Drug Ratings for AMBIENAverage Rating: 3.2 (1308 Ratings)
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Results are sorted by Age from oldest to youngest Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 |
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR AMBIEN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
  | F M | | | | |||
| 1 | insomnia | I'm writing on behalf of an elderly lady who took this drug. While on Ambien, she would hallucinate and get up from bed and fall down - to the point of injuring herself. She suffered several falls during the night while on Ambien. After discontinuing the drug, she has had no more falls or hallucinations. | I think it's over-prescribed and would never recommend anyone take this. Some hospitals sneak it into their patients' daily pills, without even consulting family. | F | 84 | 30 days | 9/4/2006 | 1 | Grannys insomnia | My granny took this drug and took control of my grandad everynight, she was fighting with him one minute and then trying to have sex with him the next and she dosent remember a thing | My granny is 82 and my grandad is 89, this drug was hell for them both for the week my granny was on it, never again | F | 82 | 7 days | 1/18/2007 | 1 | To help sleep after surgery | Hallucinations, confusion | My mother was given Ambien in the hospital after hip surgery after falling in rehab after knee surgery. She is totally not here ....talking to walls, babbling, seeing things, talking to people not there, thinking she is standing and falling while laying in bed....and what is more is that she hasnt been able to sleep now for three days. I demanded to see all the meds she had been given and then the hospitalization doctor, case woker and nurse were all surprised to see she had been given Ambien! Surprised???? She has been out of it for two days now! This drug is bad! She has never had dementia or anything like this until she has had these surgeries and been put on all of these medications. Please watch for these side effects. | F | 82 | 2 days 1X D | 6/18/2012 | 4 | in oder to sleep at night | have tingling and numness in my legs hands and sometimes in face, which my be due to ambien, on not, due to arthritis in neck and lower spine | may have caused sleepwalking--I have had episodes since taking | M | 81 | 2 days | 9/9/2009 | 3 | insomia | groggy | M | 81 | 5 years | 10/1/2009 | 4 | insomia | Was always clear headed, but started to wonder why my memory was getting bad, as well not feeling "right". At first it worked great, went to sleep within minutes, and slept 8 hours for the first time in years. I was wondering though why I felt so "unsure" of things. Have to get off this, since it does affect my daily life. I'd rather stay awake for a few hours than feel like a "zomby" all day. | I never need medicine for insomnia, so I gave this a try. I KNOW I have to get off it to stay healthy. | F | 80 | 2 weeks | 10/17/2008 | 1 | insomnia, arthritis | My grandmother takes 10mg every night. She hallucinates, walks around in a state of comfussion. Has severe memory loss day and night. If her pill bottles are not hidden from her she will take it during the day and more and more at night because she fights the sleep instead of laying down to sleep after taking it. | Physicians please stop giving this medication to the elderly especially for long term use, it causes too many problems and complications with someone who already has Alzheimers w/Dementia as it is. VERY BAD DRUG. | F | 79 | 4 years | 10/20/2005 | 5 | insomnia | only once-typed (email to daughter , made no sense.) no other side effect. | this drug is a life saver. Just stay in bed, don't get up and use pc.I was a care-giver for many years,using ambien to help me sleep made my days so much easier.... | F | 76 | 10 years 10mg. 1X D | 2/12/2011 | 3 | to aid sleeping | F | 76 | 2 years | 8/11/2004 | 1 | Insomnia | The first time I took one Ambien, I woke up in the morning with blood all over my face, as well as a trail of blood across the rug. I had evidently gotten up in the night and walked in my sleep. Fortunately the fall only bruised and bloodied my nose, so I was lucky. I had no memory of any of this happening. | A dangerous drug which should be banned. | F | 76 | 1 days | 6/20/2007 | 5 | insomnia | some nights works fine, other nights not at all. | very pleased with ambien, no side effects except