Ambien

I've been taking ambien most days since I stopped clonazepam 11 weeks ago. How much damage have I done to my recovery? I didn't realize ambien would be so bad...

I wouldn't say you've done damage per se, but Ambien works to down-regulate the central nervous system nearly the same as a benzodiazepine. 

 

What dose of Ambien have you been taking?

5 to 10 MG most nights.

According to this chart, which is the one in the Ashton Manual: http://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm, the rough equivalent equals (Klonopin) .5mg to 20mg (Ambien), so 10mg of Ambien would be about the same as having taken .25mg of Klonopin.

 

 

 

 

The current medical guidelines for Ambien suggests a maximum safe dosage for women of 5 mg. not to be used continuously for about 3 weeks or so. Beyond these guidelines, problems can occur. When you say that you take 5 to 10 mg. did you start with 5 and am now finding that you are leaning toward taking 10 mg. a night? If so, then tolerance can be setting in. Ambien is infamous for creating rapid tolerance after increasing the dose during long-term use. Once tolerant of Ambien, I believe most people can expect withdrawal symptoms including insomnia regardless of how fast they taper off the drug.

 

Comparing doses of Ambien with any benzo is problematic since you can only really compare blood stream levels shortly after taking either drug. Ambien has such a short half-life that you cannot compare blood level stability with a benzo. This instability lends itself to interdose withdrawal symptoms.

 

To help you decide what impact taking Ambien has on your benzo recovery you need to understand what is happening to your brain during the recovery. A very simplified explanation is that benzos stimulate biochemical reactions in the brain that relax and calm you. Your brain is hardwired to seek a degree of stasis so if too much calming reactions are taking place, it will fight back and attempt to suppress the effects of the benzo. This is what creates drug tolerance. When you stop taking the benzo your brain's equilibrium is really thrown off because not only are you not getting the drug's calming effects, but it seems to take awhile for your brain to get the message to back off so it keeps trying to suppress any natural calming effect as well. This results in little or no calming biochemical reactions taking place. Without these, other biochemical reactions that are intended to stimulate fight or flight responses go unchecked and you are left anxious and unable to sleep until your brain can sort everything out and get back to normal.

 

Ambien acts in much the same way as benzos only it is perhaps more powerful. Just try to take Ambien and don't go to bed right away. I don't think that any benzo at an similar dose could produce the effects that you will experience. Inserting the effects of Ambien into a benzo withdrawal is not going to help your brain stabilize from the benzo usage at all, in fact it would be expected to prolong the recovery.

Ambien acts in much the same way as benzos only it is perhaps more powerful. Just try to take Ambien and don't go to bed right away. I don't think that any benzo at an similar dose could produce the effects that you will experience. Inserting the effects of Ambien into a benzo withdrawal is not going to help your brain stabilize from the benzo usage at all, in fact it would be expected to prolong the recovery.

 

Just curious, what would happen if one doesn't go to bed?

 

Ambien acts in much the same way as benzos only it is perhaps more powerful. Just try to take Ambien and don't go to bed right away. I don't think that any benzo at an similar dose could produce the effects that you will experience. Inserting the effects of Ambien into a benzo withdrawal is not going to help your brain stabilize from the benzo usage at all, in fact it would be expected to prolong the recovery.

 

Just curious, what would happen if one doesn't go to bed?

 

It gets you high, but after awhile everything turns kind of gray and stale. It's pretty weird. When I took Ambien too soon before going to bed I would get real talkative. My wife would always know I took it too soon because I would keep running my mouth instead of rolling over to go to sleep. It can also erase your short-term memory. While on a business trip once, I took it before calling my wife to say goodnight. We spoke on the phone for a half hour and I had zero memory of the call the next morning.

 

A doctor friend of mine had a patient on Ambien. He was a fairly prominent member of our community but got arrested walking around late at night naked. He claimed to have no idea how he got outside or what he was doing. If you read up on Ambien, you will hear about people eating, driving and even having sex without remembering it the next day. I never heard of any benzo making you act this way. Pretty powerful stuff.

Wow! This is pretty interesting and very scary. I don't think I'll ever take another Ambien in my life! Thanks for all the info.!  ~CeCe

Alohafromhawaii,

 

I am prescribed 10mg but have been taking 5mgs some nights. I didn't want to depend too much on them but it seems as those the damage is done...

Alohafromhawaii,

 

I am prescribed 10mg but have been taking 5mgs some nights. I didn't want to depend too much on them but it seems as those the damage is done...

 

Just be careful. My prescription was for 10 mg. but I would cut them in half and make a 30 night supply stretch out to 4 or 5 months by not taking it every night. That way my doctor would not have a problem with refilling my prescription. This went on for years and years without any problems.

 

I think that my problem started after going on a 3 week vacation where we stayed at many different places. I took 5 mg. every night and then found that I started taking it a bit more often after I got back home. I then got a painful injury and developed a painful medical condition on top of that so I continued to slowly increase the number of nights that I took it and slowly started going up to 10 mg. a night. I had such good luck with Ambien in the past that I did not think that any real problem could happen. I was not aware of tolerance build up so I just thought that I was developing worse insomnia and needed more Ambien to fight it. In a fairly short time span it all blew up out of control to where I was taking 20 mg. every night and only getting 2-3 hours of sleep. By the time I fully understood what was happening it was far too late. Now I can never take a z-drug or benzo again.

Ambien acts in much the same way as benzos only it is perhaps more powerful. Just try to take Ambien and don't go to bed right away. I don't think that any benzo at an similar dose could produce the effects that you will experience. Inserting the effects of Ambien into a benzo withdrawal is not going to help your brain stabilize from the benzo usage at all, in fact it would be expected to prolong the recovery.

