Ambien and Insomnia: What Users Say

• nig...
• February 25, 2020

For Insomnia "I was prescribed Ambien by a well-meaning doctor around 2014. She had no trouble refilling my Rx. I took one at night and was simply knocked out to sleep. It was lovely! Then, I had a calm period and tried to get off it. Nope. I was dependent. Keep in mind, I was taking as prescribed, no more, and right at bedtime. Fast forward 2016. Now I took it once then drove to Walgreens! Not proud of that at all. I took it a little before bedtime while I was still awake reading in bed and everything was muted. By 2017 I could not sleep without it but was not sleeping much with it. I began taking 1 1/2 pills. For to 6 hours sleep. I would wake up in a panic! I tapered for 2 months then took my last piece on Feb. 15 in 2019. I had a month of horrible insomnia... Just one or two hours. I thought it would never end! But it did. And I will never take another Ambien as long as I live."

• Chr...
• October 5, 2018

For Insomnia "After being a good sleeper, out of the blue, I began to suffer bad insomnia, taking hours to fall asleep or having repeated awakenings, which was not like me! Possibly because of neighbor issues for years causing stress, which finally started to impact my sleep, I tried over-the-counter meds with no success. Then my doctor gave me Ambien and it works so well for me at 10 mg. It does not always keep me asleep all night, but at least it knocks me out and destroys any anxiety due to insomnia. It seems those of us with insomnia find it hard to calm the brain down, and repeated sleepless nights make us more anxious, making sleep increasingly hard to come by. Medications like Ambien are effective, as they increase GABA in the brain, leading to relaxation and then making it easier to sleep. I would say this drug is safe, surely better than drinking alcohol to sleep, which has bad health impacts. Regular good sleep improves my mood, appetite, lowers anxiety and depression. Ambien does this, it's a good thing!"

• Bad...
• February 4, 2014

For Insomnia "I have been taking Ambien on and off for 8 years for severe insomnia, mostly related to anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Over time, my body has built up a dependence and a tolerance. I will lay awake until 5 am if I don't take it, miserable and exhausted for days. The generic doesn't seem to work as well, and since I have been on it so long, I usually have to take 20mg to get a full night's sleep. But with certain generics, I still wake up at 3 am and can't go back to bed. It has been a godsend over the years as I tried everything else. I was treated for depression, but those medications made it harder to sleep. At some point, I would like to stop being dependent on the medicine, but every time I try to quit, I go through weeks with no sleep."

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

For Insomnia "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!!!!"

• dan...
• July 15, 2018

For Insomnia "Ambien saved my life. I’ve suffered from severe panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias since I was 5 and 6. I was also diagnosed with ADHD when I was 11. The anxiety has come and gone, and I have been on 25 mg of Zoloft for years. Well, I’m 21 now and thought that I could get off my anxiety meds about a year ago, and boy was I wrong. It was fine for about a year, but in December, something snapped and I was in full-fledged panic mode. I couldn’t eat or sleep or even function. I felt like I was dying. Anyway, my dad used to take Ambien for travel and he happened to have some left. I was in a fit and was bawling because of sleep deprivation, and he’s like, here, take half of one of these. I took my first 5 mg of Ambien and I could sleep! I cried when I woke up because I started to feel better. I then got my own prescription and eventually I didn’t need them and I went back to normal. I have some in case of emergencies, but I don’t need to take it every night."

• Ran...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 26, 2015

For Insomnia "I was in a horrible car crash Sept. 7th, 2014. I was air cared to UC. I was in ICU for 9 days and remained hospitalized 3 months. I never used to have trouble going to sleep, but since my accident, I will lay in bed for hours. On really bad nights, sometimes it's all night, with my eyes closed, trying to fall asleep, but I just can't. I believe being on a dilaudid drip for so long during my hospital stay, then morphine and oxycodone for a while, plays a big role in my sudden insomnia. Also, I was diagnosed with GAD 6 years ago, which I'm sure sometimes adds to my trouble sleeping. ZzzQuil or Benadryl helped some at first, but now neither helps at all. Finally, I was given Zolpidem 10 mg, and I LOVE it. I fall asleep and sleep all night. Definitely recommend it!"

• Uta...
• September 17, 2015

For Insomnia "I personally have not taken this medication, but my mother has. I am 19, and she started taking it when I was 12. It, for the most part, helped her insomnia, but the side effects were extreme. I would have to stay up until she had fallen asleep, because if I didn't, she would do things and not remember them the next morning. She would take our dog for a walk in the dark at 10 at night by herself. There was one occasion where she woke up on our neighbor's cement front porch with our dog. She had no recollection of how she got there. She would eat strange things like vinegar and ketchup chicken quesadillas, she would fall down the stairs, she would lose things, and she got very addicted. Coming off it was horrible. The night terrors were insane."

