Ambien withdrawal

Hi, I was suffering from insomnia and was prescribed Ambien 10mg in 2015. I managed to get the dosage down to 5mg per night, but in the past year, I have had quite a lot of insomnia. Also, anger and sometimes suicidal thoughts when I cant sleep. I increased the dose to 7.5mg, but it didnt help much. Recently, my sleep is worse, sometimes awake from 1am til 5am, its awful, I also have Lyme disease and insomnia is often a symptom of that. The GP said she could give me a stronger medication, but I dont want it! I would love to get off this drug, as I think it could me making my mental symptoms worse. Thanks all so very much.

Hello Ambienna, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

We are glad to have you as a member of our community!  It does happen for many of us that benzos and Z-drugs such as Ambien quit working and start to cause more problems than they seem to help.  I am glad you aren't opting for anything stronger!  You body will learn to sleep naturally in time if you allow it.

 

We support a slow taper to minimize symptoms, reducing your daily dose by no more than 5-10% every two weeks or so.  This link has taper plans you can review:

 

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper Plans)

 

We have a support group for Ambien that you can access here:

 

Z-drug Withdrawal Support Group

 

Look around and get settled in and let us know how we can help.

 

Best and again, welcome

 

Kate