What is Ambien? What does Ambien do?

Zolpidem or Ambien is a sleep aid medication primarily used for the short-term management of insomnia. The clinical guidelines recommend that people use Ambien pills only after trying other treatment options such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), behavioral changes like sleep hygiene, and lifestyle changes.

Ambien works to decrease the sleep onset time by about ten to fifteen minutes when taken as an oral medication. However, Zolpidem is also available in other formulations such as sublingual tablets, oral administration conventional tablets, and oral spray.

The medication is also available in controlled release formulation known as Ambien CR in the dosing strengths of Ambien CR 6.25mg and Ambien CR 12.5mg. The controlled delivery tablets help you in ways: firstly, they will let you fall asleep faster, and then they will let you sleep the whole night peacefully without frequently waking up in the night.

Ambien or Zolpidem is a nonbenzodiazepine Z medication acting as a sedative and a hypnotic. It is a GABA-A receptor agonist belonging to the class of imidazopyridine medicines. Ambien enhances the GABA effects in your central nervous system by attaching to the GABA-A receptors at precisely the same location where benzodiazepines bind. 

Zolpidem, the active ingredient of Ambien, got approved for use as a medicine in the United States in 1992 and got available as a generic medicine in 2007. It is a controlled substance (IV) under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) as a schedule-IV medicine by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

More than 10 million prescriptions are filled for Ambien pills every year, making it the most widely used medication for insomnia across the United States. In the year 2017, it was included in the list of top 50 most prescribed medicines, with over fifteen million prescriptions written that year.

What is Ambien used for?

Ambien is for short-term treatment of insomnia, usually about two to six weeks. Doctors should prescribe it at the lowest dose for the least duration required. You may use it for both improving the sleep onset and sleep onset latency and keeping you asleep.

Guidelines recommend Ambien as a second-line treatment option for insomnia only after employing CBT-I and behavioral and lifestyle changes. This is due to a review published in 2012 that proved that the effectiveness of Ambien is as much due to the psychological effects as due to the medicine itself.

How does Ambien work?

Zolpidem is a ligand of high-fondness positive modulator destinations of GABAA receptors, which upgrades GABAergic restraint of neurotransmission in the focal sensory system. It tries explicitly to α1 subunits of this pentameric particle channel. 

Opposed to diazepam, Zolpidem can tie to double αβ GABA receptors, where it appeared to connect to the α1–α1 subunit interface. Zolpidem has around 10-crease lower fondness for the α2-and α3-subunits than for α1, and no apparent proclivity for α5 subunit-containing receptors.

Zolpidem has no fondness for γ1 and γ3 subunit-containing receptors and, similar to by far most benzodiazepine-like medications; it needs partiality for receptors containing α4 and α6.

Zolpidem regulates the receptor by inciting a receptor adaptation that empowers an expanded restricting strength of the orthosteric agonist GABA towards its related receptor without influencing desensitization or peak current flows. Ambien may increase slow-wave sleep but does not affect stage 2 sleep. 

How long does Ambien take to work?

Ambien works quickly with a swift onset of action within 30 minutes. The medication reaches its peak effects within 1-2 hours for most people. Its peak concentration time and the onset of action depend upon many factors; the most important of them is the formulation of the person’s medication, immediate delivery, or controlled delivery Ambien.

How long does Ambien last?

Due to its quick onset of action, Ambien remains in the body for a short period of time. The effects of Ambien generally last for 6-7 hours for an average person. However, the Ambien half-life for its immediate delivery formulation is 2.5-3 hours.

How long does Ambien stay in your system?

Ambien pills work relatively fast and remain in the system for a short duration of time. As it gets metabolized quickly, it is generally only detectable in urine tests for about 24-48 hours for people taking the medication at therapeutic doses.

Blood tests detect Ambien for about 6-20 hours. It is detectable at higher doses of controlled delivery formulation for up to 72 hours in your urine and up to 48 hours in the bloodstream.

The medication gets poorly absorbed in the growing hair, so it is not likely to get detected in hair tests. However, a study found out that Ambien can be detectable in hair for up to 5 weeks after its oral administration.

What are the side effects of Ambien?

The most frequent side effects of Ambien are generally short-lived and mild, including headache (7%), drowsiness (2%), diarrhea (1%), and dizziness (1%). Using the medication in the long-term may cause some other effects, including:

• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Sinusitis
• Allergy
• Diarrhea
• Back pain
• Dry mouth
• Drugged feeling
• Constipation
• Lightheadedness
• Depression

Other Ambien side effects include sleep disorder, flu-like symptoms, amnesia, abnormal dreams, lethargy, sore throat, and chest pain.

