Advice please on final phase of Ambien taper

[[Ta...]]

 

Hello,

 

I reached out last year about getting off Ambien CR due to anxiety and not sleeping well anymore but wasn't ready. But back in October I started making the switch. Here is my progress so far:

 

- Using 6.25mg Ambien CR for 4 1/2 years

- Oct 31: switched to 5 mg nightly

- Nov 16: 2.5 mg (1/2 dose)

- Dec 9: 1.25 mg (1/4 dose). *have 7 doses left

 

This move from 1/2 dose to a 1/4 dose is kicking my butt. I'm feeling rough today. Anxiety, heart racing, foggy and just pretty useless. Single working mom here. Honestly until now haven't had much symptoms except less sleep/fatigue some days. 

 

What are your thoughts on best next steps? It's a pretty low dose, do I just stop? I was planning to move to something safer like trazadone but haven't started it yet, should I do so now that i'm in the final phase or is it better to let my brain heal more first? Do I take both together? Or should talk to my Dr about slower plan?

 

Open to any and all feedback. And thank you so much!

 

 

 

[[Ta...]]

Just bumping this up with hopes someone has advice 💖

[[Ma...]]

Hi, 

i used to take ambien fairly regularly, I’m not sure if there is a difference with CR.  I stopped at 5mg cold turkey.  I wouldn’t switch to any other substance while taking ambien.  I’m not familiar with how trazadone works including side effects or benefits.

i have a fair amount of sleepless nights when i stopped ambien.  A lot of racing mind and body, couldn’t get comfortable , hot and cold etc.  It gets easier and honestly it’s so nice to sleep without out.  Sorry you’re struggling , keep in mind it really does get better

[[Pa...]]

@[Ta...], I agree with @[Ma...], you’re at a very low dose and drawing this out any  longer will just mean more suffering.  Once its out of your system, you can truly begin to recover.

 When I stopped taking it, the anxiety left, along with the other awful symptoms is gave me and I felt great.  I couldn’t sleep for a few nights but at felt so much better, I didn’t really care. 

[[or...]]

@[Ta...] I did a very unscientific taper from 10 mg of Ambien, but when I got to 1.25 mgs, I held for a week, and then jumped. It really was okay. I had some headaches and dizziness after I jumped, but nothing major. I felt so much better when the drug was finally out of my system. As @[Pa...] said, sleep was hard, but I found ways to deal with that . . . and eventually real, undrugged sleep came back. imo 1.25 should be an okay dose to jump from. You could split it in half, but, meh, if it was me, I wouldn't bother. Best wishes.

[[El...]]

hi!

 

I am in the same boat as you and I am currently at 1mg nightly, just preparing to go to 0,8mg. I know many people say it is pointless to drag it out for that long as Ambien is such a short acting drug, but when i tried to quit at 1,6mg i got quite horrible withdrawal feeling as i have been taking it almost nightly for a couple of years and my body is used to it. My reasoning isnt fully scientific but this is what feels okay to me now and I plan to taper until 0,1mg to very slowly phase it out of my system.

 

Also for me when i dropped to 1.25 i had a 3 week physical anxiety bout and i decided to hold on that until it went away (it was a bit of a lottery as with such a short acting drug they talk about inter dose withdrawals and this being worse than just getting off) but now i have stabilised and feel way better and continueing the taper super slowly.

 

here if you want to chat

x

[[El...]]

Also as my comment, if i were you, i would not intro any new drugs at this point as when you are getting anxiety and jitteriness, its obvious your CNS is reacting and coming on with something new entirely just is a mixed bag as to what that could result with. You are in quite an easy situation and bringing something new in could just complicate it further, just get off all drugs slowly and stay off of them for good, that is my best advice!

A little bit of sleeplessness is a small price to pay honestly