tapering

[[Fr...]]

When taking both ambien and xanax it's advisable to taper one at a time correct? And would you suggest one over the other? Also, wandering whether or not it would be beneficial to cross over to valium for ambien taper as ambien is not a benzo?

[[Be...]]

Hi Free-Fallin.

 

With Ambien being so short acting, I think it is the better one to taper off of first.  Every night you take it, you go through a mini-withdrawal the next day.  I don't know about the advisability of crossing over to valium.  Valium takes a long time to build up in your system and is designed to act entirely differently than Ambien.  Just fyi, I tapered off of it directly going down 1/4 of a tablet about every week for a month (I was on 10mg/night).

[[Fr...]]

Thanks Beeper

 

In light of that info... Did you experience worsened w/d from the taper or was your state impoved during the cut-back? How long was you on ambien?

 

 

[[Be...]]

I had a little more trouble getting to sleep, although tasking Melatonin or Benedryl often helped.  I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms other than that when coming off of Ambien.  I think I was on Ambien 5 years or so, Free-Fallin.

[[Fr...]]

Beeper,

 

Maybe ambien is not the problem. All I know is all of this trouble started some months after taking ambien, and it all sounds like the w/d I'm constantly reading about on this and other sites, caused by benzos. I actually began taking xanax to combat these symptoms because the doc. insisted everything, including the extreme fatigue, was a result of mental issues(depression, anxiety, etc. not Ambien trouble). All this was before any knowledge of tolerance w/d. Also xanax was effective immediately for a few hours, atleast innitially, at reversing some of the symptoms. Now, however, I've obviously built up some tolerance to the xanax. It doesn't perform as well or as long, maybe three hours. My original theory was that tolerance w/d to the ambien, because of it's extremely short half-life(2.6) hours, was responsible for the symptoms, then the (relative) drug(xanax) caused a temparary relief, that is untill I became tolerent to that. So the real question are as follows.... Is there any evidence supporting this theory, are there any members out there who have had a similar experience with ambien, especially in reguards to the extreme fatigue and foggy headedness?   

[[Be...]]

I don't know the answer to your latest question, Free-Fallin.  You might want to start a new thread on the Withdrawal & Recovery Support Board and ask specifically about Ambien withdrawal.