Ambien CR and sleep

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 took ambien CR for about 5 months every night. The lower dose didn't have much effect but I was sleeping well with the 12.5 dose. I did not have any of the bizarre sleep behaviors that many have described. I did however realize that it was producing severe anxiety. I stress this is not my normal level of life anxiety. I began to realize that I was in a constant state of "edginess" and it was getting worse and worse. If could not relax at all and felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. Within a day of stopping it the anxiety was gone but of course I had severe "rebound insomnia" going whole nights with 30-90 minutes of sleep. Tried lower doses but with daily use the anxiety came back. Trying lunesta now and hoping for normal sleep some day

Hello all, I Don't no where to really begin. I just started taking ambien cr for the first time last Wednesday. I was given the 12.5 mgs. I used to be on Restoril 30mg, but ive mustve built a high tolerance quickly because it stopped working. So i went on Ambien Cr. THe night before i took a restoril before my doctors appointment, then on the next day when i was prescribed ambien cr i took it that night, just one pill. It took a while for it to kick in, id say like a couple of hours, but i did manage to fall asleep. Next night I took one again, this time it was taking it a bit longer for it to work, so i chanced it and took a second pill. 30 mins later I finally started feeling the effects of the medicine kickin in which were drowsiness, blurred and double vision, and dizziness. So i thought to myself Maybe i need to take 2 of the 12.5mg every night. SO the next night i tried to experiment, i took 2 pills at one time, and in 30-40 mins time.. i felt the effects kicking in and went to sleep and woke up good., the next night did that again and fell asleep like a baby. but the next night. those two pills two much longer to kick in, id say it took about 5 hours. Im thinking and thinking why would this suddenly happen. I cant grow a high tolerance that quickly! Then it hit me that i was on Restoril for about 3 1/2 months and maybe my body is going through some withdrawal effects. Today I did feel really anxious. I took 2 ambien at 10:30pm Saturday night and im still up and its 5:20am Sunday. LOL. What do you guys think is happening to me? Could it be just that my body is detoxing itself of the restoril and im feeling some withdrawal effects?

Significant hair loss has caused thinning around my face & entire hair line. Within weeks of taking Ambien CR... Woke up daily with headaches, mood changes, depression.....

I am a licensed NYS Cosmetologist. I know what is normal hair loss & what is not. It started with itching on my whole scalp, there was a lot of white greasy almost dandruff substance on my scalp. It didn't flake off like normal dandruff though. Then I noticed my hairline was not what it would normally be. Each time I brushed my hair the brush was filled with more hair daily... I stopped taking the Ambien CR, the itch went away almost immediately & so did the hair loss. I thought I'd give it one more try & took 1 pill one night. The next day the itch came back, so did the white greasy substance on my scalp & my hair started to fall out again.......... Went to my Dr told her what was going on & she didn't even blink, just asked if I wanted something else for sleep. I said no thank you not after this experience. Went back on Advil PM, not sleeping as well as I was, but at least my hair isn't falling out any more. Just keep hoping it will grow back in, has anyone had their hair grow back???

I have been using Ambien CR for about a year now every night. I have noticed weight gain, headaches and most of all I feel unmotivated. I am extremely light headed and dizzy all the time. I have migraine headaches constant. I cannot remember things. I would rather not sleep at night than put up with this!!!! I am going to make the choice to get off of this medication now.

I am 32 years old. For years I have suffered with insomnia. I finally decided to do something about it and get a prescription because I was tired of always being tired in the daytime and not sleeping well at night. Well almost 3 weeks ago I was prescribed with Ambien CR. That 3rd week of taking Ambien I noticed significant hair loss behind my right ear. I now have a bald spot the size of 2 quarters. My hair is continuing to fall out still today and that spot is now enlarging. I made an appointment to my physician and she claimed Ambien has no side effect of hair loss. Strange thing is, I have never experienced any side effect that Ambien reads on the prescription paper from the pharmacist and the pharmacist claims hair loss isn’t a side effect found in research. My memory is well collected and usually when I would take the Ambien CR I would wake up feeling great. Now taking the Ambien allowed me to sleep well relaxed but with 4 hours max and I would wake well alert to start the day. Those 4 hours of rest did feel like an 8-hour rest. So that was the only downfall with sleep using Ambien CR is that I was sleeping enough hours like I should have been. My physician now claims I have Alopecia Aerate because significant hair loss has caused baldness on my head. Blood work was tested for various diagnoses of illnesses and my results came back clear. She referred me to a dermatologist next week to seek help if it's possible for hair growth while I still take Rogain. I find it quit amazing that with in a few weeks of taking Ambien CR that I have experienced patches of baldness. I did stop taking Ambien CR because I strongly believe this Ambien CR is the cause of my hair loses. Me losing my hair have caused me to become depressed. I am very worried and scared that I may loss more hair and that the bald spot will continue to grow larger with extensive hair loss because I took Ambien CR before. I just know that this drug is the cause of my hair loss. I pray that with dermatology help that my hair will stop falling out and grow back. I DO believe hair loss is my side effect of Ambien CR since I experienced no other side effect of this drug.

