Question about ambien cr addiction?

Question

i'm 18, 123lbs, 5'6'' tall. i take 4-6 12.5 mg ambien cr + 5-6 benadryl capsules to get drowsy. I've been doing this for two years. i just don't know what to do. i've tried to stop. i get shaky and anxious and hurt. i didn't think that a sleeping pill would make me feel this way. now i don't feel anything when i take 4X12.5mg. i need help. i need to sleep.

Answer 1

Ambien (Zolpidem) is a prescription Hypnotic drug used for the short term (4-6 weeks) treatment of insomnia. If you have been taking it at the dose you stated for two years your physician is not very astute as to its ill effects. He should never have allowed you to take it for so long.You may be physically as well as psychologically dependent on this drug. It may be that you are also acclimated to it which would explain why a reduced dose seems to have no effect on you. I suggest tapering off and "toughing out" the side effects of withdrawal.

You are too young to be experiencing so much insomnia. Try the techniques given in links from a Yahoo! web search of "insomnia" to get some natural sleep. Also look up "ambien" in a web search. Get a new physician if yours is not interested in helping you cope with withdrawal.

Answer 2

yikes... that's a lot.  i'm on that combo, too, but not nearly to that extreme.  trazadone is a "non-addictive" sleep medication (i say that because i think people get addicted to having help sleeping, no matter what it is) and if you live in a medical marijuana state, weed is also often prescribed and considered non-addictive..  sounds like you need to figure out how to sleep, though.  ask your doc if she/he know of any sleep studies in your area.  there are a lot of methods you can use to regulate your rhythm...

ie:  waking up and getting 30 min of sunlight first thing in the morning.  going to bed at 10 and trying to sleep, only try for 20 min, then get up for 20 minutes and repeat till you fall asleep.  only use your bed for sleeping and s*x... not reading/watching tv, etc...