I take 20 mg of ambient every night and have been for a number of years. I have done things such as sending emails, text messages, phone calls, preparing and eating food, to name a few.

Last night I actually hopped in the car and ran to McDonalds because I did not have any thing in my house to eat that I wanted. I only vaguely remember what happened and woke at about 4 am thinking it was a dream. From what I think I remember or have pieced together, I drove directly into 1 curb and very possibly second curb. I got out of the car, in my pajamas, and pick up the car parts that had come off of my brand new Mercedes and threw them in the trunk. When I woke, I found food all over me, on my dog and in my bed. I still am not sure if the dog went with me to McDonalds….

I do not remember ordering food, paying for the food, getting home or even eating the food. It is Sunday morning and the tow truck has come and taken my car to the Mercedes dealership because it is not drivable. I estimate there to be at a minimum of $3,000 in damage….. Not a good morning for me.

I am still in shock that this happened. But it is very real. I am concerned as to how I will sleep tonight and whether to take the ambient. Tomorrow I will call my doctor first thing.
Thanks for listening.

Can one of the medical people here point to any comparison of the memory problems related touse of sleeping medication and anesthetics?

I have been using Ambien for years with no side effects what so ever. I also have two friends who take it with no side effects. I take 5mg a night. I wonder if sleep driving, eating, etc. could be related to dose. 20mgs seems like to much to me.

Hi,
I just wanted to add to my comment above, that I too have been using ambien for years, maybe 5 or so years. Due to continued problems with sleeping, my dose continued to rise until I reached the 20 mg. I also tried the CR and it did not work for me.

Over the years, I recommended it to several friends since my treatment was successful, but added they may want to start with the CR first.

With what just happened to me, I am not sure how I feel about the drug. perhaps in small doses it works fine. But I think there are some memory side effects with the small doses.

At this time it is not right for me. I have gone for 7 days without taking ambien. I have not had any real noticeable side effects from stopping the drug. However, it is difficult to sleep, but i do get some sleep. I do believe that the drug is addicting and people can become dependent.
Fortunately for me, I was laid off from my job 2 weeks ago (I am fortunate to have this opportunity to get off the drug – not the part of no job) . It makes it easier for me to get off the drug at this time since I haven’t any where to be. But if I did have to show up for work, I think I would be here telling a different story of not being able to let go of the drug. Right now I fear the day I do have to return to work and if I will need the ambien again to sleep.

Should I be disturbed that John McCain is also a regular user (as ABC reports)?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Politics/story?id=4919842

It seems that most of the side effects occur when your sleep is disturbed or interrupted (something likely to occur when you are president)

This is a great thread. I too have been on Ambien for 5 or so years. I have had terrible things go wrong too. ie: waking up with food all over and making food, going in the swimming pool in the middle of the nite, fighting with my husband, calling people, waking up with brusies that are big, telling my husband outrageous things. I stopped taking it 8 nights ago and I have has some terrible withdrawal symptoms. It was not fun, but the calm of not knowing that you will do something that would hurt someone else or yourself is ok. It happens that I have seen a big difference in the drug since it has gone generic. Anyone else? Thanks

I have been taking Ambien for about five months. My husband has told me of some bizzarre things I have done, I just laughed it off. Most of them involve roaming around the house, eating food, and occasionally having sex with no recolection of it. I just say “yeah, right” and don’t give it a second though. However, last night I was videotaped eating ice cream right out of the carton, “stirring” an empty cup, dumping “sprinkles” into the ice cream carton (I didn’t even know we had sprinkles in the house), dumping sprinkles on the table and then onto the floor…mumbling things that didn’t make sense. I also was, according to my husband, “playing with my pills” and, this morning I was several pills short. This happened once before, so now I fear that my life may be in danger if these medicines are not kept locked up. Could I possibly be overdosing while alseep? I only take 5 mgs. dose per night. I do not use illegal drugs, and I only drink occasionally on weekends, and dont use Ambien on weekends. Up until recently I thought the Ambien was doing me good!

I have been taking Ambien for years, My family would get a kick out of me on the Ambein. I would eat like a pig and still want more! I once made myself popcorn and was eating it and then I started to rub the popcorn on my dirty socks and ate it! My daughter said that I looked like a crazy person and would not stop what I was doing. My daughter said that it was no longer funny she said that she had thought that I had lost my mind forever, She had to get my husband to hold me down on the bed to stop me from rubbing popcorn on my dirty socks and eating it. I could not believe what they had told me the next day. I found this to be very bizarre and I did not remember any thing that I had done the night before. I did that last year. NOW I have done some thing more Bizarre, Crazy and Dangerous that I don’t even want to tell any one what I did. but now I am more worried then I have ever been about talking the Ambein! Well here it is! I have been suffering with a bad tooth it had broken off to the gum line and was very jagged and had sharp edges that was very painful and I don’t have the means to get it pulled. About 10 days ago I took my Ambein and went to bed only to awaken at 7:30am when my husband came home from work a started to yell at me as WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! I was sitting on the side of the bed with blood all over myself, my face, my hands, my clothing, my bedding, the floor Blood was every where and sitting next to me was all the tools I used to pull my own tooth out! and they also was covered in blood. I had awaken to a nightmare at me own hands, My husband said he was going to have me committed! I don’t remember any thing about what I have done to myself and now I have a great big hole in my gum into my sinus cavity and I have been trying to take care of it by myself because I am to embarrassed to seek Medical help I can only pray to God that my own body will repair it’s self and pray that I will not ever do any thing so insane again. Right now I out of my Ambein and I really don’t what to get my refill at this point I’m to Afraid of what I could do next!

