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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 0:19:06
Ugh! I didn't take anything different from the norm..no different behavior, etc.
But last night, about an hour after taking 10 mg Ambien, I woke up to find everything all wavy. I tried to put my PDA on the nightstand, and it seemed like the nightstand was collapsing (it's a folding bookcase), and then it looked like it was sort of waving/surfing. I got up for heaven knows what reason, and everything was all wiggly. All I could do was stagger around. I don't think I even got dressed or anything, but I went downstairs with my husband, who had woken up because his blood sugar was low. (He's diabetic).
Poor dear. He was only half-awake and needed to take care of himself, but he wound up taking my blood sugar, my BP, my pulse (which he couldn't find since he's not so skilled at that) and making me a cup of tea. Then he sat up with me until I finished the tea and went back to sleep.
Poor dear. I have to wonder if any of that was necessary, and really it likely wasn't except that it felt like it to me. I had no idea what was going on. I have no idea why I needed to get up. If he hadn't gotten up, too, I wonder just what I would have tried to do. I'm certain I wouldn't have turned into an "ambien driver", because I tend to believe that these ambien events are mostly things we would normally do anyway. Like get up and get on the computer and eat or something.
But oy! I wish I'd just shrugged at the wavy nightstand, rolled over, and gone back to sleep.
I have a wonderful husband, btw. (most of the time, anyway)
And I'm glad I didn't try to drive, because I didn't have any pants on! (as if that would be the worst thing....)
Thanks for reading.
gg
Posted by Bonnie_CA on June 22, 2006, at 2:59:22
In reply to Strange ambien experience last night, posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 0:19:06
I have a friend that takes ambien sometimes, and he says that if he takes it and doesn't make himself go to bed right away, he ends up typing stuff to people online that he wouldn't normally say. That isn't as dangerous as driving, obviously, but he stopped taking it as often because it seemed like it happened more often the longer he took it.
On my end, it was somewhat amusing when he was on ambien and online, because he would talk about odd things. I know, I shouldn't laugh, but I enjoyed telling him about it the next day. He'd laugh too, but then he'd wonder what he told anyone else!
-Bonnie
Posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 3:42:52
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night, posted by Bonnie_CA on June 22, 2006, at 2:59:22
Posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2006, at 12:46:06
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night, posted by Bonnie_CA on June 22, 2006, at 2:59:22
Yeah but he could have answered a post on Dr. Bob. Wonder what he would have said. Scarey thought!!!!!!!!Love phillipa
Posted by Bonnie_CA on June 22, 2006, at 21:24:25
In reply to But did he have pants on? :) (nm) » Bonnie_CA, posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 3:42:52
Posted by llrrrpp on June 23, 2006, at 18:07:14
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night » Bonnie_CA, posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2006, at 12:46:06
I've only taken Ambien a few times, when I was travelling and jetlagged.
My favoritest experience on any substance was when I took ambien on an international flight. I woke up after only a little while, like you, and I also noticed strange visual disturbances. I felt so loopy. I didn't get up, but I rang my flight attendant call button and asked for a bowl of cereal. (they didn't have any, but she brought me a glass of milk) lol.
Then I had this hallucination that I was in a flight simulator and I was in my seat, flying over lovely fields and meadows, kind of like some ride at Disneyland. It was fantastic! I could steer and go wherever I wanted. wow! too bad seroquel doesn't give me that kind of excitement! lol
-ll
p.s. I had my pants on, thank goodness, but I didn't have my brain on.
Posted by pulse on June 25, 2006, at 4:06:29
In reply to Strange ambien experience last night, posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 0:19:06
gg, these ambien experiences are fairly common, although i've never had one. that may very well be only because i chose to stop ambien after 1 rx and (maybe) 1 refill.
search here & find more on this doing or saying stupid things (understatement), as can end up with serious, even life-threatening, consequences. more on hallucinations, too. i think one ambien thread wasn't that long ago.
a previous poster's right: this most usually occurs only when you stay up after ambien & not in bed to have it knock you out.
