I've tried .5mg up to 10mg. Same result, plus anything over 5mg made me nauseous and feeling like I was drunk and stuck in a nightmare even when I was awake.
Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. I have my pills cut into halves, 3/4 and smaller increments right now. Not feeling particularly stressed right now but just got my first dose of Moderna vaccine. We'll see how that sorts out. I have enough to stretch out tapering for about a week and a half. CBT does help, has your experience with it been good so far?
I can't use melatonin, any size dosage gives me horrible nightmares and night terrors. Tried Benadryl but it made me jittery. I don't want to take any other prescription sleep stuff, some people have good results with Trazadone but I tried it twice and it made me really sick.
We'll see how this goes, like I said if I can't get to a normal level of sleep (5-6 hours a night at least) I may have to go back on the Ambien. Until I started taking Ambien I would seldom ever sleep more than 5 hours a night, often 4 or less. For my entire life up until using Ambien, and I had no idea how sleep deprived I really was until the first week of a solid 7-8 hours a night!
I couldn’t sleep after my second moderna vaccine so I figured that would be a good time to really taper down. Might as well be miserable all around! I’m really glad I did that because it worked. I’m sleeping a lot better now.
I've tried .5mg up to 10mg. Same result, plus anything over 5mg made me nauseous and feeling like I was drunk and stuck in a nightmare even when I was awake.
@incoff
Did you ever have nightmares prior to supplementing melatonin? Have you tried Magnesium?
I suppose you follow the normal pre-sleep protocols. No TV, phone, computer, darken house, relax for an hour or two before bed, go out in the sun everyday, sleep in cool room, go to bed everyday at the same time and get up at the same time, no large or spicy meals close to bedtime, no caffeine, etc, although my Mom had coffee right before bed and was asleep within 5 minutes. 10 minutes on a bad night and I stayed up all night or up to a week on rare occasions.
Hoping your sleep improves,
Jake
So true!! These protocols make a huge difference- my wife is like your Mom. I stop coffee around noon. Green tea and then chamomile throughout the day.
@incoff
Did you ever have nightmares prior to supplementing melatonin? Have you tried Magnesium?
I suppose you follow the normal pre-sleep protocols. No TV, phone, computer, darken house, relax for an hour or two before bed, go out in the sun everyday, sleep in cool room, go to bed everyday at the same time and get up at the same time, no large or spicy meals close to bedtime, no caffeine, etc, although my Mom had coffee right before bed and was asleep within 5 minutes. 10 minutes on a bad night and I stayed up all night or up to a week on rare occasions.
Hoping your sleep improves,
Jake
I seldom had nightmares prior to using melatonin, and since I had them every time I used it I had to attribute the nightmares to the melatonin. And I try to be careful with the sleep protocols. I bought a pair of glasses to block blue light and start wearing them @10pm every night, which seems to actually help.
As for caffeine, I have completely stopped it. I miss my coffee, but I can't take a chance on it impeding my sleep. My husband can drink 2 or 3 cups between 5pm and 10pm and fall right asleep, which drives me crazy LOL!!!
I have been taking ambien for over 17 years. 10 mg once nightly. I first started taking it to help me sleep with my new CPAP machine the doctor started me on for sleep apnea. I became quickly addicted. In the beginnings it worked great lots of sleep. Then after about a month or two I started having those bad symptoms of getting up, fixing meals and eating everything I could find. I would have sex and not remember it the next morning. Also, I have bizarre conversations with people at home or on the phone and not remember it. I have even driven to Walmart and purchased groceries and not remember it until I found the bill and saw the time stamp. You would think this would have scared me enough to stop taking it but it hasn’t. I developed psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis so I continued to take the ambein because it is like taking a hypnotic drug. I knew I had psoriatic arthritis but when I took the pill I didn’t feel the pain. It put me in a dream/wake stage. I have had to apologize to a lot of people/friends/family the next day after taking ambien. So, I have said all this to say that I need to wean myself off of ambien because I am having severe memory loss. It almost seems like I have dementia. I am only 55 year old man and just retired from teaching elementary school for 30 years. It really feels like my mind is changing and not in a good way. I need some advice on quitting and still being able to get some sleep. Maybe someday I will blog about all the bizarre stories/talks/actions that happen when I take ambien. I am truly addicted and need help. I am very afraid of the side effects that will come with the withdrawal. Please help.
