About Ambien

Discussion forum about the side effects of Ambien. Share your experience and opinion about Ambien. What would you tell your best friend about this product? Please remember that we do not give medical advice. That is for your local health care provider, who is familiar with your medical history.

False positive for Valium?
12/6/2012
I take Ambien 10 mg everynight for sleep, if I wake up in the night sometimes I may take a Nyquil to get back to sleep. I was drug tested yesterday but have read I could get a false positive for Valium. Is this true?

Melinda

AskDocWeb: Nyquil has been reported to show up as a number of different false positives; amphetamines, heroin, opiates, morphine, meth, ecstasy, and/or methadone (List of causes for false positives). However, neither Ambien nor Nyquil has been documented to show up as Valium.

No side effects but
12/14/2012
Ambien is a life saver for me. Iv’e had chronic insomnia since 1984 when my daughter died of leukemia. And no I am not depressed or anything like that. I have tried trazadone and other sleep aids but none have worked. I would spend up to 2 days with insomnia, it was pure hell not sleeping! My Docter prescribed 10 miligrams of ambien. I take one every night and sleep well. No side effects but I make sure I take it when I am IN BED for it works quickly. Thank God for this! I am well rested, but remember do not get out of bed for any reason on this medication…it is for sleep only and not to be used as a recreational drug.

Anna

Half an Ambien?
12/21/2012
If I were to take half of a 12.5 mg Ambien cr for a 9 hour car ride, is it likely I will hallucinate/sleeptalk/sleepwalk? I have never taken any sleep aid before. And also, if I am woken up after 5 hours of sleep will I be in the half awake half asleep stage?

Eric

AskDocWeb: The CR stands for controlled released so that it stays in your system over a longer period of time. The effects also persist for a longer period of time.

Ruined our Christmas
12/28/2012
My husband took his ambien on Christmas Eve, a little while later dressed himself and said he was going for a walk. He did not come home, I was up all night long worried sick. I am pregnant and have 4 small childern so I could not leave the house to go looking for him. I did find out at one point that he was at cousin’s house, but that did not make me feel any better she’s an alcoholic with her own problems. So on Christmas Day I had to call upon neighbor to watch my children to go find him. Found him sound asleep at her bar face down in a chair reeking of Alcohol, finally got him home and he slept most of the day pretty much ruined our Christmas Day. Thank God we found him safe there has to be a sleep medication that works without these kind of side effects.

Sad

Looking for advice
12/28/2012
I need Ambian to sleep and have massive headaches without it. I can’t remember all kinds of conversations and other actions luckily my wife keep me in check. My wife hides the car keys and I fear I will be dead soon. I suffer from severe pain in my back but can’t stand it without the medication there is no help out there. Now my stomach has been hurting and I don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

I also take 200mg of medthadone everyday for pain and I suffer from terrible dizzy spells when ever I lean over and bend my head to look at something. I know Christ as my savior so I don’t hear the end, but does life have to be so miserable? I have had 5 back surgeries and suffer from major nerve damage in my lower back. Anyone can help please do?

Dave

AskDocWeb: Those in a similar situation are invited to make suggestions but medical advice should always come from your personal physician after they have evaluated your medical history and current condition.

Experience with Ambien
12/30/2012
I had a terrible experience with Ambien several years ago that I have shared with a few friends, but after sharing today with someone new, I felt compelled to document my experience on this site.

After the sudden death of my daughter nearly five years ago, I began to take Ambien as well as several other medications prescribed and closely monitored by my regular physician and an excellent psychiatrist. I took Prozac and Xanax or Valium (not both) when my anxiety and PTSD symptoms were very overwhelming. I developed fibromyalgia and had a joint disease that has caused me to require joint replacements at a very young age – all that to say that I was on a combination of several meds, but I was extremely careful about taking them exactly as prescribed and making sure everyone involved in my care knew of all medications.

Initially, Ambien was a wonder drug for me. I had suffered with insomnia for months and was so relieved to experience good sleep, waking without grogginess, etc. My dreams were vivid but pleasant. However, I had two experiences that caused me to eliminate this drug from my life. In both cases, I took the medication at bedtime as instructed and actually went to sleep. I am unclear about the details of the first experience, although I am assured by family that it was fairly harmless and mostly entertaining for them.

In the second episode, I got out of bed in my sleep, prepared some food on the stove and apparently wrote some ridiculous emails. I also wrote love letters to the family, which I placed strategically around the house. When I woke in the morning, I was irritated that my college-aged children had made such a mess in the kitchen. I discovered the notes, which were confusing and disturbing because they appeared to be in my handwriting. I went to my computer and saw an email that I had written (to my boss!) expressing my displeasure with some of his ill-considered actions (in my opinion.) Praying aloud by this point, I checked my send box and verified that (thank God!) I had NOT pressed send on this email. However, I saw that I HAD sent another email, to a very dear old friend. When I read the email, it was obviously nonsensical – written by someone out of their mind and I immediately fired off a request to ignore the email, although I was unable to explain what I did not at that point even understand. I did receive a response, informing me not to have any further contact with this person, and that relationship remains severed to this day.

I reported the mysterious activities to my psychiatrist, who immediately told me to discontinue the Ambien. We thought it was a “combination with other meds” problem, but I witnessed an episode with my own husband a couple of months later when it was prescribed for him. He was not taking any other medication, but experiencing problems awakening in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep. One night, he went to sleep, but appeared in the back yard about an hour later in his underwear, posed like Superman while surveying the yard, carried on a nonsensical conversation with myself and his sister and went back to bed. He had no memory whatsoever of any of this the following day. He continues to take this medication in the CR form and has had no further problems.

I myself will NEVER take it again. I lost a dear friend of 30 years that night. I could have lost my job and reputation as a children’s pastor. I could have also gotten in my car and killed someone. I know this drug helps people-it helped me for a time-but I feel that there are many people out there like myself who have not reported the dangerous or bizarre things that have happened to them, which is why I feel compelled to write today.

My (now adult) children are occasional pot smokers. They have repeatedly encouraged me to consider the fact that there are no documented cases of these bizarre episodes while under the influence of marijuana and that it would be useful to me both for the sleep disorder and pain management. I have not experimented with this strictly because it is illegal, but I do find myself wondering why we are putting so much faith in chemicals and prescribing these and other meds to MILLIONS of people in spite of increasingly common documentation of serious problems yet we demonize a plant that appears, for most people, to cause very few side effects.

I am blessed to say that with good support, therapy and a yoga practice I take almost no medications today at all. When my insomnia does recur, I have a lot of non-medication tools in my toolbox now. I guess I just want to emphasize that this medication can be deceptive and its side effects can be sudden, unanticipated and devastating, as others before me have reported.

Sharon

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