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Tank you Martin. My prescribing physician was very cavalier responding to my question about ambien. I asked him if he had any concerns about long term use of Ambien. He said not at all. It is just a personal choice. He had several patients using sleep meds for many years with no problem. That made me shudder! When I told him that I wanted to taper, he said no need at all and that CR 6.5MG over 1 month was a very low dose and should not be a problem to just stop. It is comforting to hear that your sleep physician contact also does not know of any problems with “cold turkey”. I did not get much comfort from my physician!
RonA,
This is just my personal experience, but I feel I build up a tolerance quickly to these drugs and they become less effective so when I was taking them I stop for a week after using them for 2-3 weeks. I feel like I did have withdrawal symptoms the week I took the Ambient CR. Feelings like dread, very achy muscles, and trembling lasting about 2 days. I don’t know if I had rebound insomnia because I’ve had insomnia for so long. My sleep doc said I should not have those symptoms, probably related to something else. Anyway, its not much worse than dealing with regular insomnia and you’ll have support. I don’t think my physicians want to deal with insomnia patients and will probably say whatever. So glad this website is here!
Ok, I started SR last Saturday night and have completed 6 nights. The good news is I have been Ambien free and I did not experience any rebound symptoms. In fact I slept 3 light hours the first night. The frustrating part is I have slept only 3 hours every night this week.
My sleep window is 12-5pm and I have taken no naps during the day. I have been exhausted at bedtime and have fallen asleep every night almost immediately. I am waking up between 2:15- 3-15 and I cannot get back to sleep. After 20 minutes or so, I am getting up and reading and then going back to bed when I get tired. I have fallen back asleep for maybe 30 min when I initially slept less than 3 hours. When I have slept 3 hours, I cannot get back to sleep.
Now that I am going into week 2 and my efficiency is 60%, do I need to shorten my sleep window to 3.5 hours?
Hi Ron. In answer to your question, no. The minimum SW you should be observing is 5.5 hours. That is so it’s possible to get the core amount of sleep that you need, which is 5 hours (the extra half hour giving you time to get to sleep). It’s true that you aren’t getting it now, but the possibility is there for you to get it with the 5.5 hour window. If you go less than that, you have no chance f getting it.
Hi Steve. Thanks for the response.
My current sleep window is 5 hours, but honestly it could be 10 hours and it would not matter. I am only getting about 3 hours straight in the beginning of the night. I suppose this may consolidate over a period time, but I am wondering if my body has adapted to 3 hours sleep because I do not feel too bad during the day. I am however totally exhausted before midnight and fall asleep quickly.
Has anyone else had this problem? How have you resolved it and might a shorter SR help speed the process?
My sleep is similar to yours, it feels like 2-3 hours of sleep per night when not using ambien. I have not been able to go more than 4 nights on this type of sleep and take ambien for at least 1 or 2 good nights of sleep per week. I feel the same as you whereas the sleep window could be 10 hours if you are getting out of bed if not asleep in 30 minutes. Last week I was trying to stay up to midnight reading a book and about 11:15pm, I must have dozed off for a minute and the book fell out of my hand. I feel like I should have went upstairs to bed at that moment rather than fighting sleep and staying up to midnight then not being able to sleep until 2am.
Hi Gsdmom. Like you, I was slightly tempted last night to take an ambien to get a full nights sleep. But only slightly tempted. I desperately do not want to rely on pills and am glad I have been off for 6 nights. However, I do not know how long I can go with 3 hours sleep. I wonder if taking the ambien 1-2 nights a week is hurting your recovery because you are not building a consistent sleep debt?
I am planning to stay the course for a bit and keep my 12-5am sleep window but I still wonder if tightening the window to 3.5 hours will speed my recovery?
Maybe hurting recovery, but there have been some days I really need to be fully functioning. I’m in the process of doing a lot of job interviews. Under some stress. The good news is, is that since I am taking ambien a lot less, it is more effective – I need less and sleep longer on it. Hope someone can add to this experience on how well and how long they functioned on 3 hours sleep.
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