Posted by insomniack on February 01, 2008 at 20:51:48:In Reply to: Night 7, no ambien TEENY progress posted by kklovedbyGod on January 31, 2008 at 04:26:19:
Hello kk !
I was on Ambien 10 mg regularly (sometimes 12.5, 15, & even 20 mg) for over 2 years. NOT a good idea increasing on my own without checking with MD !!). Then, one night on a 10 mg dose, I went to bed as usual (10 PM). I got up at 2 AM, walked the 15 stairs down to the kitchen, ate 10 cookies, then opened 2 x 15 oz of yellow corn kernels and ate BOTH cans (30 oz of corn)!! Then I called my 93 y/o mother at 3:30 AM (long dist to GA) just to "chat". Finally after my partner was SCREAMING AT ME AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS to go to bed, he finally convinced me to crash on the living room couch (I was so out of it, I could not walk back upstairs). I slept for 14 hours !!!!
All this bizarre behaviour was from the Ambien 10 mg. I had no bad reactions for 2 yrs, and then, out of the blue, this disasterous behaviour occurred !!! I was sooo ashamed. To top it all, I remembered NOTHING but bits & pieces. Nevertheless AMBIEN will be taken NEVER AGAIN by me !!!!! I took it for 2 years cuz I worked the 7PM to 5AM (10 hr)shift. I worked 7 days in a row, for 70 hrs total--but got paid for 80 hrs. I worked 7 days on, then had 7 days off. My pay way $50.50/hr. Pretty good, huh? Work only 26 weeks a year, with 5 weeks vacation pay--so you work 21 weeks yearly. It SOUNDED teriffic---but wreaked havoc on sleep and your mind & body.
Ambien does work well for short term use. Luckily, after quitting a 2yr plus habit "cold turkey", all I had to endure were 2 or 3 nights of rebound insomnia. I now use 25 mg of amitriptyline (generic Elavil)--tonight I am trying 12.5mg---I want to use the lowest dose possible, as I get dry mouth from 5 of the meds I take and it's quite bothersome.
Well, sorry for the long post--but I intend on becoming a regular. Feel free to ask questions on medications, as I was a pharmacist actively for 38 yrs. If I cannot find an answer, I will tell you so, or to ask your MD or pharmacist. But with over 30 yrs as an insomniack, I DO have some knowledge about sleep meds. (I once counted all the meds I have tried for insomnia over the last 30 yrs--like counting sheep--and I came up with 30 to 35 different meds !!! LOL).
Happy ZZZzzzs,
insomniack