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.

Too much for me
Date: 2/10/2011
I took Ambien for about 6 months due to my severe insomnia. Before I took it, I would get maybe 4-6 hours of very broken sleep. My doctor prescribed me 10mg 1x. I took it and slept amazing. You need to take it and go straight to bed as instructed. I took it and got caught up checking my emails and ended up having a conversation I do not remember. My husband has said I have said weird things too if I didn’t go to bed immediately afterward. Those are my only complaints however. I have never sleepwalked, or drove, or eaten anything and not remembered.

I still wake up and am fully functional (and remember the next day) if my son wakes up in the middle of the night and needs me. It just really seems to help me get over that *hump* between awake and asleep. However, the biggest drawback, I got a new insurance company that will not cover 30 pills for 30 days. They will only cover 15 pills every 25 days, which means I have to go without on some days. On those days, I can NOT sleep. At all. I have decided to stop taking it. It has been 8 days. The first two days I got literally no sleep. i would lay there with my eyes closed literally all night long, fully aware of everything around me.

The third night I feel asleep around 3am, out of pure exhaustion, only to wake up at 4:30 feeling startled and then could not get back to sleep. The next few nights have been pretty much the same as that. I’m hoping to at the very least get back to my 4-6 hours of broken sleep pattern. I think if my insurance would cover the 30 pills for 30 days I’d still be taking it every night because it worked so well for me. I just can’t go through taking it for 15 days, then stopping for 10, then starting again. It will be too much for me.

Alison

My daughter has been taken away from me
Date: 2/12/2011
I have had a major problem with Ambiem. The medication caused me to drive my vehicle while sleeping and there for hitting a telephone pole. While leaving my 3 year old, disabled, daughter alone at home. As a result my daughter has been taken away from me temporarily and I was jailed for 30 days with 3 years probation and several mandatory classes that I must attend to get her back. The scary part is I don’t remember any of it because of the Ambiem. Thanks for posting this info,

CinDee

Joint pain?
Date: 2/13/2011
My father passed away almost two years ago. Right around that time I began taking ambien to help me sleep as I was only sleeping a few hours at a time. I began developing joint pain that started in one of my fingers, slowly spreading to almost every single joint in my body. I have had numerous blood tests for RA, OA, Lupus etc and everything seems to be normal. Is it possible that Ambien has caused this joint pain?

Rachel

AskDocWeb: Yes, joint pain (arthralgia) is listed as an infrequent side effect of Ambien.

Pudendal Nerve Entrapment and Ambien
Date: 2/15/2011
I have been on Ambien for close to 10 years as I have terrible insomnia. I developed a horrible condition called Pudendal Nerve Entrapment and Ambien is the only pain med that works for it. This is unfortunate because I now wake up quite nauseated and tired and have colon cramps for hours. This may be due to Crohns disease or a terrible side effect from Ambien. Also my hair is falling out. Does anyone know if Ambien causes nerve degeneration? I am very addicted to its euphoria in the beginning, but when it wears off I have trembling! Guess I need help. Its a catch 22 situation for me because it does relieve the horrible nerve pain I have from sitting with the PNP. Can anyone shed light on all of these confusing details???

Betty

AskDocWeb: Nausea and cramping are listed among the less common side effects of Ambien. Unfortunately those are also symptoms of Crohn’s disease.

What can I do for sleep?
Date: 2/18/2011
I just found out 3 days ago that I am pregnant…I’ve been taking ambien for 2 years and stopped as soon as I found out but I cant sleep at all…what can I do for sleep nightly?

Jill

AskDocWeb: There is a collection of methods people have successfully used to get to sleep and get a good night’s sleep here.

Sleep cooking and not remembering it
Date: 2/24/2011
Ambien is a miracle drug for my insomnia. I have try herbal remidies and every other prescription insomnia drug on the market. Both Ambien 10mg and Ambien CR are the only thing that helps. I do have the side effect of getting up and cooking during the night and not remembering it. Most often pancakes. I have no problem with this as I am awake during these episode- I just don’t remember them. I never leave the house or appear to do anything dangerous. Ambien has been a life saver for me.

Kristy

Very dry mouth
Date: 2/26/2011
I have been using 5 mgs of ambien almost every nite for the past 2 or 3 years. No side effects except for very dry mouth. They only work for about 4 hours and then i am awake again. Sometimes i have to take the other half. I am not sure how long I will take it but probably until my Dr. takes me off.

