What is Ambien CR? I am thinking of trying a sleeping pill of some sort since I am tapering off benzos I am having a terrible time sleeping. My dr always asks me how I am sleeping (it has just recently gotten bad since this last drop in taper) so I assume he would be willing to prescribe something??? After lots of research Ambien sounds the best...no hangover, works fast and thank God for insurance because it is ridiculously high priced.

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Sometimes the angel appears in the form of a friend who says exactly the words we need to hear that day. Or you unknowingly act as an angel to someone else, tossing off a message so casually that, though it saves a person's life, you may not remember it at all.

I think the CR (controlled release) has not been released yet. I think it comes out early next year. All it is is a bit higher dose of Ambien (the sleeping medicine) that is time released in order to help people stay asleep longer instead of waking up 4-5 hours after taking the med (in other words, waking up after the med wears off).

Thank you Abbyart. Guess I should have been able to figure that one out. (I will just blame it on the time....I am not a morning person and did not get any sleep last night.)

Is this a big problem for those using Ambien? Waking up after just a few hours?

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Sometimes the angel appears in the form of a friend who says exactly the words we need to hear that day. Or you unknowingly act as an angel to someone else, tossing off a message so casually that, though it saves a person's life, you may not remember it at all.

when it does come out I will definatly give it a try, I normall wake up anyway throughout the night to hit the can but can usually fall back asleep.

A lot of people report waking up after 4-5 hours, unable to get back to "real" sleep; you drift, but you don't really fall back again after the med is out of your system (usually 4-5 hours for most people, some less, some more). It happens to me, as well, so I am looking forward to an extended release version of Ambien.

temazepam 2mg works well for me during insomnia periods. It is a benzodiazepine, but, used infrquesnt;y. I had no problems with it. Check with your doctor. I suppose it all depends on other contraindications that me apply..

Sincerely,

RR

I tried ambien a few nights ago.Just one(10mg),and it didn't knock me out in 30 minutes but eventually- and Yes, I went right to bed after I took it.
When I woke up,about 4 or 5 hours later, I had this VERY uncomfortable feeling in my legs. It felt alot better to move my legs around to relieve the discomfort. I got outta bed and jumped in the shower and it went away. If this is RLS (restless leg syndrome), I feel for the ppl that suffer with this. My goodness that was super annoying.
Needless to say....No more ambien for me. I'll stick with kava and melatonin....when needed.

Hi Abby, I just now saw this thread, but YES, AMBIEN CR 12.5 mg is now released. I have a bottle in my kitchen at present

I have posted about it in the thread called "sleep medication" if anyone is interested. In fact, I just made a post in that thread...lol. It was before I saw this thread.

Just wanted to let ya know.

Have a great evening!

I have tried this ambien cr after it came out and I really didn't notice much difference in the length of time I stayed asleep.

Does anyone know if ambien comes up in drug tests. I have script for it but would care not to share this info with a recent job offer. Thanks

adding to favorites

I have to take a urine drug screen every month - I'm on ambien and it doesn't show up in the test I'm taking. It's not a benzo, although it binds to the same receptors that a benzo does in the brain.

I just tried the new ambien cr last night. I took it at 11pm, and didn't fall asleep until 3:30am. I did sleep through until noon the next day without waking up, which I usually do 3-4 times a night.

I've been taking Ambien CR for about a week. My doctor gave me free samples. I never took the regular Ambien, but I'll tell you that the Ambien CR 12.5mg is nothing like you describe regular Ambien on this board. I take it about 8pm, and I'm not tired enough to go to sleep until about 10, and I wake up at about 6am energetic and ready to go. No blackouts, but between the time I take it, and the time I go to sleep it does make me feel somewhat stoned, until I lay down in bed and fall off instantly.

I have an Ambien horror story. It goes kinda like this:

No sleep in 48 hours. I break out the pill bottle, take 10mg. Go lay on couch.

-- BLACKOUT BEGINS --

1. Standing in bathroom. For some reason, the pills are in the sink. No idea why.

2. I wake up, surrounded in vomit. This seems odd. Oh well, back to sleep. In Living room.

3. Back in the bedroom. On the floor. Broken lamp on top of me, glass shards stabbed in arm. Again, this is odd, but back to sleep.

