Ambien?

[Liz D.]

Just wondering if any one has heard the rumor that Ambien is being taken off the market soon?  Two different people heard that, but I am unable to find any reports on the Web about it.  Does anyone know?  If they are, they better offer another alternative for those of us that can not sleep!

Liz D.

[KellyG999]

I don't know but wouldn't be surprised. recently I had a friend who mixed ambien and alcohol then hung himself in his families basement. I know one story doesn't make a trend, but I think a lot of strange stuff happens when ambien is used. Then again, I am sure many use it with no issues as you do!

[Autoimmunity]

YIkes.  Just had my first script for it filled today.  Made the mistake of looking up side effects and sleep driving.  I have narcolepsy - can't sleep. can't stay awake  have sleep paralysis and nightmares sometimes.  I am freaked to take it, but have so much trouble falling asleep at night.  Last Thursday did not sleep the entire night.  I'm afraid I will sleep drive or do something like lock my dog/s outside (they are under 5 pounds/would literally freeze).  Is this totally ridiculous?

[jazzlover]

I SOOOOO hope not!!! They keep trying to phase out the generic drugs so they can make more money. I don't like the Ambien CR nor the Lunesta. I want my plain Ambien!! I've used it for years without a single problem.

Auto... begin with a half pill.

[Babs659]

I've used the generic form, 5 mg, for years with no problem at all.  I only need it a couple times per month, usually.

[jasonsmith]

There are other prescription sleep aids other than Ambien. i.e. Ambien CR and Lunesta. I think there are more. But generic Ambien is the cheapest. The only thing Ambien does for me is knock me out. It doesn't help me stay asleep. The thing about Ambien is I believe it's not supposed to be taken long term compared to some other sleep aids.

One nice thing I like about the Ambien is having hallucinations. It makes you forget about things for a little while.

[Autoimmunity]

There are other prescription sleep aids other than Ambien. i.e. Ambien CR and Lunesta. I think there are more. But generic Ambien is the cheapest. The only thing Ambien does for me is knock me out. It doesn't help me stay asleep. The thing about Ambien is I believe it's not supposed to be taken long term compared to some other sleep aids.

One nice thing I like about the Ambien is having hallucinations. It makes you forget about things for a little while.

You experience hallucinations while on ambien?  Curious what kind of hallucinations.  Doesn't sound good.

[jasonsmith]

There are other prescription sleep aids other than Ambien. i.e. Ambien CR and Lunesta. I think there are more. But generic Ambien is the cheapest. The only thing Ambien does for me is knock me out. It doesn't help me stay asleep. The thing about Ambien is I believe it's not supposed to be taken long term compared to some other sleep aids.

One nice thing I like about the Ambien is having hallucinations. It makes you forget about things for a little while.

You experience hallucinations while on ambien?  Curious what kind of hallucinations.  Doesn't sound good.

Hard to describe. But looking at the computer and looking at all the words. I could make out shapes like people and things in the words. And the "people" and things would be moving around and doing things. I also remember laying down in the floor looking up at the ceiling as there are patterns in the plaster or whatever it is on the ceiling. And the patterns would look 3D like they were a few feet in front of me when in fact the ceiling was like 15 feet away.

Hallucinations is a possible side effect of Ambien.

[c991]

Ambien was fun for me while it lasted, but my wife insisted I quit taking after she caught going out side naked, to shoot coyotes, at night in 10 degree weather. I went outside often because I saw cars, people and giant furniture in the front yard, It was all entertaining. The best part was shopping in my sleep, I managed to buy 4 nice bar stools for $100 delivered. The only scary part is I may have driven to our new house to change the sprinklers, if I did I hope put on some clothes first.

Clint

[jasonsmith]

Ambien was fun for me while it lasted, but my wife insisted I quit taking after she caught going out side naked, to shoot coyotes, at night in 10 degree weather. I went outside often because I saw cars, people and giant furniture in the front yard, It was all entertaining. The best part was shopping in my sleep, I managed to buy 4 nice bar stools for $100 delivered. The only scary part is I may have driven to our new house to change the sprinklers, if I did I hope put on some clothes first.

