kicking the Ambien habit--help...

I've been on Ambien and off of Ambien.  I found that just going without meant 3 days of hard to fall asleep then there was no difference.  At the moment I'm back on it for other reasons but I would think that you should be able to get fully off it if you're down to 6.25.

Good luck

I had trouble sleeping for years and was taking Ambien almost every night.  I made a decision that I wanted to come off of it because I felt that it was affecting my cognitive thinking.  I tried the every other night method.  It did not work.  I just didn't sleep on the night off.  So I stopped taking the Ambien cold turkey.  It took me about 2 weeks of sleepless nights.  But now, I am sleeping much better.  I do not sleep through the night, but am able to fall back to sleep easier. 

The other thing that helped at first was sleep deprivation.  I read about this solution online.  The method is to stay up until 12 midnight and if awake, get out of bed at 0600.  This does work because you are not lying in bed for 12 hours trying to get 6 hours of sleep.

Good luck and sweet dreams.

I get something at the health food store called Calms Forte. It's fine... sometimes I take two. Sometimes I use a melatonin (my husband likes this). I also try all the standard things... bedtime routine... no naps... etc etc. Usually after the third night of not enough sleep I have no problem falling asleep!

I don't know what I would do without my Ambien.  Sleep is a non issue for me.  I went for years with problems sleeping.  Then about 10 years ago my doc gave me Trazadone and it was wonderful to be able to sleep.  I stayed on that for 5 years then the doc switched me to Ambien. I really don't know if I could ever sleep normally without it.  If I thought i could, I would kick the habit also..

Shanagirl - I have also taken trazadone to sleep and it works. I have been taking ambien since I was diagnosed a year ago and I have no plans of going off of it anytime soon.  I like being able to sleep.  I dealt with insomnia for over 15 years and couldn't convince the doctors to prescribe ambien.  Some nights when I really need extra sleep I will take a valium instead.  My body pretty much lets me know which sleep aid I need to take that particular night. 

I switched from Ambien CR to .5mg of lorazepam. Just helps me to relax and fall asleep...then I usually stay asleep.

 Kathy

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm trying to get off of ambien also. I'm down to 5mg but at bedtime I'm not even slightly sleepy without it. 

 Firstmate: I like your method of staying up to midnight, then getting out of bed at 6am. The two weeks of sleepless nights don't sound too good though. But worth it to get off drugs. 

When first diagnosed I couldn't sleep even with ambien. At that time I used super soothing music and that helped. The valerian is a good idea, too. I quit caffeine MONTHS ago. 

This is giving me motivation and inspiration to get to work on quitting ambien. How hard can it be compared to cancer treatment!?

Thanks,
Bonnie

I tried the soothing music, but it didn't work for me. In fact, if I had had a gun I would have shot the CD player!!! Ambien CR is the only thing that has worked, and I sleep so well on it that it is like a gift, but I struggele with the idea that I'm 'cheating' or that I'm not getting as good a quality of sleep etc. etc. as I should (although compared to 2-4 hours, which is what I was getting, anything would be better). A lady on a different thread recommended 3 mg. of melatonin bought from a health food store, where the ingredients are natural, so I might try that. (My family doctor says if I need ambien to sleep, just take it and don't worry about it.......) ?????

I went online and checked out 'side effects of the long term use of Ambien'. Along with all the crazy stuff people write, this is what I found; when you take it at all, they have all the usual strange side effects listed on the prescription brochure; like sleep driving, sleep eating etc. etc. but if you don't have those things happen, it seems like there are no big side effects caused by time alone. One place said that long term side effects included 5% of people feeling dizzy and 3% had a drugged feeling (which is how I feel when I don't sleep!). Another place said, "There doesn't seem to be any serious safety concerns of taking Ambien long term." They also said that people who have been dependent on drugs or alcohol have a bigger chance of being addicted (duh), and if you want to quit, you are better off to taper off instead of going cold turkey. Also it comes in 5 and 10 mg pills. I checked and I'm on 10mg, maybe I should ask to go down 5mg, or cut the pills myself. I don't know, if there are no long term bad effects, maybe I don't care if I'm addicted to it or not. ???

I've been taking the Ambien for 2 weeks and have been having dizzy spells that are getting worse.  I think I'm going to switch to benadryl.  It makes me a little groggy in the morning, but I don't have any other problems with it. 

leapfrog, did you ever determine if it was the ambien that was giving you the dizzy spells?  I saw your other post on the TCH thread and I, too, am getting these dizzy spells now that I'm only on the herceptin.  I was dizzy a lot during chemo, too, but of course I didn't worry about it then because I knew all kinds of poisons were circulating in my body.  Now that I'm just on herceptin, it's making me more and more nervous.  I'm not on ambien.  I just followed you to this thread to see if you had resolved your dizziness issues. 

My dizziness is not so much like the room is spinning.  It's more of a mild, woozy feeling.  It almost feels like my eyes are dizzy, if that makes sense.

I wanted to report that I'm completely off of Ambien and have been since March! It took about a month of effort, but after that, smooth sailing!

The effort was to have regular bedtimes and wakeup times, no caffeine, soothing music, exercise, and patience with wakefulness (slowly count breaths; NO thinking allowed!).  

It certainly helped when I needed it, but I'm glad to be off of it.

Bonnie

I was glad to see this thread because I have been wondering about weaning myself off Ambien. I'm taking 10 mg every other night. Sometimes on my off nights, I have to go to our guest room otherwise, I hear every little noise (husband, dog). I really like Ambien because it helps me stay asleep. Before I got the presciption, I was waking up every 1 - 1/2 hours, not very restful. I was on it during my chemo. I only have a few pills left but I'm sure my Onc would renew it for me. I'm thinking I might want it during radiation, beginning 6/29. Gina