Dear Gary, your response is a couple years old so I have no clue whether you will receive this or not, but I have been taking Ambien (5-10 mgs)for about 20 years and am currently confronting a significant side effect due to my extended exposure to the drug, which is why I am on the board looking for best approaches to ween myself off completely. The reason I am investigating this is because Ambien is destroying my memory. I am in my early 40s, am on no other meds, am healthy (exercise 5x a week), have my Masters degree, and am a card carrying member of MENSA. My intellectual capabilities have enabled me to thrive my entire life. Over the last 5-7 years, my memory has slowly gotten worse and worse over time. I use to have an encyclopedic memory and was untouchable at games like Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. Now, it seems like answers are just beyond my grasps. I have an extremely hard time remembering any new info I have to process. Meeting new people is a nightmare. I have built in as many crutches as possible, entering names, instructions, details of anything I am told into my phone, but it’s hardly the way I want to live my life. I am terrified that the damage I’ve done to my brain cannot be fixed & gradually over time I will develop dementia. Honestly, if I was single I would probably accept this fate because I am terrified of the insomnia that awaits once I start trying to ween myself of Ambien. However, I have 3 young sons, and I can’t imagine not being able to watch them grow up and Build families of their own. All that being said, please do not take Ambien for an extended period of time. The last handful of years are a blur and even my old “hardwired” memories are fading. You don’t want to deal with the memory challenges I am confronting, and if anyone is reading this and has successfully weaned yourself off of Ambien, please share your story.