Ambien stopped working

Posted by emmabell @emmabell, Oct 25, 2022

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.

Kind regards /Emmabell

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In reply to @cindisue "I apologize." + (show)
@cindisue

I apologize.

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I appreciate that! Take care of yourself!!

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@kawanhee

I appreciate that! Take care of yourself!!

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You too!

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Have you had a sleep study done? If not, that may be the way to go. My Doctor prescribed me Ramelteon apparently it is non-addictive.? I haven’t tried it yet, but I have the same problem as you do . I was taking Seroquel and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. It didn’t give me sleep, but it made me very nervous so I am going off of it. My next move is probably a sleep study . You might want to do the same.

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@zesta

Have you had a sleep study done? If not, that may be the way to go. My Doctor prescribed me Ramelteon apparently it is non-addictive.? I haven’t tried it yet, but I have the same problem as you do . I was taking Seroquel and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. It didn’t give me sleep, but it made me very nervous so I am going off of it. My next move is probably a sleep study . You might want to do the same.

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Are you going to start the Ramelteon? My sleep doctor prescribed that for me also, and I haven't started it because I don't like the possible hypnotic side effect where you can do things in a "sleep walking" state, and not be aware of them the next day. I've been using Trazodone and a low dose of Melatonin to get to sleep, but have trouble going back to sleep after a few hours. Right now I'm trying THC/CBN gummies which are helping a little bit. I had a sleep study done that didn't find any significant issues.

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@ripley

Are you going to start the Ramelteon? My sleep doctor prescribed that for me also, and I haven't started it because I don't like the possible hypnotic side effect where you can do things in a "sleep walking" state, and not be aware of them the next day. I've been using Trazodone and a low dose of Melatonin to get to sleep, but have trouble going back to sleep after a few hours. Right now I'm trying THC/CBN gummies which are helping a little bit. I had a sleep study done that didn't find any significant issues.

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Ripley, what strength of Trazodone are you using?

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@cindisue

Ripley, what strength of Trazodone are you using?

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I take 100mg Trazodone with 2.5mg Melatonin and it makes me sleepy in about 20 minutes. But it doesn't help me fall back asleep in the middle of the night. I just started taking some THC/CBN gummies for sleep, and then I only take 50mg Trazodone. The gummies are hit or miss for helping me get back to sleep.

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@ripley

I take 100mg Trazodone with 2.5mg Melatonin and it makes me sleepy in about 20 minutes. But it doesn't help me fall back asleep in the middle of the night. I just started taking some THC/CBN gummies for sleep, and then I only take 50mg Trazodone. The gummies are hit or miss for helping me get back to sleep.

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I have Trazodone but have not tried it yet....afraid it won't work or it will give me upset stomach....doesn't sound like it works very good for you....have you ever tried Mirtazapine?

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Has anyone switched from ambein cr to lunesta one night to the next ? I am nervous to try this but ambein has stopped working . Side effects ?

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@cindisue

I have Trazodone but have not tried it yet....afraid it won't work or it will give me upset stomach....doesn't sound like it works very good for you....have you ever tried Mirtazapine?

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I tried 7.5mg of Mirtazapine once and it helped me sleep but left me sleepy and groggy for 3 days so I never took it again. It has a half life of 20-40 hours. Trazodone's half life is 5-13 hrs so it doesn't have that effect on me. But the effects wear off enough in the middle of the night that it doesn't help me get back to sleep. Trazodone has never caused upset stomach for me. You are supposed to take it with a snack, so I eat some yogurt before taking it. I would try the lowest dose of Trazodone (50mg) before trying Mirtazapine.

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@ripley

I tried 7.5mg of Mirtazapine once and it helped me sleep but left me sleepy and groggy for 3 days so I never took it again. It has a half life of 20-40 hours. Trazodone's half life is 5-13 hrs so it doesn't have that effect on me. But the effects wear off enough in the middle of the night that it doesn't help me get back to sleep. Trazodone has never caused upset stomach for me. You are supposed to take it with a snack, so I eat some yogurt before taking it. I would try the lowest dose of Trazodone (50mg) before trying Mirtazapine.

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Maybe take half the dose of Mirtazapine......and Trazodone is not working if you wake up in the middle of night and can't go back to sleep

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