Zolpidem more powerful than Lorazepam?

[Lightning-Nl]

So I just got a prescription for generic Ambien and so far I have to say.......I'm really impressed with Zolpidem. I've been on Ativan for a short time now and it's definitely been helpful - but this Ambien I got seems to be doing a far better job at managing anxiety then any drug I have used in the past. Let me elaborate...

I have really severe anxiety that is triggered by nightfall. I always feel extremely paranoid every night. I feel like I'm being watched, that someone's in my house and this is almost always accompanied with auditory hallucinations (thinking I can hear people in my house), thinking I can see people out of the corner of my eye, and other extremely stressful delusions at night.

Ativan was extremely helpful in stopping the majority of my anxiety accompanied by nighttime, however, I would still have the auditory and visual hallucinations as well as still be a little paranoid. Zolpidem on the other hand, took literally all this away. It worked so well in fact that I decided to do a little experiment last night.

Usually when I think about people watching me, people being in my house, etc. it just makes my nights ten times worse because then my mind makes everything I'm thinking into reality but last night I decided to this with the Ambien. I have done this before while I was on the Ativan and even though I had Lorazepam in my system - intentionally trying to trigger anxiety....worked and even though I was on Ativan, I still didn't feel all that great.

However, I tried the exact same thing while I was on the ambien last night and I literally had no anxiety at all like I usually do at night and the funny thing is - I was TRYING to give myself anxiety, but I was unable to do it. Literally for the first time in my life (I have had this anxiety ever since I was a small child) I was able to go about my nightly routine and have no anxiety about it at all. I was trying as hard as I could to freak myself out (I'm usually really good at doing this) and the Ambien just made me think "Fuck it, I don't really give a shit."

I was under the impression that in terms of powerfulness Z-Drugs came before Benzodiazepines. But the Ambien I was given seems to be ALOT more powerful than the lorazepam ever was.

Has anyone else gotten this kind of reaction out of Zolpidem?

 

[pally pete]

So I just got a prescription for generic Ambien and so far I have to say.......I'm really impressed with Zolpidem. I've been on Ativan for a short time now and it's definitely been helpful - but this Ambien I got seems to be doing a far better job at managing anxiety then any drug I have used in the past. Let me elaborate...

I have really severe anxiety that is triggered by nightfall. I always feel extremely paranoid every night. I feel like I'm being watched, that someone's in my house and this is almost always accompanied with auditory hallucinations (thinking I can hear people in my house), thinking I can see people out of the corner of my eye, and other extremely stressful delusions at night.

Ativan was extremely helpful in stopping the majority of my anxiety accompanied by nighttime, however, I would still have the auditory and visual hallucinations as well as still be a little paranoid. Zolpidem on the other hand, took literally all this away. It worked so well in fact that I decided to do a little experiment last night.

Usually when I think about people watching me, people being in my house, etc. it just makes my nights ten times worse because then my mind makes everything I'm thinking into reality but last night I decided to this with the Ambien. I have done this before while I was on the Ativan and even though I had Lorazepam in my system - intentionally trying to trigger anxiety....worked and even though I was on Ativan, I still didn't feel all that great.

However, I tried the exact same thing while I was on the ambien last night and I literally had no anxiety at all like I usually do at night and the funny thing is - I was TRYING to give myself anxiety, but I was unable to do it. Literally for the first time in my life (I have had this anxiety ever since I was a small child) I was able to go about my nightly routine and have no anxiety about it at all. I was trying as hard as I could to freak myself out (I'm usually really good at doing this) and the Ambien just made me think "Fuck it, I don't really give a shit."

I was under the impression that in terms of powerfulness Z-Drugs came before Benzodiazepines. But the Ambien I was given seems to be ALOT more powerful than the lorazepam ever was.

Has anyone else gotten this kind of reaction out of Zolpidem?

Good for you.

I always found Lorazepam one of the less useful Benzos although it did help lessen my anxiety yet didn't really help for sleep. Whereas Zolpidem did nothing for my anxiety yet helped me get to sleep very well.

