Ambien for Insomnia User Reviews (Page 4)

• craft...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 21, 2015

"It works to put me asleep, too well! I was told by my husband that I was doing stuff I don't remember doing. One time, I became sexually aggressive, and last night, I didn't recognize my husband and was doing stuff totally off the wall. I will not be taking it again!"

• Hondo
• September 30, 2019

"I’ve got a ton of stress in my life, and it causes severe insomnia. I was up for 63 hours straight at one point and asked my doctor for help. At first, Ambien was moderately effective. I’ve only been on it for three months, and it does little, if anything, to help me sleep now. I wake from it after four hours. If I take it and it doesn’t work, I hallucinate pretty bad. Inanimate objects start moving."

• Jbano
• Taken for 10 years or more
• April 8, 2019

"I've been taking 10 mg of Ambien every night for years. There are no withdrawals. I've gone on vacation for 10 days and forgotten them. The worst thing I felt was not being able to fall asleep. But, duh, it does not make you high. It makes you tired."

• Texjoy
• February 9, 2010

"Although Ambien did the job to rid me of insomnia, the side effects were too frightening, so I had to stop using it. I began sleepwalking, sleep cooking—yes, an entire meal at 2 AM—and I don't remember, and finally sleep driving. I was stopped by a state trooper in my pajamas on I-80 heading west at 11 PM. I don't remember any of it. I never took it again."

• sylmax
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• July 25, 2019

"I was on and off ambien for 10yrs. I quit almost a year ago and I'm still experiencing side effects of that drug. Please stay away as much as you can. I thought getting off of it was hard. I was wrong. Life post-ambien is a real struggle. DO NOT TAKE IT FOR MORE THAN IT IS ADVISED, even if your doc says otherwise (like mine did)."

• Liam
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 18, 2018

"Been taking these for a few weeks, and so far, they are effective for making me fall asleep. I have never had any weird side effects like sleepwalking, shopping, driving, etc. I think if you take the recommended dose and steer clear of alcohol when taking them, you should be fine. It seems when people don't heed that advice is when they run into problems. And like other people say, you should starve for at least 4 hours before taking this medication, as food (especially fatty foods) competes with Ambien."

• Sleep...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 30, 2019

"Ambien is AWFUL!! This is my first night on it, I was taking Lunesta. It is 3:47am right now and I am so upset - not only does it not help insomnia it makes it sooo much worse. It did not help me fall asleep, I woke up within the first two hours of taking it and have not gone back to sleep since then. Can’t wait for my alarm to go off!"

• Darden
• July 27, 2009

"I have trouble staying asleep. I wake every night anywhere from between 12:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and am up for the rest of the night. This medicine helped me sleep, but also made me very depressed. It made me very angry and upset most of the time. I took this for about 3 months, until I got to the point that there was something very wrong with me, and it was the medicine."

• Anonymous
• November 16, 2008

"I started taking this medication 10 years ago. My doctor told me it was non-narcotic and non-habit forming. Up to that time, I had never had any addictions to drugs or alcohol, but unfortunately, I am dependent on this drug for sleep. It does, however, work very well with few side effects, and I wake up feeling refreshed."

• psuzieq
• July 2, 2008

"I have been taking Zolpidem (Ambien) for about 6 months now. After I retired, I found I could not fall asleep, and when I did, I woke up after 4-5 hours of sleep feeling tired all the time. This medication has been a miracle for me. I now wake up after 8 hours feeling refreshed with lots of energy."

• Pol...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 1, 2013

"I was put on 10 mg of Ambien after I was having trouble sleeping during a breakdown. I made the mistake one night of taking it and then answering the phone, I was on the phone for an hour. Oh man, the cupboard moved all on its own, then there were strange people walking up and down the stairs in my house. Strange thing is, I thought this was funny. I fell down twice, once breaking a little coffee table. Luckily for me, my partner was there to help me up the stairs and put me to bed. I now only take 5 mg about an hour before bed, and it really relaxes me and makes me forget all problems. I don't have any trouble sleeping anymore as such, just the odd night here and there."

• altur...
• January 2, 2008

"I've taken Ambien for years. I can honestly say I can't sleep most nights without it. It really works, but I'm codependent on it now. The generic for it, Zolpidem, in my opinion, doesn't work as well. I have chronic pain and can't sleep at night, this is why it was prescribed in the first place. I have also had amnesia."

• lissa...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 31, 2013

"I love it. I am a very restless sleeper, wake up almost every single hour, then have a hard time falling back to sleep. The only time I could sleep through the night is if I drank a load of alcohol. Well, first I started out with half of a 5 mg Ambien just to see how it would affect me. I slept a solid 4 hours, woke up, but it didn't bother me. I didn't get all upset because I woke up, and I easily fell back to sleep. So even 2.5 mg took the edge off for me. It depends on how good I want to sleep as to how much Ambien I take. Last night I took 5 mg and slept a solid 6 hours, got up, went to the bathroom, slept another 3 hours. I don't have all the weird side effects. I feel like a whole new person taking this medication."

