Lunesta or Ambien?...

[Indychick829]

ok - so I posted below about my possible restless leg syndrome and how TOMORROW (yay!) I will be seeing my doctor and talking to her about getting into a sleep study...

I have been doing a little bit of research (will do more today) about Ambien...but for any of you who have used either - I'm just curious what YOUR experiences with either one of these medications is. I'm honestly not one to WANT to rely on something to sleep - however like my husband keeps telling me, "you're not relying on anything now and look where it's gotten ya..."

so I will be talking to my doc about one or the other as well tomorrow.

But I'm curious what all of your experiences are with them. I appreciate it!

[Rdm]

My husband has tried both and prefers the Lunesta. He only sleeps 3-4 hrs on the Ambien and has weird dreams and talks in what is a very restless sleep. There have been reports of people sleepwalking and/or sleep eating on Ambien. He has tried Ambien as well as Ambien CR. He gets a good solid sleep with Lunesta-no tossing & turning, no talking in his sleep and gets 6 or more hours rest.

[CurveControl]

I take Ambien. I have for years except for a short time when we were experimenting with meds, and also, because I have been on it for so many years to see if there were any withdrawal symptoms. There were not, But I disliked the new med after a few weeks so we went back to ambien.

I dislike Lunesta,not because it wasn't effective, I found it to be very helpful, but I developed a horrible taste in my mouth that grew worse over the curse of a week until I could not stand it, not just when I took it, but 24/7.
Gross.
Not everyone develpos that side effect.

Ambien is a hupnotic and a slight amnesiac so you have to do several things properly to have success.
First~set up a med box and put your medication in the box so you will never have to wonder if you took it that night. If you do not plan to take them every day (I take them daily) then you will need domething or someone to tell you that you took it. Some people drop a colored bead, some keep the lid on upside down and switch back to childproof the next day...
You CAN forget you took it.

Second. Do not take it and wait to get sleepy. It doesn't work that way. It is nit a sedative. You will not feel heavy lidded and sleepy. It is a hypnotic.
You have to take it at bedside or, better, IN bed.

Many people will say "all ambien did for me was make me stoned and I hardly remember any of it, but I did all kinds of stuff...." They did NOT take it properly. They took it and waited for it to kick in.

That happens when you take it and don't go to bed. There is about a 10-15 min window that you need to fall asleep, and it comes quickly.

There is a danger of 'sleepwalking'~ getting up and doing things while you are asleep. I buy the cleaning, eating, etc, But I Do not really believe people who have accidents because they drive in their sleep. I suspect it is more believable that they take ambien thinking that when they get home it will have kicked in, and when they wreck it is a handy excuse (JMO, Nothing to back it up) If you are concerned about that then have someone hold/hide your keys. You won't go looking for them.
I have, occasionally, when I first started taking them taken them at the kitchen sink, got distracted by something and missed my sleep 'window'.

It is the ONLY time I like to clean, LOL.

Good luck with your choice~ I hope it will relieve your legs and sleep.