short term memory loss from long term Ambien use?

[kelley43]

My husband and I are in some trouble.  He is a physician, (53 years old)  and was just given 2 weeks "medical leave" because people were noticing he was forgetting things.  His short term memory is impaired.  We have already seen the neurologist, then we see the psychiatrist Tuesday.  He has been taking 10 mg of Ambien nightly for maybe 8 YEARS, has been down to taking 5 mg for about a year.  He has been taken off the Ambien, but what are the long term effects?  I find alot of info on short term effects, but could his memory issues be due to AMBIEN?
Please help.  

[bzir]

My mother has in the past two years been diagnosed with primary lateral sclerosis(pls) after years of trying to find out what ailed her. She has been afflicted with constant numbness, hyperspasticity of her limbs (mostly toes) , constant back pain, slurred speech and an enormous lack of balance which has left her unable to walk without aid of a walker. She has been addicted to ambien for upwards of 10 years and is entirely unable to stop taking it. Her personality during this time frame has entirely changed. She has lost any filter between thought and speech and quite honestly has gone from a loving individual to a quite selfish, self centered nasty person, who lies constantly and is extremely extremely paranoid.

I know im grasping at straws, i can only imagine what tolls on a person's psyche it must take to entirely lose one's independence of movement, but something deep down in me tells me there is a high likelihood that ambien which does such drastic work on the nervous system might be to blame here. She has been to the mayo clinic among other great institutions in nyc that specialize in movement disorders as well as every other specialty. These institutions really could never pin down her disorder as pls(one finally did) but to me its almost as if its a default diagnosis since they keep ruling out anything else. I was always shocked that none of these doctors (except finaly the last one she saw) insisted that she get off of ambien since as all at this posting know it is not meant for more than temporary use. My mother keeps saying she will try anything to try to help alleviate her symptoms yet getting off ambien is the one she never will try. She consistently lies to me telling me she will stop but every couple of weeks she says the same thing.... "o yeah i am going to go to the pharmacist and have him cut my pills".

I guess my question here is...  has anyone ever experienced similar problems with ambien ?

[NanagbPassword]

I've been on Ambian for abut 5 months now and I to have short term memory loss. I will have conversations with people with out even remembering it and also eating things at night and not evening remembering what I ate. I also post stuff on the internet and next day go in and say to myself when did I post that? Or who ate my stuff I was saving? Kind of scary but it does help with staying asleep thru out the night.

[danirupe]

I am glad you shared your story I am 47, and having the same struggle.  I have been taking Ambien 5 mg, sometimes 10 mg for 8 - 10 years also.  and I am really struggling with memory, and I never used to be this way. I saw a neurologist today- told me to get off the Ambien.  She didn't tell me why- Hmm.  now I am wondering what is going on with this drug.  I am wondering if these effects are reversible.  I am too young to feel like I have dementia.

[Deare]

Yes. I have the same problem as your wife. My liver is sick because of Ambien. How is your wife? Did she recover after stopping the Ambien?

[ccdemil]

I've been taking Ambien for 5 years with very little side effects.  The benefits of sleeping far outweigh the tragedy of not sleeping.  I haven't had any problems.  They run like clockwork for me and I wouldn't be able to function in my life if I didn't take them.

[xochihuacan]

My friend, I can tell you that you are not alone. Nor are the many people on this thread.

I took ambien for three years, virtually every night, and I can tell you that it severely impacted my memory and my cognitive ability. I have zero doubt about it, and if you are experiencing the symptoms described here, you should definitely stop taking it. It does get better when you quit.

Like many of you, I lived in terror of a sleepless night, and I became dependent on ambien. But soon I grew more afraid of the impact it was having on my ability to function mentally. To remember. To think clearly.

It has been more than a year now since I quit, and I am happy to report that things have improved dramatically. I wouldn't say it's 100 percent yet, but it's close. It took a long time for me to get to that low point, so I figure it is going to take a long time to get back to where I was when I first started taking it. In particular, I believe there are certain memories, mostly memories from that hazy three-year period when I was taking ambien (10 mg Zolpidem/night), that  will remain fuzzy —  just be gone forever.

But I honestly feel like I'm returning to normal. It feels so good to be able to think clearly again.

Get off of it.

Do it.