Author: Charles Frank

Zolpidem: MedlinePlus Drug Information

Do not use AMBIEN for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not share AMBIEN with other people, even if they have the same symptoms that you have. Read the Medication Guide that comes with AMBIEN before you start taking it and each time you get a refill. This Medication Guide does not take the place of talking to your healthcare provider about your medical condition or treatment. In studies that measured the percentage of sleep time spent in each sleep stage, AMBIEN has generally been shown to preserve sleep stages.

1. Visit your care team for regular checks on your progress.
2. The physician may wish to consider contacting a poison control center for up-to-date information on the management of hypnotic drug product overdosage.
3. Do not take it if you have taken another medication for sleep.

This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include Micromedex (updated 3 Mar 2024), Cerner Multum™ (updated 4 Mar 2024), ASHP (updated 12 Feb 2024) and others. Many drugs can interact with zolpidem, making it less effective or increasing side effects. This includes prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any medicine you start or stop using.

Drugs & Supplements

Tell your healthcare provider if you have ever abused or have been dependent on alcohol, prescription medicines or street drugs. AMBIEN is used in adults for the short-term treatment of a sleep problem called insomnia (trouble falling asleep). Controlled studies in adults utilizing objective measures of memory yielded no consistent evidence of next-day memory impairment following the administration of AMBIEN. There was also subjective evidence from adverse event data for anterograde amnesia occurring in association with the administration of AMBIEN, predominantly at doses above 10 mg.

A physical dependence to Ambien can form in as little as two weeks, whether the user is following a prescription or abusing the drug. Ambien dependence is characterized by tolerance, whereby the user requires larger amounts of the substance to feel the same effect, and withdrawal symptoms which appear if the user stops taking the drug or reduces their dosage. Eventually, Ambien dependence may become a full-blown addiction; this is characterized by tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, impaired control over use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and cravings. Many people don’t know they have a problem until they stop taking the drug and realize they cannot sleep without it. A small amount of this medication passes into breast milk and may have undesirable effects on a nursing infant (such as unusual sleepiness, trouble breathing, or unusual limpness).

More About Drugs and Medications

Never take this medicine in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed. Do not take zolpidem if you have consumed alcohol during the day or just before bed. Other medications can affect the removal of zolpidem from your body, which may affect how zolpidem works. Examples include azole antifungals (such as ketoconazole), rifampin, St. John’s Wort, among others.

This medicine may cause you to do things while you are still asleep that you may not remember the next morning. It is possible you could drive a car, sleepwalk, have sex, make phone calls, or prepare and eat food while you are asleep or not fully awake. Tell your doctor right away if you learn that any of these has happened. Do not take more of it, do not take it more often, and do not take it for a longer time than your doctor ordered.

Precautions for Ambien

You may report side effects to FDA at FDA-1088 or at /medwatch. Remember that this medication has been prescribed because your doctor has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. You may have trouble sleeping the first few nights after you stop taking this medication. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for more information. A study involving cimetidine/zolpidem tartrate and ranitidine/zolpidem tartrate combinations revealed no effect of either drug on the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of zolpidem.

Related treatment guides

It is important to emphasize that,although the events reported did occur during treatment with AMBIEN, they werenot necessarily caused by it. A single-dose interaction study with zolpidem tartrate 10 mg and fluoxetine 20 mg at steady-state levels in male volunteers did not demonstrate any clinically significant pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic interactions. When multiple doses of zolpidem and fluoxetine were given at steady state and the concentrations evaluated in healthy females, an increase in the zolpidem half-life (17%) was observed. There was no evidence of an additive effect in psychomotor performance.

Keep a list of your medicines with you to show your healthcare provider and pharmacist each time you get a new medicine. Tell your healthcare provider about all of the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements. A food-effect study in 30 healthy male subjects compared the pharmacokinetics of AMBIEN 10 mg when administered while fasting or 20 minutes after a meal. Results demonstrated that with food, mean AUC and Cmax were decreased by 15% and 25%, respectively, while mean Tmax was prolonged by 60% (from 1.4 to 2.2 hr).

What should I tell my care team before I take this medication?

Zolpidem belongs to a class of medications called sedative-hypnotics. It works by slowing activity in the brain to allow sleep. Ambien is in a class of drugs known as Sedative-Hypnotics. Ambien works by activating the neurotransmitter GABA, which slows down the brain and the central nervous system (CNS).

These results suggest that, for faster sleep onset, AMBIEN should not be administered with or immediately after a meal. Infants exposed to AMBIEN through breastmilk should bemonitored for excess sedation, hypotonia, and respiratory depression. The clinical trials performed in support of efficacy were 4-5 weeks in duration with the final formal assessments of sleep latency performed at the end of treatment. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant before using Ambien; it is unknown how it will affect a fetus. Ambien passes into breast milk and may have adverse effects on a nursing baby.

When the two are combined, the risks of respiratory failure and fatal overdose are dramatically increased. There is also a risk of damage to the heart, brain, and lungs. Despite the makers of Ambien touting the drug’s superiority over Benzos, medical professionals have said users are still at risk of developing an addiction.

Do not take this medication if you have used alcohol that evening. Do not take it if you have taken another medication for sleep. The risk of doing these sleep-related activities is higher. Visit your care team for regular checks on your progress.