I took generic Ambien-woke up the next morning and apparently called in sick to work, which I have absolutely no recollection of-I fear losing my job because of bizarre behavior caused by this drug. As mentioned by another person in this thread, I too woke up the next day to discover I had somehow taken 6-7 of the pills without knowing it. I think this is a very dangerous medicine for some people.

So I am reading these storys and I cant help but to laugh, only because I am the wife of an ambien prescribed wonderful man. He turns into this uncontrolably funny man while on ambien. Now yes he is funny most nights but some nights its scary. Like when we wake up in the morning and the doors are unlocked and we have no idea why, or if he had gone anywhere. Theres nights when (and this happens alot) he’s smoking a cigarette, and the ambien kicks in and he drops it on the floor, now if I wernt in ths house at all times he would burn down the house. We have cigarette burns all over in front of his chair. One night me, him and a friend of ours where all hanging out, it came time for him to take his ambien and her and I desided to secretly video tape him on his ambian. He sat her down on his lap and started telling her storys, Then out of no where he tells her with a very serious face “you need to go, you need to go help your brother” she looked at him funny and said “why do i need to save my brother?” laughing as she said it. The he says “the aliens are coming to your house, there going to go in his window and put an implant in his neck!” This bothered her alot but we let it go. Theres been nights when we would have what I like to call “ambien Sex” I define it as The best sex EVER!, and Sex for hours. Its just amazing how wonderful the sex is and then waking up to him not even rememebering going to the bedroom. I personally LOVE IT. He had one trip when he had suddenly got really pissed off and I didnt understand then he tells me that people were building a tent in the livingroom in front of his TV and he couldnt see his show. Last night I tried to put him to bed, he said “The dogs are coming, and there coming now” I of course egg it on and ask why they were coming, he then said “To see how many ARMS they can fit into ONE UNITY” lol I couldnt rememeber everything else that followed but it was just to funny. Then I put my legs up against his head standing in front of him to get him up and said come on hunny im taking you to bed, he said “your not taking me anywhere in this” I said in what babe he said “in these wires and bares” he had watched a jail show last night and seeing my legs infront of him he thought he was locked up.
Now dont get me wrong I worry, I worry i may not be here one night and he is going to burn the house down or go out driving and hurt himself very bad. Ambeins is the only way the man can go to sleep, nothing else works. He has to take 1nd1/2 10mg pills everynight. With all the other pills he is prescribed to take he would never sleep if not. But with all the funny things he’s done I’m still so scared he’s going to really mess up one time and thats all its going to take. With him being a hunter anything could happen with his thoughts on ambiens, hes been on ambiens for 10+ years. I just dont know how to feel about ambiens.

No offense intended Jennifer/Stephen but I think maybe you need to be more afraid and less amused and take Steve to the doctor. These are very alarming things and if he ever behaved like this in the daytime you would consider having him committed to a psych hospital for some help. ANY medicine that can make a person act so erratic and without memory of it later one is highly dangerous. With alcoholics they call these blackouts and consider it very serious. I am concerned for all of you who have these stories, this is scary and dangerous.

I struggle with insomnia and have for many years. I won’t bore you with my details. I occasionally use Ambien but I’ve become leary of it because sometimes I can take as little as 5 mg and find myself falling asleep over and over all the next day and if I try to use it more than once in a while it sometimes has no effect at all.

Insomnia is a really rotten deal to have but I’ve had enough bizzare experiences in life that I do not want to have any more.

Some of what is being written about different colors in light at night may be something to really look into and would be a lot less scary than the Ambien “Follies” some people are performing. Good luck; I know you all need help.

i LOVE AMBIEN. i AM AN AMBIEN ADDICT. i DONT WANT TO BE BUT IT MAKES EVERYTHING SO MUCH BETTER. MY ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT I WANT MORE AND MORE. I ONCE SHAVED MY WIFE’S CAT ON AMBIEN. SHE IS NO LONGER MY WIFE. WHEN I TAKE 20MG, I CAN’T SPELL, CAN’T READ AND I LOVE CALLING AND E-MAILING PEPOLE BECAUSE I GET THE SENSE THAT I LOVE THEM AND WANT TO TELL THEM THAT EVEN THOUGH I NEVER WOULD WITHOUT IT. I DON’T WANT TO STOP BUT DO I NEED TO GET HELP? AM I A DRUG ADDICT?