-- END BLACKOUT --

I wake up in the ER, while being fed activated charcoal. I have developed a heart arrythmia called ventricular bradycardia. I was given vasopressors and atropine to keep my heart beating. Back to sleep.


I wake up with a crisis nurse talking to me, asking me all these questions like "Why did i do this?". Appearantly I had taken around 25 tablets of Ambien. Back to sleep.

Later, when talking to the ER doctor, I told him I don't know how this happened, that I only took one and that I woke up here. He said that Ambien fucks with peoples emotions, and is a strong psychedelic. In the hypnotic trance people slip into to go to sleep, people also make insane decisions and are left with no memory. In this case, it almost cost me my life.

That's why Ambien should be taken as instructed...ONLY right before going to BED..as in you are "retiring" for the next 6-8 hours. Laying on the couch after 48 hrs of no sleep and taking an Ambien leaves one vulnerable to these sort of episodes. To me there is nothing scarier than blacking out. If I am taking Ambien on any particular occasion I go to certain lengths to be sure I won't find myself trying to stay awake once the effects kick in. That means there are no dishes in the sink to finish washing, the dog has been out for his walk, the car does not need to be moved off the street and into in the garage...all those things that I might want to have done before going to bed for the night. Any one of these "end of the day" tasks can turn into a disaster if I'm trying to accomplish them while the Ambien is seeping into my bloodstream and it's psychotropic effects are trickling into by head. Laying down on the sofa and falling asleep usually means at some point you will be waking up to make your way into bed. Doing this with 10 mg. of Ambien in your system can be a recipe for disaster. It's creating a favorable circumstance for a blackout to occur. Also, I'm not sure why anyone would need Ambien to sleep after being up for 2 days ....but I'm no sleep disorder expert either. It's no exaggeration to say there are many, many documented accounts of people's lives having been dramatically changed during these sort of episodes Ambien can bring on.

Hi,
Heres a little background... They started me on Lexapro 10mg as a preventitive for migraines. I got immensely euphoric and giddy. Worked for hours, cleaned the garage at 2am.. etc.. Overall bad reaction. I called my neuro and told him this, and he phoned in the script of Ambien 10mg. I didn't mean to sound like I had a sleep disorder that was THAT severe, but I was trying to keep the story short

Anyway, I know NOW that I did some things wrong.. but what are the consumers expectations out of a sleeping pill? That it will make them sleepy, not trip out and black out. I did take it less than 5 mins before bed, and immediately laid down with the intention of a full night's sleep.

The reason I wrote that is because I find it awful that this pill is handed out like candy for many (litterally, I went to a psychiatrist for PA's that had a DISH OF THE SAMPLES on her desk, as if it WAS A CANDY DISH). Its powerful, and for the many it helps, I'm glad. But I'm also sure I'm not alone in being baffled by the psychotropic and hallucinaginic properties of what is touted to be a simple sleeping pill.

I quickly build a tolerance to it after a few days and it stops working. I am looking for an alternative that can be taken nightly. Any suggestion?

If your worried about it, then take tylenol pm. Or just take anything that has the sleeping agent in Benedryl. It's over the counter and is not habit forming.

I just purchased some zolt from ind-swift '' maxcare ''. Im kinda standofish to take em though, I thought I'd be getting something i heard of. But for 130 bucks and compared to the price of ambien that was a chance i was willing to take.They came in a blister pack, look legit, but people are capaple of ne thing in this world. I know ambien has a bitter taste cause i always take halfs, these dont. I have took one yet, decided to do some research, I have found nothing but this one thread. If anyone knows if these are safe and worth taking please let me know. I cant take ne thing but ambien, tried it all, if i dont take that stuff, im up til sunrise. Thanks

What is the exact name of what you got and who makes it (if the meds came in blisters, this info should be on the back of the blister packs)?

Zolt is fine. I have taking it before and it has worked just as well as name brand ambien.

