Exactly HOW addictive do you think Ambien is?

[justme1972]

I recently had to terminate a long-term friendship last week due to a friend that has been on Ambien for 3 years.

I knew she was taking it, but only until a few months ago, I didn't realize she was taking it on a daily basis and a few weeks ago, she started addiing valium to the mix.

When the Ambien stopped working (b/c she would wake up 3 to 4 hours later and couldn't go back to sleep) she started halving the pills, and would take the other half in the middle of the night...when that stopped working she added the valium.

She seems "addicted' to the sleep. She is always in bed asleep....she wears ear plus, turns off the ringers to the phone...I kept telling her that was dangerous (she lives by herself) b/c if a carbon monoxide or fire detector went off, no way would she hear it.

I have never been friends with an addict and her behavior has got so bizarre (especially when she was sleep deprived) that I got tired of her emotional "snaps", and I had to terminate the friendship. I have tried everything to get her help, but she not only denies she needs help, she says, "Oh, Ambien isn't that addictive...I like sleeping!"

Any thoughts on what others have seen in people taking this drug?

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

https://allnurses.com/forums/f126/reported-post-general-nursing-discussion-any-nurses-here-think-ambien-addictive-173606.html

Here is a prior discussion on this same topic from 2 years ago.

My personal opinion is Ambien is habituative, and easily so. I took it for a short while and found it amazing. So very, very, amazing until I awoke out of bed, on the sofa, having let a popsicle melt all over my gown and having NO MEMORY at all of the previous 6 hours. This is a documented side-effect. But who believes something like that would happen to them?

If you need to sleep, please don't treat yourself with this drug. I experienced **** from it and after a very SHORT time period. I flushed all of them, several hundred dollars worth I imagine.

[mamalle]

Im not sure but hearing more and more stories about it. I read a article today in the glamour magazine about a woman that became addicted to it. I have been taking it since last year after my doctor gave me a script. Im taking the ambien cr 6.25mg tablets. I was on lunesta and starting sleep walking and he suggested this. I fill my prescription about every 10-12 weeks for 30 pills. I do go through weeks where I find myself not needing it and then other weeks I do.. I was finding myself tossing and turning all night and not able to function come morning time with work and running around with the kids, etc. My doctor said I was starting to become premenopausal and this sleeplessness was one of the not so wonderful issues. It really has helped me and I havent had any weird side effects from it. Im a healthy person- I only take vitamins besides this and I have never mixed it with alcohol or taken it when dh is on shift and Im home with alone with the kids. Our doctor gave dh the regular ambien since his blood pressure meds side effects were making him wake up every night at 2am but that one I do not like- it knocks you out hard and fast. Its scary..

[iwanna]

I am hooked on Lunesta. Well, I am dependent on them. I never take more than one at night. But, there are some nights that I still toss and turn after about 4 hrs. I have awful insomnia that started about about 6 yrs. ago. I have been on Lunesta for two years. I take it every night. I do have chronic illness which I believe contributes to my insomnia.

But, it sounds like your friend may be suffering from depression.

[leslie :-D]

ok, so this woman likes to do her thing at noc, and sleep during the day.

working nocs, i do understand the 'need' to sleep...

to get at least a straight 6 hrs.

however, she sounds a bit too preoccupied with sleeping and that's it.

this makes me believe there is a psychological dependence, which qualifies it for addiction.

it doesn't matter if it's ambien or another controlled substance.

anything that you can become physically tolerant to, enables the addictive process.

once that person starts psychologically depending on it, there's the addiction.

and i can't help but wonder is she's depressed, too.

all she wants to do is sleep and is not allowing any other activities, until she's ready to go out at noc.

doesn't sound healthy, for sure.

best of everything to this woman.

leslie

[CHATSDALE]

i have taken ambien several years and find that if i need it for sleep it helps and i wake up w/o grogginess something i could not do with benedryl, lunesta, ambien cr

i don't take it every night and i never drink when i take it but i have never had any side effects

once i was taking it every night but cut back on it by cutting it in half for about 10 days and then only when i had been in bed like an hour w/o going to sleep

it is a blessing when i need it because insommia is something i have had all my adult life, with ambien i can establish a pattern of going to sleep about the same time and then when ii don't take it i can sleep anyway

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Good points Leslie.

I do want to mention I don't drink at all and certainly anyone taking any of these meds shouldn't mix them with etoh.

[jenn27]

Personally I was addicted to Ambien, but at the time i was battling depression after losing a loved one. At that time anything that made me feel good was addicting.