 

[Toz]

I always found lorazepam pretty useless. It is not sedating at all at least.

I think ambien however is a great sleeping aid and would prefer it over most traditional benzos.

 

[Serotonin101]

ambien did help with anxiety for me. ativan was like sugar pills to me. very light anti anxiety relief and little to no sedation AND no euphoria at all for me.

 

[RobotRipping]

yeah z-drugs work well especially for night time anxiety. Do you do any other drugs?

If you're having hallucinations at night then maybe seroquel would suite you better, though it can cause some anxiety, it will dull the paranoia and hallucinations. I'd definitely mention to a Dr. those issues. Zolpidem can also put you into a trippy or black out state if you take it and stay up through it, especially if you manage to take more without realizing it, i'd definitely be careful with it. Lorazepam is pretty shitty and certainly wouldn't prevent hallucinations or anything but zolpidem can cause both auditory and visual alterations if taken at a high enough dose.

in terms of recreation, z-drugs have more potential than benzos but that's just my opinion, as i like them for whatever reason. In any case i would not use them recreationally at any point if you already have hallucinations and paranoia, if you have to stop taking benzos or z-drugs it'll definitely send you off the deep end with rebound anxiety and other issues.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

yeah z-drugs work well especially for night time anxiety. Do you do any other drugs?

If you're having hallucinations at night then maybe seroquel would suite you better, though it can cause some anxiety, it will dull the paranoia and hallucinations. I'd definitely mention to a Dr. those issues. Zolpidem can also put you into a trippy or black out state if you take it and stay up through it, especially if you manage to take more without realizing it, i'd definitely be careful with it. Lorazepam is pretty shitty and certainly wouldn't prevent hallucinations or anything but zolpidem can cause both auditory and visual alterations if taken at a high enough dose.

in terms of recreation, z-drugs have more potential than benzos but that's just my opinion, as i like them for whatever reason. In any case i would not use them recreationally at any point if you already have hallucinations and paranoia, if you have to stop taking benzos or z-drugs it'll definitely send you off the deep end with rebound anxiety and other issues.

I actually just got off Seroquel. I was taking 200MG's and I noticed that it was actually raising my anxiety - I believe this is because of its anticholinergic effects. Anyways, Seroquel is utter-crap. It's not recreational and not unlike a blow to the head for sleep. Sure you pass out - but it's not worth it. Upon that - it made my muscles SO SORE that I could barely walk the next day.......and that's if I even got out of bed at all! I was sleeping till 5PM of Seroquel and when I would get out of bed - still mostly asleep - I couldn't even make complete sentences my brain was so foggy......

Anyways, my point is - I need something that causes relaxation for sleep. Seroquel would make me EXTREMELY tired but I still had problems getting to sleep because it would causes my to become really fidgety.

Personally - since my experience with Zolpidem was so good - I'd much rather have that for sleep, even if it causes hallucinations.

 

[RobotRipping]

yeah seroquel is nasty, it kills anxiety by knocking you out but it definitely causes anxiety before and after you sleep. I was prescribed it for anxiety, my dr is a moron though.

What i use now is hydroxyzine, it kills sleep anxiety, doesn't cause addiction/dependence, isn't liable to worsening your hallucinations (AFAIK) and is pretty effective, though a tolerance occurs, it doesn't occur rapidly. The only issue with zolpidem is that it may stop working eventually and you may have to up the dose, and after you've been on it a while, you can't sleep without it. i've use zopiclone enough for the last 2 years and it still works pretty well, but i defintiely need 7.5mg and a sedating antihistamine to knock me out, tolerance defintely jumped on me. Hydroxyzine is great because it also has anxiolytic properties, i literally feel my whole heart calm down and my chest feels normal when i use it for sleep. I'd give it a shot if zolpidem becomes an issue or not as effective, or use both and stay at a really low dose of zolpidem.

 

[tu_madre]

Ambien seems to have fallen out of favor amongst doctors here lately (unless you have been prescribed it already, and keep your medical records. Check!)

My sister recently went to a doctor (though not primarily for insomnia) and was prescribed temazepam for sleep, which hardly ever seemed to happen ten years ago.