I have been taking ambien for over 17 years. 10 mg once nightly. I first started taking it to help me sleep with my new CPAP machine the doctor started me on for sleep apnea. I became quickly addicted. In the beginnings it worked great lots of sleep. Then after about a month or two I started having those bad symptoms of getting up, fixing meals and eating everything I could find. I would have sex and not remember it the next morning. Also, I have bizarre conversations with people at home or on the phone and not remember it. I have even driven to Walmart and purchased groceries and not remember it until I found the bill and saw the time stamp. You would think this would have scared me enough to stop taking it but it hasn’t. I developed psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis so I continued to take the ambein because it is like taking a hypnotic drug. I knew I had psoriatic arthritis but when I took the pill I didn’t feel the pain. It put me in a dream/wake stage. I have had to apologize to a lot of people/friends/family the next day after taking ambien. So, I have said all this to say that I need to wean myself off of ambien because I am having severe memory loss. It almost seems like I have dementia. I am only 55 year old man and just retired from teaching elementary school for 30 years. It really feels like my mind is changing and not in a good way. I need some advice on quitting and still being able to get some sleep. Maybe someday I will blog about all the bizarre stories/talks/actions that happen when I take ambien. I am truly addicted and need help. I am very afraid of the side effects that will come with the withdrawal. Please help.
I have been taking ambien for over 17 years. 10 mg once nightly. I first started taking it to help me sleep with my new CPAP machine the doctor started me on for sleep apnea. I became quickly addicted. In the beginnings it worked great lots of sleep. Then after about a month or two I started having those bad symptoms of getting up, fixing meals and eating everything I could find. I would have sex and not remember it the next morning. Also, I have bizarre conversations with people at home or on the phone and not remember it. I have even driven to Walmart and purchased groceries and not remember it until I found the bill and saw the time stamp. You would think this would have scared me enough to stop taking it but it hasn’t. I developed psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis so I continued to take the ambein because it is like taking a hypnotic drug. I knew I had psoriatic arthritis but when I took the pill I didn’t feel the pain. It put me in a dream/wake stage. I have had to apologize to a lot of people/friends/family the next day after taking ambien. So, I have said all this to say that I need to wean myself off of ambien because I am having severe memory loss. It almost seems like I have dementia. I am only 55 year old man and just retired from teaching elementary school for 30 years. It really feels like my mind is changing and not in a good way. I need some advice on quitting and still being able to get some sleep. Maybe someday I will blog about all the bizarre stories/talks/actions that happen when I take ambien. I am truly addicted and need help. I am very afraid of the side effects that will come with the withdrawal. Please help.
I too have taken ambien for maybe 20 years now but generally not the full dose of 10 mgs. I have weaned myself down to about 2 mgs per night as more than that triggers Periodic Involuntary Limb Movement (PILM) which won't allow sleep even with the ambien. However, I cannot get below the 2 mgs. I am able to get to sleep on most nights without ambien but wake up 2, 3 or 4 hours later and am wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. I would love to no longer need ambien to sleep. I would be willing to just tough it out if I knew that after a week or so I could sleep through the night but I cannot find any medical literature indicating that to be the expectation. I fear I am stuck with Ambien for the rest of my life.
I had been taking Zolpidem ( Ambien genetic) for about 20 years. My dose has been 12.5 mg for the entire time. It was very helpful in dealing with insomnia. Recently (about two months ago), I decided to stop taking this medication. It was rough for about three nights because of light sleep and restlessness. I discovered that I could get a 7-hour night of sleep thereafter and that it was achievable night after night. I am still off of Zolpidem 12.5 mg, My sleep seems to be normal. I was able to take one zolpidem four nights ago to help me sleep through pain from a shoulder injury, but could get to sleep without this medication thereafter without sleepless, light sleep returning.
I was able to stop nightly use of zolpidem once I got through three nights of very uncomfortable, restless sleep when I stopped taking this medication.
Wish you success and encourage you to persevere. Talk with your prescribing physician before you do this, however.
I had been taking Zolpidem ( Ambien genetic) for about 20 years. My dose has been 12.5 mg for the entire time. It was very helpful in dealing with insomnia. Recently (about two months ago), I decided to stop taking this medication. It was rough for about three nights because of light sleep and restlessness. I discovered that I could get a 7-hour night of sleep thereafter and that it was achievable night after night. I am still off of Zolpidem 12.5 mg, My sleep seems to be normal. I was able to take one zolpidem four nights ago to help me sleep through pain from a shoulder injury, but could get to sleep without this medication thereafter without sleepless, light sleep returning.
I was able to stop nightly use of zolpidem once I got through three nights of very uncomfortable, restless sleep when I stopped taking this medication.
Wish you success and encourage you to persevere. Talk with your prescribing physician before you do this, however.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I shall talk to my doc at my appointment in September and with her approval, pick a week with no commitments and try to stop taking it all together.
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Hi Jake,
I've tried .5mg up to 10mg. Same result, plus anything over 5mg made me nauseous and feeling like I was drunk and stuck in a nightmare even when I was awake.
