gotta get something besides this ambien!

I started out with Ambien CR, but when my daughter found me standing up eating in the kitchen with my eyes closed several times and me having absolutely no memory of it....kinda figured not such a good thing for a weightloss patient, lol....I now take Temazepam and swear by it.

This may sound silly, but have you tried dissolving the Ambien underneath your tongue?  That is what I have to do if I want more than 2 hours of sleep a night.  It tastes terrible, so keep a glass of water near by--but I would rather deal with that than no sleep.

No... that never would have occurred to me.

Kelly

I took Lunesta with great results.  I was a scrub tech in labor & delivery at the hospital with 12 hour night shifts, high stress...and unable to turn off my brain as well.  Lunesta worked well for me, as long as I took it right before crawling into bed.  I didn't feel drugged after sleeping either.

Is it pretty common to not be able to sleep after this surgery?  I know i definetly can't take ambien, took it for 3 days a while back, and got severe hallucinations where i had 2 heads when i looked in the mirror (and i swear the one on the left was evil). Forgot how to use my phone and to talk when it came to call for help.  Forgot how to walk. by the time they got me upstairs i looked like bambi learning how to walk.  I eventually decided to go to the bathroom where moments later you hear a huge crash and that was me falling into the medicine cabinet mirror cause i couldnt stand straight. 

My advice, get off all the chemical drugs.  Find something that works for you naturally.  I had a hard time sleeping and took ambien for two years.  It messed with my head.  I would wake up and find that I had colored with a highlighter on my dogs.  It is disturbing to see your little dogs with blue hair. I would also get up and eat peanut butter cups in the middle of the night and take more ambien without knowing it.  Then my memory started going. I couldn't remember anything.  

Getting off is tough.  I have had night terrors.  Right before bed I take  5mg melatonin, 100 mg 5-HTP (for the terrors), and 1 valerian.  It works.  I fall asleep naturally, sleep all night, and no nightmares.  Can't wait to step down off this stuff too and sleep naturally.  The body works best in it's natural state.  If nothing else I will take the natural stuff over the chemical stuff anyday.

I've tried natural stuff.  I have pretty severe sleep problems.  I had a sleep study several years ago that found I woke up 11.4 times per hour.  I do not have sleep apnea.  Just wake up a LOT.  I have PTSD and I think that's a big part of it.  I don't take the Ambien all the time but lately I have had so very little sleep.  Last night I actually slept seven hours but the night before I slept less than two hours.

Kelly

You know, I just realized today when I was filling my pill pack for the week how many "extra" prescription drugs I have. On top of the Benadryl I was using for sleep, I know have Ativan and Restoril. For pain, I have Vicodin, Norco and liquid Lortab. Of all of that, the only ones I take are the Norco and Ativan. But I had forgotten that between my PCP and Surgery, I had all of this. Guess if the big earthquake hits, I'll be set. And yes, the pharmacy counseled me on not taking these at the same time.

I use melatonin, in the past I have tried Ambien, Elivil, and Tylenol pm.  None of them work as well as the melatonin, 30-60 min after I take it I am OUT and out for a good 6-8 hours.  I even use it for my 3 1/2 year old since its so safe.  It doesn't medicate you to knock you out but it just ups the natural melatonin in your body already.  There is just one thing though, you have to be in a dark room for it to kick in quickly, usually I watch tv for about 30 min after taking it and turn the tv off and I am out. 

Hope you find something that will help you!! 

I use Trazedone 50mg - 100mg every night.  Trazedone is an antidepressant that helps you sleep...just shuts my mind off, but I'm not so knocked out that should there be an emergency in the middle of the night I have no problem waking up and being functional. 

I've taken Trazedone off and on since 1998 sometimes if my life is pretty stress free then I can drop down to none - 25 mg a night...but most of the time I'm at 100mg.   I don't have any problems with a "hangover" effect the next morning either...the only thing I've noticed is that since my RNY once I take the medicine, I'm ready to sleep in about 10 - 20 minutes.

I hope you find something that works cuz I know that not sleeping is enough to stress me out!