DOES AMBIEN CAUSE AUGMENTATION

[Josana13]

Hello, I just started taking Ambien because I have trouble sleeping. I am augmenting from Pramipexole and am wondering if Ambien will do the same thing to me. If it does, how long does it usually take. Thank you so much and God bless.

[Graceman]

I took Ambien for perhaps ten years and it kept working well. I have two friends who’ve taken it for years too. Overall I think it’s the best sleep med.

[Josana13 in reply to Graceman]

Thank you for your reply, Graceman. I am so scared of taking anything. It is helping me get some sleep. God Bless.

[Graceman in reply to Josana13]

I know. I’m afraid too. Terrible insomnia started age 44. Ambien gave relief until RLS started in my mid 50’s. Then switched to Methadone 10mg every other night and stopped Ambien. Haven’t had Ambien for years. Just saying it worked for me for insomnia. Two friends have taken Ambien for years without much trouble. The only treatment that works for them. We all prefer taking nothing but for me it’s about trade offs. I try to minimize and am under a good doctor supervision. Sleeplessness for days is the worst so it’s a delicate balance.

[Gordi2018 in reply to Graceman]

What dosage did you take of ambien every night ? I take a half to one tablet daily- various DRs tell me how bad it is , however it’s the only thing that helps me sleep ?

[Hidden]

Strictly speaking the correct term for "augmentation" is actually "dopaminergic augmentation".

This implies that augmentation is only caused by dopaminergic agents.

In that case it doesn't seem possible for ambien to cause it. I've never heard anybody saying it does either.

I have read claims that tramadol or even gabapentin cause "augmentation", but if they do, then it's NOT dopaminergic.

I suspect that this may be due to people confusing augmentation with rebound which is a different phenomenon. It is possible to suffer rebound with both tramadol and gabapentin.

However, if you're suffering augmentation, that's what's causing loss of sleep in which case ambien may be of little help.

If you're thinking of reducing/stopping the pramipexole ambien isn't a useful replacement for it.

[Josana13 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, Manerva, I have reduced the Pramipexole from 1..5 mg to 1.25 mg. Get Restless legs for about two hours in the evening and sometimes in early A.M. Not too bad. The Ambien has helped me get some sleep. I have been on 1.25 mg. for about a week. When and how much do you think I should reduce again. I appreciate you so much. God Bless.

[Hidden in reply to Josana13]

Apologies Josana13, I now note that I previously wrote to you about this in your post "Am I in hell?" about 25 days ago.

You apparently never replied to me, but another member did and I mistakenly thought it was you, but now I see your names are similar, but different. So I don't know if you got my response.

Your profile says you joined in January this year, the profile of the other member says they joined in 2014.

There are however some simiarities in the profiles so I'm wondering if you're the same person.

If you do have two accounts in order to avoid confusion, it might be a good idea to delete one of these accounts.

I also note that having two accounts is against Healthunlocked rules.

In my previous response to you I wrote -

1.5mg og pramipexole for RLS it is TWICE the official maximum daily dose of 0.75mg. It is SIX times what many RLS experts recommend i.e. 0.25mg

It's better to reduce the dose of the drug gradually i.e. in small steps over a period of time. You will unfortunately experience withdrawal effects every time you reduce the dose. The slower you reduce the dose, the less the withdrawal effects will be.

You could try reducing it in steps of 0.0625mg. This will require getting some 0.125 tablets and cutting them in half. I wouldn't reduce it any more often than once every two weeks. Depending on how severe withdrawal effects are you can reduce in smaller steps or over longer periods of time, say 4 weeks.

I'm afraid that as you appear to be suffering an Impulse Control Disorder (ICD) caused by the pramipexole, gambling and shopping, you are at risk also of developingg DAWS (Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome). This can be very severe causing mental health problems.

Further help can be obtained for withdrawal effects by being prescribed an opioid. Typical, milder, opioids which can be prescribed for this are codeine or tramadol. A low dose of a more potent opioid would be more helpful such as oxycodone, methodone or buprenorphine. The difficulty with this is getting a prescription. If you can get to consult one of the well reputed RLS experts you have in the US this would be helpful.

I hope this helps.

[Josana13 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Manerva, Thank you for your response. If I have two accounts, how do I go about deleting an account. You say it was created in 2014. I don't remember, but I could have created it. I have no idea on how to find it. Thank you

[Hidden in reply to Josana13]

I'm not certain you have two accounts, but if you go to this link

healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/po...

you will see there are comments from two apparently different members with slighlty different names.

If you recall writing both sets of comments then both accounts are you.

If this is the case decide which you want to remove.

I presume if you have two accounts they have different logins, so you'll have to login to the one you want to remove.

In the top right corner you'll see your avatar and "More"

Click on "more" then click on "Settings"

Scroll down and click on "I want to close my account".

If one of the accounts is not yours, you won't be able to close it.

[BJamn]

Hi, I switched from Pram to Gabapentin but getting off of Pram was the total pits. During this time I took Ambien to get me through the worst of the Pram withdrawal. It also takes a while for the gabapentin to kick in....like 2 or 3 weeks at least. The salient point here is GET OFF OF PRAMIPEXSOLE. Ambien does not augment but getting off of it can be one or two restless nights. Nothing compared to Pram. Gabapentin settles things most nights but if I am stressed then all bets are off. Then it's twisting the night away.

[Tobias10]

My PCP gave me Ambien but warned to start with 1/2 of a pill and to try not to take it every night as you become dependent on it and then need it to sleep rather than as a sleep aid. I too augmented on Pramipexole and was taken off of it cold turkey by my former neurologist which caused 17 days without any sleep at all - worst 17 days of my life other than my recent bout with COVID which hospitalized me for 18 and I nearly died on day 1.