You know…Ambien has the same effects as does alcohol and I think it might be good to seek a medical doctor, then a psychotherapist to see if perhaps this medication is numbing some internal “pain” or problem that is being submerged by Ambien or if (perhaps you had a history of alcohol usage or abuse) you may be reverting back to this stage by using Ambien. Ambien can be considered the alcohol without the smell!

There may also be some medical reasons why you’re “addicted” to Ambien. This is a very serious sedative-hypnotic drug and I think before anyone decides to take it, they should talk with their doctor extensively before using it. As we research a job before we apply, we should too when it comes to sedative-hypnotics or any drug for that matter. I strongly encourage you, as I knew someone very close who didn’t believe me and soon learned the hard way.

Best of luck.
http://www.drugs.com/search.php?searchterm=Ambien&is_main_search=1

I have only used Ambien a couple of times. I also found food all over me when I woke up.

The night before I had my son by c-section, I was given seconal at the hospital and I totally dissociated and hallucinated as well. never again!

It sounds from these comments that there is a problem with Ambien.

Mij, of course you are an addict. That is how you start out your comment. Then you close with a question about it.

I am not opposed to the good feelings that are often associated with both narcotics, and pain relief in general. (when I do not use a drug and suffer through the pain, I tend to get high also from my own body’s production of opioids)

But I hate anything that makes me feel out of control, like pot, or these sleeping pills as well, or that are ‘mind altering’ vs. ‘mood altering’

I think that everyones experience with medications I different. I work in the behaviarol health field. What I know about ambien is that it was made to be a one to two week treatment plan. And if ur insomnia is still bad there are better long term options. Its being on ambien for a prolonged time that makes these s/s show up. Study someone for a week they may feel stoned but sleep all night no issues. Take a patient that takes it for longer than a month and ull start notiving side effects then the longer the more dellusional a patient will seem. Sleepwalking driving eating. If these do happen a med change needs done immediately and maybe even supervision for a couple days or so.

Have bipolar 1. Currently taking Depakote, Lithium, Prozac, Seroquel, lorazapam, clonazepam, and AMBIEN.

Several nights ago I UNKOWINGLY got into my car after having 3-4 beers in my own home and then taking pills (excepts Prozac) and drove into a mail box. I remember NOTHING! I would NEVER drink and drive or drive after having taking my meds. I was sleepdriving and sleepwalking. I face up to TWO YEARS in prison. At advice of my psychiatrist (who will speak to the relationship between Ambien and sleepdriving in court along with someone else who has witnessed my sonanbulism) and lawyers I am checking into a 30 day psych ward program so I never drink at all again and to get off the Ambien and 2 benzos. Hopefully I’ll get the statutory minimum–30 days–and the court will see my treatment as time served.

I am a school teacher who has worked hard for years to live a productive life despite bipolar 1. I have never had law troubles. I am so shocked and terrified. ANY ADVICE? IDEAS? I would so appreciate it! Thank you!

Also in addition to my comment with the fall that I sustained, it could have very well killed me. I still have blurring vision and headaches from the impact…

My email address is as followes

I was going through a divorce and went to my doc due to stress and anxiety attacks, he gave me Lexapro, Ativan and Ambien, I took the ativan for only a month to help get through the divorce process, went off the lexapro becuase I thought it was IT that was cuasing to me to be MORE depressed. Took the ambien on and off, gave me double vision but seemed to sleep, went off for a long time, it has been now a couple of years and I decided to ask for some more ambien from my doc becuase I wanted help with sleep ( I rely on Tylinol PM) I went back on the ambien and it was a NIGHTMARE, started Drinking more beer at night and the last episode was me thinking I would take one and then go to bed, the next thing is I am drinking a beer in my garage and smoking cigs, then BOOM I completely blacked out, My daughter tells me she came out and I was FACE DOWN on the Concrete with blood on my forehead, helped me back to bed, she dumped the pills, she was scared I would take more, and poured the beer out, I threatened to go get more beer THANK GOD she took my keys, the next morning I remember NOTHING, I had a Huge Goose egg on my forehead and a swollen eye, and bruises everywhere, I look like I have been in car accident, I must have went down with FULL Force! Now I am not bragging, but I am a good looking gal, and when I had to go back to work I was VERY Embarrased, how to you tell people at work, you took sleeping pills then drank and fell?? I will Never take this again, you can really really hurt yourself bad, NO CLOWN in my ambien state, I felt very anxiouse, depressed and guilty for a couple of days, but better, ONLY PM tabs for me!!! It also seems to open up the door to any “other additions” such as drinking/shopping,eating,sex, gambling, you name it, if you have ever had an issue with any sort of impulse prob, Ambien OPENS that closed door in your mind,and off you go! BEWARE, they should not have this stuff on the market, Are they trying to kill us??? Ok now I am sounding paranoid, but you know you should be, Marajuana should be legal not this CRAP!