a few looney emails to my daughter. so,no pc for me after I take it. Go right to bed! | F | 75 | 10 years | 12/18/2009 | 1 | INSOMNIA | No real side effects. The drug did not help my sleeplessness at all, for me it was worthless | F | 75 | 2 days | 1/15/2010 | 1 | insomnia | I only take one Ambien occasionally. On the night after I have taken Ambien, I have horrible nightmares. The nightmares are so bad that they wake me up. I feel like I can't win. I either feel bad from a lack of sleep or have to have violent dreams. | F | 75 | 2 years | 4/10/2006 | 5 | Insomnia | No side effects, works beautifully, no scare stories like I've read about. | Must take it because beta blocker Metoprolol prescribed for Atrial Fibrillation causes insomnia!! | F | 74 | 2 years 2.5 mg 1X D | 7/22/2011 | 1 | prescribed for insomnia | On the second day after taking Ambien, my hands, feet, and roof of my mouth began to feel like pins and needles. About six o'clock at night I experienced what seemed like hot flashes and extreme dizziness. Then on the evening of the third day, in addition to the "hot flashes" and the dizziness—the "pins and needles" were continuous, I thought I smelled something—perhaps the power connection to the computer—burning, but then the sharp acrid smell turned into one that was sickly sweet; it was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time; it also had "colors": silver, swimming-pool blue and lavender. These hideous episodes came about every two minutes and lasted for thirty seconds. Realizing that what I was smelling was in my head only, and adding "brain tumor" to "heart attack" and "stroke," I called the Kaiser Advice Nurse, who advised me to get to an emergency room. I pass over the next surreal hours (something b | I flushed the remaining pills down the toilet! | F | 74 | 4 days | 6/18/2007 | 5 | inssomia | none | I do not abuse this drug. I take it occasionally. | F | 73 | | 5/11/2002 | 3 | for insomnia | I fall asleep and then wake up after 2 or 3 hours, then I take an Ambien and sleep until 5 or 6 | F | 73 | 4 weeks | 12/4/2008 | 1 | chronic insomnia | I have been using ambien intermittently for several years. Recently I began using it nightly in doses ranging from 10mg to 20mg. My wife noticed that I forgot conversations shortly after taking ambien, before falling asleep, which I felt were minor events. Read on... | Two nights ago I had a truly terrifying experience which I cannot remember at all. I have recurrent prostate cancer and apparently, after taking 20mg of ambien, I got out of bed and went searching for my handgun, so I could "end it quickly". My wife was unable to rouse me out of this state but managed to get me to bed again. Needless to say, the next day I flushed my remaining tablets down the toilet. I am not depressed or suicidal, despite my bad cancer diagnosis. I think I'll live with the insomnia, rather than risk an episode like that again. I had been skeptical about some of the blackout experiences I have read on the internet. No more...make no mistake, this can be an extremely dangerous drug, even after years of use with no bad side effects. | M | 73 | 5 years | 2/2/2009 | 1 | sleeplessness | hallucinations, sleep walking, waking after a short period of sleep | F | 73 | 11 months | 8/7/2007 | 1 | Insomia | My mother-in-law was prescribed Ambien this past week for insomia. She is a breast cancer patient whose cancer recently metathesized to her liver. After three days of taking Ambien she did not fall asleep, rather began to hallucinate that there were people in her room scarring her, including images of the devil. She also saw people doing various activities in paintings and believed that loved ones in photographs were talking to her. She suffered great anxiety trying to understand why she was the only seeing these people and became defensive and angry when we tried to console her. This was a terrible experience for her, especially when the medication was suppose to help her get rest after trying to emotionally deal with the recurrance of her cancer. | I think people should be very careful in using this drug. It is obviously a godsend for many, including my own father who uses it for chronic insomia. It's too bad my mother-in-law had to find out the hard way that this medication can cause serious side effects for some. | M | 73 | 3 days | 6/25/2006 | 1 | Insomnia | I