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Still will not stop those rationalizing and in denial about using it from singing its praise.Obviously what happened to Eminem indicates that some people get into trouble with it. But it doesn't sound like he was abusing it or addicted as the headline read. From what the article reports, he apparently has some stupdenous sleep problems that need to be addressed in some other way than Ambien because they outstrip the potential of the drug, a situation that led to excessive dose escalation.
It's not a fun drug, not a party drug. We're not talking about benzos or oxycontin or prescription uppers. It generally causes SLEEP, and that's apparently all the poor guy was seeking.
I've taken Ambien for about 3 years, every night except for about a month last winter.
My use is due to delayed sleep phase syndrome coupled with a day job and failure at other DSPS treatments (which don't tend to work well).
My dose escalation over 3 years has been from 2.5 mg to 5 mg, still a fairly modest dose.
Last winter I took a 10 day vacation which enabled me to sleep my natural hours (about 4 a.m. to noon): I was able to discontinue Ambien with just a couple miserable nights and could sleep without it just fine without it after about 4 nights off of it.
My doctors, btw, did not advise me to go off Ambien. I just wanted to not feel dependent on it and also to see how difficult it would be to discontinue it -- surprisingly easy.
Would have been happy to stay off, but when I went back to work the problems of adjusting my DSPS-warped sleep schedule eventually drove me back to it.
