years, and believe me have researached (pre internet, in hospital libraries): DMSO, the new FDA approved, clorpactic, hydroxyzine, antidepressents, Beth Israel's mind'body pain clinic, yoga, exercise, visualization, homeopathic.

I am not in withdrawl; I just am back to where I was before ambient.....I wake up every half hour to 45 mins.

I am even considering ordering online,although i know it is a sham mostly. I need to sleep. It is bad enough working through the day on my feet in my classroom with pain. I have got to sleep.

Massachusetts IC'ers with compassionate doctors names out there. And forget klonapin, vallium, etc, etc. If it is a prescription I cannot have it. And I have not history of addiction

[Katrina]

https://www.ichelp.com/AskTheDoctor/physicianregistry.html ICA ask sign up for their physician list
http://www.ic-network.com/md/doctorlistings.html ICN's physican listing
http://www.orthoelmiron.com/html/elm/pd_consumer.xml?article=finddoctor.jspf find a doctor

Good luck finding the right doctor for you!

[Boni]

I was taking Ambien. I started in January and quite quickly enjoyed the benefits of it and loved it. I was concerned however, when I was able to do things right before actually falling asleep without any recollection the next day.

I went to a naturopath who gave me melatonin made by Thorne. A very good brand, pure with no additives. I started taking 2 caps with 1/2 tab of Ambien a night for a week or two, then after that, I weaned myself completely off the Ambien and now only take 1 cap of Melatonin. I am sleeping fine with no after effects.

I strongly recommend Melatonin. If you are not happy with it, then i also suggest 5-HTP which has tryptophan in it, (the same stuff in Turkey..you know like how you feel after eating thanksgiving dinner?..tired and ready for the couch???) for the same results.

You may hear pros and cons here about Melatonin, but, I had never had a problem with it and I feel it is far safer then the Ambien.

Just buy a good brand with no additives. I recommend Thorne.

Good luck.