Does ambien work well for you?

B

Blessed

Well-known Member
As you know, I have trouble sleeping. I broke down tonight and took a pill. Thing is they don't make sleepy when I take one. When I finally do fall asleep, I sleep well, just never knock me out right away. I am trying to get back to a somewhat normal schedule. I don't like this sleeping in the day.

Time I am out of bed it does not leave a lot of time to get things done in the business world and going to the doctor.
 

I have tried Ambien a few times, and HELL NO is my response to taking it again. I was leery to take it to begin with, as I had delt with several Ambien induced incidents in my career. It gave me extremely vivid and bizarre dreams and woke up feeling unrested. One I was driving a submarine, torpedoed a boat.... then was running over the survivors in the water....
 
I was on Ambien for a while when I was being viciously persecuted at work. It enabled me to sleep when otherwise even my rest was denied or haunted, and so it served a valuable purpose.

Ambien does have some addictive or dependent potential if used for a prolonged time. The medication is expensive, considered (or used to be considered) a controlled substance, and many insurances don’t want to pay for it, essentially considering sleep a “frill.”

I would wish sleepless nights on insurance overlords who consider sleep to be a “frill!”
 

Ambien can cause strange behavior.

My sister started out on it and woke up exhausted one morning with bruises on her legs and dirty feet.

Turned out that she got up in the middle of the night and moved extremely heavy redwood patio furniture from the patio and around the pool out into the yard. She had no memory of doing it.

Another time, I was spending the night and came downstairs at 2 a.m. to find her frantically trying to log into a computer
program with a wrong password. She was doing it over and over again and getting more and more agitated. She couldn't tell me why it was so important to get into that program RIGHT NOW. Eventually, I got her back into bed. Once again, she had no memory of the incident.

I've heard that some users of Ambien have woken up, gotten into their cars and driven around for a long time. I'm glad she didn't do that.

After a while, the strange behavior stopped so I guess she just needed time to adjust to the Ambien.
 
I've been a problem sleeper most of my life and tried numerous sleep aids, perscrption and others. One of the reasons I live alone is because it let's me control my sleep schedule and sleeping enviroment, its the only way I can truly relax at night. I haven't used any sleep aids on a regular basis since I've been living alone.

Anyway....Ambien will help me fall asleep but not keep me asleep, which is typical for me with any sleep aid. I also felt Ambien affected my mental clarity, so only took it for a short time.

Once in my life a doctor prescribed a sleep aid called Restoril. That is the only thing that has ever worked in keeping me asleep for most of the night. That stuff was magic.
 
I have been an insomniac since retirement. My doctor refuses to give me any sleeping aids. I took 2 overnight sleep studies. If I didn't fall asleep in the first hour, so they gave me a pill to help me sleep. I don't know what it was. I went back 2 weeks later for a second study and this time, I didn't get anything to help me fall asleep. I didn't doze off until 3:30 a.m. The study starts at 10 p.m. and they wake you between 6 and 7 a.m.

They must have put a dozen different wires on my body, plus a strap around my chest like we use for a polygraph. After the study was examined, the doctor suggested I try large doses of Melatonin. That didn't help any, so he told me to take Tylenol PM. That worked, but I didn't want to wake up until noon. He cut it back to just one Tylenol p.m. and that worked, but I still wanted to sleep until later and I felt groggy for a few hours after I woke up.

Finally, he told me to go to bed and lie there until I fell asleep and keep doing that night after night and maybe my body will eventually get the idea I am supposed to fall asleep. He said working 33 years on third shift caused my circadian rhythm to become messed up and that can be really hard to get it back to being normal. The body is made to sleep at night and be awake during the day. I reversed it, so I messed it up.
 
I used Ambien for a couple years, helped me fall asleep pretty quickly. No side effects. But Kaiser freaked out over news reports that some Kennedy family member went sleep-driving from taking Ambien. They cut my prescription in half, then discontinued my prescription after a while.
I now use Trazadone, works well, safe, effective, no side effects.
 
C50 said:
I've been a problem sleeper most of my life and tried numerous sleep aids, perscrption and others. One of the reasons I live alone is because it let's me control my sleep schedule and sleeping enviroment, its the only way I can truly relax at night. I haven't used any sleep aids on a regular basis since I've been living alone.

Anyway....Ambien will help me fall asleep but not keep me asleep, which is typical for me with any sleep aid. I also felt Ambien affected my mental clarity, so only took it for a short time.

Once in my life a doctor prescribed a sleep aid called Restoril. That is the only thing that has ever worked in keeping me asleep for most of the night. That stuff was magic.
Click to expand...
How did or do you feel after you wake up? Are you refreshed and raring to go or groggy and needing more sleep?
 
