Pros and Cons of Ambien?

[jbn3boys]

I would like to hear what people think of Ambien.

Have you ever used it? How did it work for you?

Have you been offered Ambien, but refused to take it? Why?

Any input would be appreciated, but PLEASE, be polite to all posters, even if they don't agree with your point of view. I don't want this to become an argument about whether a person should take sleep aid medication or not.

[lars4life]

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[Pugsy]

I have used it. Prescribed by sleep doctor PA because pain kept causing fragmented sleep. It is a better alternative (OSA wise) than narcotic pain meds or muscle relaxers. It does work nicely for what I wanted it for. It wasn't the miracle that gave me any Eureka mornings because while I slept through most of the pain, I still had the underlying cause of the pain to deal with and that impacted the restorative powers of my sleep. I don't take it regularly now and when I do, often it is just half a 10mg tablet. I never had any adverse symptoms on the nights I didn't take it. Maybe just didn't take it long enough or enough of it for prolonged time to have any adverse symptoms.

Sort of like how I used to describe what pain pills do. They don't cure the cause of the pain, they just make you not care that you hurt. Ambien did help me sleep and there was some restorative powers to it but not what I would have really liked. It just let me sleep and not notice I hurt. It didn't cure the cause of the pain which was and is the main reason my sleep has been less restorative and I didn't "feel" the good numbers in my AHI data..
7 hours of sleep on Ambien with maybe 2 or 3 wakeups from pain was a whole lot better than 30 wake ups with every time I turned over.

I cast no stones one way or the other about its use. I figure each person is an adult and quite capable of making informed decisions about their own needs.

[jbn3boys]

Okay, so another question....

If you have taken Ambien, and no longer take it, how long did you take it? Why did you stop?

Has anyone taken Ambien long term?

(okay, more than one more question )

[sleeplessinaz]

Hi--I have a script for Ambian---I have some hip pain from a pain in my muscle called Piriformace Syndrome. I am a side sleeper so when I roll on that side the pain would wake me up. My Primary Care Doctor prescribed it for me when I went through Menopause and couldn't sleep at all --(this was before I was diagnosed with Sleep APnea)----so I used it then. Never kept using it long term though. My script would expire before I got any refills.

Pros---you can get some good sleep,
Cons - none that I know of

I have a new script for it but I don't hardly ever take it but it is good to have when you need it!! If I were you --get the AMBIAN--CR. Controlled Release. It helps keep you asleep all night.

GOOD LUCK!

Carrie

[ladyhen]

I was on Ambien CR and it seriously made me want to no longer live. I was extremely depressed and became very paranoid.

My husband had taken both Ambien and Ambien CR without any issues.

[DoriC]

My husband and I were both prescribed Ambien for the first few months to adjust to cpap with no ill effects. My husband no longer takes it but I still take it occasionally when I get that wide awake feeling after a stressful day. I know many people who take it long term so it seems to be widely used.

[robysue]

Ambien was prescribed for me early in my war on insomnia to use on an as needed basis: The deal between my PA and me was that I would take it the day after a disaster of a night insomnia-wise.

First time I took it there was an approximately 20-minute period in Encore Viewer indicating I'd taken the mask off but not turned the machine off. (My BiPAP's AutoOff and AutoOn features are both turned OFF.) And then I apparently put the mask back on in my sleep too (although not well if you look at the leak line for that night) because I certainly don't remember either taking the mask off or putting it back on. Later in the night I woke up (and remembered the wake up) and had to deal with the bad leak from not getting the mask on very well in my Ambien stupor. So you need to take those sleep-activity warnings seriously and make sure that someone is watching out for odd ball evidence that you're doing something in your sleep without knowing it. Probably won't happen to you: but it does happen and it is disturbing when it happens.