• Djd...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 22, 2017

For Insomnia "I was prescribed 5 mg Ambien after 3 months of not getting more than 2-3 hours of sleep in each 24-hour period. I had tried Benadryl, hydroxyzine, and Valium previously, all of which kept me wide awake. I took the 5 mg right before bed, as instructed, and laid there awake all night. The next night I decided to try 1 1/2 (7.5 mg) as I kept reading horror stories about 10 mg. I took it, waited about 10 minutes, then went to bed. It took me over an hour to fall asleep, but once I did, I'm thrilled to say I slept all night! Unfortunately, even after a full night of sleep, it was very hard to wake up. I'd wake up then doze back off. That happened several times for about an hour. Once I was able to wake up enough to get up, I was fine."

• kfp...
• October 24, 2010

For Insomnia "After the birth of my child, I had a difficult time sleeping. The tireder I got, the less I could sleep. My OB gave me Ambien to help me get sleep. At first, I was concerned, but I hadn't slept in days, so my husband promised to listen for the baby. I have to say, without this medicine, I would never have made it through my insomnia. I would advise that if you take this drug, you let a loved one know so they can look out for you. I have tried to do a few stupid things while on this drug, like put stupid things on Facebook and email people stupid things. Each time, my husband stopped me... YOU CANNOT USE THIS MEDICINE WITHOUT A WING MAN!"

• Sum...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 22, 2023

For Insomnia "I was on Ambien for over 3 years. Honestly, I'm not sure why I stayed on it for so long, probably because I was afraid to withdraw from it. The side effects I experienced were waking up in the middle of the night and doing things without any memory in the morning, for instance, eating, cooking, shopping online, and waking people up in my house in the middle of the night to have bizarre conversations. My family finally convinced me to get off Ambien, and I slowly tapered myself off. I still have some sleepless nights, but it's slowly getting better. My advice for anyone starting Ambien is to make sure you are in bed before taking your pill because if you're up when it kicks in, you can become very disoriented and loopy."

• Lex...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 2, 2021

For Insomnia "This medication is the worst. The first night, I only took a half, it did put me right to sleep. It was not a restful sleep. When I woke up, I was groggy, stumbling. The next night, I took the other half, it did not put me to sleep at all, and when I did fall asleep, once again not restful, not deep, terrible. Did not wake up groggy. On the third night, tonight, I did not take any Ambien. As I’m writing this now, it’s four in the morning, and I did not sleep. In fact, insomnia feels triple in strength-no sleep, not tired, night terrors, sleep paralysis, trembling. This is horrible. I’ve been up the entire night. I’m exhausted. I will never take Ambien again. It made things much worse for me."

• Dra...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 18, 2022

For Insomnia "I had lots of anxiety and depression that interfered with my sleep and was worried about losing my job. The doctor put me on Ambien, and I felt like lights out within minutes. It quickly became necessary as I would suffer from rebound insomnia if I tried to quit it, so I kept taking it. I finally found that the 10 mg wouldn't last the night, so I began taking 1 1/2 pills. This was my wake-up call. I started trying to come off it. It took a terrible year of starts and stops, but I've been free of it for 3 years now. I still have occasional problems sleeping, but not like trying to come off this medication. I'm glad that it helps some people, and it is very addictive."

• bip...
• September 7, 2011

For Insomnia "For the first time, I can get to sleep every night. It usually gives me about 5 hours of sleep, and if I wake up and take about 0.15 Klonopin, I can go back to sleep for another 3 hours. Feel rested for the first time in years! I don't take it until I am absolutely ready to lay down in bed, then lay down and think happy thoughts to carry with me to dreamland. Previously, due to bipolar insomnia, I would take tons of Nyquil, Benadryl, Sominex, l-tyrosine, melatonin that only gave me a few hours of sleep, and I'd wake up and take more pills. For years, I couldn't sleep in a bed but would wander through the house at night trying to get comfortable on the floor, etc., as my husband just bumping me would wake me up. I thank you, Ambien!"

• epi...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 12, 2014

For Insomnia "Works fine, but the rebound insomnia can be awful. Used sparingly, it can be a useful medicine. Once again, watch for the rebound insomnia."

• nay...
• March 18, 2014

For Insomnia "I can take 2 Ambien and be wide awake. I tried melatonin, ZZZ Quilt, Unisom... sometimes take my Valium at bedtime. My sleep cycle got messed up, and I'm trying desperately to get it back."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 7, 2013

For Insomnia "Works, but had rebound insomnia after about 2 weeks of taking it."

• Nic...
• February 23, 2012

For Insomnia "Horrible effects; insomnia, muscle spasm, heart pain, facial pain, skin rashes and acne, low body temperature < 97 F."