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.

A very dangerous drug
Date: 2/10/2008
DON’T TAKE AMBIEN… I TOOK IT FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS, ON AND OFF. I AM OFF AND WILL NEVER GO BACK BECAUSE on the morning after I took the ambien, I had difficulty making my words match my thoughts. I knew what I wanted to say, but my brain was not making it possible for my mouth to speak the words…a very bad drug that looks and feels really safe at first, but it is a very dangerous drug. If you can’t sleep, go to the refrigerator and warm a glass of milk and drink that. That is a safe and effective sleep stimulator.

C.

Having memory loss
Date: 2/11/2008
I have been taking Ambien for about a year. It makes me fall asleep very quickly. I have done numerous things after taking Ambien that I have no memory of the following morning. I have shaved my dog, eaten an entire coffee a cake wandered around a cruise ship not knowing I had left my room. I have also had extreme bruises apparently from falling while in my Ambien state. Recently I have been having memory loss during the day. I have not been unable to recall the name of my bank and close friends’ names. I am curious to find if anyone else is experiencing this problem. Thanks

Colleen

AskDocWeb: Do a little reading here and you will find tht many people share the same problem with Ambien.

Used Ambien for at least 5 years
Date: 2/11/2008
I’ve have used this product for at least 5 years. It helps me to get to sleep fast, and stay asleep for at least 6 hours at a time. I try and take as small a dose as possible and on an empty stomach. If I am very hungry I eat a small amount with little fat content. Fat neutralizes ambien. A way to reduce the mgs used is to cut the pill in half. Within a week or so you should be able to cut the dose again. I find that using 2-3 mgs keeps me asleep all night and alleviates daytime drowsiness. I’ve never had the hallucinations.

Kristine

On Ambien at 73
Date: 2/12/2008
I have been using ambien for a month almost every night. The only side effect I may have is a little bit of off balance but I am 73 and that also is part of aging. I feel so fantastic the next day. My aches and pains are gone and I have lots of energy. I feel ambien has become addictive and it makes me unhappy to get off it but am going to begin to not take it.

Shirley

Ambian sucks
Date: 2/13/2008
Ambian sucks, it gave my sister hallucinations as if on a bad acid trip.

Wayne

No side effects
Date: 2/16/2008
Personally, I have been taking ambien for quite some time on a regular basis. I have not experienced any side effects. I believe it is the best sleep aid on the market today! I did try the ambien cr but experienced next day drowsiness and feeling “drugged” or heavy headed. So I went back to the regular ambien and my dr. Whole-heartedly approves its use.

Burlsgurl

Another sleeping pill?
Date: 2/18/2008
Stilnox. I started on Mandrax 37 years ago. They made me sleep. Then after 10 years I was put on Rohypnol, they were good also. I have been on Stilnox for 4 years. I have no side effects but I have noticed for the past 2 months they have no effect on me at all. I sit up all night. Surely there must be another sleeping to try? I am 68.

Claudia

AskDocWeb: There are many, here’s a short list of sleeping pills on the market.

• Ambien (Zolpidem tartrate) – sedative/hypnotic
• Dalmane (Flurazepam hydrochloride) – sedative/hypnotic
• Doral (Quazepam) – sedative/hypnotic
• Halcion (Triazolam) – sedative/hypnotic
• Klonopin (Clonazepam) – benzodiazepine
• Lunesta (Eszopiclone) – sedative/hypnotic
• Mirapex (Pramipexole)
• Prosom (Estazolam) – sedative/hypnotic
• Provigil (Modafinil)
• Requip (Ropinirole)
• Restoril (Temazepam) – sedative/hypnotic
• Rozerem (Ramelteon)
• Sonata (Zaleplon) – sedative/hypnotic
• Trazodone

Anybody else have a terrible taste?
Date: 2/18/2008
After reading these posts…I thought I would comment. I have been on 10mg of Ambien for over 10 years…..1 each night. I thought it was the miracle drug…but now I am not so sure. I am 57….really believe that I am suffering memory loss…. and developed a terrible taste in my mouth during the past year. They drug store started giving me the generic brand and I have been noticing that they don’t work that good…many times…I am up several times during the night. Not the way it use to be. Maybe I am developing a tolerance. I know that I am addicted…what are my choices. Anybody else have a terrible taste?

Chuck

AskDocWeb: Yes, others have experienced a bad taste from Ambien, see drugs that alter taste.

Your choices for dealing with addiction start at your doctor’s office with a consultation. Explain that you have two problems, the original insomnia and now what seems to be an addiction.

Ambien addiction
Date: 2/20/2008
Ambien addiction, severe binging, gained 20 lbs., need to control. Do I wean myself off. How? I used to be pretty and thin. Productive and secure. Somewhat nervous and sensitive, therefore, needing some help, closing my mind. Sleep walking. Totally unaware of eating everything available. What can I do?

