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"cold turkey" stopping 2.5mg ambien?


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I have been taking 2.5mg ambien for over 1 year and am having shaky hands and great difficulty sleeping.  Has "cold turkey" stopping worked for anyone?  If not, what are other methods? 
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I quit Ambien cold turkey, and while I didn't sleep much for a few nights, I felt much better.  Ambien has such a short half life, I was withdrawing from it every day, the shakes, the short term memory loss, all of that went away.  You can taper it if you like, I've seen people cut their pills.  Some cross over to Valium and then taper from that, but I'm not a fan of going from a non-benzodiazepine to a true benzo.
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2.5 is a relatively low dose although you've been on it for a year.  I was taking a 5-10 mg dose and cut down 2.5 mg every week from the 5 mg and ended taking lorazepam to sleep which was a big mistake (going through withdrawal) and now I'm on seroquel for sleep and everything is going well.  I honestly can't say if i was experiencing withdrawal from the ambien (aside from lack of sleep) as I had akathisia at the time.

 

Have you always had difficulty sleeping?

Ae you taking a new med for sleeping?

 

 

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Yes, I have always had difficulty sleeping and I am not taking any new meds for sleeping (just not sleeping much).  Thanks for your helpful response and any other ideas or info would be greatly appreciated.
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I stopped Ambien cold turkey after a one year use. It had caused terrible pain in my auditory nerves. Drs didn't believe it was the culprit, but the day I stopped, the pain stopped. The sleep returned little by little and within 6 weeks, all was well. So hang it there.....the benzos have been much harder to withdraw from.

amb

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