Which IOP did you order from?

As long as it is Zolpidem or Zolpidem Tartrate, you should be good to go, as those are exactly what Ambien is (either 5 or 10 mg doses). Probably what makes one sour tasting and the other not is the filler. Take one, see what happens....the Indian pharmacies and brands are usually really good, and when I've gotten generic Ambien in the past, I always and only order it from an Indian IOP.

Hi, thanks for the replies, I wasnt expecting such a quick response! It is a brown blister pack, gold on the back. It is called '' zolt '' it says, zolpidem tartrate 10mg, b.p., colour titanium dioxide. manufactured in india by lancer pharmacueticals. I guess the packager is ''maxcare'' ind-swift company. I got 90 for 100 plus 40 for express delivery to mississippi. The site was westcoastdrugs.com

I have needed ambien since katrina, it gets expensive though. It helped alot to sleep. I seen this deal and couldn't pass it up, but being that good of a deal im kinda scared purchasing something from india i may get something bad. I guess i'll have to find out. Any feedback i get is cool though, thanks again.

Like I said, any Indian generic Ambien is good. Indian IOPs are the only places I will get them from, and I have always been satisfied with them. I am kinda leery about other places, but the Indian IOPs have never let me down.

I take 5mg of Ambien, PRN, and it works great. Found that when I used it 3-4 days in a row was when i began to have problems. Other than the fact my script cost about 4 dollars a pill, but I got that taken care of with the help of an IOP.

VanDam

I love Ambien, but I did build a tolerance to it.

I take Trazodone on a nightly basis now. Trazodone has been around a long time and is a highly trusted and safe drug. I admit that I've had to raise the dose a bit, since I first started on it from 25 mg to 100 mg, but that's been over a period of 5 years. I know people that safely take 200 mg. The only side effect I noticed was increased drowsiness the next day if I took too much (when I was experimenting to find the perfect dose?.

It's also really cheap. I had to get an extra refill the other day that wasn't covered by my insurance. I got 45
50mg.pills for under $18.

I had a very similar experience back in Nov. 2004. I hadn't
slept in about 96hrs and to try to end the torture I took 25mgs of Ambien. I remember seeing dead people in my bedroom, I was then swarmed by these 'Gremlins' and was fighting them off with a katana and a .357 magnum, in my dream, or so I thought. The next thing I remember is a family member coming to see what all the noise was and that's when I realized I was standing in my room holding a 30" katana hacking away at a pillow on the floor and holding a loaded .357 in my other hand. Luckily the whole thing felt too real to be a dream and I never fired a shot.

I blacked out, vaguely remember talking to a guy in a blue shirt and telling him I had no gun, and let me go back to sleep. Next thing I remember was waking up in the ER, a social worker asked me if I knew where I was and what had happened. I panicked, because I didn't and she had a nurse shoot me full of Thorazine.

Next thing I awoke to was a nurse inserting a catheter in me, then darkness. Finally I awoke around 12hrs after the initial encounter with a family member to find myself in an ambulance headed to a state run mental facility.

I found out the next day that due to my incoherent state, caused by lack of sleep and the Ambien, that the SWAT team had extracted me, sleeping, from my bed. K-9 units then searched my home for illegal drugs and found nothing. Since I couldn't tell them about the Ambien, due to the Thorazine, they assumed I was on Cocaine, Crystal Meth or LSD, and had me commited.

Once I was able to talk to someone, not armed with a needle and some prejudice against me, it was determined that the Ambien and lack of sleep had triggered some type of acute psycotic break. I was forced to remain inpatient for 5 days under observation, lost my right to own my firearms for 7yrs, was forced to sell them, cut all ties with that family member and now have that mark on me forever.

Here's the best part-While in the hospital, I had trouble sleeping (and a severe allergic reaction to the Thorazine). For my insomnia guess what the Dr. prescribed? AMBIEN!

Be very, very cautious when taking this medication. This was a true story and similar experiences have appearantly occured, so I don't feel so ashamed as I used to. I only shared this to emphasize the danger associated with this drug and severe insomnia.