Ambien CR & anxiety

I tried it once but did not like the way I felt on this med.  Of course everyone reacts different.  It made me feel sick.

Sounds like you are making a wise choice to talk with your physician re a different medication.

Take Care
Kitt

I am bipolar 2 and have taken many different meds over the years.

I will tell you that Ambien scared the H*** out of me.

I felt pretty decent and started on it for sleep. Two days later I was absolutely in a dark hole and suicidal. It frightened my husband, friends,and doctors. It was a very strong, severe, sudden, and deep depression. Uncharacteristic of my normal pattern.

I stopped the drug and two days later was back. Absolutely bizarre.

Have never had any problem like that.

If someone is depressive, watch them on it.

after my experiences tonight, and maybe last week come to think of it, i believe ambien can cause anxiety, heart palpitations and manic feelings. or heighten anxious feelings to a more intense level and cause more physical manifestations. even if these side effects were not experienced in the past from using this med.

i have been diagnosed with delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPS) and have ambien on hand for when needed. i haven't taken it much but relied on it to sleep during a tough time this summer. i'm extremely sensitive to meds so i sometimes only take about an eighth of a 5-mg tablet. only side effects have been drowsiness next day, some dizziness and headache. i didn't have trouble when i stopped taking it regularly this summer. i have taken fractions of a pill from time to time since and have been okay.

well last night i took about a fifth of a pill and was pretty anxious and sick to my stomach all day. now i think that anxiety was triggered by a particular situation, but perhaps the ambien made it worse. later in the evening i couldn't figure out why my heart was pounding while watching a movie...have felt very upset and anxious all night since then (8pm - 4am, which is now). i thought about all the issues that were bothering me, wrote, cried, went for a run, stretched, drank tea.  nothing is helping to the extent it normally would. laying in bed i realized, why is my heartbeat not slowing down??? i am very fit and normally have a very slow resting heart rate.

i don't know why i would be experiencing these side effects all of the sudden. maybe the quality of the pill has degraded after being in my medecine cabinet (humid bathroom) for too long? maybe because i'm at a lower weight than in the past? the herbal tea i drank is a factor? didn't eat enough today? i don't know but i would be a great lab rat - i get crazy rare side effects from drugs (steroids, nuvaring - ugh, bad bad bad!!) and i think the ambien is somehow a factor in my speediness right now. the emotional aspects are dying down to an extent but i still don't feel right and definitely can't sleep. even though i took a little more about an hour ago - oops, it was before i made the connection! even when i get really upset and worked up over things i generally don't feel manic like this. it's pretty annoying.

before i found this forum, i looked at ambien rx info. some of the less frequent side effects listed include anxiety, manic state, heart palpitations (among many other things).

so this is worse than regular insomnia at this point - great! :>P