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Need advice how to stop ambien

Posted by dorsalispedis @dorsalispedis, Jun 19 1:44am

So basically around April 23 i was diagnosed with a peptic ulcer which caused me to undergo antibiotic therapy which led to severe anxiety and i was unable to fall asleep at all for 5 days. I consulted a psych and he recommended Ambien 5mg which i was able to reduce to half till 3 days ago.

Three days ago my sleep was disrupted by a powercut whole night and i had to take full ambien to sleep and now it has been happening from 2 days where i go to bed at 12am then lay awake even after taking half(till 4 am day before yday and and 5 30 am yday) and wake up around 9-9 30am. I can’t quit this medication because i have a massive exam coming up on next sunday and i can’t afford to be sleepless for even a day.

My question is how do i tackle this situation where i lay awake in bed 3-4hrs. should i take the full dose of ambien at the start?. i am anxious about that not working and then i would lay there the whole night. i usually try to sleep 2 hrs without any ambien at all till 2 am then take half and even then if i can’t fall asleep then i take full. i don’t want to exceed my dosage.

Would it be a good idea to cold turkey this dose and duration after sunday?

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elke1211 | @elke1211 | Jun 19 8:28am

Sometimes a doctowl taper down or offer trazadone or Quvivig. Slowly go down and allow body to adjust. It might be worth it. Maybe even melatonin at higher does to work down to none (over the counter). Not sure if that would help you of not

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dorsalispedis | @dorsalispedis | Jun 19 10:37am
In reply to @elke1211 "Sometimes a doctowl taper down or offer trazadone or Quvivig. Slowly go down and allow body..." + (show)
@elke1211

Sometimes a doctowl taper down or offer trazadone or Quvivig. Slowly go down and allow body to adjust. It might be worth it. Maybe even melatonin at higher does to work down to none (over the counter). Not sure if that would help you of not

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thank you for your advice. my main concern is how bad the rebound insomnia will and how long will it last.

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cindisue | @cindisue | Jun 20 9:13am

Hello... I too had a bad experience with Ambien. It wouldn't keep me asleep long enough and I would have to take more in the middle of the night. It's an awful med for some of us. Tried stopping it and couldn't sleep and also had severe anxiety. Went to doctor for help and he switched me to Lorazepam to help get off the Ambien. Stopped Ambien completely once I started taking Lorazepam. And it has worked very good! But Lorazepam is addictive too... I haven't tried going off of it yet because my sleep is so good I don't want to give it up because I feel so good. It's all about quality of life. Ask your doctor for something to replace the Ambien....I will NEVER take it again.

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