Did you eat a large, perhaps rich meal shortly before taking it?
The delayed release CR version helps to keep you asleep. I take 12.5mg CR, and it works beautifully.
I took Ambien for a short time, but it stopped working for me, too. My doctor then prescribed Lunesta. It took some special paperwork for my insurance to pay for it, because Ambien was the only drug they wanted to cover.
It was worth the extra effort. Lunesta knocks me out and lets me sleep for a full eight hours. I eke them out because I don’t want to become dependent on them.
No, I waited a few hours after dinner to take it
I also have amnesia episodes with Ambien which is why I don’t take it. I woke one morning finding dozens of corn muffins that I had baked in the middle of the night. I have no memory of it. Apparently I also had a full conversation with my son as to why we needed so many and that is a blank as well. (Apparently it was for a bake sale at the church that wasn’t even planned)
Is it the ambien or the ambien time release? I have heard the time release doesn’t work near as well. I think it is called ambien cr.
As several others have said, Ambien works differently for different people and at different times. The few times I used it I was out within 10 minutes or less. The next thing I knew it was morning and I felt exactly as stressed out as I was the night before, except that 8 hours had passed.
One of my daughters had the experience of sleepwalking. She found opened food containers around the kitchen in the morning that had not been there the night before. After the time she found a pack of cigarettes opened, she decided it was not a good idea to use Ambien any more lest she burn the place down in her sleep.
My other daughter said it did absolutely nothing for her at all. Some time later I think she tried it again and that time it worked, but she didn’t like the effect of it either.
For some of us it does work quickly. A number of years ago I took it for about 3 weeks and I very reliably went to sleep about 15-20 minutes after taking it. I also woke up almost exactly 7.5 hours later every single time. But that’s me. Obviously, mileage varies.
For my mother–Ambien did work quickly. She took Ambien during cancer treatments, when having problems with anxiety.
She’d eat something (I don’t think the Ambien required it, but she was often taking other drugs at the same time), walk upstairs, brush her teeth and go to bed and immediately to sleep.
She had a scary incident or two that she didn’t remember when she didn’t go to bed soon enough, and walked around acting loopy.
Puts me out within 30 minutes. For some people its really fast.
There are similar things such as sominex and zopiclone that do the same thing but work on different receptors in your brain. Ambien may not hit the right ones for you but one of the other types might work. Ask your doc.
What, no fishes?
Chuck Berry did look dapper in his white, pressed linen top, towel over arm, strop and straight razor. Disappointingly though, no guitar.
A local plastic surgeon was being sued after running two women down on a sidewalk in his Mercedes SL. Apparently he used Ambien to compliment his alcohol buzz while out clubbing.
As for the time until onset, I was used to Tylenol PM taking awhile so I took the Ambien right before showering for bed. Within 7 or 8 minutes I was shaving half the 'stash and I don’t mean one side, but patches. Crazy.
My experience is almost identical to Curiosity Kills Her. It takes at least an hour for the 10 mg Zolpidem to kick in for me, and I’ll usually play a computer game or watch TV.
I have had occasions where I fall asleep in the middle of a game, wake at 3 AM, and stumble off to bed.
Hubster takes the 12.5 mg ER Zolpidem, and usually goes to bed immediately after taking his PM pills.
Interesting sidenote: while on vacation, he somehow ended up taking both is 12.5 mg tablet AND my 10 mg tablet. I figured he’d be essentially unconscious until noon the next day. Hah. Instead, he got VERY drunk and silly.
~VOW
Just adding my voice to those who say it does nothing for me at all. Strictly speaking I’ve not taken ambien, but I’ve taken another z-drug whose name I forget that is essentially the same thing.
It doesn’t work for my brother either, fwiw. Indeed it was his useless zoplicone I took. Thank heavens for benzos!
I take 10mg Zolpidem, but only when I am traveling on the overnight MegaBus. I mean, I have to get some sleep and I’m on a moving bus which makes sleep nearly impossible. Knocks me out after about 15 minutes. Once, I called my wife from the bus and was talking to her after having taken one. I apparently started having visual hallucinations, like seeing my iPod Touch bending. She said I should put it away, hang up the phone and get some sleep.
I can’t say it is the most relaxing sleep, but I am able to function the next day.
You’re in the UK as well, aren’t you? I get the impression Zopiclone is the default sleeping tablet here at the moment.
One thing- never EVER think that “Well the Ambien isnt working so I can just run down to the store”… or whatever. Never do* anything *after ingesting the pill that isn’t safe to fall asleep in the middle of.
Celestial Seasoning Sleepytime tea with 1/2 shot of brandy*, and a generic benadyrl- maybe an aspirin.
- too much booze makes you sleep poorly.
Ambien never did a thing for me. My mom gave it to me in middle school and high school a few times when I was sick and couldn’t fall asleep, but it didn’t really do anything. Maybe being sick had something to do with it not working well.
She once fell asleep on the floor though after taking it, so it obviously works for her.
I HATE Ambien!! It has this weird atypical effect on me; I get extremely drowsy and get to the verge of sleep but am unable to ever actually cross that final threshold into restful bliss. It is simply maddening! I feel drugged and half-conscious; sort of this weird ‘nether-world’ between wakefulness and sleep. Ugh. Truly awful.
How old are you? The drug has only been around for a decade.
Ambien has been on the market for two decades.