I need answers! My sleep study shows that I never entered phase 3 and phase 4 of sleep. I have been taking Ambien nightly for almost one month now. I have many of the symptoms of an underactive thyroid condition (test results were normal last year and taken but not back yet this year) only my doctor thinks it is related to stress. I had 2 mild strokes 2 years ago caused by a dissected artery very close to the vein leading to the right eye. I was on coumadin and plavix for a year (it did not dissolve the clot as it had sealed itself in the wall of the artery. I am on Plavix only now. I don't know when my sleep first became a problem I only know I was very drowsy while driving and having to fight off falling asleep teaching my classes. This was worse toward the end of the year. I also was treating sinusitis with antibiotics for most of the school year. Now that I am on summer break, I sleep (with the help of Ambien) for 8 hours at night, then I doze at least another 2-3 hours in a chair after my husband returns from work and we have breakfast together. I pole walk a half hour 6 days a week. Also. I can't lose weight unless I cut myself done to under 1,000 calories a day. And I crave chocolate. Has anyone else out there had this experience?