Ambien... - Fibromyalgia Message Board

fibromomof5 · 06-04-2005, 08:33 PM

Any luck with ambien for those of you that have tried it? I have such a hard time falling asleep at night and am sooo exhausted. dr prescribed flexeril and it didn't help..Thanks, jennifer

bluelakelady · 06-04-2005, 11:10 PM

hi jennifer,
i have been on 10mg of ambien for a few years now. it works well for me. i did not build any tolerance. occasionally i have a night that is restless. no pill can fix every night so i just get cool with it and look at the stars. i also take 50mg of benadryl at 8 pm. they also make me sleepy and keep my nose breathing.
be careful tho. i have had a couple of bad falls because when the ambien hits it really grogs you out. be sure you are within an hour of your sleepy time. and stay down after you take it. i have woken up to the light on and my book on the floor. me? i love that little white pill. i sleep deeply and awaken as rested as any person with fibromyalgia can.
please let me know what you think of it. i seem to remember being on it for a week or so before it really started working. one note. the rheumy who prescribed it said for some unknown reason people with fms do not build a tolerance to ambien. i have also been told and i agree that people with fibromyalgia are less prone to becomming addicted to the drugs they take. he said he did not know why. i do. we don't because we don't want to. we want relief, not a high. different approach, different results.
sweet dreams,
bluelakelady

Glojer · 06-05-2005, 11:25 AM

I have used ambien for a couple years now. I take 10mg every night plus 6mg of zanaflex (muscle relaxer). The ambien is great, I go straight to bed after I take it and I am ususally asleep within minutes. I have had to get up after taking it, when it didn't work as fast and I definitly had to hold on it will cause some dizziness. There have been times when I can't get the sleep I need, when fibro and lupus are flaring, and I do add benadryl to my nightime concoction. Got that tip from bll and ask my doc and she said go for it. I only use a 25mg at first then if I still have problems I take the other 25mg when I wake up at 2am and cannot fall back to sleep. As I said I don't need the benadryl when not flaring and I don't use it every night. Without sleep meds I could not make it, not sleeping is the worst for me. Without sleep I can't fight the day to day junk we have to deal with. If you need sleep meds take them and don't worry about addiction, it took my drs. a while to convince me of that but I'm glad they did.

hangin · 06-05-2005, 03:04 PM

Hey Jennifer,

I have also been taking Ambien for 6 years. It works as well as the first night I started using it. I also started taking Melatonin, a natural substance that helps your sleep cycles. I started taking it about 6 months ago. Now because of the melatonin there are times when I sleep more than 4 hours at a time without waking, that is a miracle for me. I know the feeling of waking up with the light on and the book fallen on the floor, that is pretty much my what I do every night. I have to read, even if it is just one page, it is a ritual.

Yes, I do think that Ambien is an excellent sleep aid especially for fibro people since we need our sleep so desperately. It is the only way we can rejuvenate and deal with the new day. I remember trying flexeril which is a muscle relaxer and it knocked me out. If would have been a good thing if I didn't wake up the next morning extremely groggy, hardly able to put one foot in front of the other. That is how it affects me, it could affect you differently.

Good luck, sweet dreams.

Peace and love, Janet

girl75 · 06-05-2005, 03:50 PM

i have taken ambiem before but sometimes i would take it and then wake up in the middle of the night and do things that i don't remember doing the next day. i have done things like laundry and eaten and don't remember doing it. my husband would remind me in the morning. the worst thing that i did was get up and i guess i was cold and i turned on the stove to warm down the house and when i woke up i realized how hot it was and went to check why it was so hot and saw that the stove was on. that was pretty freaky. i stopped taking them and am now taking resteril which dosn't do that to me. sometimes i take some tylenol pm with it and that helps. i told my husband if i take ambien again he would have to tie me to the bed so i won't get up. LOL!!!!
overall it does help you sleep thats for sure.
your friend,
robin