took this drug (Ambien CR) for two nights. It was supposed to give me eight hours of good sleep. However, a really frightening side effect was: I ate food in my bed and in the kitchen and do not have any memory of it. I was startled to awake and find the bags of food. I don't recall taking the drug and falling asleep. | Ambien CR is an expensive drug which may have some positive aspects. I think it has been introduced as a Continuous Release tablet because the regular Ambien is "off patent." However, I stopped taking the drug and now have read of difficult side effects. The rest of my supply is going in the garbage. | M | 73 | 2 days | 1/11/2007 | 5 | insomnia | Take as needed, usually 1/2 tablet of 5MG. | F | 72 | | 8/28/2002 | 4 | to sleep | Fuzzy thinking. Somewhat dizzy. Memory loss. Late afternoon exhaustion. | I have not slept over 6 hours a night for over 46 years. I went into a sleep study at Stanford Hospital in 1998. The doctor put me on Ambine and said to only take it when I was having "one of those nights". Well, they are all one of those nights. The best sleep I get is to take 5mg when I go to bed and the other 5mg 2 to 4 hours later when I wake up again. I know I shouldn't be taking this stuff, but my sleep doctor now said it is better to take it because not sleeping would kill my brain cells. I'm not sure I have any left to kill! Doctors have put me on other types of pills, but none work as well as Ambien (Zolipdem). | F | 72 | 13 years 10 MG 1X D | 5/28/2011 | 3 | Chronic insomnia, 60 years | Have amnesia about what I do at night after I take it. So far I have not left the house or tried to drive the car but I do see things that I have done after I got up and I have no recollection of having done them. | Not too bad, all things considered. I can usually sleep with it but I'm usually always up during the night going into the hot tub, getting something to eat, or the like. I wish I didn't have to take it especially with the amnesia. I try each night to sleep without one but never make it. You do get more used to it and have to take more of it than is prescribed. I tried Lunesta and that wasn't bad but not as effective. I tried Rozerem and that was horrible. It kept me awake all night like it was a benzedrene. Have tried all the others: Melatonin, Valerian Root and two or three more that I can't remember now. Have avoided all the things that are supposed to cause it. Have done all the things that are supposed to help you sleep. Have read all the books & techniques. So, like it or not, I'll have to try to keep using it until something better comes along or my condition improves for some reas15on. Thanks for sites like this where we can help each other. | M | 72 | 15 years | 4/22/2008 | 3 | prolonged Insomnia | Woke up to find the wrappings and top of ice cream on the kitchen table. Found empty pint container in trash. I do not remember eating it---and no one else could have. Scarey!! | Can not continue with a drug that appears to make me eat and not remember I ate. I try to take it only every other night and take only 1/4 to 1/2 of the 10 milligram tablet. | F | 72 | 8 months | 6/13/2009 | 4 | difficult for me to fall asleep | The only side effect I have noticed is stomach distress almost an IBS type of feeling. Stomach feels actually a little shakey and just not quite normal. Feels like I need to go to bathroom even though I have just gone. | It works well and I only take it when I have an extra big day scheduled the next day as I am retired so most days I don't have to get up early. Maybe twice a week and I take when I get into bed only. IT IS A SLEEPING PILL. I beleive that my stomach problems over the last 9 months are somewhat related to Ambien use as it started after I got out of hospital for something unrelated and they gave me Ambien for sleep abaout a year ago. since then I have had numerous tests for stomach problems and diagnosed with IBS. Seem to be symptom free now except when I take the Ambien I have minor distress. Bad nausea originally during night but now it is only minimal. I need my sleep and without something I can lie there all night long awake regardless of how busy and how tired I am when I go to bed. A double edged sword. Probably have some memmory loss but I am old so expect a little. | F | 70 | 1 years | 7/2/2006 | 4 | Insomnia | Geometric dreams; balance problems when I