I'm surprised it's even legal honestly. I see so many horror stories. Worse yet, they're so unpredictable. Not just "it hurt my liver", they're what you described. Zombies in real life. Crazy.
I binge eat when I'm on Ambien, and have intense food cravings. That night I didn't have food, and there was a McDonalds about 5 minutes away from where I lived. I crashed into a stop sign three blocks into it.
Even as an anonymous poster, there are stories that I am too ashamed to even post about. If anyone sees this, and had some inclination to try Ambien recreationally, don't even try it. What's worse is that even after destroying every relationship I've ever had because of Ambien, I still can't quit it.
It is a controlled substance. Further note that the horror stories are seldom, if ever, by people actually using it as intended and as directed.
How to benefit from Ambien if having sleep problems: Take Ambien and immediately go lie comfortably in bed. Have no responsibilities and have the ability to sleep for 8 hours uninterrupted.
How not to benefit from Ambien: Use it to escape life. Use it recreationally. Take it when you have no intention to go to sleep, or even to try. Use it for chronic issues rather than temporary sleep issues.
I certainly don't want to take up the gauntlet of defending Ambien, but in any discussion about it the narrative gets dominated by abusers. And that's an important narrative -- it gets prescribed way more often than it should, and for far longer than it should ever be used -- but there are benefits as well.
I was prescribed Ambien after being a routine Tylenol PM user when I was in my upper teens. I had incredible trouble sleeping that affected my school life. I expected Ambien to behave similarly; at some point I'd start to FEEL like I was going to fall asleep where I was sitting. Sort of that drunk Tylenol PM feeling where your eyes start to close and you're drifting off so you head to bed. Hell I'm pretty sure my doc even told me to take it instead of TPM because it wasn't as harmful to my body.
That didn't happen at all, instead I started to see the room and objects in my peripheral floating, heard voices, etc. Thankfully I just had the urge to wander around my back yard and stare at the faces I was seeing in trees.
I never took it again after that. I don't think the risks of Ambien can even remotely be understated. I have friends that take it, not abusively, but every once and awhile they have some crazy event happen like being found naked on the beach or in someones house (thinking it was their own). Maybe it's a chemical reaction like the article describes but I don't see any harm in more people being aware of what CAN happen on it.
There are people sleep walking, sleep driving, etc on it. Seems like it has a huge affect on inhibitions/repression like the article mentions. The guy I know who went streaking on the beach would never do that in his wildest dreams if he were sober.
What I refer to as abusers in this context are those who intentionally use it for an altered state, and intentionally avoid falling asleep. That is, without question, abusing the drug.
Ambien is a hypnotic. If you don't fall asleep (it will push you close to the edge and you have to take the leap yourself) it absolutely puts you in a dangerous state of mind where you can be "awake" but not all of your controls are there. This is called the Walrus among abusers, and many seek out this state of mind. And when you read about people driving, streaking, doing crazy things, etc, it is usually in this condition.
My mother was prescribed it to deal with transient insomnia, and very much used as directed. For two nights she had fine sleep, and on the third day called me mid-day. She was sitting in a chair crying, and said totally calmly that she didn’t feel sad, and had no idea why she was crying. She stopped Ambien immediately and that was that.
