ambien withdrawal

[luggage]

hello,
i've been taking ambien for 1.5 years. it's messed me up to say the least, only now realizing that the panic attacks, memory issues, cog fog etc were likely related to using it long-term. how do i go off it? i'm pretty sure my shrink is totally out there, not good for advice- i mean, she had me on ambien for 2 years and was totally prepared to let me take it indefinitely!! said there was no negative side effects for long-term use, when every site i've ever looked at says 'DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR MORE THAN 10 DAYS' etc. so when i said i'd stop taking it she was just, 'oh okay try this instead' and gave me temazepam..... i've read up on temazepam and thats a big fat NO for me jfc
so i was on 10mg of ambien for 1.5 years (sometimes taking recreational high doses like 20-25mg), should i expect big withdrawal symptoms from cold turkey? i'm also wanting to withdraw from benzos (have been on them for close to a year) but i think i'll wait until the ambien is out of my system, benzo w/d seems really bad from stuff i've read.... 8(
(making this its own thread because everything i've read about ambien withdrawl was about people taking it for a month or two, whereas i took it for a longer time)

update:
1 week clean!!! i'm definitely having a hard time sleeping, and periodic lacks of energy, but i feel clearer and much better than i did last week.

 

[Rybee]

Why is Temazepam a big fat no?

Yes you should expect withdrawals (re-bound insomnia) if you went cold turkey.

What benzos are you taking? What dose? How often?

Taper from the zolpidem first, benzo's second.

When it comes to tapering from benzos/Z-drugs, slow and steady wins the race.

 

[luggage]

temazepam is a no because its a benzo, and i've read stuff on here and other forums about how w/d from temazepam is so bad, the worst, worse than heroin, etc. scared the jinkies outta me, staying far away from it.
i've been taking lorazepam for 8 months, 1mg/day for the first 4 and 2mg/day for the other 4. doc said i should be fine just cold turkey but i don't believe her, i've set up a reduction schedule for it. i've been really foggy and weird basically a few months after i started it (for panic attacks, which i never had until after i'd been taking ambien for ~8 months), i've had depersonalization spells worse than anything i can remember and trouble thinking clearly, trouble with coordination, feeling like i needed to take it before any social interactions, developing mild agoraphobia, so many problems that i didn't have before!! that's why i'm so eager to get off them.... but i understand that that's dangerous,. i'm not sure how those work so idk but i've gotten advice that says to be very careful and i'm gonna listen.
but, i have a problem, and its that i don't have a script for ambien. i might be able to get a refill on an old one but unlikely. i've been off it almost a week now (5 days) because i ran out, this is typically the longest i go without it, and the insomnia is definitely kicking in (slept a fitful 2 hours yesterday)

 

[luggage]

i also regularly take ritalin, does that affect the ambien/ativan dynamic duo in some horrible way i haven't realized yet?