I am 74 years old. I have been taking zolpidem for about 13 years. I started out at 5mg. I had to increase the dosage over the years to be effective. I'm now at the maximum 12.5CR which is the time release version. I think after taking a drug for a long time we build up a tolerance. Over the years I've tried to get off of it, taking lunesta, amazon sleep aids, melatonin, etc. They didn't help. I don't have a problem with my insurance company getting refills at my age. I would like to get off of zolpidem, but when I stop taking it, it takes a lot longer to fall asleep. I think we can get addicted to these sleep aids. Since I have chronic pain from a couple of issues, I won't focus on trying something else until the chronic pain issue is resolved. My drug company is Optum.