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The Amazing Zolpidem

D

dramatica

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
52
As most of you know Zolpidem is a nonbenzo sedative hypnotic prescribed effectively for sleep. You've also heard the stories of people sleepwalking and doing all kinds of whacky things without memory of it.

If you've takin this med (particularly a nice rail of it to the nose) you know it is powerful and has anoxiolytic and other interesting effects.

What some may not know is that Zolpidem has been used successfully to bring patients OUT of vegetative states to where they can communicate and interact with their surroundings. We take it to sleep... they take it to "awaken," so to speak. Sounds funny at first.

I have taken Zolpidem for over 18 months. Normally after taking my bedtime dose (insufflated) I will give in to an overwhelmingly urge to remain out of bed and start WRITING DOWN my plans, IDEAS, dreams, aspirations, to-do lists, etc... And all this I do very effectively. This is all quite different from writing down "stoned thoughts" or scratching down ideas while tripping. Everything I do is 100% legitimate from a clean, sober perspective. I wake up to lists of concise plans and clever business schemes... some times it is just remarkable.

It has gotten to the point where I will dose with a little Zolpidem near the end of the day when my work efforts have slowed down, and it brings me back to clarity, suddenly and miraculously everything is CLEAR once again. I am actively working on authoring an engineering thesis and related publications, and I have done some of my best work on a low dose of Ambien (reviewed later by myself and several other sober individuals).

Am I just a delusional druggie? Certainly not... but I am convinced my brain no longer functions at full capacity during the day when I am between doses. Indeed I have conditioned it to be this way by using Zolpidem. Still, I can attest that even if started 100% clean and sober, a Zolpidem dose can activate my thought process to higher levels. Now it all makes sense how they can reverse vegetative states. Except that without Zolpidem I sometimes feel like... a vegetable.

So my question is if anyone is knowledgeable about this topic specifically and knows what is happening to my brain on Zolpidem??? I feel the effect is quite amazing. I would liken its "smart" effects to that of opiates

P.S. I have detoxed off Zolpidem several times and regained a clarity of mind that is wonderful and refreshing. But I usually end of coming back to zolpidem because of the sleep benefits.

P.P.S. Sober when writing this!

Love
 
never heard of anything like this before. pretty interesting. ambien has always been one of those drugs I really don't like. it definitely gave me clear headedness, but also the most severe confusion. I think you're just dependent.
 
hmm, i'll have to try this. i occasionally take zolpidem when my restless legs start acting up like crazy - zolpidem is OTC in CR.
 
Zolpidem feels like speed to me. I get the same "boost" out of it. I just start doing things that don't really make sense... just like when I'm on speed... although it's all fuzzier. It's hard to explain.
 
dramatica's post makes thoughts of men with butterfly nets seem to be on the horizon occur to me . dicking about with sleeping pills is a surely a slippery slope. use the search function and have a look-see.
 
Brain injury
A case study performed at the Toulouse University Hospital using PET showed zolpidem repeatably improves brain function and mobility of a patient immobilized by akinetic mutism caused by hypoxia.[19]
Recently, zolpidem has been cited in various medical reports mainly in the United Kingdom as waking persistent vegetative state (PVS) patients, and dramatically improving the conditions of people with brain injuries.[20][21][22][23][24] Results from phase IIa trials were expected in June 2007. The trials are being conducted by Regen Therapeutics of the UK, who have a patent pending on this new use for Zolpidem.[25][26]
[edit]Coma
Zolpidem has recently been very strongly related to certain instances of patients in a minimally conscious state being brought to a fully conscious state. While it was initially given to these patients to put them to sleep, it actually brought them to a fully conscious state in which they were capable of communicating and interacting for the first time in years. SPECT and PET scans have shown that the use of the drug actually does dramatically increase the activity in areas of the brain in some patients in a minimally conscious state. Large-scale studies are currently being done to see whether it has the same universal effect on all or most patients in a minimally conscious state.[27] It may be that zolpidem's ability to stimulate the brain, particularly in the semi-comatose, may be related to one of its side-effects, which sometimes causes sleepwalking and other activity while asleep, that appears to observers to be fully conscious activity.


