Ambien: good or bad?

[rd1978]

My dr. prescribed Ambien a long time ago for my difficulties sleeping. Since getting my APAP, however, I have not been taking it at all. I'm still trying to adjust to everything and wake up a few times every night. I know sleeping pills tend to make OSA worse but it could also potentially help me sleep through the night. I could use some advice on whether the good outweighs the bad. After all, I have OSA anyway, Ambien or no Ambien.

[jules]

definitely bad - very addictive for many - even though your doctor will tell you otherwise - get off and stay off and get rid of any pills that are still there when you finally get off

[BlackSpinner]

definitely bad - very addictive for many - even though your doctor will tell you otherwise - get off and stay off and get rid of any pills that are still there when you finally get off

Since getting my APAP, however, I have not been taking it at all. I'm still trying to adjust to everything and wake up a few times every night.

The best thing is to wait until you have adjusted to xpap. Changing 2 things at the same time is never recommended.

[chunkyfrog]

Is this a drug that needs to be tapered down slowly?

[purple]

I take Acetaminophen, and find I sleep for time periods that are when the blood level of the Acetaminophen is up. Waking up as the level drops. Some use Tylenol PM which is for an extended time period, and I think usually has something for allergies. Be careful not to overdose with other products containing Acetaminophen.

[avi123]

See here that taking Zolpidem (generic Ambien) is recommended for those with Central Sleep Apnea:

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab& ... 60&bih=506

The Consumer Reports rates Ambien as top sleep Rx. The following is as of 2012 and based on a survey of about 9000 people with sleep problems:






The trick is to take it at a small dose of no more than 10 mg daily. Being a short life span acting Rx it should put you to sleep within 20 min and keep you asleep for about 3 to 4 hours. The question is what to do afterwards. Taking more could make you dependent. But even if you do it occasionally it's not difficult to taper off it. I for example, tapered off the 10 mg tablet by splitting the tablet and taking the 5 mg for a couple of weeks and then stopped. Others do it by dissolving the tablet in a glass of water and reducing its concentration by 10% every couple of weeks, i.e. drinking only 90%, 80%, 70% etc., of the water in each step.

[LSAT]

Ambien...BAD
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-575 ... ent-years/

[Pugsy]

There are risks vs rewards for just about every medication out.
I think that you should discuss your concerns with your doctor.

[Stormynights]

I know a lady who takes Ambien and she gets out of bed while asleep and eats. She has gained a lot of weight. She said she wakes up and finds food in her bed. Yuck

[Beachmeezer]

I am in the very small minority when it comes to Ambien. I do take it. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can not fall back asleep with my mask on. I tried every OTC med and supplement with no success. I practice good sleep hygiene. I was only getting 3-4 hours of mask time. With Ambien I sleep through the night with the mask on. I have no Ambien side effects. After quite a bit of discussion between my GP and the sleep doc we all decided that compliancy with my CPAP was more important. The new recommended dose for women is 5 mg.

This isn't a popular stance on Ambien but wanted to share. It is important to be educated and discuss meds with your physician since Ambien isn't for everyone.

[squid13]

When I asked my sleep Doctor about Ambiem he said he doesn't prescribe it for his patients because there are to many instances of sleep walking.

[Pugsy]

I am in the very small minority when it comes to Ambien. I do take it. I

Well, you aren't alone. I used to take it fairly regularly when first starting therapy because I was having a lot of wake ups from pain and she would rather see me take Ambien than opiates for pain. We finally found a different cocktail of meds to help me sleep through the pain so the Ambien has taken a back seat but I still take it every now and then depending on the situation.
Never any bad side effects at all. No weird stuff happening during the night..pretty boring and I went I backed off on taking it there weren't any ugly side effects. It did its job.

Ambien has its place just like any medication out there and a person's decision to take it or not should be based on their own situation and their own comfort level taking such medications and frank discussion with their doctor about the pros and cons and all that.
It's routinely given for people to take to help reduce "lab effect" for sleep studies. We have to get the sleep first to have any chance of feeling better.

There's good and bad stuff going on with every medication out there in some form of other. Risk vs rewards and a person should make their own educated decision based on their own feelings...their doctor and what they hope to accomplish.

[Stormynights]

That is true. I am allergic to aspirin. That doesn't mean it is bad for everyone.

[RogerSC]

I've also had reasonable results from using Ambien. Sleep better, and I can get back to sleep easier. No sleepwalking or sleepeating, etc. The only bad effect is that the night after I stop using it I don't sleep well. But after that, things normalize again. I've never used it long term. The longest (and first) period of use was my first week of CPAP, just to help me get used to sleeping with all the gear. And it worked for that. I've used it a couple of other times when I needed to get to sleep because I had to do something early the next day. I've thought about using it to try out a new mask, since I don't have a very good record of getting to sleep when I'm trying a different mask, but haven't done that yet.

Anyways, in the fairly few isolated times that I've used it, it has worked for me with few drawbacks, and I've been okay with it. I'm probably about a third of the way through the 30-day prescription that I got at the beginning of last year. So what I have could easily last me until it expires *smile*.

[49er]

I am in the very small minority when it comes to Ambien. I do take it. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can not fall back asleep with my mask on. I tried every OTC med and supplement with no success. I practice good sleep hygiene. I was only getting 3-4 hours of mask time. With Ambien I sleep through the night with the mask on. I have no Ambien side effects. After quite a bit of discussion between my GP and the sleep doc we all decided that compliancy with my CPAP was more important. The new recommended dose for women is 5 mg.

This isn't a popular stance on Ambien but wanted to share. It is important to be educated and discuss meds with your physician since Ambien isn't for everyone.

If it worked for me, I would be taking it in a heartbeat so no need to apologize. I hope it continues to work for you.

49er