I took the non-CR version of Ambien for a while back in 2005. Eventually, I switched to Lunesta, because I felt like I'd built up too much of a tolerance (I am a 130-lb 26-year-old woman and was taking 20 mg) to ambien and it always made me fall asleep but not STAY asleep. Now (12/06), I have built up a tolerance to Lunesta and my doctor is having me switch to Ambien CR, at least for a while.

I tried Ambien CR (12.5 mg) for the first time last night, and I'm not feeling overly impressed at the moment, but that might be my own fault. I took my Ambien about 30 minutes before going to bed. Although the official Ambien website says that you will "usually fall asleep within 30 minutes," this was not the case for me. It probably took about an hour, I would guess, though I began to feel slow and out-of-it before that. Thus, I was limited to only about 6.5 hours of sleep, because of my designated wake-up time for work. Since 6.5 hours of sleep isn't enough for me and you are supposed to only take Ambien when you have 7-8 hours to sleep, I am feeling fairly crappy, tired, shaky, and out-of-it today. On a more positive note, I did not wake up at all during the 6.5-or-so hours I did sleep, which is a rarity for me, so that's a good sign, anyway.

Do you think the way I am feeling is a result of the Ambien CR or of not getting enough sleep? Have any of you experienced this feeling? Generally, I am NOT a person who experiences next-day drowsiness or side effects when taking sleep meds. I can take four Tylenol PM tablets and wake up fine the next morning, and I never had a problem waking up after taking 20 mg of the original Ambien.

Tonight, I will allow more time before I "need" to fall asleep and see how things go. I will keep you updated. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.