I have been taking ambien cr for over 2 years. I did not realize I was having side effects until I started to notice things, and my family would tell me things. I was cooking late at night, full meals and eating them. This I would do either for my self or me and my son. He said I would carry on conversations with him and clean after I was done. I have gotten in my car and went to visit people, or went to the store (no memory of these acts). Just this morning I woke with a band-aid on my finger. Called my husband at work. He said I was washing dishes and he had been watching me do this.He said I cut my finger with a knife on accident and I said "ooh, i cut my self", and then I said "oooh look, there's blood". He immediately took care of it but he noticed I could not stop stumbling and I just stared at my finger like a zombie. Evidently I continued this behavior for over an hour and a half. He assumed I was awake because I was talking to him. But my words were limited and only in phrases. He took me to bed and I went straight to sleep. Just a few days ago, my husband was telling me about me and my son going to the store one night. (no memory of this) Now he is scared and he hides the keys, although he is a heavy sleeper. First he thought this was kind of funny, because I seemed so lucid. Now he has taken note of things. Like damages to our car, my new found OCD (with no memory of fixing and cleaning things), my need to be left alone and expressing this only at night, and how I don't need him in my life and how I feel I am a horrible person, all of these things occurring at night after I have taken my ambien. My biggest concern is the sleep activities and knowing that I am involving my son without knowledge. Thank goodness he has not been injured. How would I know if I have hurt someone with my driving? I don't. If my husband hides the keys and he wakes up and the keys are on the table and the vehicle is parked different. He knows it had to be me. I have even gotten dressed and went to the club (no memory of this, people telling me about me being there cause they saw me). And me seeing the clothes I wore laid out on the floor. Yeah, its gotten out of hand, I want to stop taking it, I need to. I tried and stayed awake for 8 days and then slept for 3 hours.Depression is only there when I am on the ambien, not when I am awake during the day. I have lost track of times and events. Memory loss is a horrible thing. I can't remember things from last week or last year. Its like gaps in my mind. Scary, yes, heartbreaking definitely. The breast pains, I thought that was just something new going on with me, still may be. I have to wear sports bras, to constrict any movement, if I don't it feels like someone hit me in the chest with a bat. I tried Lunesta (the rashes were unbearable). As you can tell, I am an insomniac. I am not sure what to do. I will call my doctor but I thought the sleep activities were not real. Now I know they are.

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.

Severe breast pain, bladder infections, hot flashes.
More than a year after stopping Ambien I still have some pain, cannot wear a bra. As a sleep aid, though, Ambien was fine. I went to sleep when I wanted and woke up with a clear head in the morning. I can
see how some people who don't have
side effects like the drug.

Severe breast pain, bladder infections, hot flashes.
More than a year later I am still having breast pain.
As a sleep aid, though, this was great. I had no hangover
grogginess from it. I was sorry to have had to stop taking it.

I was an occasional user of Ambien CR, took it if I couldn't sleep. Well a few weeks ago I couldn't sleep took an Ambien and woke up in bed the next morning with a crushed wrist, cheekbone, temporal bone, bruises etc. Apparently, I walked in my sleep had a serious fall (and concussion) then got myself back in bed???? I don't remember anything--including much of the next day, emergency room, operations etc. It was a nightmare. I seriously think this drug should be taken off the market. It made me wonder if I walked in my sleep after taking this before and had no recollection.
I have missed weeks of work, gone through several extensive operations and have been through a lot of pain. I have since read that I am one of many ambien sleepwalkers with all kinds of results---why are they still allowing this drug to be on the market????

I am so glad to have found this site. I thought I was slowly losing my mind. Did late-night binge eating, house cleaning, paid bills on-line - all with no memory of it the following day. As the medication would start to work, I had a nightly "conversation" with myself about how worthless I was, how I deserved to have all kind of bad things happen, etc. I wouldn't have these kind of thoughts during the day. I haven't taken it for 5 days now after 10 months of continuous use. The first night was as if I had consumed a pot of coffee, tossing and turning, with practically no sleep. But each night it's gotten better. When I weigh the side effects against the benefits, for me it's not difficult to say I'd rather have my sanity back!

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.

My wife started on 6.25 dosage for her inability to sleep properly. It helped her sleep. However, the 6.25 stopped being responsive and her MD prescribed her a higher dosage. Once she started taking the higher dosage, her thought process was impaired and had extreme pressure headaches along the head, face and neck. Her mind was so screwed up that she started to have suicidal thoughts and intense feelings of fear that she would start to have panic attacks. I do not know how these drugs get FDA approved. Went to a naturopath who did a hormone test and found that her hormones were unbalanced. Went on bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and she is herself again. She is also able to sleep properly.