have to get up to go to the bathroom. | Reduced effictiveness over time. | M | 70 | 5 years | 12/20/2005 | 2 | insomnia | no side effects; no effects of any kind at 10 mg and 20 mg. | Does not help to reduce insomnia even at 20 mg (2 tablets) before bedtime. Will try 30 mg - if that does not help, will discontinue or ask my physician for a different medication. | M | 70 | 90 days | 1/9/2006 | 2 | insomnia | I originally rated this higher but have since discovered that it is the cause of significant intestinal problems. Even at 5mg my stomach feels like it is all shakey and the last time I took 10mg my whole body felt like a bowl of jello inside and my wrists were so weak I could not type. It takes about 3 days to get back to completely normal. I had suspected it but it never was that bad till I took it the other night and then the next day took my regular meds(Nexium, Avelox and Prednisone for infection) and in a couple hours I almost had to go to ER as I thought I might be having a stroke then realized it was the Ambien. Took some Pepto and it started to subside. It is a very weird feeling as my hand don't shake just feel like everything is going at top speed but pulse rate is not high. It does make me sleep well though but will have to give it up. I never took more than twice a week. | F | 70 | | 8/15/2006 | 1 | insomnia | I don't take this med , my mother does and has for several years. She now has severe confusion, severe memory loss, freaks out over the littliest things, repeats herself often, tells the same stories or gossip often even after you tell her over and over that she has already told you that, either angered or cries all the time, bitter and resentful attitude, and an altered personality. | Although this med does gives her a good nights sleep, she has totally changed. Before the med she was a self sufficient person, very fun loving and giving person. She was very sharp minded at anything she set her mind to do. Now it is a nightmare to be around her for any lenght of time. At one time she had gotten off the med because of lack of funds to buy it for about 2 weeks and in the second week she had become her old self again. As soon as she had the $ to buy her script again and started taking it she was back to being a different person and gets worse month by month. She comes up with stuff that never happened and never was said and she swears it did, so by the comments I have read she must have vivid dreams and believes them. Those of you who are taking this med and believe you are having no effect from it during your daily waking hours may ought to take the consideration of examining yourself or talking with someone close to you to see if you have changed personality wise or memory lapses and such. I have told my mom these things that have become different about her and she denies them and says she don't care if it is true she would never stop taking Ambien. Doctors need to read this column and take into consideration of the thing you guys are saying. I smell a major national lawsuit against this drug in the future. It maybe good for sleep disorders but it is a dangerous mind altering drug. My advise is to never take the drug. | F | 70 | | 2/18/2005 | 5 | Insomnia | No side effects. | I take 5 mg (sometimes 2.5 mg) just before I go to bed. I sleep for 6 to 7 hours and always feel normal in the morning. It's a very good drug for me. | M | 69 | 3 years | 8/18/2009 | 2 | Increase urgency and frequency of my urination in the morning. | It help my sleep quite well | M | 69 | 5 years | 12/9/2009 | 1 | Temporar stress | Day after confusion and inability to focus on anything | I have periodically used ambien on occasions when I needed sleep due to stress related issues or airline travel. The last two times I took a pill, I experienced day after side effects of confusion and disorientation. | M | 69 | 1 days | 12/24/2009 | 1 | to sleep through the night | took ambien on and off for 12 months. later took everynight 20 mg steady for almost 30 nights. Remember sitting on bed in pajamas took 20 mg ambien & Celexa 10mg, and lay down on bed. Side effects: sleep driving, alcohol, shopping after 10:30 pm in pajamas. Driving down 45 Ft ravine after clipping a car someones car mirror. No recollectin of accident! | In 2 1/2 yrs I lost my first husband, my 34yr old daughter and my second husband. My Doctor placed me on 20 mg ambien and Celexa for depression and anxiety. No counseling. I was driving to the store for food. I do not drink alcohol often. My level was .15 over the top. I had ideas of killing myself and the like. I have lost my home, car and many high fines for a 69 yr old woman with a DUI. I remember taking medicine, and nothing else. It is through the evidence of the police I know about the beer and accident. 