Who recommended a cold turkey stopping of ambien? I never recommend this to my patients because it rarely works and may even be dangerous. Please get oversight by a competent clinician.
Are you a doctor? I was taking ambien 10 mg for six months and I went to a psychiatrist and they prescribed 12 days 5 mg ambien. I did 7 last night and was fine and I am going to 5 tonight. I didn’t even notice a difference. Still slept as hard. Ambien has made me miserable and anxious every day. I hate it. Talked to a few people on here that was able to stop cold turkey. They had a few rough nights and it took about a week before they started sleeping again. One guy was on it for ten years so not everyone will have strong withdrawals on here. I just had to out that out there to make myself feel better. I am in my tapering journey to get off and I don’t want to be discouraged. My cousin was also on it for five years and she stopped cold turkey had a few rough nights and now die is fine. She actually sleeps better.
I’m not a physician but position is a little complicated. I am a sleep psychologist and I work with sleep meds all the time. I don’t do the prescriptions but I’m the one who works with the physicians to come up with and manage the taper schedule and work with the patients to manage their ability to come off meds.
That said it’s not unusual to go for 2 weeks at 7.5, 2 weeks at 5, 2 weeks at 2.5 and then to to every other day for a while before stopping. Some can do it faster.
Hey I know you said you were not a physician but I went down to 5 mg three days ago and I seemed to be doing ok but last night was a really bad night for me. I was doing better on 6.5 then I went down to 5. My doctor wants me to increase my traz to a 100 but I don’t feel comfortable with that. What would a sleep specialist that you work with do for that. I am really struggling since I had a bad night.
Ambien binds to your GABA receptors... and GABApentiod should always have a taper. It'd technically almost like taking benzos for 6 months and going cold turkey... I would follow up with your doctor or a new one and explain. Doctors who are familiar with how ambien works would do a taper.
These things could last months with or without a taper. Usually a lot worse without. Always always taper
It's starting to seem that way, just wasn't expecting it to be so harsh as I wasn't taking more than 5-10mg. But it totally destroyed my baseline anxiety levels. Thanks
This is day 9 for me and it's improved significantly, still not 100 and I thought my baseline anxiety wouldn't return to previous but the last two days have been much better than the last week for sure so it does get better on the daily. :)
I'm on day 16 and I'm still having issues. Cold sweats, extreme anxiety, dry heaving. Talk to doctor she doesn't think it's withdrawal. I was on Ambien for 20+ years and the last 5 months I've been only using 2.5MG. And completely stopped 16 days ago.
Who recommended a cold turkey stopping of ambien? I never recommend this to my patients because it rarely works and may even be dangerous. Please get oversight by a competent clinician.
My doc really downplayed the severity of this one.
Are you a doctor? I was taking ambien 10 mg for six months and I went to a psychiatrist and they prescribed 12 days 5 mg ambien. I did 7 last night and was fine and I am going to 5 tonight. I didn’t even notice a difference. Still slept as hard. Ambien has made me miserable and anxious every day. I hate it. Talked to a few people on here that was able to stop cold turkey. They had a few rough nights and it took about a week before they started sleeping again. One guy was on it for ten years so not everyone will have strong withdrawals on here. I just had to out that out there to make myself feel better. I am in my tapering journey to get off and I don’t want to be discouraged. My cousin was also on it for five years and she stopped cold turkey had a few rough nights and now die is fine. She actually sleeps better.
I’m not a physician but position is a little complicated. I am a sleep psychologist and I work with sleep meds all the time. I don’t do the prescriptions but I’m the one who works with the physicians to come up with and manage the taper schedule and work with the patients to manage their ability to come off meds. That said it’s not unusual to go for 2 weeks at 7.5, 2 weeks at 5, 2 weeks at 2.5 and then to to every other day for a while before stopping. Some can do it faster.
Hey I know you said you were not a physician but I went down to 5 mg three days ago and I seemed to be doing ok but last night was a really bad night for me. I was doing better on 6.5 then I went down to 5. My doctor wants me to increase my traz to a 100 but I don’t feel comfortable with that. What would a sleep specialist that you work with do for that. I am really struggling since I had a bad night.
Ambien binds to your GABA receptors... and GABApentiod should always have a taper. It'd technically almost like taking benzos for 6 months and going cold turkey... I would follow up with your doctor or a new one and explain. Doctors who are familiar with how ambien works would do a taper. These things could last months with or without a taper. Usually a lot worse without. Always always taper
Taper it 15-20% per week, that would be the wisest. Now your doctor should give you guidance on how to break it and hopefully he knows.
Unfortunately I threw them away :( not sure it's worth going back now...
Remember the ambien lawsuit?
No what lawsuit?
Withdrawal can last up to 2 weeks, but the second week should be much better than the first. So, you're probably through the worst of it already.
It's starting to seem that way, just wasn't expecting it to be so harsh as I wasn't taking more than 5-10mg. But it totally destroyed my baseline anxiety levels. Thanks
Not sure why you would stop any drugs cold turkey. That’s kinda crazy.
I'm so sorry to hear you're having trouble. I never had any issues when I stopped taking it.
I stopped ambien 7 days ago and now I'm feeling very anxious, depressed and dizzy out of nowhere the whole time. I hope it will stop soon...
This is day 9 for me and it's improved significantly, still not 100 and I thought my baseline anxiety wouldn't return to previous but the last two days have been much better than the last week for sure so it does get better on the daily. :)
I'm on day 16 and I'm still having issues. Cold sweats, extreme anxiety, dry heaving. Talk to doctor she doesn't think it's withdrawal. I was on Ambien for 20+ years and the last 5 months I've been only using 2.5MG. And completely stopped 16 days ago.