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.

88 year old mother
Date: 5/19/2010
My 88 year old mother has used ambian for several years. Recently she suffered a stroke. At nite after having taken her ambian, she talks about things that are inappropriate. Like putting rocks on her head or telling us to put a cookie sheet on her leg. All is normal during the day but at nite she talks all the time… All nonsensical. Could the drug be “turning” on her?

Kathy

AskDocWeb: Since she has been taking it for several years you may want to check the dosage. In elderly patients, a dosage of 5 mg is recommended to minimize side effects. Abnormal behavior should be reported to the doctor who is prescribing the Ambien.

Forgetful and periods of confusion
Date: 5/21/2010
My sister has used this product for over 10 years. She is now both forgetful and has periods of confusion. Before Ambien, she was on Halcyon for 10 years.

D

70 years old
Date: 5/22/2010
I am 70 years old. After many years of insomnia I was prescribed Ambien 10mg. I took the 10mg dose once. It made me dizzy and gave me double vision. After that episode I split the pill into 4 pieces. One piece (2 1/2 mg) works fine for me. I have taken Ambien almost nightly for 2 years with no noticeable side effects. The small dose works as well now as it did when I first started taking it. When I don’t take it I am awake for most or all of the night as was the case before I started taking Ambien. What a relief it is to know that I will usually fall asleep soon after I turn off the lights at night. I used to be anxious and depressed most nights before taking Ambien because I knew I would not be able to fall asleep. Before Ambien I tried many holistic approaches to insomnia and none were effective. I plan to continue to take my 2 1/2 mg dose of Ambien nightly and hope for the best regarding long term side effects.

Nancy

Miracle drug
Date: 5/25/2010
I have used ambien on and off for 3 years and I consider it a miracle drug. I’ve never had a side effect and wake up refreshed. I suffered insomnia terribly and over-the-counter sleeping pills left me groggy all day. Ambien is different. I fall asleep fast and wake up refreshed.

Marcia

Ambien Ambush
Date: 5/28/2010
My girlfriend takes Ambien and I have seen her do the following so far – Ask crazy questions in her sleep without knowledge of her asking them the next day – Get up in sleep, login to the computer and pay bills, surf the internet for you know what and do things that follow surfing you know what – Text message correctly in sleep. She also works evening night shift and had problems with work related nightmares during sleep all the time. She recently reported this and the doctor moved her to eszopiclone (Lunesta). I am really anxious about the withdrawal symptoms. Does alcohol have to do anything with this – surprisingly during days we had a drink or two, ambien seemed to work better.

Theo

Problems concentrating and comprehension
Date: 5/28/2010
I was prescribed ambien nightly for 3 years. I would take 5 mg at bedtime. This would allow me to sleep for 2.5 hours. I would take my second dose of 5 mg and sleep another 2.5 hours. You are probably asking “why not just take a 10 mg tablet”? 10 mg would only allow me to sleep 2-3 hours. I began to notice problems of concentrating and comprehension. I haven’t experienced sleep driving or sleep eating, but I did wake up one night and unknowingly took the rest of my prescription totaling 17 pills. Fortunately I wasn’t harmed; however I only slept for 9 hours. I am no longer precribed ambien.

Mark

Personal experience with Ambien
Date: 6/1/2010
Well I’ve had insomnia most of my life. My doctor recommended that I try Ambien to help sleep. At first, it made me quite dizzy and confused within 20 minutes of taking it. Sometimes I even felt high while on it (I once took a double dose by accident, and was higher than a kite, I was even scaring my family), and this is coming from a 6 foot 170 pound male on only 10mg. Then I started noticing short term memory problems and the inability to focus well after a week. My Doctor didn’t even seem be worried. It was very affective at helping me sleep, but the side effects were a big concern of mine.

After a few months of taking the same dose, the side effects seem to have gone away (probably from building up a tolerance). While my personal experience with this drug has not been too bad, I must say I’m suprised at what it has done to others. I’m kind of angry my doctor recommended this to me, considering the potential harm this drug can do to people. Since it seems to be working fine for me, I’ll continue to use it, but only until I find something better.

David

Imagining things
Date: 6/1/2010
My mom takes ambien to help her sleep, unfortunately she takes 7 other meds with it. She starts imagining things like kids coming in her home, talking cows, YES, she thinks the cows are talking to her, also she thought there was a squirrel in her hospital room trying to get her. I was so mad at her for this behavior, because I didnt know about these effects ambien had. I was ready to have her comitted! I tried to tell her it was in her head but she would insist these things were real. I would rather have her staying awake than to go through that again. Needless to say I threw the pills in the trash.

Becky

I dont remember
Date: 6/4/2010
I have been taken Ambien for over a year. It makes me eat and then I dont remember the next morning only by the evidence on the kitchen table. The one time I got very upset with my husband b/c he try to take my food. Please take this off the market before someone really gets hurts.