Both are addictive, so I really don't know what causes doctors to favor certain rx's over others (besides that billion-dollar pharmaceutical lobbying industry, and pharmaceutical reps giving out free samples etc like candy).

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

I have really severe anxiety that is triggered by nightfall. I always feel extremely paranoid every night. I feel like I'm being watched, that someone's in my house and this is almost always accompanied with auditory hallucinations (thinking I can hear people in my house), thinking I can see people out of the corner of my eye, and other extremely stressful delusions at night.

Oh man, I have much experience with this (maybe not the hallucinatory bit). When I was young I would just lie in bed in a state of near panic for hours until I eventually passed out every night. Even in more recent years I have been compelled to get up and look outside at every sound I hear, though it went away since I moved into a second floor room.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

My sister recently went to a doctor (though not primarily for insomnia) and was prescribed temazepam for sleep, which hardly ever seemed to happen ten years ago.

That's INSANE!!! Temazepam is one of the most powerful and addictive benzodiazepines that exists and yet she was prescribed it for sleep!? Damn! That's unheard of!!

 

[Serotonin101]

I know a couple people who get temmies for sleep. its probably the best benzo with its short half life to limit proper sleep interruption.

though temmies are the only benzo that gave me euphoria and are my favorite :D

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

That's INSANE!!! Temazepam is one of the most powerful and addictive benzodiazepines that exists and yet she was prescribed it for sleep!? Damn! That's unheard of!!

Temazepam is therapeutically indicated for short-term treatment of insomnia, it's a perfectly normal script. I had it as an inpatient, worked great. Though the Z hypnotics are more popular than temazepam or triazolam in the US right now.

And I have no idea what you mean by "powerful." However, I am pretty sure it's one of the most toxic/dangerous benzos in OD.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Temazepam is therapeutically indicated for short-term treatment of insomnia, it's a perfectly normal script. I had it as an inpatient, worked great. Though the Z hypnotics are more popular than temazepam or triazolam in the US right now.

And I have no idea what you mean by "powerful." However, I am pretty sure it's one of the most toxic/dangerous benzos in OD.

That's really odd. I've been through an inpatient program once, and outpatient 3 times. Anyways - when I was in those places their policies were "No Controlled Substances." It seems odd to me that they allowed that. Especially when there are (arguably) better alternatives to Temazepam. However, I do have to say, the places I've been are literally run like the fascist 3rd reich.

They didn't listen to a word I had to say to be honest. I tried to tell them that I have a legitimate need for benzodiazepines and that the reason why I was there was because of other drug abuse - but they didn't give a shit and they decided it was better for me to have room destroying manic attacks than give me a benzo.

 

[mygreenbic]

ambien hallucinations

I've been on benzos for two decades. So its very hard for me to get high. So once I ended up in rehab and a half way house for a period of six months. Completely clean. They let me have a weekend at home and a friend gave me a subutex and 7'ambien cr 12.5mg. I ate them all before i got on the plane just expecting a buzz. Well but thine i got back to the Florida half way house i was nothing worse than on heroin and having magnificent hallucinations. Everything was melting and warping real hard. It lasted for two days and they didn't know what was wrong with me so it wouldn't come up on the drug test.
I tried many times for it to happen again with no success. I'm determined to feel that experience again so i took 30mg alprazolam, 150mg ambien 4mg clonazepam,16mg suboxone, 300mg diphenhydramine, 100mg baclofen, 2.4g gabapentin, omeprazole to potentiate the alprazolam, and I'm on my fifth lager. If i don't hallucinate i give up. Most of my bz or gaba must be down regulated. I'm super high though. Please don't try this at home. My friend is here and he is a medic.bi can't see the screen anymore. Wish me luck

So I just got a prescription for generic Ambien and so far I have to say.......I'm really impressed with Zolpidem. I've been on Ativan for a short time now and it's definitely been helpful - but this Ambien I got seems to be doing a far better job at managing anxiety then any drug I have used in the past. Let me elaborate...

