Sleeping pills

I too take Ambien nightly, and desperately need it nightly. I try to on the weekends not to take it at all, but usually give in to taking 1/2 of one around 3 am to get some form of sleep. I can go days with very little or no sleep and will find myself going out of my mind. I have suffered from insomnia my entire life
(and I honestly mean since I was six moths old) and always wished I could just go to sleep on my own. I have tried almost everything-diet, books, Yoga, exercise, meditation, you name it I have tried or I will. Sleep is torture. Sleep is more torture with Ambien.

I know how you feel about Ambien. I had been on ambien for almost a year, but then i lost my insurance and could no longer get a perscription because i could not afford a doctor. After almost 2 weeks of no sleep a friend told me about herbal supplements that can help with sleep. One is called Valerian Root and the other is Melatonin. I take 3 Valerian Root Pills and 2 melatonin every night and for the most part I relax enough to fall asleep. I do warn you though. The valerian root smells so so bad. Hold your breath when you bring it close to your face and swallow fast. I call it the STINKY FEET pill. Even though I consider it close to torture to have to put something so foul smelling in my mouth, i do it because it truly helps me.

Good luck and let me know if it works. You can buy both of these in the herbal or vitamin sections in walmart and they are very inexpensive.

Krissi

Here I am, at 3:51AM, not able to go to sleep..... again! I was addicted to Ambien. It was a wonderful drug that made me get to sleep, but, it is the worst thing to do to yourself! I did not know what I did while on Ambien, unless I left traces of my activities during the night. I cooked, I painted, I fell off of a ladder, I fell over a trash can, I ordered things off the Internet, and ate like crazy, and had no idea why I was gaining so much weight! My husband told me that he would try to reason with me, but I would become belligerent, and he just couldn't make me understand that I was doing what I was doing! One thing I feel so stupid about is, about 2 months ago, I made him take me to the ER. I had put on ankle supports, and told him he needed to take me because I fell and broke both of my ankles. I WALKED into the bedroom to tell him this.... WALKED on BROKEN ankles? Well, he took me, because he said I insisted, and he knew that if he did not take me, and he would fall asleep again, I would get in the car and drive there myself, which I most likely would have. To top it off, and this is REALLY stupid, when I got to the hospital, I walked part of the way, and then they put me in a wheelchair. I also was having chest pains, so they hooked me up to the monitor. My husband told the nurse and doctor that he felt I could have fallen (I did, and was so sore for over two weeks in my hip and back) but he felt that my reaction to the fall, was the Ambien, and that I had no breaks, since I could walk, and was not in pain from my ankles. The ER doc still had my ankles x-rayed, and they were fine. Because of the chest pains, they had put in an IV, and when the nurse left my room, I removed the IV, took all the wires off of myself (my husband had gone to the bathroom) and I discharged myself. My husband did not know I did this, because when he came back to my room, I was gone! I was also taking a lot more of the pills than prescribed, again, not realizing it. I had a 30 pill refill on a Sunday and by Friday they were gone. Once again, my husband tried to talk to me, but he said I slept off and on, and he couldn't find the pill bottle. There are a lot more things that I did, but with it causing temporary amnesia, I didn't know what I was doing at that time. I have not taken Ambien for at least 2 months now, but getting off of it was a horrible thing to go through. I had withdrawal, and was awake for over 2 days, with no rest, and I started to see things that weren't there. Some nights I can now get to sleep by 1AM, but lately, it has been more like 3-4AM. I honestly do not know what I am going to do. I had consulted with a sleep specialist and it was no help at all. I tried the Valerian and the Melatonin, with no success at all. There will be no Ambien in our home, ever again! I will just have to keep going without the sleep, until I can sleep again. There is no way to have any kind of schedule in life this way, and I can get very depressed when I cannot get sleep. I am hoping someone sues the drug company for what it has done to destroy so many lives! I will be in line with my story too!!

PS- When I heard actor Heath Ledger died and it was from sleeping pills, I immediately said to my husband, that I bet he took Ambien and didn't realize how many he took and overdosed. It is something I would be willing to bet money on!

My friend is now addicted to the Ambien too. She has not attempted to withdraw yet, as she knows what I had gone through, flu like symptoms, depression and no sleep.

I have been taking Ambien for 4 years now. Almost every night. I don't take more than one, and sometimes less, but I think I am addicted to it. I still wake up a lot at night, but manage to go back to sleep most of the time. Now my doc has me taking an anti depressant and xanax. Is that all they do is prescribe more drugs?