Oh, Ambien. Good ol' Zolpidem Tartrate
...crept up on me from no where. Couldnt sleep one night, mom gave me a 5mg tab. slept like a darling child, got my own script for 5mg. Gradually moved up to 10 as i realized, "wow, you can get some pretty profound hallucinations and some scattered plateaus of contemplation in there before you stumble into an unbearable drowsiness and eventually pass out!"
Fast forward two years later. I'm off ambien. It fucked with my cerebellum in ways in which I will never be able to understand, though Im familiar with as much as we know about its method of action as working selectively on the GABA complex in the brain.
Ambien hangovers are terrible, and typically last a full day during my latter days of abuse. Doses in excess of forty milligrams have been reached, in combination with alcohol; I know what it is like to wake up with an empty bottle, which was previously filled to the brim as a crisp new prescription and having to explain myself.
My experiences are relatively similar each time, although the visual intensity of the drug decreases rapidly as tolerance develops, and in my case, tolerance seems to be permanant. No more hallucinations; plenty of mental confusion and a terrible time waking up the next morning.
Ambien is a drug that can be used sporadically as a recreational supplement, or regularly for prescribed reasons. Ambien has changed my brain in some inexplicable way. I am prone to tears during "moving and touching" films, and little things like that. Joyous occasions also provoke more prominent tearing than would have been concievable prior to my two-year daily abuse.
My advice, really, is to just stay away from it. The desirable effects are quite disproportionate to the lasting and euphorically-deteriorating effects one experiences after several months of acquaintence with the substance. I'd give a rousing 'thumbs down' to Ambien as a drug for recreation, and a reluctant 'thumbs up' when taken as prescribed. When taken as prescribed, any benzo helps much more than this selective GABA-affective mess of a mass marketed chemical.
Agree or Disagree at your own free will - after all, the above is only worth two cents.
Vaya