AMBIEN Reviews (ZOLPIDEM TARTRATE)

Average Rating: 3.1 (1450 Ratings)

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 SEDATIVES HYPNOTICS    DEA Schedule IV   

 Type: Rx Drug

  

AMBIEN  (ZOLPIDEM TARTRATE):  Zolpidem is used to treat a certain sleep problem (insomnia) in adults. If you have trouble falling asleep, it helps you fall asleep faster, so you can get a better night's rest. Zolpidem belongs to a class of drugs called sedative-hypnotics. It acts on your brain to produce a calming effect. This medication is usually limited to short treatment periods of 1 to 2 weeks or less.   FDA Approval Date: 1992-12-16 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

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Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR AMBIENCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 4  Insomnia--chronic Possible cause of migraine headaches. Nothing else. I've been taking Ambien CR for about 2 years every day. I think a lot of the problems posted here are from psychotic people who have other very deep seated problems; I don't think it is this drug causing their behavioral issues. Who takes a sleep medicine and then drives or tries to stay up? Why take it if that is your intent? My worst issue is that I have sress headaches but I am also under a lot of stress from business and family illness issues. It's difficult to know if the Ambien is the cause of my headaches. I don't take any other meds for anything. M 56 2 years
5/6/2009
 1  Insomnia I felt a little 'off' within minutes, near vertigo type effects. I read it can hit you suddenly so I lay down... hour of dozing, and wide awake after that, didn't do squat for me. M 35
5/6/2009
 5  counteract drug induced insomnia Short-term memory loss beginning about 30 minutes after taking Zolpidem, which is the generic version of Ambien, until I fall asleep. After taking it for 8 months I am beginning to occasionally experience memory loss during the day, difficulty concentrating, difficulty staying focused, and a slight overall degradation of mental ability. This drug is wonderful for counteracting the insomnia caused by other drugs. I am taking Pegasys injections weekly to treat Hepatitis-C (HCV), which for me causes severe insomnia (that is not the case for everyone taking Pegasys). The only way I could remain on HCV treatment was to address what I refer to as drug induced insomnia. HCV treatment has been very successful! I might have liver cancer by now without the Zolpidem/Ambien to permit me to stay on HCV treatment. I will stop taking Zolpidem/Ambien when HCV treatment ends. I recognize that I may experience long-term consequences from taking Zolpidem/Ambien for so long, but I need to solve one problem at a time. I'm very grateful for this drug! M 50 8 months
5/4/2009
 4  Insomnia Memory loss, texting people really late, eating late, buying stuff online, seeing things move on the headboard... I actually googled 20 mg ambien. I was trying to find out if it would be ok to double the dose as I still wake some during the night and didn't with cr. After coming to this site first I will not be trying that. In fact I will go for at least halving my dose every other night...and staying in bed... I take it expecting it to put me to sleep but it doesn't. I would lay in bed reading waiting on it to knock me out and it wouldn't. I would call my sons, i texted my Pastor once at 12:30 am... go get grapes out of the fridge and eat... I would pick up my book the next day and start where the bookmark was then back up a few pages finding nothing i remembered reading till i backed up a couple of chapters...my family also teases me about how I act after taking it like I am acting high on it doing all of these weird things but as some say the being able to sleep outweighs those things when you do not sleep without it. Tho I am concerned now as others have stated here about permanant memory loss... I am 49 and have always suffered with insomnia...herbal stuff breaks my face out... tylenol pm and those things give me nightmares...i have found no other working alternative... I also take 60 mg cymbalta...I don't know what else I can do... F 49 1 years
5/4/2009
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 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
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 1  insomnia hallucinations, sleep walking, panic attacks I took this a few years ago and I would never, ever recommend this sleep aid to anyone. While on this, I hallucinated that my backpack was turning into a monster and that my reflection in the mirror had changed into a demon. I also went sleep walking for the first time in my life -- a friend found me wandering the halls of my dorm in my underwear. Absolutely terrifying, and it sure didn't help me sleep. F 23 2 weeks
