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Ambien stopped working
Hi everyone. I’m hoping to get some advice as I feel a little lost and the doctors I’ve spoken to so far haven’t been able to come up with a solution to my problem.
I’ve had insomnia and also wake up a lot for year. It started with noisy neighbours and construction work (before then I had no issues). During this time I also developed chronic pain that made it even harder to sleep.
My dr prescribed “light” sleep medications to begin with. Some didn’t work, some gave side effects, and some did work for some time. But since I had no control over the noise in the area, eventually I had to move on to Ambien (and gigantic ear plugs).
So, I was on Ambien for a few months, started at 5mg but then noticed I had to take 10mg as my body was getting used to them. Eventually I moved and got rid of the noisy neighbours, but my body was so used to my crazy sleeping habits that I couldn’t go back to my regular hours. I would still wake up the hours my neighbours used to wake me up.
I tried my very best to stay at 10mg of Ambien but eventually I found myself waking up every second hour or so, having to take more to fall back to sleep. I got scared and called my dr, who gave me diazepam (5mg) and told me it should help me break this vicious cycle.
It did. The very first night I slept all night and only needed one Ambien. It stayed like this for a few months and my plan was to taper off everything, but then bad things happened in my life and it didn’t feel like a good time. I was too afraid to not get any sleep while going through so many struggles.
And now I’m kinda back to where I started. My body is so used to Ambien that sometimes I can’t even fall asleep on 10mg (even tho I’m still on diazepam as well). If I do fall asleep, I wake up after 4 hours, sometimes after only 1-2 hours, and it’s impossible to go back to sleep (my chronic pain isn’t helping).
Since I’m already on Diazepam I can’t use this to control the issue this time. My dr told me to try 7,5mg Diazepam and even 10mg but for some reason it’s not working. Quite the opposite. So I’m staying on 5mg.
What can I do? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I really want to get off both Diazepam and Ambien, but at the momemt my goal is to just find a safe way to sleep through the night because I haven’t slept in months!
Could I maybe slowly taper off Diazepam and add something else so that 10mg Ambien will be enough to sleep through the night?
Sorry this got so long. I’d be so grateful for any ideas or advice.
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I have been both on sleeping meds that I tried to slowly taper off with melatonin, but start slowly and with 1 mg. Higher doses of melatonin causes me to have nightmares. The other is C B D oil soft gels without THC. Discuss with your doctor.
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1 Reaction@lilybell, in addition to the reply you got from @marjou, I'm tagging a few other members like @victorkach @bettersleep68 @fala @jls44512 @rosa66 @tim1028 @jujubee @degarden_girl, who have experience with Ambien, to join this discussion and help with your questions.
You might also be interested in the helpful posts in these related discussions:
- Insomnia: What does it mean that the drugs don't work? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-does-it-mean-that-the-drugs-dont-work/
- Ambien: How can I sleep without it? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ambien/
- Weaning off zolpidem (Ambien) https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/weenoff-ambian-with-melatonin/
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3 ReactionsI have also tried Melatonin but just like you I get nightmares and for some reason I also have to pee like 10 times a night when I’m on them…. And they make me dizzy. So it doesn’t seem like an option for me sadly. Thank you so much for your input tho!!
Thank you Colleen for putting us (non-sleepers) in a group to see what others are doing with the same problem. Yes, nobody is alike, but it helps to get more ideas. Also, "misery loves company" comes to mind and it is very helpful to know I am NOT alone. I wish that there would be a "plan" to get off certain drugs. Zolpidem is my Primary sleep aid. This (my) plan could come from a "Sleep Doctor" ? Yes, this is wishful thinking, but I still want to throw this out there and see what you think. Say I cut my 10mg Zolpidem in four parts. (Pill Cutter) Then for X number of days I take 3/4. Then the next (whatever) week I take 1/2 Then 2 weeks later 1/4? Do I sound desperate? I am. What do you think? I tried cold turkey, and did NOT sleep a wink for the first night and exactly 1hour and 45 minutes the second night. The third night I caved. When I read that "they" recommend that you takes Zolpidem for a couple of days, I had to just laugh out loud!! Who is kidding who? I need ideas, we are in the NDC (no doze club!!)
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1 Reaction@lilybell, I have been through similar situations with my sleep and trying many different medications. For health purposes I'm afraid of Ambien and other Drugs and take only as needed. I have, however, began taking Delta 8 manufactured from hemp and find that a lower dosage in the 10 to 15 mg range works most the nights. I take it just before getting in bed and it kicks in in about 45 minutes to an hour and I usually sleep well. Occasionally, it doesn't seem to work but the greatest majority of time it does. Is the best thing that I have found and I have experienced no side effects that I am aware of. Make sure you find a quality supplier such as the Hemp Doctor, but there are many other reputable companies that test their products by independent sources.
Thank you so much for your reply! I think anything hemp is forbidden in my country but I will have a look! Tho I’m on so much ambien now I doubt I can just switch… I probably need to find something to add and then slowly taper off the ambien, but the question is what =( Thank you again, I will do some research.
Sorry, I wish I had some advice but I have no idea how to get off of ambien =( I need to take more and more and whenever I try to not take them or even just a lower dose I don’t get any sleep. I’m in quite some trouble. I hope there are others that can give us advice <3
Did you buy the Delta 8 on-line? What form of product do you use, it looks like it's available as pills, gummies and tinctures. Is this something you can take every night?
Something that helps me is to cut the pill in thirds. I dissolve them under my tongue. I take the first third a half hour before bed, the next one when I get in bed, and then the last one the first time I wake up. This seems to help me sleep better.
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2 ReactionsNot sure if this is gonna help anyone but I thought I’d just follow up since I started this thread.
I decided to start tapering off diazepam slowly. Been a week now and it’s gonna take another 6 weeks.
The past 2 nights I’ve forced myself to just take the 10mg of Ambien and cope through the rest of the night without taking more when I wake up (sometimes I’d end up on 20-40 mg a night). It’s only been 2 nights and they have been awful. Dealing with other health issues as well isn’t helping. But I don’t see any other way out of this.
Without my extra Ambien when I wake up I’m barely getting any sleep at all. maybe an hour or two at the most. I’ll keep going for as long as my body lets me. But I’m hoping eventually my body will learn to sleep on its own again and get back to managing on just 10mg ambien until im ready to taper off thag as well.
Keep sending me advice if you have any! Or a little encouragement!
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