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.)

I'm chilly and damp feeling.

I want to shower , but the last cat feeding left us both covered with cat ensure. So I would rather wait until the next feeding, which should be more successful. But just in case....