So...anyone else ever have Ambien decide to go rogue and cause Insomnia rather than prevent it? This is the second time for me, and I could cry with frustration. It's still early, but I took the sucker at 9 and am more awake 90 minutes later than I was then. Dammit. I can't toss and turn tonight; I really need a good night's sleep so I can be less zombified tomorrow.

Your tolerance does build up after a while. How many mgs do you take, Pix? And what type: regular or CR?

Honestly, the next time it happened, if I wasn't asleep within 1/2 an hour, I would take another 5 mgs or drink a half glass of wine. I'd go with the wine, unless you'd be getting 8 hours. (I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Based on my own experience.)

I feel your pain. 10 mgs just...stopped working for me about 1 year ago, and my doctor upped me to 20 mgs. And sometimes that's not enough, and I lay there for 2 hours and then wake up in 3 or 4 hours. It is a combination of tolerance and anxiety levels for me, I think. The more anxious I am about something (including that lovely cycle of anxiety about falling asleep @@), the less likely it is to work.

I am on my 4th day of being out of my script, and it fucking bites. I went to bed at 3:45 am last night, and lay there until 6:30 am. Slept till noon, though which is the most sleep I've gotten in 6 days. I was pissed that I couldn't fall asleep earlier last night, because I was WIPED. Just wiped. And D. switched to an earlier sched, so now he's getting up at 4:45 am to be at work by 6. That's going to be kind of a clusterfuck for a while.

I wish I had a Senator (and a root, but that's pretty much permanent).

Erin, I rarely use it, so I don't think it's a tolerance issue. I vary between 5mg and 10mg depending on how much time I have until I have to get up. (I don't have CR because my insurance company doesn't think I need it. @@ infinity.) Last night I'd taken the full 10mg at 9, which is why I'd assumed it would knock me out quickly. It didn't, though it clearly messed with my head. I finally fell asleep around 10:30, though, so the tossing and turning wasn't too bad. I woke up with a massive Ambien hangover this morning that made me positively foggy and unable to process well until after 11, so I'll be avoiding Ambien for a bit. Sigh. Thanks for sharing your expertise, and I'm sorry you're having such a hard time coming off of it. I hope you find an answer soon.

Eh. My experience with CR was not that awesome, so I wouldn't worry about that part of it.

I've never really had an Ambien hangover, so I sympathize. Except for the whole tolerance thing (um, and psychological dependence and accidental overdose. Er.) it has pretty much been a wonder drug for me.

As long as I use it right. @@ at myself. Dumbass younger self.

CR didn't do much different for me. I still woke up in the middle of the night, just an hour or so later. It wasn't worth the $40 instead of $15 copay.

Never had an Ambien hangover either, and the side effects are pretty minimal for me these days. But they used to be wicked weird at the start of my regimen.

I've never had an Ambien hangover, either. The previous generic version of it gave me pretty whacked-out hallucinations, tho'.

Pix (et. al), I have also found that some of the different manufacturers versions of generic Ambien affect me in different ways. My sister and I were both pretty much unaffected by the zolpidem we got from CVS (we discovered this separately, and were surprised when we just happened to be talking about it.) It was put out by a different manufacturer than the scripts at Target, which is where I get my scripts filled.

I dunno if that makes a diff, but you might look into it.

Hee. I just had a fb friend mention seeing someone in "loli-goth gear" all pink and black with a parasol. And I was like "...that has to be Jilli". And he's like "does she work in building whatever" and I'm all "I have no idea, but link to gothic charm school look familiar?" and he said "yep!"

the CR does wonders for me -- but if I tke it , I take it at 8 and I don't take it unless i go to work later.

However, I won't be taking it for awhile. I get to tube feed the cat every 2 to 4 hours

I just had a fb friend mention seeing someone in "loli-goth gear" all pink and black with a parasol. And I was like "...that has to be Jilli". And he's like "does she work in building whatever" and I'm all "I have no idea, but link to gothic charm school look familiar?" and he said "yep!"

Hee! (For the record, I'm over in Studio E now.)