[bkepley]

But you don’t understand. As long as you don’t try to go to sleep there’s no effect, at least that’s the way it was for me. The whole reason I am interested in these threads is I don’t understand why people are claiming that these pills are responsible for their behavior unless possibly they are taking handfulls and when you do that there is a different reaction. Also why are they taking these pills (if it really is these pills) when it’s not time to go to sleep?

[Sisku Hanne]

My knife-sharpening friend was taking the dose prescribed by his doctor, and nothing else but the other medications prescribed for his condition (heart surgery).
The one I took was the lowest normally prescribed dose. It says right on the instructions to take it and go to bed with 10 min. I took it and was trying to finish a book chapter before I went to bed and time just got away from me. About 20-25 minutes after I took it, the walls started to move and my eyes were not focusing correctly. Nothing else was in my system that could have interacted with it.
Everyone's physiology is different, but there's no denying it's very addictive. You're not even supposed to stop taking it abruptly; you have to wean off by lowering the dosage so as to avoid withdrawal. There are lots of stories online from people who have had bouts of hallucinations and somnambulistic behaviorson Ambien. I wonder how many may take a second dose and not even know they did it?