4/30/2009
 3  insomnia related to bipolar dizziness, amnesia, lightheadedness, confusion, loss of balance it does help me sleep. when i go into a manic phase ican stay awake for 48 hrs or more, and i need to sleep. so this helps. but i feel like i am wading through molasses the rest of the day. i forget things, i am confused, i make no sense when i talk, i am dizzy, i cant walk in a straight line.... i am seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow and asking him to give me something else. before this i was on Ativan and it was worse. but it does help me sleep, i just am not happy witht eh side effects. F 31 2 weeks
4/29/2009
 4  insomnia No physical side effects, but the thought of running out of Ambien terrifies me. It is the only way I can get to sleep before 4 a.m. My doctor is hesitant to renew my prescription. I know I'm dependent on it, but it hasn't been a problem yet. I do try to take 1/2 of a 10 mg. pill at least 2-3 times per week (and a full one the rest of the time). If I take 1/2, I will wake up more often during the night. F 42 14 months
4/27/2009
 5  insomnia Getting up in the middle of the night to eat weird things. Some visual halucinations. Acting drunk and silly. I have been taking 10mg ambien for about 2 years. I have had some pretty weird halucinations I thought my coat rack was mocking me one night one night I thought my carpet was bubbling up and one night I saw little rivers with little canoes in the wood grain on my kitchen counter. I don't remember these the next day but my family tells me about them (they will tease me about it the next day). I also sometimes will get up in the middle of the night to pig out and not remember it. I have found that if you take the ambien while you are already laying down it drasticaly reduces the halucinations and weird behavior. For me the benefits have outweighed the side effects by far!! Before I started taking ambien I was lucky to sleep every other night now I sleep everynight. I have not had any withdrawl symptoms if I don't take it every night. Maybee not a great idea if you live alone because of the potential for dangerous behavior, but for severe insomnia it is a lifesaver. Just make sure you are in bed when you take it. F 32 2 years
4/24/2009
 1  insomnia anterograde amnesia, vivid nightmares/dreams, grogginess, not a good night's sleep i'd avoid this stuff like the plague F 26 6 days
4/24/2009
 2  INSOMNIA Very bad hallucinations. Distortion of objects and other people's faces. Feeling of being very drunk. Talking and walking are both difficult. It didn't make me fall asleep, but i would force myself to shut my eyes and lie in bed to escape from somewhat frightening hallucinations. F 27 3 days
4/23/2009
 4  severe insomnia Memory loss at any dose, odd behavior at higher doses This drug is safe IF TAKEN EXACTLY AS PRESCRIBED. Still, I personally would only recommend it for long-term use in extreme cases like mine. I have been taking this drug for about two years now since developing severe insomnia and couldn't function without it. (I am still planning on having a sleep study done but right now can't afford the time off work.) This medication will cause memory loss even at low doses, which isn't a problem because you should be asleep. Always go to bed right after taking it. If you don't, you may do things you don't remember, but generally, these things won't really be all that odd except at higher doses, in which case you may do things you would never do normally, like drive down to the nearest Dairy Queen and order three large Blizzards, or order $1,000 worth of worthless merchandise online. NEVER combine this drug with alcohol in an attempt to increase its potency. You will wake up two days later with no recollection of the previous day and spend the next several days trying to explain to people why you called them in the middle of the night. M 27 2 years
4/20/2009
 5  Never a good sleeper--worse over 40 None Love this medication, really a life-changer for me F 51 5 years
4/18/2009
 1  insomnia eye twitch overwhelming craving for sweets headache strange dreams amnesia if you want to go to sleep- then this is the pill for you. after about fifteen minutes after i took it, i started feeling a little loopy- then i dont remember anything else. i do remember though going to the kitchen in the middle of the night searching for sweets. the next morning i had several text messages from people i knew saying" what are you talking about?" ambien will cause you to sleep walk, amnesia, eat uncontrollably, especially sweets, and also for me its causing my left eye to twitch rapidly. i called the pharmacist & they informed me a side affect was involuntary muscle spasm. (eye twitch & other twitching) it is now 12:13, & i have been up since 5 am and i am not te least bit sleepy. Why? because i have been taking ambien for 4 weeks now and my body is hooked on it & now i cant go to sleep unless i take it. i am officially an ambien junkie & i am trying to wean myself off of it. beware! this stuff is so addictive. when you take it you will LOVE it but the side affects and withdrawal just isnt worth it.find some other way to go to sleep. i see now why its hard for some people to overcome addiction. F 35 120 days