I have really severe anxiety that is triggered by nightfall. I always feel extremely paranoid every night. I feel like I'm being watched, that someone's in my house and this is almost always accompanied with auditory hallucinations (thinking I can hear people in my house), thinking I can see people out of the corner of my eye, and other extremely stressful delusions at night.

Ativan was extremely helpful in stopping the majority of my anxiety accompanied by nighttime, however, I would still have the auditory and visual hallucinations as well as still be a little paranoid. Zolpidem on the other hand, took literally all this away. It worked so well in fact that I decided to do a little experiment last night.

Usually when I think about people watching me, people being in my house, etc. it just makes my nights ten times worse because then my mind makes everything I'm thinking into reality but last night I decided to this with the Ambien. I have done this before while I was on the Ativan and even though I had Lorazepam in my system - intentionally trying to trigger anxiety....worked and even though I was on Ativan, I still didn't feel all that great.

However, I tried the exact same thing while I was on the ambien last night and I literally had no anxiety at all like I usually do at night and the funny thing is - I was TRYING to give myself anxiety, but I was unable to do it. Literally for the first time in my life (I have had this anxiety ever since I was a small child) I was able to go about my nightly routine and have no anxiety about it at all. I was trying as hard as I could to freak myself out (I'm usually really good at doing this) and the Ambien just made me think "Fuck it, I don't really give a shit."

I was under the impression that in terms of powerfulness Z-Drugs came before Benzodiazepines. But the Ambien I was given seems to be ALOT more powerful than the lorazepam ever was.

Has anyone else gotten this kind of reaction out of Zolpidem?

 

[Intenselife]

In my opinion and experience ambien was not that strong, i had it prescribed a long time ago for a limited two weeks. I took one the first night and didn't feel too tired, but noticed slight visuals like letters moving around on the computer screen lightly, little bits of colors in the dark.

Long story short, i was living with a really negative relative and his family, so the next day i snorted 6 ambiens and was not close to even blacking out with no tolerance, but saw doubles of everything, like when i would look at someone their was another one of them right behind them which was weird but no other hallucinations. I ended up having to throw up from taking that much and snorting all of them, so my stupid uncle took me to the hospital even though i was fine and off to the hospital and my first psych ward i went.

Me personally i like ativan (lorazepam) it kicks in pretty fast and is half as weak as xanax is but kicks in quick for relief. Recreationally i prefer them over klonopins and valiums but like xanax more. Klonopins didn't ever give me that high or zing to the head of anxiety relief that xanax or ativan did hence they are not prescribed for a per needed basis like xanax and ativan. But they manage anxiety real well if taking them as prescribed.

And to whoever was surprised about temezapams being prescribed for sleep, it's pretty common because of their strong hypnotic effects it is actually less prescribed for anxiety, and more for sleep or anxiety with severe sleeping issues. And the reason you stated they make you feel real euphoric is because temezapam is reported to produce most euphoria compared to other benzos but everyone has their own favorites. I did it once at a low dose and felt pretty damn good, as opposed to xanax which is my second favorite but like to take it around 5mg without tolerance (and no i don't black out) just real relaxed and worry free.

 

[Gado]

I absolutely love Ambien and Z Drugs better than any benzos. I get zero effect besides blacking out on benzos. Ambien I can stay up, relaxed and in a weird state. Z Drugs>Any Benzo... IMO

 

[mygreenbic]

zdrug benzos confusion

I really cant understand why people are loving ambien so much. I think doxylamine succinate is stronger. I dont know maybe these are younger kids posting this stuff. The half life is a couple hours, and they arent even strong. Im confuesed. On another forum people were touting that zolpidem is much stronger than temazepam. pffff The only time I had a possible experience jst scroll up to my last post. It was because my brain was completely rejuvenated from months of rehab and sobriety. Last night I took 30mg alprazolam, 4mg clonazepam (the holy grail of benzos which I refuse to waste) and some other things like suboxone baclofen gabapentin diph alcohol. Yes I was high, But the ambien didnt contribute.
Anyways, to step away from opinion for a moment, people should look at the ashton manual to see the science behind the fact that there is no way that zdrugs are stronger than hypnotic benzos. And they have ridiculously short half lives so if you do fall asleep you can wake up in like 4 hours. Here is the ashton manual for everything benzodiazepine: http://goo.gl/mlzTRc
Now in the chart they use diazepam as the standard for comparison of other benzos, much like they use morphine as the standard for opiates in the medical field.
1) From memory, 1mg lorazepam ~ 10mg diazepam
2) 1mg alprazolam ~ 20mg diazepam
3) 1mg clonazepam ~ 20mg diazepam

