After having the doctor's office call me to reschedule the day before my appointment last week, I had to abandon the thought of seeing him this past Thursday. Instead, I went this afternoon.
It was productive, such as it is.
I revealed how I'd been Ambien's bitch for too long and that I wanted to stop taking it. He said that he's heard a lot of such claims from Ambien patients who have been taking the stuff for more than one year (I'm a month shy of my fourth year of being on it). I told him that it was getting dangerous and, combined with my PTSD, that I should stop taking Ambien because it's really been dragging on me. So I was switched to Lunesta, 6mg per day (normal high dose for Lunesta is 3mg/day). I also got scrips for Seroquel to help with the PTSD, an increase in my Lexapro dosage, from 20mg/day to 40mg/day. And most importantly I'm now taking Adderall again. After Katrina, what with all the PTSD jibblies around, I found it (and I'm still finding it) extremely difficult to concentrate and be productive. Frankly, I'm amazed I haven't been fired from my job yet. But now that I have some speed (Adderall 30mg/day), maybe I can regain a level or two of lost productivity on my work.
I decided before the appointment that I wasn't really suicidal anymore -- my outbursts from last week were due to my disappointment and feeling helpless about the power that Ambien had over me for so long. And now that Ambien is no longer in my life, I feel remarkedably better.
So, yeah. Ambien isn't too good for me, given my history with it. But I'm not going to denounce all Ambien users, no, of course not -- if it works like it's supposed to for you, keep taking it! But if you find yourself going through a prescription of Ambien in less than a week, I'd advise you to seek help, because if you're anything like me, Ambien is a ticking time bomb which could blow up (or at least crash) your car, get you divorced, get your sprogs taken away, lose your job, etc. Get help before it's too late. Or at least I think you should if your predilition for the effects that Ambien brings is as strong as mine was, which is to say, very strong, addiction strong.
Now, I can only hope that I can pull my career out of my ass before it's too late.
It was productive, such as it is.
I revealed how I'd been Ambien's bitch for too long and that I wanted to stop taking it. He said that he's heard a lot of such claims from Ambien patients who have been taking the stuff for more than one year (I'm a month shy of my fourth year of being on it). I told him that it was getting dangerous and, combined with my PTSD, that I should stop taking Ambien because it's really been dragging on me. So I was switched to Lunesta, 6mg per day (normal high dose for Lunesta is 3mg/day). I also got scrips for Seroquel to help with the PTSD, an increase in my Lexapro dosage, from 20mg/day to 40mg/day. And most importantly I'm now taking Adderall again. After Katrina, what with all the PTSD jibblies around, I found it (and I'm still finding it) extremely difficult to concentrate and be productive. Frankly, I'm amazed I haven't been fired from my job yet. But now that I have some speed (Adderall 30mg/day), maybe I can regain a level or two of lost productivity on my work.
I decided before the appointment that I wasn't really suicidal anymore -- my outbursts from last week were due to my disappointment and feeling helpless about the power that Ambien had over me for so long. And now that Ambien is no longer in my life, I feel remarkedably better.
So, yeah. Ambien isn't too good for me, given my history with it. But I'm not going to denounce all Ambien users, no, of course not -- if it works like it's supposed to for you, keep taking it! But if you find yourself going through a prescription of Ambien in less than a week, I'd advise you to seek help, because if you're anything like me, Ambien is a ticking time bomb which could blow up (or at least crash) your car, get you divorced, get your sprogs taken away, lose your job, etc. Get help before it's too late. Or at least I think you should if your predilition for the effects that Ambien brings is as strong as mine was, which is to say, very strong, addiction strong.
Now, I can only hope that I can pull my career out of my ass before it's too late.