AMBIEN Reviews (ZOLPIDEM TARTRATE)Average Rating: 3.1 (1450 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare AMBIEN with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. 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 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 |
More on AMBIEN: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR AMBIEN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | insomnia | not nearly as effective if taken with food | I occasionally take the 12.5mg Ambien CR. NO next day drowsiness, weird behavior, amnesia, etc, NOTHING. I do take it right when I get in bed, not before. Some nights it is significantly more effective than others. I'm not sure why other than that I think eating near bedtime, especially protein, reduces its effectiveness. Also eating a big high protein dinner can also reduce the effectiveness,even when the Ambien is taken later in the evening. | F | 41 | 6 months | 1/12/2007 | 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 | 4 | rare insomnia, back to sleep aid | sometimes a little foggy in the morning. Maybe one second of weakness in my arm. Much more likely to cry the next day. Increased sexual interest the next day. Existential musings. Well rested. | I've taken a totaly of about 30 ambien tablets over the last year (not ambien CR). Never two nights in a row. Usually I'll split them in half. Recently, my daughter woke me up in the middle of the night - it took me a little longer to respond, but I recall the incident & was coherent. I always take it as I'm getting into bed. My doctor gave me no warnings about this drug, though. I will think carefully before taking any more. I wonder what is worse, driving the morning after taking ambien, or driving on 3 hours sleep. | F | 40 | 30 days | 1/10/2007 | 5 | Insomnia & Night terrors | Amnesia, lowered sexual inhibitions IF I do not take Ambien and go directly to sleep! | Ambien is the ONLY sleep aid I have taken that not only gives me 4 to 6 hours of natural sleep that I don't feel hung-over or groggy from but does not cause increased nightmares/terrors. (I have tried everything from tylenol pm to xanax, klonopin, sonata, lunesta, all the SSRI's and all of the non-pharmacological therapies: music, relaxation, warm milk, white noise, massage, on & on & on...) This is a very powerful drug and if I try to do a few things while I'm waiting to get sleepy I often will say or do things that I don't remember AT ALL. My husband calls it the Ambien "fog" and says that I become sexually uninhibited and demanding. Health care providers need to increase education about going to sleep immediately and not engaging in any activities that could be risky (driving, cooking, etc...) | F | 37 | 1 years | 1/9/2007 | 4 | Wakefullness from Pain | Wakefullness from Pain I take Ambien because I have several auto immune disorders that keep me up at night. I have Interstitial Cystitis, Fybromialgia, PCOS and other assorted things that send pain signals to my brain to wake me up. Ambien has been a Godsend for sleeping because it knocks me out for eight whole hours and I don't feel hung over the next day, but... it is super easy to become dependent on it and if I don't force myself to go to sleep immediately after taking it, or someone wakes me up, I will say and do things in a strange hypnotic/somnambulent state and have no recollection the following day. | The first time I noticed something strange about Ambien was when I was standing in the bathroom talking to my son after taking it one night and noticed that the towel bar on the wall behind him seemed to be moving. I remember telling him about this while at the same time realizing that what I was saying sounded insane. I have done a lot of the things people have described here, phone calls, night walking, shopping online, which was horrifying because I woke up the next day and had to come up with the money to pay for everything I didn't even remember buying. Sometimes my son wakes me and I'll agree to anything to make him go away and let me get back to sleep. The next morning I'll have no recollection of this. I also have extremely vivid dreams on Ambien, but I love this aspect of it. The reason I'm here though is because last night I got online and did something super insensitive to someone I really care about; My friend is going through something very sensitive and I had been suppres | F | 44 | 12 months | 1/9/2007 | 5 | Insomnia induced by work stress | Sluggish in morning if taken too late. Dizziness. Memory loss. | Sometimes if I take it and stay up to read or watch tv, after the initial drowsiness kicks in if I don't get up and go to bed, I've fallen asleep on the couch, chair or floor. Also binge eat at times if I take and wait to go to bed. Made phone calls in the middle of the night with no memory the next day. I called my boyfriend's mother at 1:30 am not realizing the time and felt horrible, especially since I didn't remember it. Also, my boyfriend tells me I say mean things to him during the night of which I have no memory. Just recently I kicked him out and woke up in the middle of the night and wondered where he was. When I called him at his place I asked him why he left. He said you told me to go home. I HAD NO MEMORY OF THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION. I am switching to something else. | F | 44 | 2 years | 1/8/2007 | 5 | sleep disorder/PTSD | Groggy in the am. For a couple of weeks I have been waking up at 3:00AM. Prior to that I slept a full 8 hours. May be due to high stress lately? I dunno. Have been experiencing some blurry vision in right eye. Have also been using Wellbutrin XL and am tapering off of that at this time. So hard to say about the vision issue. There are so many relative variables in life. | The only thing I don't like is I stopped using it for two days and I COULD NOT SLEEP AT ALL THOSE 48 hours! Don't know how others have dealth with this issue. | M | 50 | 3 months | 1/7/2007 | 5 | insomnia, bipolar disorder, anxiety | Unsteady gait, amnesia | I take this nightly. It has been a godsend for my sleep problems. However you really do have to go right to bed. I generally am awake for about an hour after taking it, and find no hallucinations per se. However, I do get very unsteady when I stand up (I usually just watch tv or read until I fall asleep after taking it) and I have done many things that I don't remember at all the next day. Other things I remember but they're really clouded. Nothing out of the ordinary, though, just forget them. My husband will say I did something and I'll go O_O I did? Whoops. I never go out though, or try to do housework or anything of that nature. And to my knowledge, it's not made me do anything sexually I wouldn't normally do. I have had some very vivid sexual dreams, though - which I'm not complaining about LOL I have noticed an increase in my masturbation habits, however I can't honestly say it's solely from the ambien. | F | 41 | 6 months | 1/4/2007 | 1 | Given to me in hospital stay | Been on this medication for 2 years, after doing my own research and reading this web site, I realize what I have suspected the last 6 months or so, the horrible axienty attacks when i don't take it for just one night that led to me being taken to the hospital, abnormal thoughts of knives , I don't have any knives in the house, not any for cooking or anything, horrible ear ringing, ordering things online in the middle of the night, | I don't know how to get off this drug, tried taking from 10 mgs to 5 which I usually do, to half of that, then went back on it again. Anyone can help me please email me at [email protected] | F | 46 | 2 years | 1/4/2007 | 5 | chronic insomnia since childhood | If I take it and don't go straight to bed, I get these odd visual hallucinations that make it hard to judge proportions. Shapes on the PC screen, for instance, begin to move around a bit. My balance is also off. It's not an unpleasurable feeling, as long as you don't have to work or deal wth the kids. | It's changed my life. I worry, though, that I take it when I should really be trying to establish better sleep patterns by more regular bed times and so forth. Beucase it's a pill it's too easy. But it is a great drug, very helpful. I also wonder if it has any effect on 1) sex drive and 2) memory during the day. | M | 48 | 2 years | 12/30/2006 | 1 | Imsomnia | Severe hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and attempts, grogginess, increased hunger. | I took one during the summer and went absolutely mad. I thought I was going to be attacked by the hairy goblins in my curtains or raped by pastry chefs knocking at my door. My mother found me the next morning with my wrists cut slightly and I had drawn a very disturbing picture of deer nursing eachother back to health after a car accident. I'm sure we probably could have gotten a lawsuit out of the injuries but we never went through with anything. Not recommended for anyone who is even slightly unstable. | F | 17 | 1 days | 12/30/2006 | 1 | Insomnia secondary to anxiety | Memory Loss/Amnesia, Depression, Loss of Concentration(especially the next day), mood swings, headaches, backaches...Did I mention MEMORY LOSS!!! Because, I think that is bad enough! | I'm 27 & not supposed to have a memory of an elder person!I'm worried b/c I want to stop taking the med & the withdrawl symptoms.I used to have sharper memory/thinking skills,communicate better & concentrate a lot more. I don't want to feel the need to take this medication to sleep anymore. I want to be able to do & feel the way I was before. Yes, I'm not going to lie, at first is "fun" to feel a sense of "well-being" and "happiness" all around you, but TRUST ME that will soon turn into dependency. It will turn you into someone you weren't & never thought you could be. Stop giving this med such a great review, b/c even if you take it before going to bed, the side effects are still there and if you're not feeling them now, give a just a little longer & you'll see! Overeating, gainning weight, & feeling a increase in your sexual drive is not worth it. Now, I have to figure out how to get off this stupid medication! | F | 27 | 2 years | 12/29/2006 | 4 | anxiety related insomnia | I, too, have at times experienced a middle-of-the-night snack attack. Also, has caused some sort term memory loss. I've looked at a movie before going to bed and not remembered it the next day, and had conversations I've not recalled. | The BEST thing about this drug as a sleep aid is that when it wears off, it wears off. I don't feel any sense of hang-over, or difficulty getting out of bed the next morning. I take the 10 mg. I've tried the 5, to attempt to curb those episodes