Is anyone having trouble getting off Ambien? Any advice for getting back natural sleep cycle?

I would drop the dose every week. Each time you go down in dose expect sleep to be more difficult. During the first few days of dropping the dose do everything you can to get good sleep hygiene.

Make sure you got up on the early side and on time every morning. Absolutely no naps. eat some food an hour or so before going to bed. There are tons of information available on good sleep habits but you can look up on your own.

Standard stuff includes exercise, meditations, sleep apps, completely dark room etc. etc.

Take the sleeping pill right before you go to bed then turn off the lights with your eyes closed waiting for the pill to kick in.

Never take the sleeping pill while fully awake doing things like watching TV or being on the computer waiting for it to work before trying to sleep. This is especially true when cutting down the dose.

It becomes more difficult when you get to 25% of your initial full dose. at this point it becomes more important to instigate exceptional sleep habits because you’re a lying less and less of a sleep aid.

Continue cutting those darn pills into smaller and smaller pieces.

When you’re down to 1/8 of a pill it’s pretty hard to physically cut them smaller.

Try going without the sleep aid for the first 2-3 hrs. If you’re still awake three hours after you went to bed with lights out then take the 1/8 dose.

Eventually you’ll fall asleep without the medication at at that point you’re done.

You were most likely have sleep issues like you did when you asked for the prescription in the first place.

During the time of weaning down after medication is the time to learn all of that things that help improve sleep habits that you have not been doing previously.

Keep a journal and make a list of all the things you can and have done to help with sleep. Again, things like exercise, meditation, consistent hours of getting up in the morning and going to bed, limiting screen time a few hours before bedtime, using sleep aid apps, Timing and amount of food before sleeping etc. etc.

Expect some bumps along the way and try not to relapse back to higher doses if you’re suffering during the time of reducing the dose.

Good luck

The first few nights were very hard and I laid in my bed quietly did not think about it, I would listen to YouTube videos with the screen blacked out on my favorite relaxing topics and I would drift off for about 20 or 30 minutes. The next few nights I had more of the 20 to 30 minute intervals of unrestful sleep. Now two weeks into this, I am getting to where I can sleep but only when I'm exhausted. So, LOL, I have been doing a lot of work physical work I should say around my house such as cleaning and when the weather is permitting yard work. That helps and since our weather has been weird, with my allergies I find taking a dose of nyquil will also help me relax and get some sleep. it's worth it to get off this stuff and never get on it again. I'm sure and 6 months I will feel so much better and I'll be saving a little bit of money. About $120 a year. Best of luck.

I also take .5 mg of Xanax for my anxiety about every 3-4 days depending on the severity which I am also quitting. It’s hard to tell which withdrawal symptoms are which. Is it a good idea to stop both at once or should I quit Xanax first and then Ambien after because I can sleep without it if I absolutely have to. I have had success with using a pill called Midnight. You can find it on amazon, it’s melatonin and chamomile, I dunno what it is about that combo but melatonin on its own does nothing for me and these always put me to sleep! Hope this helps!

tonight I’ll start cutting my pills down and when they run out, I’ll see how far i can go without them. Wish me luck!

But after a while I started to notice two things happening: I would either take the ambien and not be able to fall asleep for a long while, so by the time I did fall asleep it was into the early morning and I felt pretty awful all day. Or I'd try taking it and wake up around 2:00 or 3:00 am feeling like I needed another to fall asleep.

I am 24 years old and In the past I had tried to quit taking it multiple times. I tried weening off of it by lowering my dose, I tried not taking it but always wound up caving when I wouldn't fall asleep, and I tried taking natural supplements to sleep cuz they had worked for people I know.

About a month ago I didn't refill my script and had no refills on the bottle, it was a Saturday so my doctors office was closed. This particular weekend was an extremely busy one, the first night I crashed at a friends and was baffled that I was able to sleep! I went two days at home without the ambien, it wasn't easy but I survived and new I would get my script soon.

On Tuesday I picked up my script and took 1 to sleep that evening. I felt like crap the whole night after I took it and even worse in the morning. I had been on it so long that I didn't realize that feeling like that when you wake up IS NOT NORMAL!!! I did the same thing the Next night and felt just as awful. Finally I decided to get rid of my script and not have access to it. And so far so good.

I wish I could tell you that you feel like a million bucks and all your sleep issues will be solved!!! But that's not the case... it took me 6 years to get off ambien. But I am still a young person and I decided I was tiered of a silly pill running my life. I am so glad I stopped taking it. It's still early for me, but I honestly feel so much better... especially when I decide to go to bed, it's not about taking that pill it's about actual sleep and the sleep us so much better without it. You actually feel rejuvenated in the morning.

I really hope it this helps and I hope it doesn't take you as long as me to come to this realization... it can kind of take over. I wish you the best!

(Sorry this is so long and rambley)