Ambien Cr addiction

I believe just about anything can be addicting. Even food.

Ambien is definitely addictive, and I've spent many nights trying to fall asleep in spite of the "Rebound Insomnia"

Just keep trying, maybe you can work with your doc to find a different sleep med, I started smoking pot...

As for NA meetings, they're probably a good idea. You may feel like you don't belong, but the people in NA are all really accepting, and they'll welcome you with open arms and do the best they can to help you out

You are definitely not alone. Ambien is an extremely addictive drug and within the addiction world it is becoming more widely recognized but we are still on the margins.

I just finished a 30-day rehab program. I started taking ambien periodically to help me sleep. I also had been addicted to opiates--vicodin mainly. I eventually kicked opiates, but replaced my opiate addiction with ambien. I was taking up to 10 a day, and managing to function. But of course it affected me profoundly--I wasn't performing at work, my sleep was really off and I simply wasn't myself.

So I went to a wonderful treatment program in California, and even there I felt like I was an outsider because my drug of choice was so unlike everyone else's. Meth users, alcoholics, heroin junkies...none of them could understand how I managed to become addicted to ambien. Even in the rehab, they gave ambien to the clients for sleep. It seems like a fairly innocuous drug, however it is definitely addictive, especially for somebody like me that has a history of addiction.

I have been sober now for 6 weeks. It continues to be a struggle, but I am so much happier and clear-headed being off of drugs. I take melatonin to sleep and it honestly works really well. It takes a couple of days for it to build up in your system enough to work effectively, but I am sleeping better than I have in many years now. I'm also not anxious all the time like I was before.

There are rehab facilities out there that deal with ambien. And awareness of the addiction continues to grow. I would strongly recommend melatonin, in the meantime. It works better for me than ambien ever did--honestly!

Good luck. There is a great life ahead for you off of this drug.

I also was addicted to ambien and could not sleep without it, or for any length of time with it for that matter. I tried many substitutes including melatonin, Valium, xanax, and other sleep aids, nothing worked. If I tried to quit the ambien cold turkey I did not sleep for days and would end up using it again. The way I got off ambien and got my life back as well as my normal sleep pattern was to reduce the amount I took in very small increments. I would only reduce when I could achieve a good nights sleep on the new lower dosage. So for every reduction of a couple milligrams I might stay at that dosage for a week before reducing to the next level. It took 3 and a half months to get completely off of ambien using this method...but it worked. I have not used it in 6 months and would never take it again.

I had initially started taking ambien because I had to take prednisone for asthma. I have since learned to sleep on prednisone and actually have no problem sleeping having learned that using ambien is far worse. In fact my experience with ambien has taught me many things about sleep and I now sleep better than I ever have.

Avoid ambien at all costs it can and may well ruin your life.

Also note that the doctors that were involved (and there were several) were clueless to my condition, I solved the mystery by researching online and I am writing this so that others my find the help they need to rid their system of this awful drug.

Best wishes,

I am the spouse of a guy addicted to Ambien.

I am currently trying to talk to all his doctors, counselors, etc. They do not "LIVE" with him. I do. The doctors are just prescribing him these meds taking his word for truth. He is an ADDICT. He tells them what they want to hear.

I called his mental health doctor and informed her of how it was affecting my husband at home. He walks around like he is "STONED", "HIGH", as a kite. Groggy, poor coordination, bumping into walls, extremely "EXTRO-verted", no inhibitions at all, talking about sex in front of our children as if he and I were alone.

I have moved out of our main house and gotten an apartment a few miles away. He is going to drug and alcohol rehab, mental health for depression, and he and I are going to marriage counseling.

I believe he is just going through the motions to pacify me and his employers. He goes. But he lies.

I was not aware of the seriousness of his addiction, of the "ADDICTION" at all, until Christmas Day.

He drove our kids to grandmas house an hour away. I stayed home sick. The three older kids started sending me text messages about daddy. Is he drunk? He can't keep his eyes open. He is swerving into other lanes. He is driving irratically.

Then HE HIT THE RAIL ALONG THE HIGHWAY! He is pulled over on the side of the road looking at the damage! I am calling him, he sounds detached. Everything is okay. I am screaming at him to let our 16 year old drive. "No" he says, "I am okay". He continues to drive. I have my oldest texting me the rest of the way to make sure he is doing okay. She tells me he is doing "better" after he hit the rail. Brand new car, entire drivers side scraped along the rail.

Next I get a text saying that he drove the front left tire off into the drainage ditch on grandmas drive way. That daddy broke the car trying to reverse it out of the ditch. Car was smoking.

I had by then jumped into my car and followed them to grandmas house. Told the kids in "NO WAY" to get back into the car with daddy.

Long story short? I flushed the Ambien down the toilet before I left the house. When we all returned, he in his car, me and the kids in mine, he went BERZERK! when he found out I had flushed them down the toilet.

He was sreaming and yelling in my face for me to call 911 to get an ambulance to come get him and take him to the hospital to get more Ambien.

This is the man I married. He and I would watch and listen to "THOSE" 911 phone calls people make? You know right?...those unbelievable 911 phone calls? When you listen to them you are thinking how much of a "TOOL" the people are that are calling in?......yes..those calls?

I looked at my husband and said "HONEY!...THEY ARE GOING TO RECORD YOU!!" "THEY ARE GOING TO RECORD THIS PHONE CALL!"...he was out of control, he didn't care, get an ambulance there NOW!

I was on the phone with the 911 operator "911..what is your emergency?"...I hesitated...then said.."..Ummmm....my husband wanted me to call to get an ambulance out to pick him up." The operator said "what is the emergency?"...I paused...and said..."..umm?....I flushed his Ambien down the toilet and he wants an ambulance to take him to a hospital to get some more".

(can you imagine the look on my face right now?)

It was at that moment...that is hit me. He was like a cocaine addict, a heroin addict, a meth addict. I took away his drug...and he wanted it....NOW!

It was the first time that I knew he was addicted like a drug addict to Ambien.

I believe he is taking them recreationally. He takes them during the day to get the high. When he takes them at night he adds Bacardi or Vodka in shots, two, three, and four shots.

He is diagnosed with sleep apnea. His breathing is irregular and at times he stops breathing all together at night..."WITHOUT" Ambien..."WITHOUT" Alcohol. Then he adds both?.....it is very scarey for me. I am afraid I am going to wake up next to a cold body.

I just look at him now. I do not know how he...how "we" got here. Is his life SO BAD?....that he just wants to turn off? That is not even a question anymore. It is a statement now.

On few occasions, he is sober. I catch a glimpse of the guy I married. He is smart, quick witted, awesome sense of humor, awesome dad, great with the kids, and when he looks at me?.....he is REALLY...looking....at me.....he is "with" me. Not doped up, drugged out, high, stoned.

I get mad, angry, sad, withdrawn. He makes his choice to take that...away from me. Every time he takes an Ambien. Every time he drinks his alcohol.

He takes "that" away from me.

By choice.

It is sad.

Yes. My husband is addicted to Ambien. It is very serious. I don't think our marriage is going to survive. He is going to counseling. But I don't think he is taking it seriously.

I leave and go stay at the apartment. The next day he acts as if ABSOLUTElY NOTHING is wrong.

WE are married!

I have my OWN apartment now!


"WHAT" is it that he does NOT SEE!?

He is losing me.