Needless to say, that left me even leerier of taking Ambien. I took it several more times back in January. Yes, it helped me to get to sleep more quickly. But it did not help me maintain sleep at all. Still had the same number of wakes. And I don't think the time to get back to sleep after a wake was much different. And I woke up groggy the next morning every time I took it. Of course, my official max time in bed is only six hours, and that's right at the edge of what the instructions say you need to allow for it to get out of your system. So it turned out that my biggest issue with Ambien became: I could not take it if I'd tried to get to sleep at the beginning of the night and then failed to do so. So at January meeting with the PA, she switched me to Sonata with the same deal of I take it only to prevent multiple bad nights with insomnia, and with the Sonata my final decision about taking it does not need to be made until close to 3:00. So I can make an honest effort to get to sleep without it, but still take it if I need to.

[kempo]

I used it for several months when I first started using my apap machine. I liked the way it put me right to sleep. When I finally stop using it the first couple of nights I laid there for 45 minutes to an hour before I went to sleep but like I said it was only for a few nights.

I would recommend the use of Ambien to help a person get comfortable using an xpap machine. No regrets here.

[mlfrank]

I have had one (1) tablet prescribed to me for my sleep study, as I told my Dr., I didn't think I would sleep in the test.

They prescribed one pill. Well, I layed (I know, I probably spelled that incorrectly) there for 6+ hours without sleeping, and had 122 minutes of sleep. So $2500 bucks, out the door! Inconclusive.

I wish they had given me 3, then I could have tested prior to the test, to see if they worked.

I will admit, my mind was totally blank, no thoughts, but, also no sleep.

Maybe I don't respond to this med. Unsure.

[gpap]

I have a prescription to take as needed. Got it when I was going through a medicine change.

I find for me that it doesn't induce sleep. I can take it, then lay awake for hours.

For me, a benedryl (diphenhydramine) does just as good of job for occasional use.

[tonycog]

I recently wrote about my Ambien use here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60835&p=570869


I still use it very occasionally; I think 3 nights in the past 6 weeks when I was out-of-town sleeping in an uncomfortable bed.

[Breathe Jimbo]

One person mentioned getting depressed and paranoid. Anyone else experience depression or increased depression on Ambien?

I was given Restoril generic (temazapam) to take for 30 days to reestablish a normal sleep routine after my hours because screwed up due to a cold waking me up every 60-90 minutes and resetting my normal bedtime to 3 AM or so. I had to stop after a couple of weeks because of increased depression. Bounced back in a couple of days after cessation. Same thing happened the next time I was sick and needed to reestablish a normal sleep routine afterward. Wondering whether Ambien would be better, i.e. safer, for this purpose.

[DocWeezy]

My adventures with Ambien are a bit varied.

My gp prescribed it over a year ago (before being diagnosed with OSA) because I was in an extended insomnia period. I took it regularly every night. I did help me get to sleep (which I usually have little problem with anyway), but it did not help me STAY asleep (which is my real problem). I was still waking up after about 3 hours of sleep.

HOWEVER (and this is the big issue for me)....after two weeks of continuous use, I was feeling almost addicted to it. I wanted to take more, but didn't. I was also having nightmares. It wasn't working at all any more, hence the wanting to take more. So I quit and went through about 4 nights of the worst nightmares I've ever had. It was just a month or so after that that I went to a sleep doc for the first time.

Now I have a prescription for it and keep some around, BUT I only take it if I'm truly struggling to get to sleep and have had more than one night of bad sleep. Unfortunately, now I seem to react to it the next day and feel pretty crazy--very short tempered and prone to screaming and crying (NOT normal states--really!). The day after effects are pretty much not worth it any more because I function better on less sleep than I do on more sleep induced by Ambien. Fortunately, I haven't even thought about taking one for a couple of months now because my bad nights are becoming more rare.

I guess the bottom line is that I don't do very well with Ambien.

Weezy

[chunkyfrog]

I know that when I have insomnia, it is due to anxiety; and I have had very good luck with alprazolam.
My doctor approves; and I don't need it very often.
Sleeplessness is a beast.
When I was out of it, I had to read for two hours before I could go to sleep.
Good luck with your quest.