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Question about Ambien-Please help

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Posted 10/16/2011 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I am new to this site.

My wife of 20 years developed anxiety disorder 3 years ago. She was treated with different anti-depressants but nothing seemed to work. The only medication that can calm her down is the sleeping pill-Ambien. It seems to me that it is not the sleep effect that helped her but something else. Does anyone here has similar experiences? I am trying to see if there is any medicine other than Ambien that can help her. She is asking Ambien whenever she is awake. Please help. Thanks!

Posted 10/16/2011 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
Has she tried xanex- generic is called alprazolam? That's what I take. Also is he seeing a therapist? That plus the anti-depressants and xanex would hopefully help her.
Posted 10/17/2011 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
Hi and welcome! I am sorry that your wife is going through this hard time. I must say that she is really lucky to have such a caring husband as yourself to help her through it though!

I have to agree with TE's response. Xanax is a quick working med that many here have used and had good results with. It can have dependency issues however. That is why for the long term, therapy is a good choice.

I recovered from having daily panic attacks thanks to CBT:) Try to get a referral from your doctor.

Also, encourage you wife to talk to us here if she feels comfortable. We understand what she is going through, and would do our best to support her.

Take care,
Scaredy Cat
Posted 10/17/2011 2:10 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you so much for the responses. She took Lorazepam almost regularly. Is it similar to Xanex? Unfortunately she refused to see any therapist.
I will let her know about this site and see if she'd like to join.
Best wishes,
Posted 10/28/2011 10:50 AM (GMT 0)
Taking Ambien while awake is not the intended use.  Anxiety is a horrible thing and compounding it with an addictive drug is going to make problems worse.  I don't see how she is getting a prescription for more than 30 a month.

Anxiety may make it difficult to find and drive yourself to a therapist.  It took a lot for me to do that and my husband drives me sometimes.  Your wife could also be suffering from depression.  There is no stigma these days about seeking this kind of help. It does not mean she is crazy and no one else needs to know she is going. 

I commend you for trying to help her and if she is in denial or addicted you might need to do more than talk to her.  Can you talk to her doctor?  If she has you listed as able to see her medical information it should be no problem.

I wish the both of you the best.

Posted 10/28/2011 2:14 PM (GMT 0)
I take Ambien maybe once a week to keep from becoming dependent on it. It could just be that the better sleep is buffering against stress that normally brings her down when she's tired. She should NOT be taking it while awake, and certainly not if she is going to be driving or operating anything dangerous.

She should be trying an anxiety medication, like the other posts have said. Therapy is always a good option in conjunction with drugs. But she will become addicted to/dependent on the Ambien and it will cause her more trouble in the long run. I used to take sleeping pills every night when I was younger and it got to the point where I could not sleep at all if I did not take a pill, so I had to taper off of it. Now I just use it if I need to get up early in the morning to ensure I have a good night's rest.
Posted 10/28/2011 3:55 PM (GMT 0)
QP1965

Hello and welcome to HealingWell. 

AMBIEN CR is considered a non-benzodiazepine and is different from the older prescription sleep medications. It should only be used as order by your wife's physician. Using it as she is now doing is not good and she truly needs help from a professional.

I know this must be weighing heavily on you and would like to suggest you consider seeing a therapist to help yourself through this rough time.

You also could call her physician and share with him what is happening with your wife as her physician should be a great resource.

I wish you peace,

Kitt

 

Posted 11/9/2011 10:28 PM (GMT 0)
Many thanks to you all for writing back and the advice!

I just came back from a business trip overseas and my wife's condition got worse during my absence from home. I do not have tme to write more today but will come back to this site when I get more time.

Thanks again.

Posted 11/9/2011 11:33 PM (GMT 0)
I am sorry to hear your wife is worse and I do hope the Drs. will be able to help her.  We are always here to support you so when you feel you would like to post a note in the forums.
Posted 11/9/2011 11:56 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear things are getting worse. cry

I hate to suggest but in most states I think you can have to committed to a pysch ward for 48 hours.  For testing/analyzing etc.  She can sign herself out at the end of the 2 days but hopefully they will have helped her understand what she'd doing is bad for her and those around her.

There is always the intervention route.

I unerstand her not wanting to admit she has a problem but stuffing yor feeings down inside with the help of the medication just makes everything worse.

 

Posted 11/12/2011 6:57 AM (GMT 0)
drugs are used off label all the time. Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata all have a similar effect to benzodiazepines (ativan, xanax, valium, klonopin, librium) so if controlled by a doctor i don't see a problem
Posted 11/14/2011 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again for all your responses.

