Anybody try AMBIEN to help you sleep?

[caryrae]

For a long time I can't seem to get a full nights sleep. Some nights I can take a while to fall asleep, wake up multiply times during the night, wake up early, ect. My mind can just seem to race when laying there. I do sleep at points during the night because I have dreams.

I have tried different things like no caffeine later in the day, take sleeping pills, go to bed same time each night but nothing works. So I was wondering about taking AMBIEN. For anyone who knows does it work and once you start taking it are you dependent on it to sleep? I need to go to my Dr. and see what he says.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I have never taken it, but my wife spent 13 days in the high-risk ward of Labor & Delivery trying to delay the birth of our DS after her water broke 8 weeks early. The doctor insisted that she take Ambien every night to make sure she got a good night's rest, they wanted to make sure her stress level was as low as possible. He said it was plenty safe enough for both her and the baby, so I doubt it can be too addictive. My wife said she slept okay (despite the constant traffic of nurses and doctors) and didn't feel hung over the next morning.

I also battle periods of insomnia where I cannot stop my mind from racing through random thoughts. I have been in such a phase the last few months, and I too have considered trying Ambien.

[T-Belle]

I've taken it on occasion-it works! Be warned, I took one and should have gone straight to bed but I stayed up for awhile talking with my DD. The next day she told me all that I told her and oh my goodness!!! Lets just say I talked too much and didn't remember a thing. Now when I have to take one I give myself 15 minutes then I get in the bed-sleepy or not!

[kakn7294]

I'm a nurse and work steady nights. I have seen it cause a lot of perfectly normal patients to be come confused and disoriented. However, it also has helped a lot of people sleep. My mother takes it. Just be careful when first taking it to see how you react to it - and that's a precaution we all should take with any medication.

[BrerGnat]

Get the CR version (controlled release). The regular Ambien causes some crazy side effects ina lot of people.

I used Ambien CR a few times. It works, and it's not habit forming.

[DizneyRox]

Melatonin us about as strong as I'd go for "sleeping pills". Works great! Might need to figure out the best dose...

[Dznygrl79]

I have a severe anxiety disorder and after a nighttime house fire a few years back I became truely insomniatic. I took Ambien for almost a year and a half. The worst thing I had happen was a lot of morning grogginess and not being able to wake up in the middle of the night ( someone tried to wake me up on New Years eve and again on my birthday but I could not be woken) however there were nights I never took it and when I stopped I had no side effects.
Good Luck a good nights sleep can change your whole feeling, someone else mentioned meletonin and I have heard that works really well also if you are able to take it.

[BrerGnat]

Ditto on the Melatonin, by the way! Our son with Autism uses it nightly to "quiet his mind" and fall asleep. He is usually out within 20-30 min. I have used it on occasion when I've been unable to settle down. It works VERY quickly and gently. No morning side effects either!

If you want to go that route, I suggest Natrol brand LIQUID Melatonin. It's more pure than the pill form, and it is absorbed faster in your body (so it works faster).

[GrumpySue]

I would suggest Valerian if you want to try a natural route. I have taken it a lot and it makes falling asleep nand staying asleep much easier, I have a very active brain that I cannot shut down at night as well as being a chronic worrier. Valerian has helped me a lot without any side effects and I feel great in the morning. But be warned it smells like STINKY FEET !! Just swallow fast LOL

[Georgesgirl1]

I've taken it on occasion-it works! Be warned, I took one and should have gone straight to bed but I stayed up for awhile talking with my DD. The next day she told me all that I told her and oh my goodness!!! Lets just say I talked too much and didn't remember a thing. Now when I have to take one I give myself 15 minutes then I get in the bed-sleepy or not!

I totally agree with this. One time I tried to stay awake after taking an Ambien and felt like I was halucinating. It really scared me and my hubby b/c I said some weird stuff. I stopped taking it for awhile, but then started taking it again on occasion.

[caryrae]

Melatonin us about as strong as I'd go for "sleeping pills". Works great! Might need to figure out the best dose...


Ditto on the Melatonin, by the way! Our son with Autism uses it nightly to "quiet his mind" and fall asleep. He is usually out within 20-30 min. I have used it on occasion when I've been unable to settle down. It works VERY quickly and gently. No morning side effects either!

If you want to go that route, I suggest Natrol brand LIQUID Melatonin. It's more pure than the pill form, and it is absorbed faster in your body (so it works faster).

I haven't had any luck taking Melatonin either but that liquid Melatonin sounds interesting never heard of that kind. Is it available most places like Walmart, Walgreen's, etc?


I would suggest Valerian if you want to try a natural route. I have taken it a lot and it makes falling asleep and staying asleep much easier, I have a very active brain that I cannot shut down at night as well as being a chronic worrier. Valerian has helped me a lot without any side effects and I feel great in the morning. But be warned it smells like STINKY FEET !! Just swallow fast LOL

Sounds interesting too, stinky feet part doesn't sound good. Where is Valerian found?

[BrerGnat]

I buy the liquid melatonin at Whole Foods Market. It's hard to find in chain drugstores. You can also find it online pretty easily.