Kathy

AskDocWeb: The risks and benefits of taking any medication must be weighed carefully. Please talk this over with your doctor.

Good luck with Ambien CR
Date: 2/22/2008
I have very good luck with Ambien CR. I try to only take it about two times a week. Some weeks I take it a bit more often due to more stress in my life and other times I only take it once. To my knowledge I’ve only experienced “blackouts” if I’d been out earlier in the evening and had a couple of drinks. My boyfriend has told me the next day of conversations of sex we had that I can’t remember, so I make sure to not take it if I’ve been drinking at all, even if it’s just one glass of wine. I always remember when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, etc. I’ve had little or no real side effects. On the nights I take it, the next day I usually feel like a million bucks. It makes me want to take it every night, but I think the idea behind it is “too much of a good thing is never good.” People should use Ambien like everything else in life, in moderation.

Jen

Severe memory loss and eating disorders
Date: 2/22/2008
I am having problems with severe memory loss and eating disorders. I have tried stop taking them but have many bad side effects. I have been taking them for about 3 years. The memory loss even happens in the day, recently I have forgotten things until something or a word reminds of what I did, or said, then it comes back to me.

Joe

Horrific side effects
Date: 2/23/2008
I was on the generic of Ambien, Zolpidem. Stopping the drug abruptly and taking more than I had realized cause horrific side effects. I had never been through so much pain. This drug should not be available. I would rather have insomnia because I really didn’t know what insomnia was until I went off this drug. I wish I would of never taken it. I will warn any and everyone about my experience.

Margaret

Starting to be weird
Date: 2/23/2008
I have been taking ambien for about 3 months and things are starting to be weird my eyes are messing with me, lots of migraines so I take imitrex everyday think I’m hearing things, very ackey legs where my legs give up on me and when I don’t take it I cant sleep at all. What do I do?

Michelle

AskDocWeb: You go to your doctor and tell him what you just told us.

Ambien issue
Date: 2/27/2008
I used ambien for almost 6 months before I had an issue, I went to bed around 4 in the morning, woke up at 9 am, certain that I was supposed to meet some friends to watch a movie at a theater only 5 miles away. I went as far as walking a block the parking garage, getting in my car and driving around downtown. I also had visions of people hiding in my car, and stealing things from me. I was also certain that I had food cooking in my glove box. When I finally decided to park back in the garage, I was certain that the friends I was supposed to meet for the movie had gotten upset and were hiding in my trunk. I then left the garage and started looking for them in all the other cars on the street, which could have led to many horrible things if people had noticed. The next thing that came to mind was when I woke up almost 6 hours later, my apartment was a mess and I had a pizza in the oven that had been cooking for almost two hours.

Tommy

Lunesta death?
Date: 2/28/2008
My brother hung himself on Sunday! He had a beautiful wife, two great boys who he adored and a beautiful home! Him, myself and our Mom own a business together! He had sleeping problems and started taking a prescription for lunesta! Two weeks later out of no where, he hangs himself! My brother would never in his right mind do this to his family or himself! What is the history on this medication and is suicide common with this medication? Please, I need answers to why my brother would do such a thing! I want to help others before it is too late!

Angela

AskDocWeb: You have our condolences. Wanting to understand as much as possible about your brother’s suicide is a necessary part of the grieving process. But, be prepared to face the possibility that many of the answers you seek may be unknowable. Suicide is not common with Lunesta but it is the 11th leading cause of death in America claiming 30,000 lives each year.

Swelling and hard to swallow
Date: 2/28/2008
I tried Ambien twice. The first morning my gums around my bottom left wisdom tooth were inflamed and it hurt very much to eat. The next night I tried ambien again because I did sleep well the first time. I awoke 1 hour later and this time my entire left side of my mouth, including the left half of my tongue, were swollen and it was hard to swallow. It was painful. Like I had been punched in the jaw. There was also a lot of excess stringy saliva on in the left half of my mouth.

Kasey

Chocolate and Ambien
Date: 2/29/2008
I find that ambien will only work if I take it for two days, the third day it does not work, also if I eat chocolate after five in the evening ambien will not work.

Jo Annette

Aggressive on Ambien
Date: 3/3/2008
My Mom was on ambien, and was hearing music at 4:00am. I had to call the ambulance because she got aggressive with me.

Alina

Night time eating and hallucinations
Date: 3/3/2008
I am never taking ambien again. I’ve been on it for 7 straight years. I have had so many repeated episodes of night time eating and hallucinations of people talking to me, that I’m finally scared straight. I will never take it again.

Amy

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