Will Ambien contribute to benzo habit formation ?

[[gi...]]

Thank you, Tim. I hope my experience helps someone else!

[[ma...]]

I am new so please keep that in mind.  I take Benadryl and it seems to help, and  my doctor gave me some Antivert for dizziness and one of the side effect is sedation, so I take it and Benadryl at the same time and it seems to work.

 

I however went without much sleep for what seemed like forever, my support to you

Mary

[[...]]

Hi Mary,

 

Benadryl seems to work well for alot of people, for some reason it makes me anxious.   I have seen alot of people use it with success though and I'd much rather take a benadryl than an ambien any day.

 

TC

[[JM...]]

Hi John,

 

I can see you're frustrated, I'm sure you've done a lot of research and have come up empty.  I hope someone will be able to answer your questions.

 

The only thing I have to offer is my own experience.  I pray you'll not experiment with alternating the Restoril and the Ambien, as I don't want to see your body develop a dependence to the Restoril.  As you know I was addicted to Klonopin and then Ambien and the Klonopin was by far the worst to withdraw from.  If you're at all concerned about withdrawals, please don't experiment like this.  If you can find no evidence that what you're contemplating will be useful, I hope you'll decide not to do it.

 

Pam

 

Hey Pam,

 

I related to this post as I too am addicted to Klonopin taking 3 1mg tabs a day since 2004.  And have been taking Ambien CR nightly for at least four months due to chronic insomnia. 

 

My doctor wants me to stay on the Klonopin, or in my case, Clonazepam for quality of life reasons due to a chronic illness I have and major stress.  He said he knows and will taper me off with Valium when he thinks I can handle it. 

 

As far as the Ambien CR is concerned.  He wasn't very concerned about my taking one tablet 12.5 mg every night.  He says in my case the benefits outweigh the risks at this point.  However, this year my insurance company will no longer pay for Ambien CR, and has offered the generic versions of other sleepers as the alternative.  I believe these include Ambien, Halcion, Retoril, Sonata and something else.  The reason I take Ambien CR is because my allergist found out I am allergic to Polysorbate 80 which is in the regular Ambien.  I am also allergic to Red #40, Corn, and a host of other things found in just about everything.  As the result the only options of these alternatives that do not have ingredients I am allergic to are Restoril, and Sonata. 

 

He wants me to try the Sonata, or Zalephlon 10 mg first and see how that works when I run out of the Ambien CR.  And if that does not work he wants me to try Restoril, or Temazepam 30 mg.  I'm concerned about taking either reading the posts on this thread to be frank.  I almost feel I should just stay with the Ambien CR, but it will cost me about $200 a month for a 30 day supply.

 

I'm kind of in a quandary.  I know I will need to taper off these at some point, but for now my doctor doesn't seem concerned.  I just wish i never started taking them in the first place now knowing the withdrawals.

 

Congrats on your tapering off your meds.  Any ideas for me at this point would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

JM

[[gi...]]

Hi JM,

 

Please forgive me for jumping in on your post to Pam, but I've got experience with K and A as well and wanted to give you my opinion in case you don't hear back from Pam soon. 

 

First and foremost, remember that you are speaking to the person who writes your prescriptions. Of COURSE he's going to tell you he's not worried about you being on ambien, and of course for HIM "the benefits do outweigh the risks." You need to make this determination on your own whether or not to use it; only you know your body.

 

Please research ambien and zolpidem (the generic) so you can see for yourself that it IS addictive and should NOT be used long-term, despite what your doctor says.  It is the cousin to benzos and affects the central nervous system in the same way (but not as extremely). Pam c/t'd off it and did fine; I took 7 months to taper off it and the first several months were not easy. Everyone is different.  There are alternatives to pharmaceuticals to help with sleep. I strongly urge you to consider those before resorting to another chemical.  I won't lie to you: re-training the brain to sleep on it's own is difficult and doesn't happen over night; but it is possible. I know, I'm doing it.

 

Temazapam (restoril) is another benzo. I would question taking 2 benzos.

 

It's wonderful that your doctor acknowledges that crossing to valium and then tapering off is the way to do it; you have no idea how many docs don't think that's necessary!

 

Good luck to you, JM - drop me a note or stop by my blog any time.

 

ginger