Nathan said:
I used Ambien for a couple years, helped me fall asleep pretty quickly. No side effects. But Kaiser freaked out over news reports that some Kennedy family member went sleep-driving from taking Ambien. They cut my prescription in half, then discontinued my prescription after a while.
I now use Trazadone, works well, safe, effective, no side effects.
Click to expand...
How do you feel after you wake up? Are you groggy or do you feel refreshed and ready to go?
 
911 said:
How did or do you feel after you wake up? Are you refreshed and raring to go or groggy and needing more sleep?
Click to expand...
It was probably thirty years ago I took Restoril, so hard to remember for sure. I don't remember having any negative effects from it, but I was young and durable then, now that I'm a fragile senior it might affect me differently.
 
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Ambien caused me bad nightmares and sleepwalking. (I had never sleepwalked in my life before taking it.) The sleep aid I've had the best luck with is not actually a sleep aid, it's a muscle relaxer, Clonazepam/Klonopin; but it's on the restricted list now, so I'm sparing with it.
 
Nathan said:
I used Ambien for a couple years, helped me fall asleep pretty quickly. No side effects. But Kaiser freaked out over news reports that some Kennedy family member went sleep-driving from taking Ambien. They cut my prescription in half, then discontinued my prescription after a while.
I now use Trazadone, works well, safe, effective, no side effects.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, that's what Tiger Woods was taking when he had that terrible accident.

My late husband took it for several years or so when he shattered his ankle from a fall. He had 4 surgeries within 10 weeks and had a life-threatening infection. He couldn't sleep so they prescribed Ambien. They said, "Oh, it's not a narcotic so it won't be habit forming". Ya, right! He was addicted to it and after about 3 years or so the insurance said they wouldn't pay for it any more. That was a blessing because it forced him to quit taking it. He went back to not sleeping. He tried melatonin OTC and it helped a little. It was a struggle for him but he eventually got back into a sleep routine.
 
aei said:
Does Melatonin work?
Click to expand...
Melatonin is a hormone, not a sleeping pill. I have never found that it works well for me, but everyone is different.

As for Ambien, I did take it once when I received it as a free sample with an online order 25 years ago. I found it way too heavy for my needs I slept that night and half of the next day. No way that would be sustainable.
 
The doctor gave me a prescription for Valium in the smallest dose, I think 2 mg, to take at bedtime for insomnia. It worked well, but I was definitely groggy the next morning. I only used them on the nights that I knew that I was going to have trouble sleeping.

During that year, I only used 30 of them for the whole year, which was my initial prescription. When I went to the doctor for my yearly exam, I asked for a refill, which he gave me.

My insurance company said I would have to undergo drug dependency counseling first, before I could have another prescription. Lowest dosage, 30 pills used in a year, and they think I'm drug dependent??? I've given up on sleep aids.....I'll sleep or I won't sleep.
 
I’m on something stronger. I was prescribed 1 to 2 a night but just take 1/2 a pill. Having 1 per night was giving me horrific nightmares and making me sleep 10 to 12 hours which I’ve never done in my entire life. Taking 1/2 a pill makes me sleep 8 to 9 hours sleep which is perfect.

I hate being on these pills. Between these and the other medication I’m taking, I’m so zoned out that I can’t do stuff I used to be able to do, plus it makes me gain weight. I was told I’d gain weight but I thought for sure I could beat it. Nope. Forty pounds in a year. That’s a lot of extra weight.

I’m really trying hard to lose weight but it’s just not happening. I lose the weight then gain it all back again. My husband keeps saying that it’s my mind that is most important, not my size.
 
officerripley said:
Ambien caused me bad nightmares and sleepwalking. (I had never sleepwalked in my life before taking it.) The sleep aid I've had the best luck with is not actually a sleep aid, it's a muscle relaxer, Clonazepam/Klonopin; but it's on the restricted list now, so I'm sparing with it.
Click to expand...
Clonazepam isn’t a muscle relaxer. It’s a benzodiazepine
 
Melatonin does not work for me. I have taken Trazadone in the past and it gives me the weird nightmares. I do take muscle relaxers but they are for pain, not sleep. I do know that I have to be very careful with all medications, I use the Ambien only when I am desperate.
 
Yes, I'm with Kaiser and when I asked my doctor for Ambien...Not!
.he prescribed Trazodone
and if I take full strength (50 mg,)
I'm groggy the next day(morning)
So..self-regulage is better
Although, I must say..it takes a while 'to kick in' (when taken)
Oh! Well..
 
I don't pretend to know what you're going through, and I've never used a sleep aid (except for the occasional overdose of alcohol). I do know that sleep seems to be increasingly elusive as my age progresses. What I have learned, aside from what not to do during the day, such as consuming a half-gallon of ice cream or drinking caffeinated drinks, is that the amount and quality of sleep I get is directly related to my habits, thoughts and age. The only thing I can directly relate to the amount and quality of the sleep I get is my concerns. If everything is going well, I sleep well, else I don't. Simple, but understandable.
 
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