hoobajoo

Anyone know if taking Ambien every night is bad for you? The doctor said that it's a non-addictive sleeping aid but I must admit, I'm addicted because these pills work so well. I only talk a half a pill each night(A full pill and I get loopy).

Stompy

They *say* that it's bad for you because you could get addicted, but I think being addicted and getting good sleep is better than dealing with the effects of never getting proper sleep!

I have trouble sleeping at night, and when I was on them, I had the best sleep of my life. I'm thinking about getting a constant script for 'em because I still have trouble sleeping.. and lately I've been miserable even with 8 hours of sleep. Tired as hell all day, etc.

I workout and stuff, too, which totally doesn't give me energy. I eat properly, etc., so who knows. Anyway.. I'd rather be on these pills

[edit]
Here's some info on it: http://ambien.drugs.com/

I'm sure you can get more from Google, but it just says "Can be habit forming." The side effects are common with just about any other medication, so nothing unusual there. I'm not sure if you build up a tolerance to em, but if not, then what's the biggie?

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ShaniFaye

I had trouble sleeping and a friend loaned me some....they didnt do a thing for me probably a good thing Tylenol PM works wonders for me and its probably cheaper

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VitaminH

Ambien is addictive, its a derivitave of benzodiazapienes, like Valium and Xanax made to be less addictive, but it still is addictive.

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Stompy

What are the negative side effects of an ambien addiction?

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QuasiMojo

I think perhaps a 9 letter word that starts with "A"

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thingstodo

Sorry, but if you need a drug to sleep then you have a much deeper problem. I would personally want to solve the problem rather than taking a medication to treat the symptom.

However, I can understand how good a good night's sleep feels when you haven't had one! And I liked the previous comment "I think perhaps a 9 letter word that starts with "A"."

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hunnychile

Ok, so Ambien is addictive. That's why the doctors monitor it so closely. Have you tried Tylenol PM? It really does work and it's quite a bit safer. No one should suffer from lack of sleep...that's not healthy - you could become psychotic eventually. Those who have suggested that you need to find the cause are sort of right. A doctor will want you to get counseling if you go down that road. Maybe you need more physical activity earlier in the day. It could be as easy as that. Works for my S.O.

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hoobajoo

I can sleep without it but I tried it because my girlfriend had a sample prescription for it and it knocked me out extremely quick. It comes in very handy when I have a late Sunday night hockey game and it's tough to go to sleep afterwards because it takes a little while for me to wind down from that(having work early the next morning doesn't help). Thanks everyone for the information though. I'm going to go check out the webpage.

gonadman

try to wean off by using a non addictive substitute. Benadryl(diphenhydramine) is a good choice. Not as quick acting, but longer duration of action without addictive side effects. BTW its also the active ingredient in Tylenol PM without the liver irritating Tylenol mixed in!

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cokelvr

This is bad! Never use someones elses prescription. Ambien doesn't work for everyone. Some people can take benadryl and get the same effect.

Glory's Sun

Ambien didn't do anything?? That's a new one.

Everyone is different but as posted already, Ambien is highly addictive. In most cases you can't get more than a 7 day supply without signing a release form. I was addicted to it once.. it was hard to get off of. What are the side effects.. just listen to the fast talking in the end of the commercials.. that should explain it fairly well.

runtuff

Oh yes highly addictive. HIGHLY. Does not seem that way at first and then you are hooked. Little old people are usually the ones that sadly get hooked.

BE careful. No more than 5 days!!!

Supple Cow

It leaves me ill at ease that my doctor just prescribed them to me and said they weren't addictive. He told me to start with half a pill, but I've tried melatonin supplements way too many times and I have really severe insomnia so I took a whole one last night. WOW, was that an experience! Someone said it made them loopy? Well that's not the word I was thinking of when it kicked in. I felt STONED. Maybe I should go to half a pill and see if I can get my sleep back on track without it. I don't really want to find out what Ambien withdrawal is like.

