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Email a friendQ. My husband has had a terrible time with the sleeping pill Ambien. One night he got up and wandered out of the house. A stranger had to bring him home. Another time he poured coffee on the computer in the middle of the night. He remembered nothing of either of these episodes.
I have heard from other friends who have also had trouble with Ambien. One got up and fixed a whole meal. He remembered nothing about it but there it was in the kitchen when he woke up.
Are there any natural ways to get to sleep? I am frightened to have my husband keep taking Ambien.
A. We continue to hear from readers who experience sleep walking or even sleep driving under the influence of Ambien. Forgetting the episode afterwards is also common.
There are many ways to promote sleep naturally. They include a hot bath in the evening, a high carb snack at bedtime and herbs like valerian. We are sending you our Guide to Getting a Good Night’s Sleep. It can be downloaded for $2 from the Website: www.peoplespharmacy.com.
One other trick might be to add magnesium before bed. Some readers tell us that about 300 mg of this mineral helps them ease into sleep. Too much magnesium can cause diarrhea, however. It is not safe for people with kidney problems.
Since I was "hit" with RA 4 yrs ago and was in 24/7 pain the first three years, any "good" sleep went out the window.
For 4yrs I was desparate for sleep. Tried every natural remedy without success. Tried Ambien and knew after one night, that it made me feel very "wrong". Never took it again.
Restoril works for 3 nights, then I feel wrong/bad again. Took Trazodone once. So I struggled every night for almost 4 yrs.
It wasn't until two months ago when I started with 1 tab Calming and 1 tab Neurexan from Heel, plus 50mg 5-HTP, plus 500mg Mag Citrate, plus New Chapter's (whole food) CalMag 3 tabs,plus 100mg Nattokinase plus a few bites of turkey, plus 1 apple, that I can sleep on my own again. I get 4 hrs of sleep this way, because hip pain is still waking me up. But no bad feelings in the morning anymore, and no waking after two hours thinking something is wrong with my heart.
Valerian, Kava Kava, Gaba, Melatonin make me feel "bad" also. By bad, I mean anxiety, heart palpitation, something-wrong-feeing in the middle of the night.
I am quite sure now that if it weren't for my left hip, I could sleep through.
But I am really happy, I don't need sleeping pills anymore!
BTW, your program on NPR this morning about e-patients was very interesting, because I am one, too. Researched RA on the internet, found RBF, and the rest is history so-to-speak.
Best Regards,
BarbK
I had lost my husband and was needing sleep badly. Dr. gave me Ambien, said it was the best on the market and non-addictive. One night I took one and didn't go right to bed. Noticing it was after midnight, I got up from the puter and collapsed until 5:30am and woke up with a knot on my head the size of Texas, plus a broken arm. Not good stuff for sure.
BTW's symptoms sounded like my experience with sleep apnea. She did not mention snoring at some time in her life or now, but sleep apnea was all I could think about as I read her note.
I too have experienced atypical experiences on Ambien. One occasion I suggested to my husband that he should invite "Ted" home for a chicken dinner. I have never met 'Ted' and I had no chicken in my freezer. Ted is my husbands bridge partner.
That same night I insisted on making my husband an avacado sandwich and when he refused I ignored him and proceeded to prepare both of us a sandwich, includidng using a sharp knife to peel the avacodo from the pit, and sliced an entire loaf of newly baked bread. I found the evidence of this in the refrigerator the next morning. My husband never ate his samdwich.
Then I blithely announded that I was going to seriously look into 'breast reduction surgery'. I remembered none this the next morning. On other occasions I have called long distance for lengthy chats with friends and family and never remembered these event either. I no longer take ambien, but if I do my husband has said he will take all the car keys and hide them. CHM
Several years ago, I was put on Ambien due to lack of ability to sleep. I awoke the first morning after taking it and was to take my car in for repair. My wife was following. I ran a stop sign and hit another car. The officer was very nice, and I told him my brakes failed. I didn't remember driving there at all!!
Upon returning home I discovered several tablets of Ambien missing, although I'd taken only one that I recalled. I found them scattered around the hall and in the bathroom, accounting for all but two. Had I sleeepwalked and taken more?
