I have spent the last two and a half weeks going off the sleeping pill, Ambien. If you read this blog regularly, you will know that I have an adversarial relationship with my physician, Dr. Mengele, who said I could take Ambien for the rest of my life but then changed his mind at some point (after he got over his divorce).
For all of his semi-annual castigations of my sleep habits, I held firm and said, "Thank you very much, but I'm going to continue." And I did.
It is Dr. Magic, whose alarm showed on his ever congruent face when I told him I had been taking Ambien for years, that changed my mind. "You need to be clear headed," he said, or something on that order.
I do care about being clear-headed, but being sleep deprived doesn't get you there either. It's a conundrum.
And I take loads of statins and no one says, "You need to be clear-hearted. Let's see what your heart would be like without the statins."
Anyway, I didn't sleep and didn't sleep and then, finally, I slept, and I thought okay. I'm okay without the damned Ambien.
I like Dr. Magic a whole lot more than I like Dr. Mengele, but then I've always preferred magic to the scientific, the artful to the ingenuous, the irrational to the rational.
And sometimes vice versa.
I am so glad for this post! When I hadn't read an update in a while, I was wondering if you left the country and forgot to post pictures.
ReplyDeleteAmbien- I dodged that bullet with my version of Dr. Reaper (I swear he was trying to kill me) by laughing when he suggested I try it for my sleep problem. I said, "After Jack Nickelson went on the Tonight Show and told a story about how he took Ambien and then almost killed himself while sleep walking under it's influence, I decided that's not a drug for me to take."
My doctor acted all offended and didn't offer another solution. So I struggle with sleeping on my own. Some nights are great, some not so much. Still better than dealing with nasty side effects that I would definitely have because I react to even the simplest meds. It is ridiculous living in my body.
I am so glad you are Ambien free and hope sleep will come easily now.
Oh Ambien. My friend has stories of that magical drug of the devil (so she says). I love sleep. Best of zzzz's to you.
ReplyDeleteI learned that if I stayed up until ager 2 a.m., I I had the best sleep until 8:30 a.m. You kind of just pass out. No tossing and turning.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who, with Ambien's help, ordered $$$ from Nieman Marcus and never realized it until things started arriving on her doorstep
ReplyDeleteBenadryl. works like a charm and its not habit forming. my husband was taking ambien and had horrible side effects.... his doctor told him benadryl works great and to switch. he sleeps great and doesn't have to worry about doing strange things in the middle of the night anymore.
ReplyDelete