Im not possitive , I dont want to leave this page to go to the link because I just did that and all of my typing was gone with the wind. But I am pretty sure that out of all the benzos on the chart (they even include zdrugs), clonazepam and alprazolam are tied for the strongest. IMO clonazepam is the strongest out of alprazolam and lorazepam. It beats out alprazolam because it has a much longer half life, and it seems to be a sturdy benzo, (i.e. alprazolam fades away rather quickly, it has a short half life, and if you smoke it pretty much automatically is removed from your system.)

4) 30mg temazepam ~ 15 mg diazepam
5) 20mg oxazepam ~ 10 mg diazepam
6) 25mg librium ~10mg diazepam
7) nitrazepam 10mg ~10mg diazepam
note: on the link I provided for the comparison chart, there is also a antidepressant tapering regimen

******
from a different site
7) zolpidem tartate ir 10mg ~ 5mg valium

I do love ambien occasionally. Last night I ate almost a whole prescription full wanting to hallucinate, but I dont think my benzo receptors are very healthy any more. I also 30 minutes later took 30mg xanax (I prefer klonopin over any benzo which I took also, but when I get xanax I prefer to have fun with them and go all out. Please dont try this at home.)
here once again is the link: ashton manual with charts on equivalences of benzos and a few antidepressants and how to taper: http://goo.gl/mlzTRc
here is a picture of the nice treats I had last night http://goo.gl/KdECWU
I think people should do some research on their statements before making them because you could really do some damage to people if at the very least you tell someone that their medicine is crap. for example, temazepam Is a primarily hypnotic benzodiazepine.
This is what it is used for and for someone to say to use temazepam for sleep is ridiculous is, is doing a great disservice to anyone that is a severe insomniac and lucky enough to get a script.
Now let's get to the Z drugs benzos for sleep debate. there are two types of common insomnia. one - people can't fall asleep. two - people can't maintain sleep. Z drugs have a ridiculous short half life. for those that cannot maintain sleep, intermediate hypnotic benzodiazepine are indicated. Yes if you are prescribed temazepam you pretty much have the best sleeping pill for that class. Z drugs not only work better for inducing sleep but they are also good for people that have sensitivity to benzos.
Now the next thing that confuses me is why everyone says clonazepam is weak. they say Lorazepam is superior. I want to leave opinion out of this but ativan is half the strength of clonazePam. If you dont want to take my word for it, which you shouldnt (dont take advice without doing research, not everyone is as brilliant as most of the people on bluelight). but you can find out the strength ratios on all of the benzos using diazepam as a standard- just like they use morphine as the standard comparative in opiates. 1mg of lorazepam is roughly equivalent to 10mg diazepam. 1mg alprazolam is ~ 20mg diazepam while 1mg clonazepam ~ 20mg diazepam (these are the two most potent on the chart

 

[Snake_Eyes]

That's INSANE!!! Temazepam is one of the most powerful and addictive benzodiazepines that exists and yet she was prescribed it for sleep!? Damn! That's unheard of!!

I moved from zolpidem to temazepam a year and a half ago. I always had to take ambien with diphenhydramine because while it was great for the knockout it just didn't have any legs.

 

[mrflowers00]

ambien for pre sleep anxiety for me has been unmatched in efficacy but for day time anxiety/panic attacks xanax is far superior to anything i've ever tried

 

[Gado]

Everything is going to affect people differently. Z Drugs just work better for me. They have different effects using different ROAs. I love my Zs. ^_^