My mother took it for several years and she would sleep walk.
Nothing too serious like trying to drive or something like that.

I tried it when my DS was in Iraq and I developed insomnia.

It didn't take . There was only one time that it even made me drowsy and I woke up an hour later, anyway. Didn't sleepwalk/eat or anything like that, though.

Ended up just tossing them.

Seems like they've come out with Ambien CR. The skeptic in me wonders why they waited so long. Patent due to run out? $$$ Gotta love Big Pharma.

I took ambien short term back in 1997- couldn't get to sleep but no trouble staying asleep- and had no ill effects and it made a wonderful difference in my life.
Fast forward to 2008 and due to menopause not being able to get to sleep for hours, but then waking up every 20 minutes all night long for months.tried various natural things but nada. 7 nights of ambien CR did the trick, reset my clock as my GYN thought it would. Have not had the frequent waking up problem since. No side effects either never woke up in another county.

I highly recommend either ambien formula if prescribed by your physician.

My FIL took it once and had a very bad reaction. My MIL and SIL had to stay up with him all night, they called 911 and the responders said they could take him to the hospital but he would be put in restraints since he was acting so weird. They kept him home and stayed with him. My MIL takes a low dose. The last time they were visiting (they live in a different state) she sat on the arm of the sofa and started talking about people I had never heard of (but I think maybe they were characters in a soap). I told DH there was something wrong with his mother. He went over to her and said a few things and then helped her to bed. He said she was sleeping! She had no memory of any of it in the morning.

I was referring to suicidal tendencies. We lost a dear friend 3 weeks ago who had been taking Ambien for a long time. He needed to take larger doses the longer he took it and became extremely depressed to the point that he harmed himself.

Since then I've been reading that this is common among Ambien users expecially if they don't go to bed withing 10-15 minutes of taking the drug.

I've learned that fighting the sleep sensation causes hallucinations and bizarre behavior that they're not even aware of until the next morning. Some (the lucky ones) have even ended up in the ER after having taken the entire contents of the pill bottles while in a walking stage of drug induced sleep.

The not so fortunate pill takers aren't found until it's too late.

Monablair I am so sorry for your loss.

I have suffered from insomnia for a few years now, along with sleep apnea. I used a cpap machine for six months along with ambien and couldn't get used to it. Now I take the Ambien cr occasionally with no side effects.

I've taken 3 in the last month, due to a divorce in our family (not mine). I went to sleep quick and stayed asleep. I was really scared to take it, but was pretty desperate to get some sleep.

I had never heard about the depression issues, that's awful!

I only ever heard of people eating in the middle of the night without knowing it. That alone freaks me out.

I knew of someone that took it while drinking. Fought the sleep and ended up having a psychotic episode. Very bad.

My DH takes this occasionally with no problems.

I am sorry about your tragic loss.

Smiles:)

I took it for a week or two with no problems, then one night I woke up very groggy, leaned to my night stand and started chewing on an ink pen. I was awake enough to know I was chewing on an ink pen. lol. But I kept doing it. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up the next morning, I remembered chewing on the pen, and I looked at it and it had teeth marks all over it! I never touched the stuff again.

I experienced something traumatic a few years ago and I have a prescription for Xanax. If I have a mild panic attack in the day, I take only a half a pill because a whole pill will knock me out, and it's low dosage.

So if I can't sleep at night, I take a Xanax. It works wonders! And I can't see how that stuff is addictive either, but it is.

Mona, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Suicide is never easy to parse, especially when you feel there might have been some chemical component that could have been avoided.

I have taken Ambien over the years, mostly when I travel, but sometimes at home when I have garden variety insomnia. It is so expensive, I've started using Tylenol PM at home and it seems to do the trick. Messing around with pharmaceuticals is scary, isn't it?

First, I'm sorry for your loss..

It's hard to say about the Ambien & whether it was directly related to that or if the person was depressed to begin with. I refuse to take Ambien because of the sleep walking, eating & bad dreams.

IMO, The Dr that prescribed should have switched the medication at some point when it stopped working instead of upping the dosage.

Those using sleeping pills for menopause; do you notice you have problems sleeping when you're ovulating or should be?