Clint

Did that happen when you first started taking it? Or later on?

[soycoffee]

Hi, Liz D

Just wondering if any one has heard the rumor that Ambien is being taken off the market soon?  Two different people heard that, but I am unable to find any reports on the Web about it.  Does anyone know?  If they are, they better offer another alternative for those of us that can not sleep!

Liz D.

Other alternatives would be seeing a sleep medicine specialist, for some basic help on moderating the reasons for sleeplessness, or prescribing an alternative.

In the last 6 months I have had some sleepless nights, due to restless legs syndrome (RLS) and persistent leg movement disorder (PLMD). What has helped is a. melatonin, and b. gabapentin (which I was already on).

Gabapentin helps basically with discomfort from RLS, PLMD, and neuropathy. If your GP/PCP knows you have these things, then you are good to go, but may need a slightly increased dose.

Melatonin is a natural sleep aid, that supplements the body's natural production of melatonin. It is available in your neighborhood chain store, or from iHerb, or on line. What's most usually available is a 3mg tablet. That had always been too much for me -- and one can go as low as 3mcg -- until recently. Now I take 2 tablets, 1 mg each, 20 minutes before bedtime, and that's good for 7 3/4 hours, generally. But start with 1 mg, and go to 1/2 mg., or to 2 mg. if that doesn't work as you want.

I want to caution people to avoid Life Extension melatonin capsules. Try something else. There are lots of good products.

The hallucinations are a little scary. I get something similar with Diltiazem, except that it's always been much much less -- funny pictures in front of my eyes as I fall asleep.

Sleep tight, pleasant dreams,
Soycoffee

[soycoffee]

YIkes.  Just had my first script for it filled today.  Made the mistake of looking up side effects and sleep driving.  I have narcolepsy - can't sleep. can't stay awake  have sleep paralysis and nightmares sometimes.  I am freaked to take it, but have so much trouble falling asleep at night.  Last Thursday did not sleep the entire night.  I'm afraid I will sleep drive or do something like lock my dog/s outside (they are under 5 pounds/would literally freeze).  Is this totally ridiculous?

Dear Autoimmunity
I'm awfully glad you *did* look up side effects and sleep driving. If you have narcolepsy, then you would be under the care of a sleep doctor, and getting Provigil (modafinil) or Nuvigil, to help with alertness, through the day. These are controlled substances.

I have the next best/worst thing to narcolepsy. Since being diagnosed in 2008, I have always always fallen asleep before my head hits the pillow (!). That's a slight exaggeration. Say, before reading two pages of the book, in less that 5 minutes. And I would fall asleep while talking to a friend. That is, I had excessive daytime sleepiness. Plus naps, of course.

I was not getting enough sleep due to Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and Persistent Leg Movement Disorder/Restless Leg Syndrome.

So what I'm getting at is that the sleep doctor who diagnosed your narcolepsy and prescribed your Provigil or Nuvigil is the one who should prescribe your sleep aid, and it sounds like the prescription you had filled was *not* from your sleep doctor.

And then, too, taking melatonin (often used for shifting one's shifts for shift workers) helps for occasional tossing and turning. Ask your sleep doctor.

All the best,
Soycoffee

[jasonsmith]

Hi, Liz D

Just wondering if any one has heard the rumor that Ambien is being taken off the market soon?  Two different people heard that, but I am unable to find any reports on the Web about it.  Does anyone know?  If they are, they better offer another alternative for those of us that can not sleep!

Liz D.

Other alternatives would be seeing a sleep medicine specialist, for some basic help on moderating the reasons for sleeplessness, or prescribing an alternative.

In the last 6 months I have had some sleepless nights, due to restless legs syndrome (RLS) and persistent leg movement disorder (PLMD). What has helped is a. melatonin, and b. gabapentin (which I was already on).

Gabapentin helps basically with discomfort from RLS, PLMD, and neuropathy. If your GP/PCP knows you have these things, then you are good to go, but may need a slightly increased dose.

