Anyone who developed Anxiety and Neausea after taking ambien

[[La...]]

Hi I am currently taking 7.5 mg ambien for sleep ( for about over 60 days) and 25 mg amitryptaline for anxiety ( for over 30 days).

I noticed that I developed anxiety only after taking ambien ( had no history of anxiety). I am also feeling neausea all throughout the day ( to the extent of vomiting) and chest tightness.

Has anyone of you experienced these symptoms after taking ambien or amitryptaline? 

Need some insights.

 

[[de...]]

Are you taking the Ambien every night?    Is it helping you sleep?   I am afraid the Ambien is not agreeing with you and might be having a paradoxical effect.   Amitriptyline is a tricyclic anti-depressant and you are not taking very much at all.    

Can you give us some more information about your history with Ambien?     

[[La...]]

@[de...], I have been taking ambien for more than 2 months now on a nightly basis. My GP prescribed it as I had 4-5 succesive nights that I was not able to sleep. Did not now that it's hard to come off. I am only getting 4-5 hrs on 7.5 mg ambien ( used to be 10 mg but I lowered it to 7.5 mg). 

I don't have a history of anxiety. In fact I was quite okay during the day on those 4-5 nights that I was not sleeping ( except for crying during the night).

Then after I started taking ambien, I developed anxiety ( heart palpitations). I then consulted a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with generalized anxiety. After taking amitriptyline, my heart palpitations turned into constant chest pains all throughout the day. 

Now I have neausea/vomiting during the day and chest pains as well.

I wonder if anyone has these issues due to medication  or it's anxiety due to other   area of my life. 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

Yep, its the Ambien, some thing happened to me.  I developed anxiety, had nausea, inner trembling, and had dark depressive thoughts. I couldn’t sleep longer than 3 hours so I’d take another one and then experience interdose withdrawal all day until I could take another dose because the half life is so short. 

I’m sorry to hear you got that label from a doctor and put on a drug due to the side effects of another drug. 

[[La...]]

@[Pa...], so it's some sort of interdose withdrawal? did the anxiety and neausea go away when you got off of ambien?

 

[[Pa...]]

They make Ambien with a short half life so you can be free of its effects when you get up in the morning but unfortunately, once our body becomes dependent, we begin to experience symptoms well before our next dose.  Because Ambien is a hypnotic, we can’t take it in the daytime like regular benzo’s because it leaves huge holes in our memory and that can be disruptive and dangerous.  But yes, once I stopped the Ambien all of those awful feelings and thoughts went away.  I couldn’t sleep for a few days but I felt so good I didn’t care.  

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] I keep vomiting in the morning. Oh my goodness. And it ramps up my anxiety more.  I wish I could just cold turkey and be done with my chest pain and anxiety. Somebody on reddit said that his/ her anxiety increased too recently because of ambien. So I am now more convinced it's the ambien.

 

Gosh i wish I could just not take it. But my body is so sensitive that I feel like I need to taper. 

[[Pa...]]

I never vomited but I was nauseous all the time, I’m sorry to hear you’re so miserable.  I’m glad you know yourself well enough to know you need to taper, I don’t seem to have that particular talent, I quit Klonopin and Ambien both cold turkey, the Klonopin was far worse.  Some members have been able to quit their z-drugs like I did, others not so its important to listen to that voice telling you what’s right for you.

Are you planning to start tapering soon?

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] Hi, I am feeling so bad right now. My chest pains are so bad the past 3 days and I feel agitated. I am throwing up everyday. And I am still on 3/4 pill. Just talked to the benzo specialist yesterday and he will start tapering me next month. 

I don't know what's happening to my body right now.

 

[[Pa...]]

Do you think you need to see your doctor, are you concerned this could be something else?  It’s never a bad idea to get checked out.

Next month, as in October to address your Ambien issue? Thats too long!  What about the amitriptyline, could you be having a reaction to it?  Do you think going back up to 10 mgs Ambien would help?

I used to feel like I had an elephant sitting on my chest, what does your chest pain feel like?

[[or...]]

@[La...] I don't know if this will be helpful to you or not. I had the same trouble with Ambien. I took 10 mgs. Initially it worked, but soon it began to make me ill. I decided to taper it on my own. I had 10 mg tablets on hand, shaped like footballs, so they were easy to cut up. I cut them into 1/8ths, as precisely as I could. Then I reduced my dose by 1/8th every two weeks.   It wasn't very scientific . . . probably someone on here can suggest a better way, but I mention it to show you that a taper is possible. I just got sick of feeling sick, and my prescriber was no help, sad to say.