7 days in the hospital. I think you must have good relationship with your physician . My Dr. dismissed me from his practice. I wanted to talk to him about his RX. You could not get me to take Ammbien or anything resembling ambien, trazadone they gave me in the hospital, I slept three nightmerish hours and ended up crying! I believe the public should be made aware of the serious side effects! thousands of people across the USA had similar experiences. I live in a rural | F | 69 | | 2/12/2009 | 1 | My mom couldnt sleep | falling, hallucinations, depression, screaming at night, hands shaking and eventually death. | Ambien killed my mom | F | 69 | 12 months 5 1X D | 6/16/2012 | 5 | sleep problems following surgery | NONE | I am highly sensitive to most medications and so I resisted the suggestion that I take help to re-regulate my sleep following surgery. I was worried about possible side effects but have found this medication to be amazingly helpful. Not groggy, not drowsy, no sleep eating - just an easy sleep and fully awake after about 6-7 hours. I am very impressed. | F | 68 | 14 days 1X D | 3/15/2011 | 5 | chronic insomnia | sleep walking | F | 68 | 3 years 10mg 1X D | 4/18/2010 | 5 | Insomnia | none | I've been taking ambien for over 10 years. the instructions were to take it only for 7 days, but my doc said that it was ok for me to take it on a continual basis. when i first started taking it i did not need it for getting to sleep, i could do that on my own. i would take small peices of it after waking in the middle of the night to get back to sleep. about 5 years ago i suffered a cronic illness that made it difficult for me to even get to sleep. so i started taking ambien on a regular basis, every night. it has worked consistently all of these years. unlike others' experiences, it takes at least a half hour, sometimes an hour for it to work on me. i find almost no difference between ambien and ambien cr. if anything, the old time ambien, now available as a generic, works a bit better. a friend who's been on ambien was told by her doctor that it was found to be harmful and for her to stop using it. my doc says its fine for continual use. i do hear alot of negatives about its long te | M | 68 | 10 years | 11/10/2007 | 4 | I kept waking every hour | I have a burning tongue, mouth & lips. I am not sure it is due to taking Ambien for about 1 1/2 years. It does help me sleep about 6 hrs. Tried getting off, but am up constantly. Anyone experience this? | F | 68 | 2 years | 8/15/2008 | 4 | ZOLOPEDEM | CANNOT REMEMBER GOING TO BED SOME NIGHTS | M | 68 | 1 years 20MG 1X D | 10/13/2011 | 3 | sleep problems | Memory loss while drug was in my system; unusual behaviors. | Ambien really helps me sleep, but what I do while I am 'sleeping' scares me and my family so much I am afraid to take it. For example, my daughter says I woke her at 3AM and told her the house was on fire -- it wasn't, but she says she couldn't get me to believe her and I insisted she call 911. Another night, I found myself driving my car 10 miles from home at about 2AM in my robe and slippers, with no memory of getting in the car or driving. Most frightening of all, my wife says I hit her in the face when she refused to get up and make me a grilled cheese sandwich in the middle of the night. This drug is frightening! | M | 68 | 3 months | 8/31/2009 | 1 | loss of sleep function senior citiz | After several months,depression and fear and dependency | Good for one or two days,maximum as with Oxycondon this drug should be rated triple CCC ,terrible when addicted. The idea that it works fast and you do sleep is cool but the consequences of fear that this drug will cause in long term usage is beyond belief and takes about 3-4 nights to get over then NEVER GO BACK ON THIS DRUG again,YOU ARE FOREWARNED! | M | 68 | 6 months | 11/29/2009 | 1 | Waking up at about 3:00 AM | Gritting teeth in daytime, memory loss, lack of concentation, sleep eating, electrical zapping