Patricia

Attempted suicide
Date: 3/16/2011
Before I started taking ambien cr, I never thought about suicide but after nine days of taking it. I not only thought about suicide, I attempted it. I took 28 pills at one time, hoping I would not ever wake-up. After quiting this medication I’m back to normal, I cherish everyday that I have, I truly believe that the medication was responible for my insane action. Is there any other people that reported the same problem that I had? Please send me any information on this matter. Thank You,

Dianne

AskDocWeb: That sounds like a lot of work. Why not just read about Ambien suicide mentioned on pages 12, 16, 18, 34, 42, 44, 50, 65, 68, 70, 72, 73, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84, 88, and 90.

To Jeanne who has nerve pain while taking Ambien
Date: 3/19/2011
I want to respond to Jeanne who has nerve pain while taking Ambien. I have never been able to find nerve pain as a side effect of Ambien, but I will tell you NEVER NEVER NEVER take it again. If the pain is there when you take the Ambien and not there when you don’t take it then I think it is caused by the ambien. I took Ambien for almost 10 years and never ever thought it could have such devistating side effects. I now have neuropathy in my feet and legs and am in constant pain. If only I had known this could happen I would have NEVER taken it. I’d rather be sleep deprived any day than to be in pain. So please stop taking it!

Anita

Extremely important to get 7/8 hours of sleep
Date: 3/20/2011
I think there are several statements here which blame the drug, Ambien, for a suicide etc. You may think your neighbor/friend was happy, well-off, had a nice family but there may have been many things you didn’t know about his/her life. You may think he wasn’t depressed but some people are great at hiding it or don’t even deal with it. Maybe he/she had another type of mental illness or just received very upsetting news. Anyway, my doctor explained to me that it is extremely important for me to get my 7/8 hours of sleep which will help my depression. Without the proper amount of good sleep it is difficult to deal with the next day and any depression which surfaces. This made sense to me and I take it a few times a week usually.

JL

Ambien experience
Date: 3/21/2011
With chronic pain and work stress, I used to have difficulty sleeping (or so I thought). I took Ambien for about 3 years. At first it was a miracle drug – I didn’t mind too much that I would “sleep eat” – ie: actually get out of bed, go to the kitchen, open the refer, get out food, place it on a plate and eat it…then have absolutely no memory at all of any of it when I woke up the next morning. Pretty quickly, I couldn’t go to sleep without it…so I think I had the Dr. up my dose from min to max (not a big spread if I remember correctly – this was in the mid 90’s” Before too long, I couldn’t sleep without it – nor could I sleep with it. I didn’t try any other sleeping medicines.

Since 1997 I haven’t been able to sleep for longer than an average of 30Min at a time before waking up, then falling back to sleep again. My Dr. sent me to a pulmonary specialist and he had me do a sleep study with a bi-pap machine. This was a couple months ago. The results of my sleep test was that in the 10 hours of the time I was “sleeping” I logged 70 minutes of “deep” sleep. For many years now I haven’t been able to sleep at night…ambien? It didn’t work very long for me, but when it worked – wow!!!

Paul

Be careful
Date: 3/23/2011
Ambien can be a safe wat for sleep but be careful, After a couple of nights one pill doesn’t seem to have the same affect.

Chris

Do I have a case for lawsuit?
Date: 4/3/2011
Dear AskDocWeb, I took Ambien for about 4 years and finally weaned myself off of it. Now 2 years later I find that I am in Stage 3 Renal Failure. I believe that the Ambien caused this, do I have a case for lawsuit?

Deborah

AskDocWeb: That is a legal question so you would have to ask a lawyer.
Ambien shooting
Date: 4/5/2011
My brother was taking ambien and he followed his prescription to the T. He did not drink or take more then he was supposed to and turn outs he hallucinated so bad he shot his 9mm through our living room wall if he would have shot 2 inchs lower he would have shot me in the head. This drug is the worst possible drug anyone could ever take and if it is the last thing i ever do or the only good moral thing i ever do, i will make sure that this drug gets banned. People need to learn there are so many better ways to handle the day to day nonsense of life without shoving a pill down there throat. I have seen nothing but negative reviews about ambien and i cannot believe it is still on the market. I have lost my faith in society and humanity because bullsh*t like this continues to go on. Ambien ruined my brothers military career and tore apart my family, what pill is going to *ucking fix that.

Shaina

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