Ambien: My Experience with This Sleep Medication

I was prescribed Ambien about two years ago for insomnia problems. I was told by my physician that I should only take it if I can devote a full 8 hours to sleep, and that I may experience minor side effects like a drugged feeling if I didn't get the full 8 hours of recommended sleep and some people have reported sleep walking.

I took my tablet that night and waited to get tired, waited for something to happen. I felt nothing for about two hours, then suddenly I felt lightheaded and when I attempted to walk to the bedroom I bumped into the furniture.

The next night after taking the Ambien, I went straight to bed and laid down. I didn't get to sleep right away, it must have taken at least an hour before I stopped looking at the clock, when I woke the next morning and could hardly keep my eyes open. I had an incredibly hard time waking up.

In the past few months my husband has caught me walking to the front door and opening it, just standing there in a daze, a few hours after taking the Ambien and for whatever reason waking up. I've also gotten out of bed to turn on every single light in my house and then come back to bed.

In the past month or so I've taken the Ambien tablet and stayed awake for a few hours. Because I don't feel the effects of it while I'm sitting down, I can be at the computer typing emails that make absolutely no sense and mailing them out before I go to bed, only to have family members emailing me the next day asking me if I had been drinking the night before.

I've talked to my doctor about what has been happening to me and she told me that there have been reports of people making food, sleep walking, making phone calls, mailing emails and never remembering doing so the next day.

Ambien can be habit forming and should only be used for short periods of time for the treatment of insomnia. You should tell your doctor if you have any side effects that are bothersome to you.

Before taking the Ambien, I would get an average of 3 hours of sleep per night. Now I sleep about 6 hours. Although I have a hard time waking up in the morning, once I do I seem to have a very hard getting back to sleep. I don't know if that's a side effect from the medication or just me.

It seems the only side effect I was worried about, hallucinations. Is the one I haven't had yet.