Ambien pills increase the risk of depression, bone fractures, falls, suppressed breathing, poor driving, and increased risk of death. People may also have upper and respiratory infections after taking Ambien.

What does Ambien look like?

Ambien pills look like a capsule. They are available in particular colors and inscriptions. Both the doses of Ambien immediate release pills are in the shape of a capsule with a film coating on them.

• Ambien 5mg pills are pink in color and have an imprint of “AMB 5” on one side and “5401” on the other side.
• Ambien 10mg pills are white in color and have an imprint of “AMB 10” on one side and “5421” on the other side.

FAQs about Ambien

Q. What mg does Ambien come in?

Ambien immediate delivery pills come in two dosing strengths of Zolpidem tartrate:

The controlled delivery Ambien pills also come in two dosing strengths of Zolpidem tartrate:

• Ambien 6.25 mg
• Ambien 12.5 mg

Q. What happens when you take too much Ambien?

Taking more than prescribed Ambien leads to an overdose of the medication. When you take Ambien overdose, it induces excessive sedation. Signs and symptoms include:

• Drowsiness
• Tiredness
• Confusion
• Lightheadedness
• Memory loss
• Falls and fractures
• Hallucinations
• Slow heart rate
• Shallow breathing
• Impaired ability to drive
• Impaired cognition and work performance

Q. How long does Ambien withdrawal last?

Quitting Ambien treatment cold turkey can result in severe withdrawal symptoms. The severity and duration of Ambien withdrawal depend upon several factors.

Withdrawal symptoms from Ambien usually begin to take place within 48 hours of the last dose taken, including mood swings, anxiety, tremors, cravings for the medication, irritability, sweating, nausea or vomiting, delirium, abdominal cramps, depression or uncontrolled crying, and panic attacks.

Withdrawal manifestations regularly decrease or vanish within one to fourteen days. The most intense withdrawal side effects ordinarily happen inside the initial 3-5 days.

However, mental withdrawal indications can continue for as long as about fourteen days. In some uncommon cases, an individual may encounter a sleeping disorder, longings, alarm assaults, and opposite results for quite a long time after halting the use of Ambien. 

It is hard to know precisely what amount of time Ambien withdrawal requires for every distinctive individual. A time of 1 fourteen days is average; however, a few components can influence how long an individual encounters Ambien withdrawal symptoms. These include: 

• What amount of time the individual required for Ambien: When an individual accepts Ambien as endorsed for a brief timeframe, the individual is less inclined to encounter withdrawal manifestations, and those side effects won’t be intense or extreme.

• How high the Ambien dose was: If an individual takes more Ambien than recommended, that individual is bound to build up a resistance to the medicine, which implies more Ambien gets expected to feel “typical.” This can prompt more regrettable physical and mental withdrawal side effects.

• Regardless of whether the Ambien was the all-encompassing delivery adaptation: Extended-discharge meds offer a higher dose of the medication than non-expanded delivery prescriptions.

• While this implies the drug is gradually delivered into the framework when taken typically, types of misuse permit people to sidestep the synthetics that lethargic the delivery and take an enormous dose of Ambien at the same time. This can prompt significantly more extreme withdrawal manifestations. 

• If the individual consumed different medications notwithstanding Ambien: Other prescriptions, liquor, or illicit medications can upgrade the impacts of Ambien, expanding the potential “high.” Withdrawal indications are probably going to get compounded if the individual stops all medication use on the double.

Q. How to get Ambien’s prescription?

A doctor will prescribe you Ambien pills when you have a sleep disorder or insomnia. People who do not have insomnia or other sleep-related issues should not take Ambien as it comes under Ambien abuse. The misuse or abuse of the medication can lead to dependence and addiction.

People can opt to buy Ambien online without prescription as pharmaceutical sites offer the medicine. It is safe to use it when prescribed by a doctor or when you have a diagnosis of insomnia.

Q. How long after drinking can I take Ambien?

You should not take Ambien and alcohol together. It is not advisable to take Ambien after drinking or just before you are going to drink alcohol.

Different drinks take different times to metabolize. You should know the amount of time it takes for a drink to leave your body before taking Ambien.

If a person takes a shot of liquor, they can take Ambien after one to two hours. Wait for about two to four hours before taking Ambien if you took a pint of beer. A glass of wine takes three to four hours to metabolize; hence you should not take Ambien for about four hours after drinking wine.