I am 52 years old, and I have been on 10 mg of Ambien each night for four years. It was prescribed to counteract the sleeplessness caused by my Wellbutrin SR for depression. If I take it and go straight to bed, I experience no problems. However, if I stay up, even watching TV, I have had amnesia. I have written e-mails and had conversations which made no sense and I had no recollection of the next day.
With my very long-term use, I have noticed I have become much more fixated and impulsive.
I tend to choose a subject, and for a couple of months I research everything about that subject. I subscribe to magazines about it, buy things I don't need, and can think of nothing else. It's like it consumes my thoughts. After a couple of months of this, I lose interest, and start with something else. I know at the time that it is not normal to be spending all my waking time obsessed with some topic or thing, but at the time it is happening I can't control it.
I think I am going to have to stop the Ambien, as this never happened before I started this drug.