Dolores

Severe muscle and joint pain
Date: 6/6/2010
Ambien worked well for me for a while, but then I had horrible side effects, including SEVERE muscle and joint pain. Numerous ER visits, MRI’s, CTs, and Xray’s, even weeks of physical therapy. Was prescribed muscle relaxers, Lortab, Motrin…nothing helped with this pain. The only reason I figured out it was the Ambien was because I ran out of my prescription and in a few days the pain was almost completely gone. This pain was SEVERE pain. I missed many days at work, saw orthopedist and neurologist. Patients should be thoroughly warned of this possible side effect.

C.

Things took an odd turn
Date: 6/7/2010
Ambien has been the only sleep aid that has worked good for me. It allows me a good 4 hours of sleep and after that, I still sleep, but wake up often. When it is time to get up I am not experiencing a groggy or hung over feeling like I do with other sleep aids. It has been a great med for me, but last night things took an odd turn.

I took the Ambien around Midnight and woke up around noon; this is much more sleep than I have had in the past. After I woke up, I discovered that sometime in the night I must have had an accident of some type involving liquids. I base this on the fact that the sheets and mattress pad, pillows, and other clothing nearby were all in the laundry room and my steam cleaner was set up to use the hose to clean up the mess. I have NO memory of any of these events. I later discovered that I started a load of laundry, but the washer was way overstuffed with all different types of items, not color separated, or even set to do more than rise. I also saw that the back door, which is never used, was open.

Between this memory loss and the fact that I was but not able to use good judgment, is very troubling and now I am concerned about using it again. I am also wondering if it has happened before and I just have no recollection of the incidents.

Wesley

Ambien has been a blessing
Date: 6/7/2010
I am a life long insomnia sufferer. ambien has been a blessing for me. I have been taking it for about two years now. I agree that one needs to get in bed shortly after taking the drug or the staggering hits. I have never taken off, eaten, made telephone calls etc unbeknownst to me… I agree that taking it on a full stomach lessens the effect. my doc has tried to get me to stop taking it, sent me to sleep studies etc… I guess when people do not experience wretched insomnia to begin with it is easy to suggest stopping medication. I am a zombie when I haven’t had enough sleep and always end up with a migraine, sweating and trembling from lack of sleep. unless something horrific presents as a result of ambien I intend to continue taking it. my dosage has not changed, I still get a yummy 8 hrs sleep and don’t have residual effects in the a.m. sorry it’s not working better for others.

Mlgates

DANGEROUS DRUG
Date: 6/11/2010
THIS AMBIEN IS VERY DANGEROUS…..IT SHOULD BE TOTALLY BANNED….IF FACT STOP PRODUCING THAT DRUG…IT IS DESTROYING THE WORLD AND THE YOUNG ONES DO NOT USE AMBIEN IT IS DANGEROUS.AND THAT COMPANY SHOULD BE JAILED AND THE KEYS THROWN AWAY

Sherry

AskDocWeb: It is obvious that you have strong feelings about this drug but do you have any personal experience with it?

Ambien dosage
Date: 6/12/2010
I have a friend that takes it all the time. She has a prescription for two 10 mg a night. The other day she took five 10 mg. She felt lousy the next day and only took three the next night. What are the dangers of this kind of use?

Bill

AskDocWeb: According to the Physician’s Desk Reference, the maximum dosage of Ambien should not exceed 10 mg per day. Let’s say the another way, the total amount of Ambien taken in one day is 10 mg. That is one 10 mg dose or two 5 mg doses. The symptoms of overdose with Ambien include impairment of consciousness ranging from somnolence to coma, cardiovascular compromise, respiratory compromise, and fatal outcomes have been reported.

Elderly mother
Date: 6/12/2010
My elderly mother is in a nursing home. She is given Ambien in the evening, dosage unknown to me. She has a history of severe bowel compaction and has been hospitalized to deal with that. Nevertheless, the Ambien is given by Doctor’s order.

Marilyn

Ambien tragedy
Date: 6/13/2010
My dear friend, 46, beautiful, confident, happy and loving life was having trouble sleeping. Dr. prescribed Ambien. She slept but had vivid, hallucinating filled dreams. Then terrible migraines started and the same Dr. who was poisoning her with Ambien sent her for MRI. The results were negitive & that Dr. sent her off with a refill of Ambien too. At a baseball game, I noticed she was limping & the whole bottom of her foot was bloody. She had given herself a pedicure before she went to bed & after Ambien & did not feel the pain or realize she was mutilating her foot with a file. She was surprised to wake up in a pool of blood. She defended the Ambien because she believed it gave her a full nights sleep. The headaches got worse the longer she ate the sleeping pills. They would hit her hard at all times of the day so she stopped driving as much as a precaution. Last Wednesday night after going to bed she hallucinated again. She stopped her headaches by blowing her brains out with her service revolver. Her beloved dog Jack laid on her body as she died. TAKE THIS DRUG OFF THE MARKET!

Robin
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