of memory-fog, but 5mg. does not work for me. | F | 51 | 6 months | 12/28/2006 | 5 | insomnia | none when going straight to bed | But if I stay up too long after taking it, I feel a loopy, euphoric and extremelly horny - tend to not remember things I did/said before going to bed. my husband is not a fan | F | 25 | 1 years | 12/27/2006 | 1 | poor quality sleep | It seem that most posters have a fairly positive experience with Ambien CR. Mine was the reverse: After two nights of taking Ambien (12.5mg), and getting a good 7 hours sleep, I slept less (woke up around 4am and couldn't get back to sleep). I was restless, irritable and felt sad for no apparent reason. During the day I was tired, had no appetite and soon developed frightening heart-pounding and chestpain. I didn't relate these feelings to the Ambien and my FP told me to continue with a lower dose (6.25mg). These feelings, he thought, were most likely anxiety, related to the low level of sleep. After a further week of poor sleep, nausea, heart palpitations, tremors and nervousness I was put on a heart monitor. All was ok, but the feelings were still there and I felt terrible - depressed, anxious, heart discomfort, nauseous/indigestion...plus less sleep than ever. Dr gave me low dose of clonazapan to help with the palpitations/anxiety. Then I read the detailed prescription that comes w | So, even if you are experiencing poor quality sleep, I would check carefully before deciding on Ambien. I had a seemingly rare, but very unpleasant reaction that took a while to figure out. I will settle for 5-6 hours of sleep a night (plus a 15-minute nap at lunchtime) just to feel my old happy self again. I have never before had any kind of anxiety/depression in my life and this was definitely medication-induced. So if Ambien is giving you any of these feelings (that you didn't have before) I would suggest checking with your Dr to see if these might be side effects and all you need is is a little relaxant (half an hour before bedtime) to relieve any worries about getting off to sleep. Once your cycle is re-established these can be split on succesive nights until you need nothing but a warm comfortable bed. | M | 46 | 10 days | 12/27/2006 | 1 | poor quality sleep | It seem that most posters have a fairly positive experience with Ambien CR. Mine was the reverse: After two nights of taking Ambien (12.5mg), and getting a good 7 hours sleep, I slept less (woke up around 4am and couldn't get back to sleep). I was restless, irritable and felt sad for no apparent reason. During the day I was tired, had no appetite and soon developed frightening heart-pounding and chestpain. I didn't relate these feelings to the Ambien and my FP told me to continue with a lower dose (6.25mg). These feelings, he thought, were most likely anxiety, related to the low level of sleep. After a further week of poor sleep, nausea, heart palpitations, tremors and nervousness I was put on a heart monitor. All was ok, but the feelings were still there and I felt terrible - depressed, anxious, heart discomfort, nauseous/indigestion...plus less sleep than ever. Dr gave me low dose of clonazapan to help with the palpitations/anxiety. | Then I read the detailed prescription that comes with Ambien - was down in the smallprint was some of the side affects I was having so-called "serious side effects - discontinue use and call doctor"-type ones. I didnt bother, just tossed the Ambien. So, the first night after getting rid of these pills I started to feel better, took half a clonazapan to help relax me just before bedtime. Slept 7 hours solid, woke up to a different world. After several days of this I am feeling better, happier than ever. So, even if you are experiencing poor quality sleep, I would check carefully before deciding on Ambien. I had a seemingly rare, but very unpleasant reaction that took a while to figure out. I will settle for 5-6 hours of sleep a night (plus a 15-minute nap at lunchtime) just to feel my old happy self again. I have never before had any kind of anxiety/depression in my life and this was definitely medication-induced. So if Ambien is giving you any of these feelings (that yo | M | 46 | 10 days | 12/27/2006 | 3 | insomnia | lack of focus during the day | only thing I know that really shuts down my system and allows me to sleep. Seems to get out of the system fast so that your not groggy in the am, just wondering if its this that is causing me to be forgettful, and have trouble focusing during the day | M | 45 | 7 months | 12/26/2006 | 5 | | 12/25/2006 | 4 | jet lag induced sleeplessness | Some times a bit groggy in the mornings. | It seems to work well. I think the controlled-release version might be a better option, but I only took that a couple of time as a physician's sample give-away. I only take the drug occaissionally, as needed, not daily. | M | 55 | 2 years | 12/24/2006 | 5 | Insomnia | Vomiting after/during sex. First month or two had severe hallucinations, but they went away. Best sleep of my life on this medicine, and my husband loves the sex perv I become at times. | I am 6 months pregnant; OB and MD have both ok'ed use during pregnancy, (hope they are right). I have never had any amnesia occurring AFTER I went to sleep- all of my amnesia occurs between time I take pill and go to sleep, but never after waking up. | F | 25 | 1 years | 12/23/2006 |