Quote
Clinical and imaging evidence of zolpidem effect in hypoxic encephalopathy.
Brefel-Courbon C, Payoux P, Ory F, Sommet A, Slaoui T, Raboyeau G, Lemesle B, Puel M, Montastruc JL, Demonet JF, Cardebat D.

Department of Pharmacology and Centre Midi-Pyrenees de Pharmacovigilance, de Pharmacoepidemiologie et d'Informations sur le Medicament, Faculty of Medecine, University Toulouse, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France. [email protected]
Comment in:

Ann Neurol. 2007 Jul;62(1):5-7.
Ann Neurol. 2008 Oct;64(4):477-8.
Abstract
We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-patient (N = 1) trial to evaluate the efficacy of zolpidem in a 48-year-old woman with an akinetic mutism. Motor and cognitive examinations and functional imaging were performed. Acute administration of zolpidem markedly improved motor performance and neuropsychological status. Cerebral metabolism ((18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) increased in postrolandic territories and in frontal cortex. Using the H(2) (15)O positron emission tomography, we found a drug-induced activation in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices. Zolpidem induced a transient improvement in motor and cognitive performances. This paradoxical effect could result from an activation of limbic loops modulating motivational processes.

Quote
S Afr Med J. 2000 Jan;90(1):68-72.
Extraordinary arousal from semi-comatose state on zolpidem. A case report.
Clauss RP, Güldenpfennig WM, Nel HW, Sathekge MM, Venkannagari RR.

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University of Southern Africa, Medunsa.
Abstract
A young semi-comatose male patient was investigated using 99mTc hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime (99mTc HMPAO) brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) before and after administration of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonist zolpidem. It was observed that 15 minutes after application of the drug the patient awoke from his semi-comatose condition and remained awake for the next 3-4 hours. When drug action subsided he returned to his semi-comatose state. Brain SPECT before drug application showed large hypo-active areas in certain parts of the brain. Brain SPECT after drug application showed a generalised cortical activation relative to the cerebellum and a marked and amplified activation of the areas that were hypo-active before drug application.
 
i think the z-drugs are awesome. they are unique in both their methods of actions and effects they have on the brain. im curious of why high doses cause immediate memory loss
 
Abstract
Zolpidem is an imidazopyridine hypnotic with preferential binding affinity for the omega1-benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor. The present double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the effects of orally administered zolpidem (15mg/70kg) on specific memory functions in 16 healthy volunteers using a battery of word and picture memory tasks. Relative to placebo, zolpidem significantly impaired memory for material presented after drug administration when memory was assessed directly by referring subjects back to the prior study episode (explicit memory: recall and recognition) but not when memory was assessed indirectly by evaluating subjects' ability to identify degraded versions of studied stimuli (implicit memory: fragment completion). Zolpidem did not impair explicit memory for material presented before drug administration or memory for previously acquired knowledge (semantic memory: categorization). There was evidence suggesting that zolpidem enhanced explicit and implicit memory for material presented before drug administration and that zolpidem produced a specific deficit in the acquisition of contextual information about material presented after drug administration. Despite zolpidem's unique pharmacological profile, the observed selectivity of zolpidem's memory-impairing effects for particular functions appears qualitatively similar to the selectivity observed with classic BZDs in previous studies.
 
hobhead said:
dramatica's post makes thoughts of men with butterfly nets seem to be on the horizon occur to me . dicking about with sleeping pills is a surely a slippery slope. use the search function and have a look-see.
Click to expand...

your tone is pretty insulting, though I completely agree. But don't you think that by openly posting this in ADD I have automatically acknowledged the serious of the subject?

These affects are achieved with as low as 2.5mg for someone who already has a significant tolerance. I do NOT recommend experimenting with high doses and/or engaging in any sort of physical activity.