Lynn
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1 ReactionI couldn’t sleep after my second moderna vaccine so I figured that would be a good time to really taper down. Might as well be miserable all around! I’m really glad I did that because it worked. I’m sleeping a lot better now.
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1 Reaction@incoff
Did you ever have nightmares prior to supplementing melatonin? Have you tried Magnesium?
I suppose you follow the normal pre-sleep protocols. No TV, phone, computer, darken house, relax for an hour or two before bed, go out in the sun everyday, sleep in cool room, go to bed everyday at the same time and get up at the same time, no large or spicy meals close to bedtime, no caffeine, etc, although my Mom had coffee right before bed and was asleep within 5 minutes. 10 minutes on a bad night and I stayed up all night or up to a week on rare occasions.
Hoping your sleep improves,
Jake
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2 ReactionsSo true!! These protocols make a huge difference- my wife is like your Mom. I stop coffee around noon. Green tea and then chamomile throughout the day.
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1 ReactionHi Jake,
I seldom had nightmares prior to using melatonin, and since I had them every time I used it I had to attribute the nightmares to the melatonin. And I try to be careful with the sleep protocols. I bought a pair of glasses to block blue light and start wearing them @10pm every night, which seems to actually help.
As for caffeine, I have completely stopped it. I miss my coffee, but I can't take a chance on it impeding my sleep. My husband can drink 2 or 3 cups between 5pm and 10pm and fall right asleep, which drives me crazy LOL!!!
Lynn
I have been taking ambien for over 17 years. 10 mg once nightly. I first started taking it to help me sleep with my new CPAP machine the doctor started me on for sleep apnea. I became quickly addicted. In the beginnings it worked great lots of sleep. Then after about a month or two I started having those bad symptoms of getting up, fixing meals and eating everything I could find. I would have sex and not remember it the next morning. Also, I have bizarre conversations with people at home or on the phone and not remember it. I have even driven to Walmart and purchased groceries and not remember it until I found the bill and saw the time stamp. You would think this would have scared me enough to stop taking it but it hasn’t. I developed psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis so I continued to take the ambein because it is like taking a hypnotic drug. I knew I had psoriatic arthritis but when I took the pill I didn’t feel the pain. It put me in a dream/wake stage. I have had to apologize to a lot of people/friends/family the next day after taking ambien. So, I have said all this to say that I need to wean myself off of ambien because I am having severe memory loss. It almost seems like I have dementia. I am only 55 year old man and just retired from teaching elementary school for 30 years. It really feels like my mind is changing and not in a good way. I need some advice on quitting and still being able to get some sleep. Maybe someday I will blog about all the bizarre stories/talks/actions that happen when I take ambien. I am truly addicted and need help. I am very afraid of the side effects that will come with the withdrawal. Please help.
@justsleepplease, good for you for posting to this community. The first step is recognizing that this drug is no longer helping you and is harmful for you. I'm tagging fellow members like @bernese53 @blazytracy @robbinr @mickie75 @lpole @maryshipley @sussan @sndishpr @sundance6 @jeffkboyce who can share their experiences with tapering off of Ambien (zolpidem).
JustSleep, are you working with your doctor to develop a tapering schedule that's right for you?
I too have taken ambien for maybe 20 years now but generally not the full dose of 10 mgs. I have weaned myself down to about 2 mgs per night as more than that triggers Periodic Involuntary Limb Movement (PILM) which won't allow sleep even with the ambien. However, I cannot get below the 2 mgs. I am able to get to sleep on most nights without ambien but wake up 2, 3 or 4 hours later and am wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. I would love to no longer need ambien to sleep. I would be willing to just tough it out if I knew that after a week or so I could sleep through the night but I cannot find any medical literature indicating that to be the expectation. I fear I am stuck with Ambien for the rest of my life.
I had been taking Zolpidem ( Ambien genetic) for about 20 years. My dose has been 12.5 mg for the entire time. It was very helpful in dealing with insomnia. Recently (about two months ago), I decided to stop taking this medication. It was rough for about three nights because of light sleep and restlessness. I discovered that I could get a 7-hour night of sleep thereafter and that it was achievable night after night. I am still off of Zolpidem 12.5 mg, My sleep seems to be normal. I was able to take one zolpidem four nights ago to help me sleep through pain from a shoulder injury, but could get to sleep without this medication thereafter without sleepless, light sleep returning.
I was able to stop nightly use of zolpidem once I got through three nights of very uncomfortable, restless sleep when I stopped taking this medication.
Wish you success and encourage you to persevere. Talk with your prescribing physician before you do this, however.
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3 ReactionsThank you for sharing your experience. I shall talk to my doc at my appointment in September and with her approval, pick a week with no commitments and try to stop taking it all together.