Connect
Need advice how to stop ambien
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?
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Sleep Health Support Group.
Connect
@laura1970 very interesting .Ambien ususally works for me but I have read that it prevents deep sleep, Looking for something that will allow me to get in all the stages of sleep
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@lizjlb never heard of that. I will look it up. I just want some energy next day.
@lizjlb any side effects? Drowsiness? I want to feel awake the next day. Ambien never made me tired the next day, so I am beginning to think it’s age related.
@janflute to my knowledge all sleeping pills, with maybe the exception of melatonin, disrupt sleep architecture. Ramaleton is simply an extraction of the active compound in melatonin.
Melatonin is broken down in the liver to several compounds. One that promotes sleep and, ironically, one that hampers it. Rameleton is the compound that promotes sleep. It has been over a decade since I researched it. At that time it was quite expensive, and only on the rare insurance formulary. I expect that has changed but back in the day it was reserved for patients who didn’t get any response to melatonin due to price. It’s possible that it’s generic now
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions@laura1970 thanks - Good RX is less than my insurance. 90 pills for $74 .00
This information is helpful. I will discuss with my PCP
my doc prescribed it even tho it wasn’t covered my my drug company, but they approved it? It is also actually thru good rx.
I am presently trying to go off of ambien so downsizing them and plan on using Ramelteon 2-3 times a week to see if that works. Only took twice so far due to a flareup so haven’t really given it a good try. plan to tho.
@lizjlb are you not sleeping due to your neuropathy pain? It’s the neuropathy pain that used to keep me awake, so that was the reason I started Ambien/zolpidem years ago. It works for me - gives me 5-7 hours sleep.
@laura1970 Nope. I used to take Ambien CR split in half along with Trazodone and they worked beautifully. Now I take Seroquel with my Trazodone. My needs have changed, hence the Seroquel. My psych said Trazodone benefits sleep architecture.
Trazodone is a godsend for me.