A Cautionary Tale About Ambien

Ambien, a common and very potent sleep aid, does just that: aids in falling and staying asleep. Millions of people rely on this drug to get their full eight hours of beauty sleep every night. When I was first diagnosed with schizophrenia, I was averaging about 2-4 hours of restless sleep per night. Needless to say, I needed help sleeping. My first psychiatrist did not hesitate to give me a prescription for Ambien.

That first night, I popped that pill, and then… woke up. I have absolutely no recollection of what happened in between taking the pill and waking up. When I opened my eyes that next morning, I couldn’t believe how good I felt. Is this what normal people feel like when they wake up??? The next night, the same thing happened. I took the pill, and woke up the next morning. This comfortable routine continued for months. I finally felt like a whole, complete, well rested human being.

Then, the midnight snacking began.

I had been watching my weight ever since I noticed that my work scrubs felt a bit snug. 5 pounds here, 10 pounds there, another 10 pounds… But as far as I knew, my eating habits had not changed. Don’t get me wrong, I think that food is one of the greatest pleasures in life, but my eating habits consist of getting hungry, eating until I’m satisfied, and then stopping.

One morning, I woke up, and there were three banana peels and a McDonald’s burger wrapper in my bed. What the hell??? I thought that maybe I had smoked a bit too much weed that night, and maybe that was the culprit of my sudden weight gain. So I stopped smoking weed at night. Two weeks later, I was still finding remnants of food in my bed- a taco bell wrapper, an empty bag of goldfish, a granola bar wrapper- and I had stopped smoking at night. So what the hell was going on? I decided to stop taking Ambien at night, just to see what happened. No more mystery snacks.

At this point, I had switched psychiatrists, and was now with my current mental health provider. I brought up this up with them. Without a second thought, my provider said, “no more Ambien.” They told me that this was a symptom of complex sleep behavior, and that it would only get worse if I continued taking Ambien. CNP (C- their initial, nurse practitioner), switched me to a different sleep aid- clonidine, and I’ve been sleeping like a baby ever since. Clonidine is a blood pressure medication with off-label uses as a sleep aid.

That is not the end of my cautionary tale.

In my most current psychotic break, the clonidine was not cutting it. I was back to sleeping 3-4 hours per night. CNP decided that Ambien was our best bet to get me sleeping through the night again. This was VERY short lived.

The first night I was on Ambien, not only did I spill a whole can of ginger ale in my bed and proceeded to sleep in it, but I called an ex-friend with whom I had MAJOR beef with in grad school. As far as I know, I did not leave a message. But imagine my horror when I woke up the next morning sticky, and with a text from this woman, “Did you try to call me last night?” The next night, I hid my phone, and made sure that I did not take any sticky drinks to bed. I finally was back to sleeping, but my goodness, at what cost?

My sleep journey has had its ups and downs. And by all means, you may tolerate Ambien with no issues at all! If you are on Ambien and you experience complex sleep behavior, do not hesitate to tell your prescriber. There are other options out there that work just as well as Ambien. Humans were made to go to sleep. We have to do it. And when we don’t, a whole litany of issues will follow. But complex sleep behaviors can be dangerous, so tread cautiously!

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