noise in my head at night. | After starting on ambien, I began gritting my teeth so much that I had jaw and tooth pain. I did not relate it to ambien and my dr. prescribed diazepam for anxiety. This worked for a while. Recently the ambien stopped working so well and I began having dizzy spells. I think my body was screaming for more ambien! I started having alarming noise in my head when I was falling asleep that seemed like electrical zaps. Some days I was dizzy and felt like I was just in a fog. Then one morning I got up and found evidence that I had been up eating peanut butter during the night. Had to be me since my husband hates peanut butter. That was the last straw. I stopped the ambien and have been tapering off with diazepam at night. I will soon be off of both for good! I never thought this could happen to me. I really wonder what else I have done at night that I can't remember. My husband is a very sound sleeper and would not know if I was sleep walking or sleep eating or anything else. | F | 68 | 2 days 10 MG 1X D | 5/9/2011 | 5 | Couldnt get a full nights sleep, & | Cant remember , but not all thetime. | F | 67 | 2 years 10 mg | 11/23/2011 | 5 | Knee pain and insomnia | NONE THAT I AM AWARE OF | Usually take 5mg, fall asleep, wake up 4-5 hours later, go right back to sleep, feel refreshed and alert in the mornings. Am a college professor and do my best work in the mornings. When I go off for a few days when I am between prescriptions, I simply go back to the way it was before Ambien ... my mind is too busy to go to sleep and I wake up throughout the night. So, when I begin to get tired after a few days of that, I get another prescription and enjoy being able to go to sleep and return to enjoying an energized life. I do wish there was more animal research and neurological fMRI studies being done on long term use of Ambien because I think it is a great pill. People often ask if I have been tested for sleep apnea and I have not. | M | 67 | 7 years 5-10 mg 1X D | 3/2/2012 | 5 | trouble sleeping | No side effects. However, I recognize the fact that I am dependent upon this drug. I do not abuse it and after four years still take only 1 tablet. When I do not take Ambien, I have horrific nightmares. I take it regularly every night. | I do know why they advise taking Ambien for a short time because it is difficult if not impossible to come off of it. But it continues to help me to sleep and to feel rested. Actually, I do not know if I will ever be able to stop taking this drug. | F | 67 | 4 years | 8/19/2002 | 4 | insomnia | Interesting history. It worked very well at first and caused me to have extremely PLEASANT dreams. HOWEVER, I have always had a drink bef. bed - a hangover (pun both intended, and not) of yrs. of insomnia. Of cs., Ambien w/ alcohol is strongly counteradvised, but I persisted: "I'll be ok". This was 11 yrs. back. It worked v. well until 3-4 yrs. ago, then became less effective. Upped the alcohol. A few years ago my MD suggested that I cut back to 5 mg, because of my age (67 yrs.). I did, and things seemed ok. About that time I cut back to 1 can of beer/PM. Still pretty good, but less able to fall asleep at will. Hm. Recently, however, needing to get up earlier, I went back to 10 mg.; then started having two cans of brew. It was only then that my wife noticed that somebody had been doing rather wierd things around the house at night. Who? I'm never able to recall a thing. You can't have something for nothing - you always pay. I know I must kick these habit | It works, but if you abuse it, it will abuse you. | M | 67 | 11 years | 5/3/2009 | 4 | Insomnia | I started takindg Ambien three weeks ago, I have had no side effects. I didn't take a tablet last night and had very terrifying nightmares. I don't know what that is all about. I am not sure if I should continue with Ambien or not. | One thing that I did notice about Ambien users who have posted on here is that Ambien tends to interfere with their ability to spell correctly, use grammar correctly, use capital letters correctly, e.g., "your" for "you're"...."there" for "their", etc. | M | 67 | 21 days | 3/11/2009 | 4 | insomnia | Knock-out fatigued after about 12 years of taking Ambien. So dead tired, it started to greatly affect how I was living my life. | Quit sleeping after my Mother died, 15 yrs. ago. Doctored for about 2 years now