Ambien and stroke

My father was prescribed Ambien due to some sleeping issues. It was prescribed to take "as needed". He was also prescribed flexorall which is a muslce relaxor. After taking the Ambien for awhile he started becoming more agitated than usual and was having nightmares. Then one Sunday morning he got up and was in his usual routine of drinking coffee & reading the paper. He got the hiccups and got up to get a glass of water but when he went into the kitchen he poured more coffee into a glass. He then was stumbling around and twice almost fell. His behavior became stranger and so my mother took him to the ER. They thought he possible had a stroke. He doesn't remember any of that morning until he was at the hospital. After several test it turns out, it was all a side effect of taking the Ambien, Flexorall & drinking a beer the night before. After looking at the side effects on the computer, he had most of them and should not have been taking the muscle relaxer & sleep aid together.

My grandmother has recently been hospitalized for a few problems. However in the past few weeks she has been taking ambien for pain and sleep relief. She has seen everything from my dead father and great grandfather to the grim reaper and tiny male ballerinas dancing on the wall, dogs and other hospital patients in her face! She also felt her body floating to the ceiling. It's been a very scarey time for her. Her blood pressure has been spiking real high and her speech is constantly slurred now. They are running tests to see if this could possibly be stroke related but so far have found nothing. Her doc has taken her off ambien and she sounds a bit more coherent today however her speech is still slurred. If this is truely the effect of ambien someone ought to lobby to have this stuff removed and banned from medical practice. She has never been this sick in her life and it seems as if she is speeding downhill at a rapid rate since starting to take ambien. She is 73 years old and still has a healthy body so why is her mind al of a sudden going out of control This stuff sounds like it is more harm than good.

I'm not sure if what I'm experiencing is a side effect of Ambien...or not...but, I've been taking Ambien CR 12.5 mg for a couple of months due to menopausal insomnia...and starting around 3 weeks ago...I have a "wandering numbness"...with a very slight "burning" feeling on my right side...especially my right arm...my right ankle feels slightly swollen and numb also. My husband, who's an M.D., said that it sounds neurological. Could this be from the Ambien????

I have taken ambien only a few times a month for a year and it seemed to work most of the time. Last week at around 10 pm I had a small glass of wine, took a 5mg ambien then a hot bath. When I came downstairs I SAW DOUBLE OF EVERYTHING.My husband thought it might be a slight stroke and insisted I go to emergency. The doctor said ambien has many side effects and this was probably the cause even though it is not listed in their data sheet. The doctor did a catscan and it was ok. Everything cleared up in 2-3 hours.