I did not specify the condition of my wife's illness from my earlier posts.

Her illness  started about 3 years ago and her doctor said she had depression and anxiety (which we both did not believe since she was a very happy person before the disease). She has taken many different anti-depressants including Lexapro, Zoloft and effecxor. She also took Lorazopam based on needs. But nothing really helped her. She suffered a lot from the disease with no breaks at all and her symptom is getting worse day by day. Her problem was not that she did not recognize her disease. Rather, she believed that she had a life threatening neurological disorder that her doctor failed to diagnose. She also believed that "her opportunity for getting better was wasted due to the early treatment was not strong enough with just low dose of zoloft at the beginning. Her brain was damaged in the first 2 weeks (When she suffered panick attacks)." 

The reason I posted my first message here was that I noticed she behaved a little better after she took Ambien every evening before sleep. She would agree to things like to stick with the treatment or promise to see a different doctor. However, the next morning, she would refuse to do whatever she promised. I was interestd to see if anyone else had noticed the same  thing and if there are other drugs that are similar but without the "side effect" of sleepiness.

Thanks again

Posted 11/14/2011 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
QP1965

I'm sorry I misunderstood you as I thought you wife was taking the ambien during the day too. She appears to be ill, by thinking there is something wronlg with her brain neurologically she doesn't believe any other type of doctor is going to help. Is that right? I don't know if she has seen a Neurologist or not but would like to suggest you get her appointment with one, a different one. I don't know if that will help you convince her that she needs help or not. Depression and anxiety can be horrible and she might have something else that is contributing to her fears. If she had outwards signs of an illness, like a broken leg or big cut in her arm, etc. you would run her into the ER. When we are suffering inside it's hard to know what is wrong and we aren't always rational. I have depression and anxiety and realize I need help and treatment. There is no magic pill and I've tried many anti-depressants that did not agree with me as well. I'm trying to say what you and her are trying to do isn't working and to please get her help and that might be taking her to the kind of doctor that would treat the problems she thinks she has. The first therapist I went to I didn't like so found someone else. Same thing as one medication might work for me that won't work for her. I wish you both the best.
Posted 11/20/2011 1:28 AM (GMT 0)
I also feel so much better after I take my ambien at night. I was hoping someone would know of a medication similar to it without the sleepiness. I did really well on prozac for about 5 years for depression and anxiety and the last year has been awful for me. I just started Cymbalta about 3 weeks ago and am not sure how I feel about it over all. I wish you and your wife well on this journey. I was very pleased to find this forum and hope to get all the support I can.
Posted 11/20/2011 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
Please watch out for Cymbalta too.  Everyone can have different reactions but it made me constantly think about death.  Not suicidal but all day thinking of ways of dying in accidents, etc.  I have a friend that is doing wonderful with it. cool
Posted 11/22/2011 2:56 AM (GMT 0)
Ativan and Xanax (at lower doses), are great for as needed use for anxiety/nerves. Klonopin and Valium are a much longer acting but from scanning over your post i would suggest Klonopin "clonazepam" because it is very effective with a more steady state in the system. at that point adding low dose amitriptyline or trazadone at bedtime may improve sleep patterns. a little used GABA targeted medication that can be dosed at bedtime or afternoon and bedtime is Gabatril "tiagabine".
Posted 11/22/2011 5:33 AM (GMT 0)
I agree about clonazepam, there is also temazapam, all same family a xanex (alprazolan). Also if you don't have the long lasting ambien, I think it's ambien CR). The generic name is zolpidem of the non long lasting CR, it's also much cheaper. I use a pill cutter and take just half of one. Maybe that would help with the being too tried. You aren't susposed to cut the CR kind as too much medication will be released.

I've had several years bad years coming after 11 years of two chronic illnesses. Besides seeing a therapist I'm taking 300 mg of bupropion (wellbruton) , 40MG of citalopram (celexia) and xanex 2-4 times a day. I've been diagnosed as having major depression, and PTSD which an anxiety disorder.

I also have to take prescription pain medication, an antispazmotic, RLS meds, thyroid and GERD medications. Also sprinkle in metamucil, pepto bismol, immodium and I hate it and can't wait until I get to feeling better and cutting out most of these medications.

This doesn't count the pain medications, and a few more for prescriptions for specific items, like RLS, Uneractive thyroid and GERD. I take a lot of supplements and vitamins too.

QT1965 - hopefully if your wife could read some of our cases it might make her feel better about seeking help and or changing her medications around with the help of her doctor. I really feel for her and you. I use to think cancer was the worst disease you could get. I was wrong. There are others just as bad. When you have time please let us know how she's doing.
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