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Glory's Sun

I can't believe your doctor told you they weren't addictive! How many did he perscribe and what dosage? I was taking 10's at one point. I don't remember ever feeling "stoned" on them, but it did knock me out. Which is what I was looking for. Actually, I do remember feeling high on them once, but I was mixing them with alcohol and something else

Supple Cow

He gave me 30 of the 10MGs. On another note, I had no idea they were so strong so I sat at my computer waiting for them to take effect. And then they did... and I did the single most embarrassing thing I can remember ever doing in my life. I sent an email inviting a bunch of my close friends, their boyfriends, and a guy I barely met (whom I was thinking of asking out soon) to an orgy in my room. I am not pleased with myself at the moment.

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Glory's Sun

bah, you didn't invite me to the orgy! /me sulks Don't worry about it. Just tell them you were on medication and didn't realize what you were typing. It's no worse than being drunk I'm very surprised that the doc didn't even warn you of the effects. I could understand if he gave you the lower dosage but to start you on 10's is a little much. Just take half a pill and see how that works. If you start feeling like you can't sleep unless you take a pill.. hide the bottle!

Stompy

It's not THAT addictive, at least I don't think so. I don't feel that they are addictive at all.

I've been taking them for over 30 days now, sometimes 2 each night (10 mg pills) and I haven't had any in almost a week with absolutely no side effects whatsoever aside from my old habits (pre-Ambien, mind you) of not sleeping continuously throughout the night.

There's been no NEED to take them and no "withdrawl" type effects or anything... and the breaks in my normal sleep patterns are the exact same (not any worse) than before I started taking the ambien.

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Glory's Sun

Stompy, I think it's different with everyone. I felt the need to take them when I quit. I didn't really have withdrawl effects other than the want. For the first few nights after I quit I couldn't sleep at all. Eventually my pattern leveled out and I sleep ok now.

liquidlight

This is not necessarily true either, I've got a couple physiological conditions that make a decent nights sleep almost impossible, but that's something that I'm taking up with my doctor.

As for Ambien being addictive, if I remember the dosing recommendations correctly you're not supposed to take it for more than 2 weeks in a row and if you need the treatment for an excess of 2-3 weeks you're supposed to see a sleep specialist to discover the cause.

http://my.webmd.com/drugs/drug-9690-...me=Ambien+Oral

The Ambien is not designed to "cure" your sleep problems, it's supposed to help facilitate you getting decent sleep so that your body can begin to regulate and repair itself. The reason that you feel "stoned" if you take too much is that it is a sedative/hypnotic much like THC. WebMD has an excellent drug index if you're ever curious.

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d3cemberist

As others have noted, it is addictive. So please be very careful when taking it!

VitaminH

As I've already said, it IS addictive. BUT it is NOT as addictive as other drugs that work in the same manner as this one. Natually, everyone is different so some may become dependant on it rather quickly and others may never be addicted. Your milage WILL vary. If you want to know more, look up benzodiazapienes. Ambien has been chemically modifided from benzos to be less addictive but still have the sleep-inducing properties.

I'm not sure about signing a release form for more than a week's supply, and perhaps that is done at the Dr's office because I've dispensed 30 day supplies all the time with refills in my pharmacy with no problem.

Some people suffer from insomnia for a variety of reasons, and some reasons cannot be fixed other than by giving you something like this to help you sleep. Thus, getting to the root problem is not always the solution. In some cases, e.g. stress or deperssion fixing the problem fixes the insomnia, but in others (insomnia from other vital meds would be first that comes to mind for me) this is not the case.

I'm not going to type out a whole drug counseling session right here, but if anyone wants to know more, feel free to PM me or post here.

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VitaminH-

Look up the difference between "dependance" and "addiction".

thingstodo

[QUOTE=liquidlight]This is not necessarily true either, I've got a couple physiological conditions that make a decent nights sleep almost impossible, but that's something that I'm taking up with my doctor. [QUOTE=liquidlight]

Dude....I said if you need something like this you have deeper problems. You responded by quoting me that "that's not true" and then go on to note that you have a couple of physiological conditions. I don't know what else that can be but a deeper problem.

Denial. It's a terrible thing. But the first step is to admit that something exists, whether it is a problem or just a fact. And they only way to do that is to take the emotion out.

There is a good book out there called Leadership and Self-Deception. It's all about what we do to cause our own problems but establish systems to blame everyone else and creat a cycle.

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