trying to find out what was wrong w/me, that I just couldn't function anymore after about 2 p.m. All blood tests would come back normal, so no answer could be offered. Then just recently I read an article about Ambien, saying it was very dangerous, like smoking, which I gave up 40 years ago, and that it could cause great fatigue during the day. That was it. I am now going to an acupuncturist to help me start sleeping normally, and it seems to be working for me. I originally started out taking 1/4 of a 10 mg. to just get me to sleep, and if I woke up in the middle of the night, I would take another 1/4, so I never had any of the weird things going on. But I was now up to 1/2 of a 10 mg., and not knowing where it would stop. The first 2 nights off, even from that small of a mg., was hell. Just to lay there awake all night, and feel like a zombie all the next day. And I was so addicted to it right from the start, that I hope I will never have to take it again. That was when I started w/acupuncture. | F | 67 | 14 years 1/2-10 mg. 1X D | 5/5/2012 | 3 | insomnia | Normally no side effects. However, the day before yesterday my daughter found me with a bloodied face and incoherent when she came home from school. | I often wake early (4:30-5:30 AM) but on Thursday I woke at 3:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. As I need to get up at 5:30 I didn't want to take anything but thought I would take a longer nap than usual. After delivering my wife to her job and my daughter to school I seem to have puttered around the house - I found an e-mail that I wrote at 11:40 AM that I otherwise had no recollection writing. I remembered taking half and Ambien (5mg of a 10mg tablet) and a vicodin (I have chronic pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis), setting my alarm for 1PM and going to bed to take a nap. It must have been right after my e-mail. Two days later I was able to remember waking up to the alarm and resetting it for my usual 5:30AM. But later that day all I could remember was taking a call from my daughter about the fact I was supposed to pick her up at 3PM and wasn't there. I vaguely remembered cleaning a wound on my face with q-tips and propolis. The next thing I remember is the horrified look on my daughter's face when I opened the door when she came home from school on the bus - about an hour after our phone conversation that I don't recall. I had a one inch gash across my chin - deep gash - and a swollen nose and was not making any sense. She asked me my name (I knew it) and what month it was - I was off by two months. What day of the week - I said Monday, it was Friday. She got the neighbor who took me to the hospital. Most of the day was a blank to me, with just vignettes here and there, ev | M | 67 | 2 years | 12/14/2009 | 2 | insomnia / sleep apnea | night eating and feeding same to my dog - night walking (outside) - phone calls - ordering a lot of stuff via internet -no REAL memory of this activity but would see the evidence,food all over my house - weight gain (me & dog)- being told of my trips, to my car,neighbors cars and walking down the street | I know that this drug helps many with no ill side effects. However I am doing my best to GET OFF IT. I would rather take daily naps and put up with comments about me not being able to stay awake for lunch, golf or what ever than to continue taking this drug and having all the strange "AMBIEN ADVENTURES" IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!!! | F | 67 | 7 months | 3/3/2006 | 5 | not sleeping | F | 66 | 10 years 10mg. 1X D | 5/14/2010 | 4 | sleep apnea | The only side effect was poor erections, but this isn't too important for a 66 year old man with limited opportunity for sex | after reading the other comments in this posting, I must be a lucky Ambien user. I have had trouble falling asleep after eating too late in the evening. I don't take Ambien if I drank alcohol with dinner,however. I have had central sleep apnea for 30 years plus,Long befor taking Ambien I could not remember my Dreams, still can't. | M | 66 | 1 years | 9/26/2006 | 2 | insomnia | Ambien put me to sleep quickly but I woke up within 2-3 hours, and usually couldn't get back to sleep without taking another pill. I started taking half a pill before bed, then another half in the middle of the night. Recently I tried to stop taking it, but found I