Trying to get off Ambien

I have been on 20 mg of Ambien for more than 10 years, maybe 15. In the last few months I have come off benzos. Only use them as a prn now. I have tried for the past two months to get off Ambien. So far unsuccessfully. Cut down to 15 mg at night. After a week still wasn't sleeping, some nights awake all night long. I called the doc. Now trying 17.5 at night. Last two nights I slept well. Iam frustrated this is going at such a slow pace. I wasn't frustrated coming off the benzos. The doc says I might not be able to get off the Ambien because I have been on itso long. Any tips that might make this easier?? Not sorry I started Ambien and benzos because I really needed them, but I have made a great deal of progress and now I don't see a daily need.

First, get a new doctor. He/she's 100% wrong. You absolutely CAN stop taking the Ambien. You can. But you need another medication to help you do that. Use Melatonin to wean yourself off of the Ambien.

Coming off of prescribed medications is equivalent to a drug addict coming off of their drug of choice. The process takes time and requires monitoring and other supplemental medications to help the body adjust.

When doctors overprescribe their patients Opioids and Sleep Meds, they are acting like drug dealers which is a harsh reality. I only take vitamins now and refuse to take even a simple pain medication. So, your doctor is undermining your ability to "get clean" from Ambien by telling you that you are not able to come off of it. You can and you will. Just stop listening to that doctor.

The fact that you've relied on Ambien for 10 years to help you sleep, means that you've conditioned your body's physiology to depend on Ambien. Now, you have to give your body time to adjust to the weaning process which may take longer than you'd like.

I was caught in the same cycle when I was prescribed something for sleep and weaning off that medication took me 6 months of going through hell, unfortunately, with regards to the side effects and impact it had on my quality of life.

I was happy once I got past that difficult weaning process and was able to sleep soundly without the help of any medication (occasionally I have bouts of insomnia, but I never resort to sleeping medication now to get back to sleep).

You can rely on Melatonin to help you transition off of the Ambien but you need to schedule an appointment with a sleep doctor -- not a regular doctor -- who will create a "titer schedule" to help you decrease the Ambien while you also supplement with Melatonin.

Eventually, if you really need to, you can take the Melatonin since the body makes that naturally, to help you sleep. Check out these links about the Melatonin/Ambien titering process. It should help you figure out a plan.

https://healthfully.com/use-melatoni...n-5587785.html

https://deserthopetreatment.com/ambien/wean-off/

I finally quit Ambien... and am now sleeping better | Phoenix Rising ME / CFS Forums

https://ask.metafilter.com/193695/Re...-natural-sleep

https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/0...-do-they-last/

I'm in the same boat. Recently made a thread about it too;
there are lots more here to reference and find information https://forums.psychcentral.com/psyc...it-ambien.html

It seems there's no easy answer. Hope it isn't too difficult. I didn't pick a start date yet. Have you?

Thanks for the links cielpur. I saw a reference to progesterone and am curious how that works. Wouldn't know how to find a doctor to prescribe it if I wanted to try it as most doctors don't seem to get involved in hormones in my experience, not even obgyn.

Thanks cielpur! I have read all the links. Determined to do this. It seems that a slow taper will work best from what I have read.

Yes Rayne, I started again on Friday night. Slept okay, not great but not as bad as the week before.

Edited: Here's a few YouTube videos about getting off of Ambien. There's a ton of testimonials from people who successfully got off Ambien. Maybe watch a few of those to encourage yourself to do it. Glad that my other links helped. I hope you can get off of Ambien.

Don't let any doctor tell you that you can't. That's like saying drug addicts or alcoholics can't recover from their addictions, which we know isn't true at all. If you have to, go to a sleep clinic for a month or an addiction treatment center, to get the medical and emotional support that you need to get off of Ambien. Melatonin will really help you. I encourage you to check into using that to help you get off of Ambien.

Last night was really awful. Took a .5 Ativann, 17.5 ambien and couldn't sleep after 4 hours so I got desperate and took two more ambience. A REAL disaster. Seriously would like to flush all this down the toilet, but that could make more problems. My doc is behind me on this idea. Maybe I will just put out tonight's meds and lock up the rest.

OK locked up my meds in the lockbox taking out just the planned decrease. Let's see how tonight goes. Watched those videos and a couple more.