Thanks for everyones posts!
 
There is definately something different about zolpidem.

zopiclone = perfect (or near as so far) sleeper for general pop (but nothing inquisative about it pharmacologically, your typical near perfect benzo with short half life and somewhat of a less abuse potential, certainly less pleasurable)

zaleplon = wierd but in NO beneficial or interesting way, can see why NO ONE uses it

zolpidem = DEFINATELY something different about it. whether that is advice to take it or not is another thing - landed a lot of people in trouble.

Eminem did supposedly do ENCORE on zolpidem +possibly other drugs (until his near coma, then was "flushing them out" during relapse + now he's supposedly "back") = if you want your N=1 celebrity case!:\
 
god damn you OP! :) Your post was so interesting that I went out of my way to cop some zolpidem cuz I've never snorted it before. I'll do this tonight and edit this post with a report

addendum: sorry dramatica, I'm really not getting any of the effects you described. I started by insufflating a quarter of a 10 mg zolp and it did chill me out after a really stressful 12-hour workday followed by my wife asking me where the fuck I was and why I wasn't answering her calls, so I needed the chill-out. But as for hypomania-induction, antisomnia, pnemonic, computational, associative or executive enhancement I noticed no boost.

As I'm writing this it's half an hour after I insufflated the remainder of the 10 mg zolp in hopes of an alert. There is ataxia of the pleasant kind, but no euphoria. I'm supine but not particularly motivated to go to sleep: this is out of indifference, not entertainment or hypomania. I'm thinking about things like what the girl in my avatar looks like now--i.e. no expansive thought content, no flight of ideas.

My only prior experience with zolpidem was in the late 90s on days 5-7 of heroin withdrawal, taking about 100 mg at a time to try to get to sleep. THAT was an intense high that I'd like to reproduce.

The pills mill to a very fine powder inside a mortar, and a strainer comes in handy to remove the coating. If I were to administer it at work I'd probably use a Handihaler.

The ROA is not a problem.
 
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Zolpidem felt like a very sedating dissociative to me. I remember doing a lot of things that I don't ordinarily do on it while sober OR while using benzos... BUT would have done on PCP, if this makes any sense.
 
I took 4 mg xanax to get some sleep addded a zolpidem and suddenly feel energetic as hell lol.
 
Zolpidem and I have a love/hate relationship.

I find that cannabinoids kick it up to a notch that is absolutely enjoyable for recreational purposes. Taking it standalone before I go to sleep though, I find myself hit with a burst of energy.

Been prescribed it for umm, a decade now. I have never taken it on a ED basis, but only when I felt it was needed.

One warning about dabbling with cannabinoids +0:30 post-Zolpidem consumption: Sleepeating.

If you think its bad with Zolpidem alone...I suggest staying away from cannabinoids after taking your dose.
 
all the engery could be the rebound effect from staying awake after taking zolpidem, if you arnt in bed when you take it you will feel some sort of engery or insomia at higher doses. im not sure why it rebounds but that is deff why your feeling more alert or more functing when you take those low doses, at a higher dose the insomia and confusing would be the only noticable effects of the rebound.
 
Am I the only one who experienced a pseudo-psychedelic effect on zolpidem?
With 30mg I was pretty fucking sedated but felt so "happy" that I consciously started talking to objects in my room as I was feeling really trippy and inspired by objects.
 
zolpidem is like a "psychedelic" version of triazolam, weird stuff... so many fun stories i can't remember getting high on ambien.

if it acts on the same receptors as benzos, how come it makes you all trippy as well?
 
Psychedelic Jay said:
I find that it makes me have conversations with myself in my head and I agree to them out loud, It's oddly increasing my athletic abilities.
Click to expand...

lol sounds about right with ambien... 8o

ambien gets me in touch with the "shadow people"- a group of mysterious shadow like figure that follow me on flat surfaces. i thought they were scary at first but came to realize they ment peace and just wanted to be friends.

zolpidem's effects remind me of amantias muscaria's effects.
 
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