I gave them to my wife and told her to give me only 1/2 tablet and hide the rest. This worked. I no longer need the medicine and will avoid taking it at all cost.
i took Ambien CR with the doctor's blessing, of course. Don't even recall if I slept but I do know at 1P.M. while out shopping with my daughter:suddenly everything turned the color GRAY I thought I was dying.Daughter, fortunately, was driving and I said " I have to go home NOW. No, you can't stop off for anything". To this day, when I pass that street I get that sickening feeling !
I have taken 2.5 mg of Ambien without any problems except for one instance. Apparently I didn't drink enough liquid to dissolve the tablet and noticed on my drive to work the next morning (about mile 8 out of 17) that I was having a difficult time staying in my lane. I had to exit on a curved ramp at my destination and couldn't control my car enough to keep from scraping the wheels/tires on the curb as I exited the ramp. It cost me a tire, a scraped wheel and a lot of embarrassment.
In recent months I have noticed that I have been sleeping better. I thought that might be a side-benefit of Forteo injections (I have severe osteoporosis). Now I realize it is more likely the result of taking 300mg of magnesium at night. I began taking it for constipation about the same time I started the Forteo injections.The magnesium did not relieve my constipation.
I've done fine on Ambien for 6 years. A major bout of postpartum depression left me as a major insomniac. All has gone well on it except for the first day I took it, during the day after my husband read the faded pharmacy label wrong to me. He said take it every nine hours, when it actually read nightly. My brain tried to conquer the drug, I had a terrible stomach ache as we drove to town. I ended up in the emergency room thinking I had anxiety, however my blood test showed my liver wasn't functioning within normal limits. As long as I take it at night I'm great, but I pity the fool that's on it accidently by day. This traumatic incident left me more sleepless than ever, and forced me to rely on Ambien nightly for years. The only other side effect is my long term memory seems to be not as good. I would love to somehow ween myself off of it. Perhaps I'll try some of the above suggestions.
I have read about Ambien being recommended for a period of app. 10 weeks and supervised by a doctor. Well, I have been taking it, supervised by a doctor, for 21 years.
When I started taking it, I was in a bad marriage and was not sleeping and I had told my doctor I couldn't even be motivated to have sex with my husband; once I started to take Ambien, I informed him that I was having sex with my husband, was enjoying it, but didn't even know it until the next morning when I took a bath. His answer was: "well, now we are killing two birds with one stone".
I am divorced now, and a couple of years ago my son who was 37 at the time, had a heart attack; the paramedics took him. Since I had taken the Ambien already, realizing the danger of driving, I went back in the house, washed my face over and over and drove straight to the hospital. Not only did I not see any red lights on my way, I waited thru the surgery, I spoke to the doctor after it, and still don't remember what the doctor said to me that night; I do remember now leaving the hospital, going to Dennys and having breakfast. How did I do that? I don't know. I adore my son.
I want to stop taking Ambien but nothing else seems to work. I have even tried taking Tylenol PM 3 at a time and 2 more three hours later and nothing happened. That time it was a long week-end and there were no doctors available, therefore I was awake for five days. Cried my eyes out. Any suggestions????
please try l-tryptophan 500mg
with vitamin D3 1000mg and 3 tsp Milk of Magnesium...see if it helps....I have been on Ambien X 6 mos and crave my own sleep too....the above seems to be beginning to help, as I only take Ambien 3-4 times a wk now....only when I have to get up to go to work...if I can be home, the above Vitamin regimen works...trying to get over the psychological addiction I have to Ambien.
I've been taking ambien for about 2 years. After having spent 2 years struggling to sleep just 3-5 hours a night with no relief. I tried everything. I hated the way melatonin made me feel. Tried the hot bath, massage, cal/mag, you name it, if it was natural, I tried it. Nothing worked.
I've never taken a whole ambien. I figured it would put me into a coma. I usually take around 2.5mg give or take a bit. About a year ago I started taking 1000mg. of L-tryptophan along with 2.5mg of ambien. It works really well most nights.
I did read a warning about doing this. But, said they never had anyone with adverse reaction while taking this combo. Only with antidepressants because of the seritonin, which your body also makes from L-tryptophan.