I would encourage you to include Melatonin after you get your doctor's approval. That is so much better for you than ativan or ambien. Good luck. Right now it will be hard, but you have to let your body go through withdrawl of the ambien and ativan before you can be completely opiate and sleep med free. It won't be pleasant for you physically and you'll be exhausted from insomnia but you need to get yourself off that sleep med. Don't give up.

It might help to go back to your previous dose until you are sleeping ok and then cut back to 17.5. In the long picture it doesn't matter how long it takes. I had a heck of a time getting off seroquel at the lowest doses because of sleep issues and found it worked to go back to what I was last taking when I was sleeping ok for a little while to re-stabilize and then cut back very slowly. Eventually I got off it but it took about 4 months.

Got thru last nite. I read an article that said to tell yourself to stay awake. I could do it f or an hour before I fell asleep. Yeay me! Did not hear my husband at 4 am. Woke up when he kissed me goodbye at 7 am.
Still had a great deal of anticipatory anxiety Like almost to a full blown anxiety attack early in the evening just thinking about this so I took out a .5 Ativan but no extra ambien. Tonite .25 of Ativan, 17.5 ambien. Feeling better about night.

I'm curious about why you claim that melatonin is better for someone than either Ativan or Ambien is? Personally, I had a bad reaction to melatonin. After 3 days of taking it I fell into a depression that was definitely not "good" for me. I will never take melatonin again.

I have very little experience with either Ambien or Ativan, but I've been on Klonopin for over 20 years and while I don't want to take more than I already take, Klonopin has been one of the most helpful meds I've ever been on. If it didn't have the tolerance issue I believe I'd do very well on a higher dose.

Melatonin is a natural sleep aid and the human body makes Melatonin. Plus, doctors recommend using Melatonin in place of opiates like Ambien and Ativan.

Of course, it is entirely up to Deejay14 what she does to taper off of her Ambien. All we can do is share our opinion here in support.

That is great to hear Deejay14. Small steps. You'll get there and eventually be free of Ambien but it will take time.

Excellent night. . Last night meds 17.5 Ambien,. 25 Ativan, 10 mg indwral, 5 mg minipress. I read for 45 minutes before I went to sleep. A lot less anticipatory anxiety. Took me just 30 minutes to get to sleep! Tonight might try reducing to 15mg of Ambien, no Ativan, then 10 mg of Inderal, 5 mg minipress which seems to calm things down.

cielpur, Ambien and Ativan are not opiates!

Yes, the body makes melatonin naturally, but that doesn't necessary mean that adding more melatonin is good for everyone to do.

Personally, I found valerian more helpful for sleep than melatonin.

Deejay, it's great that you had a good night last night. Hopefully, this is a new trend.

DeeJay, I am no expert when it comes to stopping Ambien, but I know from stopping other meds that for me it was helpful to reduce a but and then stay at that dosage for a few weeks, then reduce again.

That let my body get used to the lower dose before I asked it to get used to the next lower dose.

I also had to reduce my meds one at a time. So I stepped down completely off one me over the course of about 6 months, then I would work on the next one.

Survivingantidepressants.org has a lot of personal stories of getting of various psych meds (even though yours are not antidepressants, I think you would find stories and support there)

I agree with kecanoe. Almost any med I've had to come off of requires a slow process of titrating down the dose, bit by bit. It takes a lot of patience, but I think it's the most effective way.

Good luck tonight deejay!

Followed my original plan for last night- worked well. Took the meds,read for a half hour, then put on talk radio. Asleep in 30 minutes or less with near zero anxiety about the dropped dose. Two weeks ago at this dose I wasn't sleeping near at all! Same plan for the next 6 nights with no Ativan.

Maybe not the best night or sleep. Too tired to exercise and I feel like I could maybe sleep if I laid down, but need to save up this sleepy feeling for tonight soooo no nap. UGH!

Just keep at it Deejay! Sounds like you are slowing decreasing your Ambien intake which is great. I bet you can be totally off of Ambien by summer time. Crossing my fingers for you. Sleep is so important to our overall health and well-being.

Second night at 15mg went well, no Ativan, took the 5 mg of prazosin which I think is really helping. No rebound insomnia, not feeling any other signs of withdrawal.

Excellent day! No anxiety or rebound insomnia. No other signs of withdrawal. So far this is going smoother than I thought it ever could.