[Nate's Grandpa]

Ditto on the Melatonin, by the way! Our son with Autism uses it nightly to "quiet his mind" and fall asleep. He is usually out within 20-30 min. I have used it on occasion when I've been unable to settle down. It works VERY quickly and gently. No morning side effects either!

If you want to go that route, I suggest Natrol brand LIQUID Melatonin. It's more pure than the pill form, and it is absorbed faster in your body (so it works faster).

Nate has Autism, too. He has been taking Melatonin for about 3 years. Without it, he used to sleep about 4 hours per night.
Fantastic product!

[magicalmom]

Another trick to help you get to sleep is, take a hot bath right before bedtime. Don't linger until it cools, get out while it's still warm, This will raise your core body temp, then when you get into bed, the core temp will drop, making you sleepy. This works really well for DH, (who also doesn't pile lots of blankets on when he gets in bed)

[crazypoohbear]

I have had trouble sleeping for years. About a month ago I started taking Vitamin D 8,000mg per day because I have low d levels.
Since taking it I have started sleeping better.
One of the side effects of Low vitamin D is sleeplessness, elevated blood pressure, thyroid problems, aches and pains.
Have your levels checked out, this could be a simple solution.
Good luck with everything.

[lovewalt]

I also agree with getting into bed right away when you take Ambien.I did a little furniture dismantling and rearranging one night after using Ambien and have no memory of it.I woke DH up with all the banging around I was doing.He said I was acting really weird and got mad at him for not helping me carry a bookshelf into the basement.The next morning I found the mess I had made and it really scared me so I won't take it anymore.I do use melatonin on occassion and find it effective.In fact, I just took some now since I am replying to This post at 2 am!!!!

[JanetMegan]

I take it occasionally and find it works very well for me with almost no side effects and I don't feel groggy in the morning at all. But...I do find that if I take it one night and not the next night, I have an extra hard time sleeping-go figure.

[DisneyDog]

I use the generic form of Tylenol PM and find that it works great. I take 1 before bedtime. 2 tends to be too strong for me. If I take 1, I sleep well and have no trouble getting up in the morning. If I take 2, then I had better be able to sleep in because I will be very groggy the next morning.

[GrumpySue]

You can buy Valerian at any drug or health food store. I bought the Solgar brand and I think it is 500 milligrams. It is really great for helping me sleep without any side effects. I highly recommend it.

I am going to look into the Vitamin D deficiency though, that is interesting. I have been hearing a lot about that lately.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I usually use Nyquil because Melatonin didn't work for me very well. I'll have to find and try the liquid kind or try the Valerian.

[caryrae]

I couldn't find the liquid Melatonin around here but I did order some from the Walgreen's website and the Nature's Bounty Valerian Root Plus Calming Blend. I heard using both together works good too. Of course though I haven't had a chance to try it because my back decided to go out a few days ago and have to take steroid pills for 6 days and have some vicodin for pain so I can't try the sleeping stuff with the medication.

[DizneyRox]

Not saying I would try it, but melatonin is not a medication it's a hormone...

[7165red]

I have use it, and no bad side effects. I was also given it to me while I was in the hospital and no problems. My only problem was pain meds. I had back surgery and nothing seem to help the pain.

[Tinkerbella]

I've only taken it a few times because it made me halluconate so badly. I actually drove to school one day and didn't really 'wake up' till midway through that day. I guess I'm really sensative to it :confused: I have also taken Lunesta and had a better experience with that. It knocked me out pretty quickly. However, I didn't stay asleep for very long. It also could be because I work nights and sleep during the day, which is just so wrong :humph:

[MNNHFLTX]

I've only taken it a few times because it made me halluconate so badly. I actually drove to school one day and didn't really 'wake up' till midway through that day. I guess I'm really sensative to it Your experience actually sounds pretty common-place to me. This med used to be given fairly routinely in the hospital where I worked, but had a high incidence of side effects, and hallucinations and confusion were the most common ones. While it may work well for some people, I personally would never take it myself, based on what I've seen in my practice.

[Mickey91]

A friend of mine was talking about this the other day. He said if you take it and don't go straight to bed you can have hallucinations and terrible balance issues.

[magicofdisney]

I was given Ambien just before surgery, earlier in the year, and it made me feel a little loopy. In fact, it reminded me of how I felt when on the percocet, after surgery.

[BigRedDad]

I discussed sleeping issues with my doctor because I only get about 4 hours of sleep a night. He didn't want to prescribe Ambien or others because they can be habit forming. He prescribed a mild anti-depressant that is used for minor sleep issues. I tried it one night only. I slept for 10 straight hours. BUT, I never felt like I was asleep the whole time. When I "woke up", I did not feel like I slept at all, needed to go back to sleep, and try to get all those screwed up thoughts out of my head.

I never took another one and went to another doctor. He told me there is no magic bullet to sleeping better. He said the sleep issues are due to fitness, weight, stress, and mattress. He said we can fix 3 of those almost immediately. He said I need to manage stress better if it did bother me. Guess what? I started working out, eating healthier, lost 15 lbs, and slept through the night with no issues. Unfortunately, I stopped as I always do and went back to the same problem.

So, if you have sleep issues, you need to look at the personal habits that have caused them. Those make up 99% of the reason you cannot sleep.