Ambien Addiction, Abuse, and Symptoms

How Ambien affects the brain

Ambien induces sleep by activating gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that helps control brain activity, and binding it to the brain’s GABA receptors. As GABA activity increases, the user’s brain activity slows, enabling sleep. Ambien may prove to be particularly addictive to users craving the sense of relaxation and calmness that comes with a prescription sedative.

Behavioral signs of Ambien usage and abuse

Given Ambien’s intent as a treatment for insomnia, regular usage often results in side effects, such as daytime sleepiness, lethargy, confusion, and a “drugged up” feeling. Those same symptoms are even more pronounced with Ambien misuse; individuals abusing the medication may be perpetually sleepy, have difficulty concentrating, struggle to stay awake, experience memory loss, and exhibit dangerous sleep behaviors they later can’t recall.

In some cases, users experience rare but serious cognitive side effects linked to dangerous sleep behaviors, ranging from sleepwalking to driving or cooking while asleep, with no memory of those activities afterward. Uncommonly, Ambien use can result in memory loss, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and/or aggression.

An Ambien abuser may start to exhibit negative lifestyle changes, including missing scheduled activities, struggling at work or school, and sleeping more than usual. To keep up with the extra demand, abusers taking excessive amounts of Ambien may attempt to visit multiple doctors to fill duplicate prescriptions or even buy Ambien on the street. In the absence of prescription Ambien, abusers may attempt to get their “fix” by asking a doctor to prescribe other sedatives, such as Xanax or Valium; hypnotics, such as Lunesta; muscle relaxants, such as Soma or Flexeril, or by combining prescription Ambien with alcohol or opioids.

It may be difficult to distinguish between appropriate usage and abuse, as Ambien is known for next-morning impairment, causing even individuals who are properly using the drug to seem tired and/or cognitively impaired.

How Ambien affects the body

Ambien is a sedative that slows brain activity, causing a corresponding relaxation of the central nervous system. Users may experience digestive issues, such as diarrhea or constipation, vision changes, muscle weakness, balance problems, dry mouth, sore throat, and a stuffy or sore nose. Taking too much Ambien may result in breathing difficulty, coma, or death.

Early physical effects of Ambien

Ambien is fast-acting, producing a plethora of short-term physical and psychological effects within 20-30 minutes of ingestion. While some physical effects are desirable, such as falling asleep as intended, other effects could be uncomfortable or even life-threatening.

Severe and long-term physical effects of Ambien

Ambien is intended as a short-term solution for insomnia, to be used while the patient is exploring other ways of coping with sleep disturbances, including behavioral therapy, counseling, and lifestyle changes. Long-term use or any kind of misuse could cause physical and cognitive complications, which increase over time as users become tolerant and need to increase their dosage to experience the same effects.

Long-term effects of Ambien abuse range from chronic drowsiness to depression and suicidal thoughts. When prescription central nervous system depressants, such as Ambien, are used long term, they can cause users to become dependent and lead to withdrawal symptoms when they attempt to decrease the dosage or stop taking the medication altogether. Issues such as headaches, memory problems, coordination problems, low blood pressure, and slow or labored breathing can all put users at risk.

Combining Ambien with other sedatives, such as opioids or alcohol, is even more dangerous. Mixing CNS depressants can cause exponentially severe side effects; for example, combining Ambien and alcohol can make users violent or cause them to do engage in activities they wouldn’t normally do and that they don’t remember later. There is also a risk of losing motor control and lowering the respiration rate until breathing is shallow enough to cause bodily harm.

Poor sleep patterns contribute to Ambien's global popularity

Insomnia has become an epidemic. One study of international sleep patterns found a high instance of individuals reporting poor quality sleep in several countries, with numbers higher among females: 31.3% of women in South Africa, 12.7% of women in Tanzania, 10.8% of women in Kenya, 37.6% of women in Vietnam, and 43.9% of women in Bangladesh. In the United States, 35.2% of adults say they sleep less than seven hours, contributing to the nearly 16 million Ambien prescriptions doled out in 2017.

Although overall Ambien usage in the United States has steadily declined since it peaked at 26,740,702 prescriptions in 2011, emergency room visits for adverse reactions to the medication have been on the rise. This trend seems to indicate that while physicians are writing fewer prescriptions, users are increasingly exceeding the recommended dosage or mixing Ambien with other drugs or alcohol in a dangerous manner.

Misuse of prescription sedatives like Ambien affects adolescents in the U.S.

According to a SAMHSA survey published in 2016, approximately 497,000 Americans 12 years of age and older — about 0.2% of the population — were currently misusing Ambien or similar prescription sedatives. Of those users, approximately 23,000 were adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, accounting for about 0.1% of the adolescent population. Around 50,000 adults aged 18 to 25 (0.1% of the overall demographic) misused sedatives, while 425,000 (0.2% of the demographic) adults aged 26 years and older misused prescription sedatives.