[rainbow8]

I took the ambien Thursday night and fell asleep in about 10 mins. That was nice. Slept about 7 1/2 hrs. However, I was tired and groggy all day Friday, feeling "drugged". Last night I slept about 11 hrs. plus a nap today, and I still have that feeling. I'm trying not to think about side effects, but how can I NOT when I feel so groggy?

If it's the zoloft too, I'll have to stop it because I'd rather keep my OCD then walk around in a daze all day. The ambien should have worn off by now, and I still feel very tired and groggy. Maybe it's the Allegra/zoloft combination.

It's almost 3 weeks on zoloft and if I'm still tired on 25 mg. I don't think that's promising, unless a higher dose could make me LESS tired? I have no idea how these drugs work.

I'll see how I feel tomorrow and next week but if I had a full time job, I don't know how I'd manage right now. I don't but I'd like to get things done at home.

If you are already tired from zoloft, do you really need a sleep med?

Also, there are other meds to try besides zoloft, so just communicate the problem to your pdoc. You might keep a log of your sleep hours, when and how long you sleep, so he can see what your sleep hours are like.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Sorry you're having such a hard time.

Zoloft was seriously like uppers for me, even at 25mg, so I can't relate at all. I will say though that when I upped my dose to 50mg, it was more like I was on massive amounts of speed, so I'm not sure upping your dose would help.

I just started Ambien myself (literally just -- took it for the first time last night), and I can't say I relate to the "drugged" feeling at all. I mean, yeah I had coffee this morning, but that's normal for me...and I honestly felt GREAT today! Totally refreshed which is not my norm since I have terrible insomnia.

I think you might need to try something else...

I would probably wait another week, and if by then things still aren't going well, reevaluate.

Of course, how your body usually reacts to meds needs to be considered as well. For example, I can basically tell if a med will not work for me within 2-3 days because I get any and all all adverse effects that I'm going to get within the first 1-3 days, and they always go away within a week, usually 3-5 days...so if in the first couple days I don't tolerate a drug well, I know I need to switch and try something else.

[rainbow8]

Chris, maybe you're right that I don't need a sleep medicine. I thought it would be good to not wake up every hour or so, and get more sleep. It's not that bad, though. It's the grogginess during the day that I can't tolerate. That's different from lack of sleep. I usually get 6 or 7 hrs. of sleep but don't feel "drugged up". I guess this is all a learning experience for me. Trial and error, like you said. I never felt this grogginess until I started the zoloft except for the time I tried zyrtec instead of allegra, and was on lyrica once, for some neurolgocal problem. I couldn't tolerate that drug at all!

i was on 500mg of thorazine at night and i woke up every 2 hours

sometimes its not the meds that u need to sleep

if u busy yourself during the day to where your tired at night u probably wont need the sleeping med.

goodluck !

[archipelago]

Ambien has a very short half-life so it is unlikely that it would linger in your system and cause these effects. I would look to what else you are taking or other factors. If you don't like the Ambien, there are other alternatives. Ambien does effect memory in some people so not everyone chooses it.