How Long Does It Take to Detox from Zolpidem (Ambien)?

If your body and mind are dependent on Zolpidem (Ambien), your recovery will begin with detox. You have most likely heard negative things about detox.

You may wonder just what you can expect in terms of withdrawal symptoms. You may wonder how long it will take for them to end. Every detox timeline is different depending on the drugs involved and your individual brain and body chemistry. However you can learn a little bit about common symptoms and recovery timelines.

You can learn more by reaching out to Black Bear Lodge or other holistic treatment providers. Begin your recovery with a complete assessment and professional discussion about expectations and experiences.

An Overview of Zolpidem (Ambien) Withdrawal Symptoms

No two recovery experiences are the same. However you will likely experience some of the more common Ambien withdrawal symptoms.

These and other symptoms occur because your body gets used to the presence of Ambien. Ambien is a depressant drug. The brain and body adjust to functioning at a slower pace and learn to work around Ambien’s effects. When the drug is no longer present, everything begins working much faster than usual. While the brain and body readjust to functioning normally, there will be discomfort.

How Long Do Withdrawal Symptoms Last?

Just as length of use and individual body chemistry affect what you experience during withdrawal, these factors also influence how long you will experience symptoms. Ambien withdrawal is generally relatively quick. According to the journal Drugs, Ambien is rapidly absorbed and does not accumulate in the body over time. This means its effects come and go quickly.¹

The same may be true for its withdrawal symptoms especially if you have only used the drug for a short period of time and not in conjunction with any other substances. People who take Ambien short-term and as prescribed to reestablish a healthy sleep pattern may only need a few days of adjustment in order to return to normal.Individuals who misuse Ambien, have used it long-term,or take other drugs like opiates or benzodiazepines may find that their recoveries take longer.

Additionally Ambien’s effects are not over once withdrawal and detox are over. Damaged related to Ambien use can last long into the future, especially if detox is not medically supervised or treatment programs do not incorporate medical health care with addiction recovery services. Choose an integrated treatment program to make sure you receive the in-depth attention you deserve.

How Do I Detox From Zolpidem (Ambien)?

Ambien detox is uncomfortable at best and potentially dangerous at worst. This is why you should seek detox support. Peers and professionals can help you stay motivated during discomfort. Medically supervised detox services ensure you remain safe as well. Your individual treatment program may involve quitting cold turkey, gradually tapering your medication or medically managing the process through the use of substitute medications.

The best detox method is the one you and your treatment team have carefully discussed and developed to meet your unique recovery needs.

If you’d like to know more about how you can recover from an Ambien addiction, or you have a family member who needs this kind of help, please call us at Black Bear Lodge. We can explain how detox works and what you can expect from the recovery process. We can help you develop a treatment timeline and even arrange for your admission to our program. Call 706-909-9811 and learn more today.

How to Detox or Get Off Zolpidem (Ambien)

In general, Ambien (zolpidem) is considered a safe and effective medication for people who have insomnia difficulties. For example, in a study in The Journal of International Medical Research, clinicians found that people taking 10 to 20 mg of the drug per day over a period of about 180 days had no rebound insomnia or other withdrawal signs when they stopped taking the medication. They could use the drug for a short period, and then they could stop just as soon as they needed to do so.

But this might not hold true in people who abuse Ambien. People like this might take very large doses of the drug for long periods of time, and if they attempted to quit cold turkey, they could experience life-threatening complications.

The Risk of Seizure

Any kind of sedating drug, including alcohol, can damage the brain to such a degree that it responds with seizures when that drug is gone. Experts refer to this as “kindling,” and they suggest that recurrent attempts at sobriety tend to bring these negative consequences about. Each time a person like this attempts to get sober, the cells are damaged just a little bit. Those damaged cells then spark damage in nearby cells, and these cells also damage their neighbors. In time, a fire of damage spreads though the brain, and a seizure is the result.

A seizure is a medical emergency, even if it seems mild. These events can damage the cells of the brain yet further, and sometimes, the damage done during a seizure can be so severe that death is the result. Swift medical attention can prevent these types of deaths, but that kind of care is hard to obtain when people are at home, attempting to detox on their own.

Better Approaches

This is the kind of help that can prevent serious medical complications, and it’s the kind of help that tends to make successful detox much more likely. Often, programs like this accept people who are under the influence of Ambien, and they provide them with a program that slowly tapers the amount of drugs they take. Monitoring and support are provided every step of the way.

Programs like this can be remarkably effective. For example, in a study in the journal European Psychiatry, researchers asked some people to go through a cold-turkey Ambien withdrawal, while others were given the opportunity to gradually withdraw from the drug. Those who had medication monitoring tended to have fewer symptoms associated with withdrawal when compared to the people who went cold turkey. Rather than feeling ill and miserable, those who had a taper were able to go through the process while feeling calm and in control.

If you’d like to know more about Ambien withdrawal, or you’d like to sign up for your own detox program, please call us at Black Bear Lodge. We’re located in northern Georgia, and we serve people all around the world. We’d love to help you to recover. Just call us at 706-909-9811 and we’ll get started.

Sources

• ¹ Holm, Kristin J; Goa, Karen L. “Zolpidem: An Update of its Pharmacology, Therapeutic Efficacy and Tolerability in the Treatment of Insomnia.” Drugs. Apr. 2000. Web. Accessed 6 Jun. 2017.