one example of many i've heard that were also true; repeating it for you -
my dad, while in intensive care, after carotid artery surgery:
chewed out nurses, yanked all his 'wires'/ 'hook-ups' out multiple times; ran around with - no pants on!!! (gown) - but not caring if posterior was showing to all. demanded doc release him then and there, and did finally acheived this, after his wife was begged to come back in to control him, as all nurses had failed. she also failed, so asked me to call him. (intensive care was so desperate they allowed us to use cell phone inside the unit! - 1st time they'd broken rule). i spoke to him briefly but firmly before he hung up on me in his mid-sentence, still screaming nothing wrong wih him, he WAS leaving the hospital for good. i.e., no step down room, no one would stop him. had already gone on 1st in lifetime hunger- strike in protest - call him gandhi!
my dad does have npd, but he has always been VERY passive - as are so many of the cerebral variety.
while this is said to happen more easily in the elderly, no age group is immune. i believe you're one for whom ambien works better than for most, but it IS something to consider.
pulse
Posted by merry_dove on June 28, 2006, at 17:20:27
In reply to Strange ambien experience last night, posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2006, at 0:19:06
I had the same experience of hallucinations. Everything looked like it was breathing! I felt completely normal but I had to touch the walls to make sure they weren't moving! I would take Ambien and then read a chapter of a book until I couldn't see straight - then the walls would breath - then I'd go to sleep. Trouble was - the next night when I picked up reading where I left off I remembered nothing of what I read the night before! So I read the same chapter night after night - never remembering it so I couldn't finish my book! I quit taking Ambien because it made my depression worse after a few weeks.
Posted by gardenergirl on June 29, 2006, at 0:39:17
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night, posted by merry_dove on June 28, 2006, at 17:20:27
I've found that I feel depressed the day after taking Ambien CR. It's not so bad with the plain vanilla version.
Sounds like many of us have had similar experiences with seeing the walls shimmer or breathe. A friend recently told me about experiencing the same thing.
And about reading that chapter over and over....kind of reminds me of that Bill Murray movie, "Groundhog Day"! Now that would be one powerful sleeper.
Take care,
gg
Posted by gardenergirl on June 29, 2006, at 0:42:40
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night » gardenergirl, posted by pulse on June 25, 2006, at 4:06:29
Wow, that sure sounds scary about your dad. I'm glad he was in a safe place at the time.
I've read about some pretty bad events associated with ambien use. I've warned my husband that if I get up in the middle of the night, he'd better check to see exactly what I'm up to.
I don't take it until I'm in bed, although I do often play a computer game on my PDA or try to read a bit. I never get very far, though, before I fall asleep.
I wonder if I would be less worried about it if it happens again, since at least here when I'm conscious, I know it's not that I'm having a stroke or something. Or would I forget that in the moment and make my husband take care of me again? Hard to say.
take care,
gg
Posted by gardenergirl on June 29, 2006, at 0:44:18
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night, posted by llrrrpp on June 23, 2006, at 18:07:14
I'm glad you had your pants on. :) Oh, and I'm glad you didn't try to get off the plane. Oy!
It does sound like that would be a pretty fun experience. And cereal, eh? Sounds like they were nice about it. Did they realize you were loopy?
gg
Posted by llrrrpp on June 29, 2006, at 6:54:12
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night » llrrrpp, posted by gardenergirl on June 29, 2006, at 0:44:18
> I'm glad you had your pants on. :) Oh, and I'm glad you didn't try to get off the plane. Oy!
>
> It does sound like that would be a pretty fun experience. And cereal, eh? Sounds like they were nice about it. Did they realize you were loopy?
>
> ggProbably thought I was drunk. I was sitting in business class. They are very accomodating in business class. No questions asked. They really try so hard to make everything perfect. ahhh- I wish I could just sit in a business class plane the rest of my life. Ring the little button when I had a problem...
Posted by gardenergirl on June 29, 2006, at 11:08:41
In reply to Re: Strange ambien experience last night » gardenergirl, posted by llrrrpp on June 29, 2006, at 6:54:12
Last flight I was on, someone asked me to switch seats with her so she could be with her toddler. It was in first class. Uh yeah. Twist my arm. :)
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