Stimulants Ambien aka Zolpidem Hypnotic Effect - What's Comparable?

[jcmeyers]

Hello-

I've been taking ambien/zolpidem for the last 16 years as prescribed by my doctor. I do have a few drinks in the evening 9-10ish after work which provides an appealing semi-hypnotic type of high until I fall asleep. Generally and to a certain extent the next day, I have little memory of the last hour or two before I fall asleep. I like this drug as when paired with drinks I get a semi-hypnotic high, feels almost magical, and then wake the next morning with little to no memory of the prior night - feeling as though I simply hit "reset" at 10:30-11pm with no memory of waiting to fall asleep. This is attractive to me as I absolutely HATE having to wait to fall asleep, the minutes feel like hours - I have extreme ADHD. Anyways, to sum this up - I really miss Ambien and need to find an alternative that provides a similar hypnotic effect when paired with alcohol.

The reason I can no longer take it is because I sustained an injury last winter when I took my sales team on an annual trip to the Dominican Republic. I had a fall off of our Airbnb balcony on the neighboring balcony below. As a result, I had to spend the remainder of the trip in the hospital, which is not fun in the Dominican. To say it lightly, my wife was traumatized that she had to wait with me (in a pool of blood) for an hour in a half until the ambulance arrived. Mind you, I had not had any Ambien that evening. I had simply had more drinks than I should have had with my sales team. My wife has severe anxiety and worries about EVERYTHING, to the MAX, and until recently had taken Alprazolam religiously as prescribed by her doctor. This until now, had treated her anxiety/worrying. We recently had a son, after which she has chosen to get off of all medications. Her extreme anxiety coupled with this injury has resulted in an ultimatum that I am not allowed to take Ambien, even though I am diagnosed with severe insomnia and have received a prescription from my physician for 15+ years. To make matters worse, she was able to find a drug test specifically for Ambien/Zolpidem, so there's absolutely no way that I can take Ambien as she has the ability to request a random test in the morning. This doesn't happen often, but probably once every two weeks. For further information, the test she acquired ONLY tests for Ambien, no other substances.

I drastically miss Ambien due to the hypnotic effect received when paired with drinks, which put me to sleep - almost euphoric. I've heard of Lunesta and a couple of others but have never tried. From your experience, are there any prescription drugs, or non-prescription that provide the same type of high/result when paired with alcohol?

I'm extremely busy this time of year, working 7-day, 80-95 hour weeks so I really need your help to have a break for the last few hours of my day. Your help is greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance!

 

[lyXw33d]

Zolpidem was always in a league of its own for me, effects-wise, and nothing seems to completely help with bad zolp withdrawal (especially in the 10-30 tabs a day range, but you’re far from that). Not to worry, there is a similar z-drug, but it doesn’t have the same nice come up, it seems to hit instantly so it’s hard to feel past the initial onset: zaleplon (sonata).

They’re fairly similar, though it has less visual distortions and isn’t as much of a wonder drug for sleep, particularly doesn’t seem to help with staying asleep. But the hypnotic headspace is closest out of anything; for severe insomnia, zolpidem still seems to help more, but if you take it while already in bed, it still helps a lot if the person was used to zolp.

It seems rarely prescribed, but it should be just as easy or easier than zolpidem to get a script for, as it’s gotten less bad press. (In the US, at least.) Good luck, severe insomnia is a very difficult thing, but if you take zaleplon as directed, I think you will have success with it.

Oh, and Lunesta is extremely slow in its onset and feels way more subtle, so I don’t think it will compare. It does have a nice buzz, but there’s a benzo feel to it, similar to diazepam, that I don’t like (for me, an anhedonic, demotivated, flat feeling). It helps with zolpidem withdrawal, but otherwise is not really similar.