Melatonin is a natural sleep aid, that supplements the body's natural production of melatonin. It is available in your neighborhood chain store, or from iHerb, or on line. What's most usually available is a 3mg tablet. That had always been too much for me -- and one can go as low as 3mcg -- until recently. Now I take 2 tablets, 1 mg each, 20 minutes before bedtime, and that's good for 7 3/4 hours, generally. But start with 1 mg, and go to 1/2 mg., or to 2 mg. if that doesn't work as you want.

I want to caution people to avoid Life Extension melatonin capsules. Try something else. There are lots of good products.

The hallucinations are a little scary. I get something similar with Diltiazem, except that it's always been much much less -- funny pictures in front of my eyes as I fall asleep.

Sleep tight, pleasant dreams,
Soycoffee

Do you know if the Gabapentin helps any to stop or slow the progression of the disease? Or just with the symptoms?

[irish]

I have always had a "thing" about using sleeping pills. I guess I get this from working in the medical field and passing medications off and on over the years. Most of the sleep aids will cause issues eventually if you use them long enough.

Also, most of them are not made to take long term open ended or without a stop date. Many times scripts are written so many mgm x's 10 days, or whatever. With the sleeping pills it has been said for most of them that they start to lose their punch after a while. Some of the older meds were not to be taken over a certain number of days and the state inspectors would get on us if a patient was getting a pill to long.

I can only take 5 mgm of Ambien for about 4 days and then I start to get stoned. There has been a lot of press about this phenomonen of sleep driving. Society in general doesn't get enough sleep anymore. Probably because we are all sitting up on our computers!! So people take the pills and then get up still under the influence of them, eat breakfast, take their coffee and hit the road. They now feel that there are a lot of car accidents caused by people falling asleep.

I just added this little info in case some people didn't know what sleep driving was. There are not that many remedies for insomnia that work all that well. The one thing that a lot of docs have been doing is to give low dose antidepressants to people for sleep and it does work quite well.

One of the older drugs (a tricyclic drug) called amitriptylene is usually given at 25 mgm for sleep. Many people take it for sleep and for neuropathy pain at night. I have a sjoggie friend with diabetes and terrible neuropathy who is taking 1800 mgm of gabapentin a day plus 75 mgm of the amitriptylene at bedtime. My hubby takes the gabapentin plus the 25 of amitriptylene and couldn't sleep without it.

Also, they started using 25 mgm of zoloft quite a few years ago for sleep and that works well. There are some antidepressants that will "rev" a person up instead of help them sleep. It depends on which chemical in the brain that the pill targets. Good luck to all of us insomniacs. Irish

[soycoffee]

Hi, Jason

I do know from experience, and about ten years of reading and learning about neuropathy, for which gabapenting/Neurontin is typically prescribed, that gabapenting does not do anything to arrest the progression of neuropathy. Two things *do* stop the progression -- in my experience:

IVIg, and

Sublingual tablets (or injections) of Methyl B12, in moderate to high doses. Mine is moderate at 140 mg/day total, having started with 1/4 tablet sublingual doses, spaced through the day. About $2400 to $3000 a year, not medically deductible but cheaper than IVIg if one were paying the full price.

I measure progression and regression from neuropathy by dose of Neurontin/gabapentine. From the maximum gabapentin dosage of 3600 mg/day when I started Methyl B12, I have been able to recover most of the function that had been lost to neuropathy. The NeuroTalk forum provides some limited experience -- and improvement -- but typically do not go beyond 5 to 10 mg/day of sublinguals, and don't distinguish between ordinary vitamin B12 and Methyl b12. Vitamin B12 is cyanocobalamin if not otherwise specified, so be sure you're getting Methyl (or Adenosyl) cobalamin. Adenosyl cobalamin is also called Dibencozide. I really didn't want to confuse you -- but it's confusing.

The distinctions do make a difference. It is *not* safe to take large amounts of cyanocobalamin (ordinary B12). It *is* safe to take large amounts of Methyl cobalamin (Methyl B12).

Some brands are effective, some are not. For another time.

Thanks for asking
Soycoffee