 

Just curious, what would happen if one doesn't go to bed?

 

I used to take Temazepam many years ago and it began to 'wear off'  after I'd been taking it for a few years, so my doctor tried Ambien.  The first time I took it I didn't go to bed immediately.  I actually had what I guess would be called hallucinations.  I thought the bed pillows were clouds.  It's been 30 years or so since then and I still remember the visions.  Never before or since then have I had this sort of experience.

Just be careful. My prescription was for 10 mg. but I would cut them in half and make a 30 night supply stretch out to 4 or 5 months by not taking it every night. That way my doctor would not have a problem with refilling my prescription. This went on for years and years without any problems.

 

Ha ha, that is what I did!  At some point I figured out I could break the 15 mg. capsules of flurazepam in half, and sleep just fine on 7.5 mg. Stretched out my prescription so the doctors never had an issue with refilling it. Even though my brain was frying a bit, I never thought I had any problems whatsoever until a new doctor tried to switch me to temazepam and everything went to pot.

[quote author=meowie link=topic=161714.msg2159893#msg2159893 date=1469747325

 

Ha ha, that is what I did!  At some point I figured out I could break the 15 mg. capsules of flurazepam in half, and sleep just fine on 7.5 mg. Stretched out my prescription so the doctors never had an issue with refilling it. Even though my brain was frying a bit, I never thought I had any problems whatsoever until a new doctor tried to switch me to temazepam and everything went to pot.

 

 

Isn't temazepam a bezo? My stepdad gave me one one night when I stayed with my mother and couldn't sleep. WOW! I slept for about 12 hours after I took it. That was the first and last time I ever took that drug.

 

And obviously, I'll never try it again. It sucks, though, because it did indeed work! ~CeCe 

 

 

 

Oh yes, it is another benzo. Anything with "pam" on the end is almost certainly a benzo. If temazepam knocked you out that much, do not ever take a flurazepam!

Alohafromhawaii,

 

I am prescribed 10mg but have been taking 5mgs some nights. I didn't want to depend too much on them but it seems as those the damage is done...

 

Just be careful. My prescription was for 10 mg. but I would cut them in half and make a 30 night supply stretch out to 4 or 5 months by not taking it every night. That way my doctor would not have a problem with refilling my prescription. This went on for years and years without any problems.

 

I think that my problem started after going on a 3 week vacation where we stayed at many different places. I took 5 mg. every night and then found that I started taking it a bit more often after I got back home. I then got a painful injury and developed a painful medical condition on top of that so I continued to slowly increase the number of nights that I took it and slowly started going up to 10 mg. a night. I had such good luck with Ambien in the past that I did not think that any real problem could happen. I was not aware of tolerance build up so I just thought that I was developing worse insomnia and needed more Ambien to fight it. In a fairly short time span it all blew up out of control to where I was taking 20 mg. every night and only getting 2-3 hours of sleep. By the time I fully understood what was happening it was far too late. Now I can never take a z-drug or benzo again.

  5 MG of ambien the original poster is taking really isn't bad.  I started at 5 to 10 MG for a year and I was fine.  But didn't know at the time about tolerance. I ignored the warning signs.  At my worst I was taking 60 to 70 MG a night.  I guess some of us are made to be self destructive.  Some people still underestimate Ambiens power.  Stop while your tolerance is low. It's a nasty Drug.

Oh yes, it is another benzo. Anything with "pam" on the end is almost certainly a benzo. If temazepam knocked you out that much, do not ever take a flurazepam!

 

Thanks for the heads up, I NEVER want to take another benzo again!!!! NEVER!!!!!   

  5 MG of ambien the original poster is taking really isn't bad.  I started at 5 to 10 MG for a year and I was fine.  But didn't know at the time about tolerance. I ignored the warning signs.  At my worst I was taking 60 to 70 MG a night.  I guess some of us are made to be self destructive.  Some people still underestimate Ambiens power.  Stop while your tolerance is low. It's a nasty Drug.

 

Hi Lonelysoul,

How are things going with you? I can't imagine going cold-turkey after taking up to 70 mg. of Ambien.

  5 MG of ambien the original poster is taking really isn't bad.  I started at 5 to 10 MG for a year and I was fine.  But didn't know at the time about tolerance. I ignored the warning signs.  At my worst I was taking 60 to 70 MG a night.  I guess some of us are made to be self destructive.  Some people still underestimate Ambiens power.  Stop while your tolerance is low. It's a nasty Drug.

 

Hi Lonelysoul,

How are things going with you? I can't imagine going cold-turkey after taking up to 70 mg. of Ambien.

  Hi,  I'm doing ok.  It's been almost 10 weeks since I took my last Ambien.  I had no choice but to cold turkey Ambien.  I'm still on the 15MG Valium And Remeron.  The first 2 weeks I got no sleep, wicked withdrawls. Even taking large amounts of Valium didn't touch that.  Week 3 the withdrawls calmed down a bit and that's when The Valium and Remeron started helping.  That's where I'm at now,  still on that Combo and feel better than I did.  I guess my next step is wean the Valium to about 12 MG in september. I Just wanted too stabalize and not move to fast.

Hi Lonelysoul,

 

Probably a good idea to go slow and easy with the other drugs at this point. They must be helping with the Ambien withdrawal. I stopped from just 20 mg. of Ambien and had a pretty hard time of it so I can imagine what a much higher dose could cause. Hope it goes as smooth as possible for you.