Ambien

i am small and have lost a lot of weight on this poison called klonopin. I am 5' 2' and 105 pounds at the moment wishing and hoping my appetite would come back. I was going to try 5 mg instead of the 10 mg of ambien while I am tapering off klonopin. Has anyone had a good result with taking only 5 mg of ambien at night instead of the 10 mg?

i went into withdrawals because of ambien in like 5 days. the night it happened i took 5mg instead of 10. i know its unusual. ambien hits very strong but it lasts short. you may need only .25 or even less.. but you may have to keep taking it throughout the day cause after about 2, or 3 hours you'll be back in panics.

50, the OP was asking if anyone thought 5 mg instead of 10 would be helpful.

 

imo it is irresponsible to suggest dropping to .25 (did you put the decimal in the right place?) OR to suggest that she take it throughout the day? Talk about really getting hooked on Ambien? Why on earth would she want to make her situation worse?

 

Dragon, if I were in your shoes (and I pretty much was) I waited until my benzo taper was over to start reducing my Ambien. One drug at a time! Think about it -- cutting your Ambien back to 5 mg is a 50% cut. You will certainly feel it. You're hoping your appetite will come back . . . being in serious withdrawal from cutting your Ambien will not encourage it, I'm afraid. I was very ill  and lost a lot of weight on my benzo taper and now that I'm done, I can pinpoint what made me so nauseous -- cutting too big and too fast.

 

What about a DLMT off your K? I did that with my valium and it really helped.

 

Also, I started taking indica marijuana which REALLY improved my appetite.

 

Anyhow, I hope you can feel better, but I don't think cutting your Ambien by 50% will help.

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

50, the OP was asking if anyone thought 5 mg instead of 10 would be helpful.

 

imo it is irresponsible to suggest dropping to .25 (did you put the decimal in the right place?) OR to suggest that she take it throughout the day? Talk about really getting hooked on Ambien? Why on earth would she want to make her situation worse?

 

Dragon, if I were in your shoes (and I pretty much was) I waited until my benzo taper was over to start reducing my Ambien. One drug at a time! Think about it -- cutting your Ambien back to 5 mg is a 50% cut. You will certainly feel it. You're hoping your appetite will come back . . . being in serious withdrawal from cutting your Ambien will not encourage it, I'm afraid. I was very ill  and lost a lot of weight on my benzo taper and now that I'm done, I can pinpoint what made me so nauseous -- cutting too big and too fast.

 

What about a DLMT off your K? I did that with my valium and it really helped.

 

Also, I started taking indica marijuana which REALLY improved my appetite.

 

Anyhow, I hope you can feel better, but I don't think cutting your Ambien by 50% will help.

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

 

Hi Dragonista,

 

I agree with Katz, it's not a good idea to taper from more than one drug at a time, and taking many doses of Ambien during the day is dangerous.  It's a hypnotic that produces memory problems, it's well known the drug can cause people to sleepwalk, eat and drive and so on, so please don't consider doing this. 

 

If you need to slow down your taper, then please do it, this isn't a race, the objective is to remain functional if our lives while we do this.  Your brain has to remember how it functioned before the drug, this takes time while tapering and after you rid yourself of the drug. 

 

I know you have no appetite but you're at a point where you have to eat to live, please do what you can to keep your body strong, don't let this stupid drug have any more power over you than it already has, you can do this.

 

Pamster

i am small and have lost a lot of weight on this poison called klonopin. I am 5' 2' and 105 pounds at the moment wishing and hoping my appetite would come back. I was going to try 5 mg instead of the 10 mg of ambien while I am tapering off klonopin. Has anyone had a good result with taking only 5 mg of ambien at night instead of the 10 mg?

 

Do you normally take 10 mg, and want to reduce to 5 mg?

 

I used to take 10 mg ambien every night. I started it the same time I started xanax, about 3.5 years ago. In the middle of my xanax taper I decided I wanted to reduce my ambien dose. So I held my xanax dose, and cut the 10 mg ambien to 7.5 mg. I was expecting bad symptoms but it didn't faze me. (Note that I also take 45 mg mirtazapine every night.) So the next week I reduced the the ambien to 5 mg at night. Again, no real symptoms. That was about a month ago.

 

One thing I noticed, 10 mg ambien really knocks me out. With 10 mg I would conk out a half hour after I took it, usually while watching TV. Then I'd wake up 6 or 7 hours later, turn off the TV and the lights, and go to sleep again. With 5 mg it doesn't conk me out so quickly. Also, one reason I really like ambien, is because it gets rid of the dreams. I have always had horrible, vivid, colorful dreams my whole life. I hate it. The ambien got rid of it. Now on only 5 mg I remember my dreams in the morning. Back to the horror show. But otherwise I still sleep pretty well.

HI!

 

I have taken 10 mg ambien sporadically for years but every night for the last 2 years after getting off 15 years of methadone (pain clinic) and a really bad detox off lyrica after that.  I have actually been able to cut my nightly dose many nights to 5 mg since I am getting lower with the benzo taper, which is xanax.  I want to do one thing at a time and feel I will be in a much better place to taper the ambien when the xanax WD is over.  Benzo WD can make resting and sleeping so hard that it does not seem at all advisable to stress yourself so much at the same time. I was really surprised that I could take a 1/2 tab, the 5 mg dose and there are nights when I wake at 3 AM and take the other half. Good luck with your WD. I know how hard it is when you don't feel like eating, are losing weight- it sucks! Blessings!

50, the OP was asking if anyone thought 5 mg instead of 10 would be helpful.

 

imo it is irresponsible to suggest dropping to .25 (did you put the decimal in the right place?) OR to suggest that she take it throughout the day? Talk about really getting hooked on Ambien? Why on earth would she want to make her situation worse?

 

Dragon, if I were in your shoes (and I pretty much was) I waited until my benzo taper was over to start reducing my Ambien. One drug at a time! Think about it -- cutting your Ambien back to 5 mg is a 50% cut. You will certainly feel it. You're hoping your appetite will come back . . . being in serious withdrawal from cutting your Ambien will not encourage it, I'm afraid. I was very ill  and lost a lot of weight on my benzo taper and now that I'm done, I can pinpoint what made me so nauseous -- cutting too big and too fast.

 

What about a DLMT off your K? I did that with my valium and it really helped.

 

Also, I started taking indica marijuana which REALLY improved my appetite.

 

Anyhow, I hope you can feel better, but I don't think cutting your Ambien by 50% will help.

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

 

Hi Dragonista,

 

I agree with Katz, it's not a good idea to taper from more than one drug at a time, and taking many doses of Ambien during the day is dangerous.  It's a hypnotic that produces memory problems, it's well known the drug can cause people to sleepwalk, eat and drive and so on, so please don't consider doing this. 

 

If you need to slow down your taper, then please do it, this isn't a race, the objective is to remain functional if our lives while we do this.  Your brain has to remember how it functioned before the drug, this takes time while tapering and after you rid yourself of the drug. 

 

I know you have no appetite but you're at a point where you have to eat to live, please do what you can to keep your body strong, don't let this stupid drug have any more power over you than it already has, you can do this.

 

Pamster

 

What she said.