Focusing on Ambien

[Sloop]

Been a lot of posts about it recently. Here is a good discussion from doctors.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/americas- ... t_id=86895

[robysue]

Interesting discussion on why Ambien and other hyponotics should only be for short term use. And a good discussion about some of the most basics of sleep hygiene (no facebook or twitter before bed; don't do heavy exercise right before bed; sleep in a dark room). And a decent mention of melatonin and magnesium as more natural alternatives. But the docs seemed to be focused on short term insomnia; one of the correspondents indirectly raised the question of long-term, chronic insomnia by talking about how some people feel as though they just cannot get a decent night's sleep without the aid of drugs.

So I have to say I was somewhat surprised to see no-one mention the idea of getting a sleep test to rule out OSA if the insomnia is particularly chronic, long term and severe.

[MAXDRI]

Sorry, I don't go for these short TV blips. I have tried all the things the good Doctor mentioned: Dark room, no TV, no food for four hours. etc. After I was diagnosed with Central/Complex Sleep Apnea, the mask & machine kept me from sleeping at all. My doctor prescribed Ambien CR; now I can tolerate the mask & can sleep a few hours. Backed by quality studies concerning the long term use of Ambien CR, my doctor has given his approval of my continued use of it. We are all unique individuals. I have read long articles about the side effects. I have none of them. For me Abien makes my life worth living.

[chunkyfrog]

So far no need yet; but it's good to know just in case.

[Sloop]

Sorry, I don't go for these short TV blips. I have tried all the things the good Doctor mentioned: Dark room, no TV, no food for four hours. etc. After I was diagnosed with Central/Complex Sleep Apnea, the mask & machine kept me from sleeping at all. My doctor prescribed Ambien CR; now I can tolerate the mask & can sleep a few hours. Backed by quality studies concerning the long term use of Ambien CR, my doctor has given his approval of my continued use of it. We are all unique individuals. I have read long articles about the side effects. I have none of them. For me Abien makes my life worth living.

Ok - you pays your money and you takes your chances. You obviously are setting yourself up for long term use, something I STRONGLY advise against. Please make sure your homeowner's policy is fully paid up, because you may find you need it. Not being silly here. I lived through many episodes of very bizarre behavior on the part of my wife while she was taking Ambien nightly for about 3 years. And that was only half a pill (.5 mg). On countless occasions, I found her up and about in a total stupor. One night she was stuffing her purse full of all her jewelry. Here is what I posted recently on another thread:

AMBIEN -- it is extremely dangerous. Do your research. Doctors, for some stupid reason, are prescribing this stuff like it is candy. Ambien almost killed my wife a year ago. It has a tendency to put you so deeply under, that you wouldn't wake up if a bomb went off. That is what happened to her and the short story is she vomited in her sleep from some tainted food, did NOT wake up, and ended up with aspiration pneumonia and septic shock. She was in a coma for 6 days, and spent a total of 10 days in CCU. Took her 3 months to return to normal. The Ambien went in the toilet, NEVER to grace our house again. She is using sub-lingual Melatonin (like I use) and does just fine getting to sleep and sleeping all night.
Leading up to that crisis, she also had multiple episodes of the sleep-walking stuff that Ambien is known for. One night she was in the kitchen cooking bacon and the frying pan was on fire and could have easily burned the house down if I hadn't -- for some reason - gone in there.

As a side note, she never believed any of that behavior happened. Denies it to this day. I think Ambien is ok for short-term use, like being prescribed for a sleep study where it is almost impossible to get to sleep.