• J-1958
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 13, 2023

"Having terrible insomnia I was given a script for Ambien. I took it two different nights -never again. The first night, while asleep, I tried climbing up our window frames. I took it one other time when my mother was dying. Again sleep-walking, I’m concerned that I might have even driven my car without being aware of this. As it was, I determined I had been sleep-walking was due to waking in the morning with three broken front teeth as well as a bloody shin. It also leaves a drugged feeling. I had been prescribed the lowest dose. Having fallen breaking teeth and not even waking up is extremely concerning to me. I wonder how much information the Ambien’s manufacturer actually has heard in regard to the negative effects of this medication. I’ve been in nursing (and knew better though desperate), and feel this is an extremely dangerous drug on the market."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 23, 2013

"Works amazing! I have horrible anxiety and panic attacks, which cause me to have insomnia as well. Tried just about everything for sleep. Works better than some benzos for sleep! I know a lot about benzos. Been prescribed Ativan and Valium, and this medication puts me to sleep better than those! Note this medication works similar to benzos. 5 mg will work great too. You will sleep fine and wake up feeling great and functioning as normal as can be. Overall, great sleep medicine."

• Quaal...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• January 9, 2015

"Works splendidly when first prescribed, but over time loses its effectiveness, and one develops a tolerance to its effectiveness. Due to its short half-life in the body, it peters out quite quickly (/- 2 hours). Would not recommend long-term treatment with this medicine (>6 months)."

• Anonymous
• July 18, 2016

"People, be careful with Ambien. I was put on Ambien 10 mg back in late 2014. I recently stopped the medication cold turkey. It's been a week since I quit, I have been having severe withdrawal. Nightmares, night sweats, and frequent urination are the most occurring symptoms I have been dealing with. Doctors seldom tell patients about drug withdrawals, which is why I am suffering from these problems. So, be careful before you take a newly prescribed medication."

• Melse...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• May 10, 2017

"I absolutely love Ambien. Love it. However, building up a tolerance sucks, the drug testing sucks, having to have a doctor's appointment monthly to get a prescription sucks, and knowing I'm taking something I know I could become dependent on sucks. No groggy mornings, if taken within a half hour of going to bed, I can fall asleep easily, and a few funny text conversations to wake up to. I have tried so many things, and this is so far the only one that has even helped."

• Fred
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 15, 2018

"10 mg worked great for about 3 weeks of nightly use, but after a while, I could not get back to sleep after waking in the middle of the night. This was probably stress for me and worrying about not falling back asleep. It should be noted, though, that this drug is classed as a short-acting sleeping pill with a 'duration of action' of 3 hours, so if you wake up early, it's not that surprising. The CR version works for about 5-6 hours. The regular version does, however, do a good job at getting you to sleep. If your problem is both falling and staying asleep, the CR version would be better."

• LouLa...
• January 13, 2015

"Ditto on rebound sleepless when discontinued. I have done very strange things with no memory, including taking additional Ambien. It has helped me sleep when under extreme stress, but watch out. Now I am trying to learn how to sleep naturally."

• Texas
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 7, 2023

"I recently was switched from Lunesta to Ambien. Lunesta really wasn't helping much. Started Ambien a month or so ago and it's worked great! I try not to eat a big meal close to the time I take it. I also take it when I get into bed and I fall asleep. No staying up and trying to do anything. I take this on average 3 nights a week."

• Klblu...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• September 11, 2018

"After having gastric bypass in '08, I ended up in the hospital for a month. It took one of the night nurses to notice I never slept. He talked to other nurses, and they noticed too but never said anything. They called the doctor that night and gave me an Ambien. I was in heaven. I've always had problems with insomnia. It kept getting worse, so I took 2 a night. I'm lucky if that works every 2 or 3 days, and that only works for 4-5 hours. We tried the extended release, and if you can believe this, it's worse. Maybe 2 1/2 hours. I've tried every sleep medicine, done so many sleep studies, and no one has any ideas on how to help me at all. Seven days was the longest without sleep, and I ended up in the hospital for the same amount of days. No sleep is the most horrible mind-screwing thing ever. It's horrible, horrible, horrible, and I don't wish it on anyone!!!!"

• Beth...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 30, 2016

"Without Ambien, I'm up literally all night. But if you don't take it on an empty stomach, it doesn't work at all. I take it at midnight and can't eat after 5 or 6 PM or else it won't work. If you try and stay up after it starts to work, you may do things you wouldn't normally do - like shop online, which I've done and many people I know. Luckily, everything I've bought is stuff I've wanted, but still..."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• September 17, 2013

"I have taken this in addition to Benadryl for the last five years and noticed that it seems to work within 20 or 30 minutes, as opposed to Benadryl, which takes about an hour. The problem is, if you take it too early before going to bed, you may miss the window period and lie awake in bed, restless. I've never had any of the adverse side effects, like weird dreams or sleepwalking, but it also seems to wake me up eight hours after taking it, regardless of the time. It's probably the best as-needed medicine for insomnia, but would not recommend it on an everyday basis."

• Amabi...
• July 4, 2017

"I love Ambien! It is the only thing that works for me. A few years ago, when I started becoming a worse insomniac, nothing would work. I remember trying Tylenol PM, and at first one worked, then had to bump up to two, then so on and so on, until one day I had taken way too many and a Valium, and I still wouldn't pass out. I would be all drunk off the meds, but it was like the light switch in my head wouldn't turn off. I slept maybe a nap here and there for about a week and was thinking of checking myself into a nutty house because I would drive somewhere without remembering, all from lack of sleep. Very long story short, Ambien is the only thing to me that I take and feels like a natural way to lay my head down and go to sleep."