could not sleep AT ALL. My doctor has prescribed a small dose of amitriptilene (Elavil) for my chronic insomnia, and it seems to be working to keep me asleep all night. | F | 66 | 3 years 10 mg 1X D | 1/18/2011 | 1 | for sleep after surgery | nursing staff were weird dressed weird | My mom recently had terminal cancer never sleeps under stress and still scared & still in hospt.Upon my requist 4 her to rest, ambien was given. The next morning mom was NOT MOM. She said staff was mean, dressed funnyWeird, ABUSIVE, Nor would give her , her meds, had been placed in a chair & left 4 long time, no nurse checked on her 4 three hrs. Could not get to remote. In mean time she got up to go to bed & fell. I asked how long on floor & who picked u up(no one i crawled). Mind u she has iv's, cathiter ect. So i asked who hung cath. bag ( nurse). I go see my mom and she is NOT MY MOM never crys throughout all her illness. She was freaking out VERY EMOTINALLLL. Mind you this was only her 2nd night in Kendred rehab. I believed EVERY WORD SHE SAID. Come to find out it was the medication AMBIEN. SO in meantime several days later she still believes all that she told me happened to her is true. And I tried to explain to her it was the medication . She knows I do not Lye to her about anything . Still 3 days later she thinks that I am trying to sugercoat & take up 4 the staff just to keep her from comming home. TOTALLY UN TRUE So what I am saying it was ALL DO TO THE MEDICATION AMBIEN. And IM PRAYING EVERYONE SEES THIS POST REMARK ABOUT THIS DRUG AND DOES NOT LET THEIR LOVED ONES BE GIVEN IT AND PREY IT IS TAKEN OFFFFFF THE MARKET. I give this drug a 0000000 rating . | F | 66 | 1 days 10 mg 1X D | 5/6/2012 | 1 | insomnia | This drug will cause memory lapses and they get wors the longer you are on the medicine. I also noticed that my hands have started to shake for about 60 seconds when I become anxious about something. No pill for sleep is worth that. | F | 66 | 11 months | 11/11/2008 | 5 | sleep problems due to back pain | Possibly a little short-term memory loss, but very little. Groggy on waking if on more than 7.5mg. Fine if I keep the dose at that amount. | It has been exceedingly helpful with very few side effects. I take 7.5 mg. immediately before bed. Sleep well, and wake sometimes with pain--but can go back to sleep. Without Ambien, I can't do that and there is to much pain break-through. I also take a low dose of Percocet (5mg.) and 10 mg. of diazepam. This combination has made it possible to sleep well after four back surgeries. The surgeries were successful, but I knew that they would not totally eliminate pain--and night pain had been an ongoing problem. I don't always get eight hours--but six to six and a half is a lot better than what I got previous to Ambien. Is it addictive? I don't care. I have not had to increase the dose, and I sleep so much better--so maybe the ability to sleep is addictive. You need to take the minimum amount that is effective, take it immediately before bedtime, and not experiment with it. | F | 65 | 4 years | 2/9/2008 | 5 | Travel/snoring spouse | My hands itch and I'm becoming concerned. | Ambien has truly been a life saver as we do quite a bit of traveling. My husband's snoring wakes me up, and I find it impossible to go back to sleep especially when we're in a small hotel room. However, lately my hands have itched within one or two minutes, and I'm concerned. Could this lead to complications? I do not take Ambien on a regular basis ... only when we travel or other unusual circumstances. | F | 65 | | 4/28/2006 | 5 | insomnia | none | good drug--it gets me 6-7 hours sleep and sometimes 8 whereas before I got 4-5. It's gentle too. | M | 65 | 6 months | 11/23/2006 | 4 | night terrors | Kind of groggy during the day; I always wonder if I should quit it. | Without the drug, I have night terrors. I do things like smashing sliding glass doors to get us out of a horrible situation. 5mg Ambien does allow me to get a good night's sleep. Like others, if I wake up after 6 hrs, I can't get back to sleep. I cannot sleep without the ambien. Helpful when driving when tired; no chance of falling asleep. No chance for taking much of a nap either. Works great to help with jet lag when travelling over seas. Can't imagine taking more than 10. 10 really knocks one out. I need at least 5. | M | 65 | 5 years | 4/18/2008 |