Ambien CR and migraine

I have been taking Ambien CR for 2 months - almost nightly. I think it does help me sleep. Or at least if I don't sleep, I don't remember not sleeping. I do wake up the morning after with headaches. I have a lot of headaches anyway... so that is not that bothersome to me, unless they get to the migraine point. I feel like it affects my memory the next day. Also for about 2-3 hours after taking it, my husband and son say that I am very talkative (which I don't remember) I have had 15 min conversations with my son and not remember. I have sent text messages and not remember. I have not been told that I have done anything else. But that is concerning to me. If I didn't have any other options for sleep meds, I probably would stick to it, but I am going to try something else that has less side effects.

I have been taking Ambien CR on and off for two years. I began to get migraine headaches two years ago which my gynecologist told me was as symptom of menopause. I then began to note everything I ate and all medications I took when I got these debilitating headache. The only thing in common was I had taken ambien cr the night before. I had massive headaches that even prescription medication would not cure. They would start near my temple and radiate up the side of my head. I would always get them on the right side. I began to notice that when I did not take any ambien for a while, no headaches. As soon as I had one dose of ambien cr, the next day I would wake up with a horrible headache. I have since discontinued taking it and I would rather be awake than live with that kind of pain again.

I've been an Ambien (short-acting) user for many years with no real problems unless I drank any alcohol with it and then stayed up for any time at all after taking. (Two major no-no's!!). Besides the oft-reported binge eating and frenzied cleaning, etc., the strangest thing I ever did was what I call "sleep-emailing." I did this twice--I composed bizarre emails on two separate occasions to two different individuals and sent them. The emails didn't just not make sense, but were as if I was typing a dream out loud--I suppose like sleep talking in print. The first time it happened, one of my friends emailed me the next day and said she had received my "cryptic" email. I told her I hadn't emailed her and didn't know what she was talking about. She copied and pasted the content and sent it to me--I told her I didn't know who wrote that, but it wasn't me! She then forwarded the entire email to me and I saw that it had indeed come from me. That was frightening. I had zero recollection of writing it. The second time it happened, once I was made aware of the email I did have a very vague memory of writing it, and incidentally the email itself was not quite as bizarre as the first one was. I've learned that as long as I don't consume alcohol with Ambien and go straight to bed after taking, I have no problems with it whatsoever, and have found it to be very helpful for my insomnia. I have recently begun trying the extended release version, Ambien CR, as I'm having more problems with periodic awakening throughout the night. Thus far the only side effect I seem to be having is the daily onset of a headache on awakening that I can will develop into a migraine without intervention (I've suffered from migraines for many yrs). If it continues it may be enough for me to have to discontinue the medication.

Ambien CR is the only prescription that will allow me to sleep in a hotel, but it is a double edged sword. After about 2 days of using I get migraine headaches. Last week we took our family vacation and I took it for 7 nights in a row. Our timing of our vacation was bad because the day after we got back my husband went out of town (another thing that causes me not to sleep). For the last 4 nights I have taken 1mg of Lunesta. The headaches presisit but I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Tonight I am back to what works best for me Melatonin

For me extended use of Ambien CR causes Migraines. It has time and time again. I know it will happen and in extreme cases (vacation, death in the family) I will choose getting sleep over having the migraine.

Occasional 1 time use of Ambien CR does not cause me to have a migraine the following day.