Ambien

I have been taking Ambien for awhile and it's really not working well like I thojught. It is only letting me sleep up to 4 hours does anyone else who is taking this medication do that to you?

I used to take Ambien. It did nothing for me. I would lay down in bed, swallow a pill, and lay there wide awake for two or more hours before finally giving up and getting up. :( It completely baffled my psychiatrist.

*disclaimer* My studies and experiments with Ambien, while scientific in nature, don't have a control group or wide testing, this is simply my experience with it over the course of many years, your experience may differ*

First thing to keep in mind when dealing with Ambien is that it was never intended to keep you asleep, they developed Ambien CR which is designed to give you a full night sleep, however because of it's controlled release it doesn't really give you the necessary dosage to go to sleep if you find it very difficult to fall asleep normally.

Next you have to identify why you can't fall asleep, some examples are restless leg syndrome, increased brain activity, sensativity to light, sound, or other external stimuli. For people on an elevated mood cycle it usually tends to be the latter two, people on the depressive cycle tends to be the first two. (not always, just my experience in talking to other ambien users)

Personally I am a very heavy sleeper, so all I really needed was one 10mg pill to put me to sleep (mind you I had some serious reactions to it that I found entertaining which led to my abuse of the substance) and it worked really well. I stayed asleep for a full 8 hours and woke up refreshed.

in your case EK I would recommend speaking to your physician about the CR tablet, as well as a 5 mg tablet. the 5 plus the CR property should get you to sleep and keep you there for 6-8 hours. If 5 isn't enough then you should be able to go to 10 and still be fine, as long as you are in your bed ready to sleep immediately after you take them.

As for you Kite, have you tried lunesta yet?

I should probably share this part too... You are not supposed to try to stay awake after taking ambien... Hallucinations are not normal (I had a frequent re-occurring hallucination that involved Alan Rickman) sleepwalking, trying to drive, not normal... I had to have my girlfriend hide my keys, pills, and alcohol after I took it... I used to love tripping out... and that was on a regular 10mg dose. It is the one addiction that I can honestly say that if you put a 10mg ambien in front of me, i would take it in a heart beat, no questions asked. So be careful with it, it can be terribly addicting.

Ambien is a benzo - very addictive class of drugs. Worse than cocaine OR meth for me anyway ~ my ADHD probably made me NOT like the "uppers" as much as the "downers"; u can tell how old I am! Benzodiazepines replaced barbituates for the most part.

Xanax & Klonopin mixed w/alcohol were my faves back in the day when I was manic...I would get Xany Bars crush 'em up & snort 'em up b/c that would halt the racing thoughts for a while & I could relax a little bit.

I agree w/Hydrok, please be careful,

-cb-

GAHHH!!!! Its 11:00 and I cant sleep, I haven't gotten better than 5 or 6 hours of sleep in the last couple weeks, I am ready to scream... I am such an idiot for telling my provider that I had an ambien addiction... I would give anything for just one little 10mg pill

deleted, double post

Hi, I have taken every single sleep aide possible. Nothing worked. Ambien got me a but tired but I wouldnt fall asleep ( most things I did during this time I would forget ---- the amesia side effect), then after I am guessing the other component kicked in ( the one that is suppossed to keep you asleep ) I was bright eyed and wide awake.
the reason I needed sleep aides was because I would wake up after about 90 min throughout the night.... It went sleep, --> 90 min ---> wake up; this occurred about 4 - 5 times a night.
There has been one medication that has helped if not resolved the issue. It is REQUIP.... It is used for Parkisons and RLS. I take this before bed and at most Ill awake once if at all. The best thing is that I actually feel refreshed in the am. The only drawback for me is that if I dont have least 6 - 7 hours to sleep, ill sleep through my alarm CLOCKS....Overall, it is the best 'sleep aide' Ive come across...

I want ambien, only ambien, and nothing but ambien. It works for me, I love the way it makes me feel before I fall asleep... there are literally tears in my eyes thinking about taking just one pill to make all my pain go away for 8 hours.