Melatonin vs. Ambien

[Sloop]

I am curious, did doctors initially believe it was the ambien that caused her frightening events? Or did they initially deny it could be the culprit?

All the doctors (both emergency and hospital) seemed to only focus on the condition itself and not the cause. I would offer my theories and they would maybe nod in agreement but that was the most I would get out of them. But I know this much -- whenever she was under the influence of Ambien, I could have set a bomb off, and it wouldn't wake her. Hard enough to get her to wake up 8 hours later in the morning. She was on a half dose too -- which if I remember right, it was half of a 10 mg pill.
So I base my conclusion on what I believe would be the scene for a normal person, not under the influence of a drug. If they got sick in the middle of the night, normal people would immediately wake up.

[jencat824]

Let me give an explanation of what I meant by Ambien being a killer. The drug itself won't kill you, but what it does to your consciousness and mental acquity is alarming.

It will literally turn you into a zombie in the early hours of use. You will be pretty much unresponsive or at a minimum totally whacked out. If you take this stuff regularly, there will be times when you sleep walk, and will be found doing very bizarre stuff. I caught my wife burning bacon in a frying pan and the fire was so intense it almost burned down our kitchen. Another time I caught her stuffing all her jewerly in and out of several purses. But the worst was when she had eaten something earlier in the evening that didn't agree with her stomach and about two hours after going to sleep, she vomited and didn't wake up. She aspirated all the vomit into her lungs and was comatose for 5 days (total of 10 days in ICU). My wife is not the Lone Ranger with bad happenings because of Ambien. Do some research.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

WOW! My mother-in-law is on 10mg of Ambien & ?mg of Trazadone nightly. She is 76 yrs old & on dialysis. Should I try getting her off this stuff. She has the worst insomnia I've ever seen. When she just gets home from a long hospitilization (has happened several times over the years), I stay with her & at any given hour without sleep aids she is awake. She won't be sleep tested & her Dr has insisted she take enough sleep meds to get 'some' sleep. She gets an avg of about 2-4 hrs on good nites. I will have a fight on my hands, but after what you said, I'm afraid this stuff is too unsafe for her. If she were your beloved mother-in-law what would you do?
Jen

[Sloop]

She won't be sleep tested & her Dr has insisted she take enough sleep meds to get 'some' sleep. She gets an avg of about 2-4 hrs on good nites. I will have a fight on my hands, but after what you said, I'm afraid this stuff is too unsafe for her. If she were your beloved mother-in-law what would you do?
Jen

You sure have you hands full on this one. You could take these posts and show them to her doctor and seek advice. I suspect the doctor would first advise you NOT to let the internet diagnos and prescribe -- which basically is good advice. However, the Ambien issue is well known. Now couple that with the fact that your mother-in-law is 76 along with taking a full dose and she only gets 2-4 hrs and like you said ....... that is on a good night. But she has lots of other medical issues she is dealing with too such as the dialysis. This is going to have to be a decision made by her doctor. However, you could suggest to her doctor weaning her off the Ambien and replacing it with Melatonin. I would recommend the 1 mg sublingual kind taken immediately upon going to bed. It works very fast. This actually might give her more restful sleep - it is worth a try. I've been using the sublingual melatonin for over 10 years - no problems.