A while ago I mentioned my fears in trying Ambien. Well...this week my insomnia proved so bad I decided to embrace a "screw the consequences" attitude (not normally my thing) and brave all the horror stories I've heard about it.
My safety measures to ensure I didn't end up doing something crazy (like calling my old high school crush in the middle of the night having somehow remembered the phone number or driving to Wisconsin non-stop) involved two things: a) cutting the 10 mg dose in half and b) only taking the pill
after I was tucked carefully in bed with a glass of water.
From all I had researched, it seemed to me that people who had problems were taking Ambien way before they intended to go to sleep. They miscalculated how quickly the pill would work and thus fell into a kind of trance...or so it seemed.
So I took the Ambien while watching a "Fringe" repeat (oddly enough, during a moment where Walter was praising the effects of LSD.)
Woah!!! The effects (for me) were overwhelmingly immediate and strong....heavy limbs, the conviction that someone else was in the room with me ("We've got to make sure Betty is alright!" someone said) and vivid (vivid!!) horrible dreams. Plus, I woke up with a raging headache...
Still, I've got to say...except for the headaches, I want to try it again...kind of like when a roller coaster scares you, but you immediately want to get back on it again. I don't feel groggy at all today and I slept through the entire night (something that I don't think I have ever ever done in my adult life.)
Next time around, though, I hope for vivid, vivid dreams that are much more pleasant.