4/16/2009
 1  insomnia My mother, age 60, was prescribed Ambien and a few days later shot herself. Thankfully, she survived. Due to the circumstances, she had to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. The doctor said it was the most mysterious case she had ever dealt with. My mother had no suiicidal tendencies and no recollection of what had happened. She still has no memory of what happened. I would not reccomend this drug under any circumstances!!! F
4/12/2009
 5  Chronic Insomnia As long as I go to sleep right after taking it, there are no side effects. If I stay awake, as everyone else has mentioned, I experience anterograde amnesia, behavioural changes, vivid visual hallucinations, etc. Upon withdrawal there are unusual dreams. Ambien is one of the most amazing medications I've ever taken. The side effects only manifest if I stay awake after taking the pill. I take 10mg a night, which usually gets me around 4-6 hours of sleep, which is impressive to me. My insurance doesn't cover the CR version, but I have taken a few of them, and they gave me a full night's rest in time and energy. M 20 4 years
4/11/2009
 3  insomnia It worked great to get me to sleep fast. 10mg was perfect. That was 3 years ago. Then I started experiencing memory loss and sleep walking at night. Mostly eating. I made some changed to avoid these effects and they rarely happen now, but what I am experiencing now is a more permanent kind of memory loss. Being forgetful, difficulty focusing, concentrating and retention. I'm not sure if it may be the long term effects of this drug or not, but I don't take any other drugs and was always very sharp mentally until about one year ago and now it seem that I've been loosing my memory at a rapid rate. This is the first time I associated my memory loss to this drug. I am 57 years old and assumed that it must just be older age finally catching up to me. But the rate of decline is becoming marked. I'm going to have to quit this stuff. F 57 3 days
4/11/2009
 3  insomnia caused by lexapro craving sugar and cigarettes after taking it; if taken too often, daytime anxiety/depression Just a very, very strange drug. Deceptively powerful. The bad for me does not outweigh the good...yet. For falling asleep, nothing is better. However, it is strangely addictive and psychological dependence develops in a matter of days. If you're going to use it, use it very sparingly. If you have trouble falling asleep every night, try alternating it with something else. You do NOT want to get hooked on this drug. It is quite unlike anything I have ever used before. M 20 1 years
4/10/2009
 4  Insomnia I often have no recollection of things I did under the influence of Ambien. My daughter has told me I have done and said some pretty strange things after taking AMbien and I have no clue what she is talking about. I continue to take it though because it actually does help me to both fall asleep and stay asleep. I am fully aware that 1 of the side effects of this drug is memory loss while under it's influence. I would like to know if this particular drug causes memory loss in general--like kill off your brain cells memory loss? I have been experiencing and noticing in teh last 5-6 months that my memory as a whole seems to just be radically changed. I pride myself or should I say used to pride myself on having a great memory. Lately though I have dropped in IQ instantly. I am only 32yrs old and I am an educated person so this sudden change is casuing me a great deal of concern. I woudl just liek to know if anyone else has experienced these same effects. F 32 10 months
4/9/2009
 4  Insomnia I have had two occasions of when I wake up in the morning, there is no recollection of taking my glasses off, turning the TV off or even remembering what I was watching the night before..no matter how hard I try to remember. Last night, I apparently slept thru the phone ringing at 11:15pm..and the phone is on the nightstand next to the bed. That is sorta scary. Other than the occasional memory loss, I sleep well now..even thru my husband's snoring. F 47 2 months
4/3/2009

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