rock and roll:
you are sooooo right! three hours to the minute with me with ambien cr. regular ambien doesn't work at all for me. i'm ready to ask my sleep doc if i can take another ambien cr when i wake up after three hours. this is ridiculous.
my difficulties in falling asleep and staying asleep have nothing to do with osa. i have heavy alpha intrusion, which means i don't sleep deeply.
caroline
Death by Ambien/Lunesta/Sonata
Ambien has a half life of 2.6 to 3 hours and the CR a shade longer even though I didn't find the CR to be much better.
Lunesta I found works allot better on the nights I need something as it has a half life of around 6 to 7 hours and with me anyways a much smoother sleep.
The only thing I found with Lunesta is because of the long half life, you might have some carry over into the next day if you take it late at night.
I was lucky enough not to have the Lunesta problem concerning the bad taste syndrome.
Either way, natural sleep is always better but if you need something, there are several good meds out there.
Marc
Lunesta I found works allot better on the nights I need something as it has a half life of around 6 to 7 hours and with me anyways a much smoother sleep.
The only thing I found with Lunesta is because of the long half life, you might have some carry over into the next day if you take it late at night.
I was lucky enough not to have the Lunesta problem concerning the bad taste syndrome.
Either way, natural sleep is always better but if you need something, there are several good meds out there.
Marc
The Ambien CR issues are interesting. Regular Ambien dose is 10 mg (or 5 mg "for elderly"). Ambien CR dose is 12.5 mg (or 6.25 mg for "elderly").
With Ambien CR-6.25 is released immediately and another 6.25 mg later-so in a sense you get a relatively low dose compared to Regular Ambien where you get 10 mg all at once.
With Regular Ambien I have no trouble falling asleep but only sleep about 4-4.5 hours. With Ambien CR I have trouble falling asleep but once asleep I sleep well for 7-8 hours. I usually use it intermittently and if for some reason I do end up taking it every night for a week I cut them into quarters and taper down to 3/4 of a pill for two days, then to 1/2 of a pill for two days then none and that seems to solve the rebound problem.
The big issue for me is that when taking Ambien I don't awaken when my mask leaks-I added some reinforcements to keep the mask from shifting.
It does give me a "sort of amnesia". It isn't an absolute amnesia. For example if the dogs have been barking and I get up to quiet them down-i won't remember that unless my partner says "Do you remember getting up to settle the dogs last night?" And it has only been about minor occurences-if anything major happens I do remember it.
If the Grandkids are here without Mom-I don't take it in case they need something in the middle of the night. And no wine with dinner if I plan to take the Ambien.
With Ambien CR-6.25 is released immediately and another 6.25 mg later-so in a sense you get a relatively low dose compared to Regular Ambien where you get 10 mg all at once.
With Regular Ambien I have no trouble falling asleep but only sleep about 4-4.5 hours. With Ambien CR I have trouble falling asleep but once asleep I sleep well for 7-8 hours. I usually use it intermittently and if for some reason I do end up taking it every night for a week I cut them into quarters and taper down to 3/4 of a pill for two days, then to 1/2 of a pill for two days then none and that seems to solve the rebound problem.
The big issue for me is that when taking Ambien I don't awaken when my mask leaks-I added some reinforcements to keep the mask from shifting.
It does give me a "sort of amnesia". It isn't an absolute amnesia. For example if the dogs have been barking and I get up to quiet them down-i won't remember that unless my partner says "Do you remember getting up to settle the dogs last night?" And it has only been about minor occurences-if anything major happens I do remember it.
If the Grandkids are here without Mom-I don't take it in case they need something in the middle of the night. And no wine with dinner if I plan to take the Ambien.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.....Galbraith's Law
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birdshell
- Posts: 1622
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:58 am
- Location: Southeast Michigan (Lower Peninsula)
Josh, I had the same situation but suffered no side effects and I improved with energy. Then the OSA was diagnosed, I was still sleeping a lot, and now I take Provigil in the morning and at noon.josh wrote:My favorite was when I was prescribed provigil with undiagnosed OSA...fun stuff!
Surprised to still be alive!!
It helps me, and I call it my 'peppy' pill. How did it affect you adversely?