[justme1972]

My friend is extremely open to me about pretty much everything and since I started nursing school, she is always calling me with medical questions...which lord knows, I don't have the expertise to answer...but I can usually forward her to a website, etc.

So I'm pretty sure she doesn't have another condition.

She does drink quite often, but I don't think I know exactly how often to put her in the alcoholic catagory.

I do know I was over at her house awhile back...I needed some "female bonding time" and we were both sharing soime wine...she was drinking way more than I was b/c I still had to drive home...so she proceeded to get pretty smashed.

I had to LEAVE because she stood in the kitchen and started singing songs from commercials, movies, etc...and I kept saying, "Taylor! Taylor!" trying to get her attention...she just kept on!

I actually WALKED OUT THE DOOR with her gesturing as if she was conducting to an audience.

I have been around her plenty of times when she has been smashed, she NEVER acted like that before.

She had no memory the next day of what happened...not sure if it was the alcohol or the fact that she may have taken Ambien on it.

I also fear since I can't get her help, or lead her to help, I will feel extremely guilty if something happens to her. I have told her why I can't hang around her anymore...I have talked to her sister and a cousin she is close with...they all say, "Oh, she'll be fine", which drives me nuts.

It's just so frustrating.

[TiredMD]

There is a difference between addiction and dependence. I've seen many people who were dependent on Ambien. I have yet to meet an addict.

Who the hell prescribes daily Ambien for someone for 3 years? Ridiculous. Anyone with three days worth of pharmacology knows that you develop tolerance to these types of medications. They are not designed to be used over long periods of time, and we do patients a disservice pretending like they will work indefinitely.

[NJNursing, ASN, RN]

I have been taking Ambien CR for about 6 months now and i'm so/so about it. I only take it on nights where I work back to back because I have GAD and I'd come home from work and my mind would race for hours and hours and i'd only get 1-3 hours of sleep after pulling off a whole shift going into a whole shift. One day when I was so tired coming home and I nearly went off the road (in broad daylight at 10am!) I decided I needed some help. I got started on the Ambien and it's been a godsend. However, I only take it on the days where I'm working that night or if I have something really important that I need to be well rested for. I also never take it unless I know I'm going to get AT LEAST 6-8 hours of sleep, so I won't take it at midnight knowing I have to be up at 5:30 or else I'm groggy. I think it's all about being a responsible user if you're going to use things like that.

Your friend probably needs more psychological help than help for addiction. IF she handled her emotional issues and mounting personal problems, she could probably kick the drugs easier.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

There is a difference between addiction and dependence. I've seen many people who were dependent on Ambien. I have yet to meet an addict.

Who the hell prescribes daily Ambien for someone for 3 years? Ridiculous. Anyone with three days worth of pharmacology knows that you develop tolerance to these types of medications. They are not designed to be used over long periods of time, and we do patients a disservice pretending like they will work indefinitely.

I was preparing to type this exact post, LOL, and you just saved me the time!

People frequently confuse tolerance with addiction, and addiction with dependence...and back again.

I find there are meds that I have taken that do continue to work for me, but in higher doses than before. I am not addicted to them; they are rarely taken (painkillers). I DO mean RARELY. However, use of them over the years has increased my tolerance such that I need higher doses in order for them to work. Not always, but usually.

Same with sleep meds. I take benadryl for sleep ONLY on the nights when I have back to back shifts (like NJ nursing, I just can't settle into sleep well in between shifts, and I have a short time in which I CAN sleep before I'm due back at hospital). I take more than most people, but then again, I've also taken it for years as an antihistamine for allergies. I have a tolerance, but not a dependance: I CAN sleep without it :)

I can't STAND when patients come in and tell me that they can't sleep unless they have 15-20 mg of Ambien; I ask who the hell has prescribed that, and of course they say that they're NOT prescribed that: they just do it when they "need it". They are prescribed 10 mg per night. How they get around the extra pills (they'd be short each month, right?) I don't know, but I haven't given it much thought.

These patients are on Ambien for YEARS. And I remind them that if I give it to them at 9-10pm (when they want it) I'm still going to wake them around 11pm for vitals, and they can't get it again that night. "Why not? I take another one at home when I wake up after a few hours!" they tell me. Sigh.

[Agnus]

I just didn't have the energy to keep it up anymore.

"I just don't have the energy to keep this up anymore. After you get help and resolve your problems maybe we can reconsider our friendship. In the mean time please do not call."

Sounds harsh but you can't help her and she is draining you. Friendships are supposed to benefit both people otherwise it is paracitic.