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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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Ok so I had the meeting today and I can only say what they told me for my specific situation. So please consult your doctors because this may not apply to everyone. But I was told, for as long as my physical pain is untreated, it’s gonna be hard to tapet off ambien (since pain = poor sleep). They said to try and get help with a pain clinic and then get back to them. They also said that the dosage i’m on now (about 30mg) is obviously not good, but also not a disaster so they told me not to worry but to absolutely not take more than that. Hope this helps someone…
I was on ambien 10mg and seroquel 200mg q night. I was completely knocked out for several years. I wanted to get off the Seroquel because my cholesterol went way up on it.
The ambien quit working for me. I have ativan. That quit working too. My dr said I could take 3mg of ativan and that still didn't make me sleep. It's been over a year and a half that I literally get no sleep some nights and only a few hours some nights. Never have I slept more than 2 hours at once. If I'm lucky, I'll get 5 hours of INTERRUPTED sleep a night 2x per week.
I have: magnesium glycinate, melatonin 5mg, glycine, 50 MG seroquel, hydroxyzine, clonidine, and pasionflower tincture. Each night I try a combination of 2 to 3 things. All of these are supposedly good for sleep. However, I still cannot sleep. But, hopefully you could look into trying one or all of them. Good luck!
I’m surprised they gave you 10 mg of Ambien and Valium together to take at night .
I can see taking the Valium in day but usually they don’t like you to mix both at once .
I was on 5 mg Ambien last few years as needed . My chronic digestive disorders got worse and worse over last 9 years. My sleeping 💤 is terrible like yours . I finally just got 10 mg Ambien , which gives me 3-4 straight sleep 💤, once I wake … my 1000’s belching and churning just goes for hours .
I take melatonin too sometimes w/ it .
It’s a vicious cycle which leads to such daytime fatigue ( then I try to lay down and I can’t nap 💤).
I also have .50 mg Klonopin to take as needed for years.
That does make me a bit tired during day ( even more tired ), but I don’t want to mix it w/ Ambien.
Then my heart palps kick up when I lay down w/ my gut too .
I’m a mess .
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1 ReactionFor what it's worth, this was on a Reddit thread, which really surprised me, since I have taken magnesium glycinate (I now take magnesium threonate). In case it has any relevance for you...
"Magnesium glycinate is Mg and glycine. Not just magnesium. Yes magnesium has weak antagonism for NMDA, but in some people L-glycine can have an agonist effect at certain NMDA receptor sites that can increase wakefulness/make them agitated/excitatory"
I didn't know this. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Think I'm going to do some research!
Doctor gave Ambien to me everyday because I couldn't sleep the night after taking it, so that's why I was taking it every night. And as far as it being "the lesser of 2 evils", I completely disagree! Ambien is THE WORST medication I have ever taken. I've tried them all....Temazepam, Estazolam, Lunesta, Clonazepam and Ambien....none worked for me. Flurazepam is THE BEST Insomnia medication ever!! But as of now, August 2023, it is no longer being made. The pharmaceutical company, Rising Pharmaceutical, is supposed to be bringing it back Dec. 2023 or early 2024.....I sure hope so! Ambien gave me soooo much severe anxiety and I would only sleep 3-4 hours and then have to take another pill (5mg) just to only get 2-3 more hours of sleep.....always got between 5-6 hours sleep....interrupted....so was always tired. Finally I got prescribed Lorazepam and so far, so good. It helps my anxiety and Insomnia. Thank God...
@lilybell....I was also taking both Ambien and Diazepam at the same time....and both quit working for me too. Ambien never did work good for me....yah it puts me to sleep...but not for very long (3-4 hours) And Diazepam always worked very well for me....until I started taking Ambien. I used to take Flurazepam for sleep, 2-3 times a week at the lower dose of 15mg and it worked FANTASTIC!! And, it always seemed to help me sleep the night after taking it too. Even though I wouldn't take it 2 nights in a row....but I could take it 2 nights in a row if I wanted to....but there was no need to for me. I quit taking both, Ambien and Diazepam because they no longer worked. And I didn't even take diazepam everyday....but i started having to take it alot more than usual because of the Ambien giving me severe anxiety!! So I talked to my doctor and we agreed just taking 1 medication that helps both sleep and anxiety would be much much better.....so I am now on Lorazepam....2mg for sleep, and 1-2mg for anxiety as needed. You should try Lorazepam.....get off that nasty cycle you (and me) were on.....Good Luck.
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1 ReactionRozy288, you need a new doctor. And also need to go to a gastrointestinal doctor who can hopefully help you. Get off the Ambien!! It's the WORST medication ever.....have you ever tried Lorazepam? If not, ask your doctor for it. It has helped my sleep issues when nothing else did. Mixing different benzos will cause more issues and not help at all. Yes....you need to break free from this vicious cycle....you deserve to feel good...and keep going back to your doctor until you have found something that helps/works! Good Luck to you! Praying for you.
I take Klonipin .50 mg smallest dose if I get too anxious.
So I don’t think they would give me Ativan w/ it instead of Ambien? That’s two benzos then .
You could stop the Klonopin and just take Lorazepam....because lorazepam is much better for sleep than klonopin and just as good for anxiety.