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] - It feels very tight and painful. Went to my GP yesterday and had EKG and it came out normal.

Had a call with my psych doctor earlier and we talked and agreed that we could try Mirtazapine. He said that the chest pain might be directly attributed to anxiety and amitriptyline does not seem to work. He said that I could just switch over directly from amitriptyline to mirtazapinr. I just gave in and said okay just to see if it's the amitriptyline causing these bad chest pains. Do you think that's a good idea? And I am honestly not sure if switching directly is a good idea (without tapering the amitriptylien)?

I am thinking to try it tonight and see how it goes? 

 

 

[[La...]]

@[or...] I think ambien is contributing to this too.

I dont know anymore if it's the anxiety or the meds. I am so confused.

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] sorry i forgot- the benzo dr wants to start tapring end of sept. 

[[or...]]

@[La...] which drug does the benzo specialist want you to start tapering at the end of Sept? Ambien? What is your current dosage? Do you know what your taper will look like -- what does he propose for reductions, and how often? Just wondering . . .

[[or...]]

Just now, [[o...] said:

@[La...] which drug does the benzo specialist want you to start tapering at the end of Sept? Ambien? What is your current dosage? Do you know what your taper will look like -- what does he propose for reductions, and how often? Just wondering . . .

Oh, @[La...] I went back in your posts and see that you are on 7.5 mgs of Ambien. Sorry.

[[La...]]

Hi @[or...] he has not communicated anything yet as to how the taper will look like. 

I am switching amitriptyline to mirtazapin- do you think its a good idea?

[[or...]]

11 hours ago, [[L...] said:

Hi @[or...] he has not communicated anything yet as to how the taper will look like. 

I am switching amitriptyline to mirtazapin- do you think its a good idea?

@[La...] I don't know anything about those two drugs except that they both seem to be antidepressants.  Hope you get to feeling better. 

[[Pa...]]

Just a note of caution, while we’re going through this our central nervous system is highly sensitized so we may react differently to supplements and medications.  What wouldn’t have bothered us in the past may now be a problem, even food and drink can have an effect so try to keep changes to a minimum and only change one thing at a time so you’ll know what is causing what. 

[[dr...]]

Just wanted to chime in on the Ambien usage. I only took 5mg every night for 1 week and then stopped. It would literally only give me 4 hrs of sleep. I'd wake up freezing and sweating from the back of my neck. Felt like a zombie and so disoriented after waking up. Never again will I use it for sleep. Its been 5 weeks since I stopped and I'm now averaging 5-6 hrs of sleep with no meds. I currently have headaches, tremors, muscle spasms because of it.

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] did your anxiety go away after taking ambien? and klonopon as well? Did you go back to your baseline?

 

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] - i just want to know if someone who developed anxiety from ambien got better after taking it. I am afrain I have damaged my brain permanently. 

I am still waiting to start my taper this end of the month. But my anxiety is still high. I hope I feel better but so afraid of withdrawal. But I need to be positive if that means I'll heal my brain and go back to my baseline. 

 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

3 hours ago, [[L...] said:

@[Pa...] did your anxiety go away after taking ambien? and klonopon as well? Did you go back to your baseline?

The anxiety the Ambien caused went away when I stopped taking it, the same with the Klonopin.  I never had anxiety until I started taking these two drugs, I started them for sleep and they robbed me of that, great stuff, not!  

[[Pa...]]

3 hours ago, [[L...] said:

@[Pa...] - i just want to know if someone who developed anxiety from ambien got better after taking it. I am afrain I have damaged my brain permanently. 

I am still waiting to start my taper this end of the month. But my anxiety is still high. I hope I feel better but so afraid of withdrawal. But I need to be positive if that means I'll heal my brain and go back to my baseline. 

Getting off of these medications was the best thing I did, I feel wonderful now, calm and anxiety free.  

[[La...]]

@[Pa...] That is so good to hear. I do hope it goes away when I get off of ambien.  I want to keep my hopes up but a part of me is afraid to get my hope up too.

Was your anxiety bad during the day? Also how long were you on ambien again?