Ambien vs Zolpidim

Does anyone ever wake up in the morning after taking Ambien or Zolpidem with sort of a mettallic taste in their mouth. I notice this only when I take a sleeping pill. All morning food just does not tast as good.

I started off taking Zolpidem 10mg back in 2006. Eventually I moved up to taking the Ambien CR 12.5mg so that I could fall asleep and stay asleep. Now the 12.5 doesn't work, and it was getting expensive with the copayments, so my doc switched me back to the Zolpidem 10mg. Now I'm finding that the 10mg doesn't work at all, and when he wanted to put me on 20mg of Zolpidem, my insurance company said they would have to do a medical review in order to approve paying their share. In addition, to buy it without insurance is way more than if I would buy the Ambien CR that wasn't working. Now I am looking for either a replacement, or the pharmacy said I could get a discount if I bought back into their prescription savings club. :(

So tired wrote:

I have been taking 20 mg of Ambien for at least 2 years, and it was a lifesaver! I could get more rest in 5-6 hours than in 9 hours previously. Now that I am on the generic, I am lucky to fall asleep at all.I called the doctor and pharmacy and they said there has been no complaints about that. Isn't the generic form always supposed to be the same ingredients? Please give suggestions...I am going to OD on this just to get some sleep!

Reply - Generics are NOT the exact same as the brand. They just have to be similar. I found Ambien to be better than Lunesta and everything over the counter. The insurance co. did a mandatory substitution to Zolipidem and now I wake up feeling hungover. It's nearly as bad as taking a Tylenol PM. I had my doc write "DAW" so that I get (and pay more for) the Ambien. Sad state of our country's healthcare...

i "borrowed" an Ambien, on two occassions and much to my surprise, slept great, even pleasant dreams, ironically. And woke refreshed and feeling rested! I suffer with fibromyalgia, and slight arthritis in my hips, so pain freqently wakes me. My dr prescribed Ambien for me to try, the insurance and/or pharmacy gave me Zolpidem. i used in two nights in a row, s;ept in, woke up really late, felt like a zombie and had an excruciating headache that wouldn't let me get out of bed.(I NEVER have headaches.) It's two for two. I recall Lunesta also gave me headaches. I seriously question the formula when they are able to offer an less expensive generic version, i wonder what is the difference in inactive ingredients vs the active ingredients. And what Lunesta and Zolpidem might have in common, that Ambien does not. ergh. argh.

The generic is awful!! Regular Ambien was best for me; after the generic came out, and didn't work so well I switched to Ambien CR, since there's no generic for it it wasn't as expensive. I just switched back to the generic to see how that would go, and its terrible, takes at least a couple hours to kick in, then I end up staying awake with it half kicked in. Sleep is terrible, and I have also been tired. With regular real Ambien, I get solid 7-8 hours of sleep and feel great that next day. I remember the first time I took it and thought-WOW, that's what good sleep feels like (I'm 45, and that was about 6 years ago). My dr.'s have tried me on lunesta (ew the taste) and the one that begins with an "R", used to have Abe Lincoln and the groundhog on the commercials, but nothing, not even the Ambien CR worked as well as regular Ambien. I don't know what to do now, other than going off, trying melatonin I guess...

I had been on ambien for a couple of years without any issues until my insurance co. refused to pay for it, so they switched me to Zolpidem. I have never felt worse in my life! I experienced a feeling I can best describe as my brain swelling, causing very bad dizziness to the point of feeling like I was going to pass out, high anxiety, inablity to focus, sensitivity to light, and a stiff tension in my neck. Worse yet, these symptoms lasted for a few days causing me to miss work. So I went back to Ambien and had no problems. Then, a while later my phramacy switched me back to Zolpidem without telling me and I went through those terrible symptoms a second time. Has anyone else experienced symptoms this bad???

Ugh wrote:

I had been on ambien for a couple of years without any issues until my insurance co. refused to pay for it, so they switched me to Zolpidem. I have never felt worse in my life! I experienced a feeling I can best describe as my brain swelling, causing very bad dizziness to the point of feeling like I was going to pass out, high anxiety, inability to focus, sensitivity to light, and a stiff tension in my neck. Worse yet, these symptoms lasted for a few days causing me to miss work. So I went back to Ambien and had no problems. Then, a while later my pharmacy switched me back to Zolpidem without telling me and I went through those terrible symptoms a second time. Has anyone else experienced symptoms this bad???

The same happened to with with my insurance company. It it AWFUL! I feel nauseous all the time, get small dizzy spells, and one of the worst,is I wake up after 4 hours feeling very anxious and agitated. Has anyone else felt like this? Almost fidgety and irritable. It is terrible. 10 nights in a row now.

My Dr. changed me from Seroquel because I was exhibiting tardive dyskenesia/akenesis which is a severe annoyance when conversing with others or sitting around a board meeting. My twitching is contagiou and before long others start mimicking my erratic moves, So embarrassing. I was to get Lunesta but insurance co WOULDN'T PAY FOR IT, They said I could get 20 pills of zolpidem, and it doesnt work for me at all (10 mg)Is it not working because it a generic? Or would the Lunesta HAVE WORKED BETTER?

Used to take Ambien years ago and loved it. Put me right to sleep and felt great next day . Took generic for first time last night and it sucks. Took a long time to go to sleep and I felt distracted, foggy, and half asleep the entire next day !!! Glad I found this page thought I was going crazy.

diana wrote:

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Can you tell me if it is cheaper than ambien? I currently dont have insurance and I have been paying 132.00 dollars a month for ambien 10mg? Thanks!!

I have blue cross blue shield and pay 189.00 for 30 supply of ambien . I cant take Zolipidem.

I began with the generic so I thought well this is as good as It will get it terms getting some sleep. It made me really dizzy, It took me forever to fall asleep and I would wake up at 4:00am every morning. I have done the strangest things while under the influence of the generic brand, like drove and not remember, have conversations that I couldn't recall and the worst was gain weight. Initially I thought the weight was because of the medicine but I was actually eating while asleep and would only remember it faintly the next day. By mistake I went to a different pharmacy because it was in the area of a new doctor I went to, when I got the bill for the brand Ambien I had a big argument with the pharmacist until she explained that there was a generic and a brand of the medicine. I decided to give the pricey Ambien a go and I am really glad I did. I sleep longer, fall asleep faster, lost a bit of weight because the tired groggy feeling that caused me to stop working out decreased a whole lot. I wished I had not suffered through 7 months of that generic crap!

I am so glad I found these posts. My Dr prescribed Ambien and I ended up with Zolpidem. Guess I'll have a glass of wine and hope for some rest.

Im sorry to say that all the comments before me confirm my suspicion that generic is sorely lacking. Even tho it alledgedly has the same ingredient - somehow the steady sleep effect got lost in the translation. My mother notices this also. I may try to get ambien CR to keep cost down as mentioned by msz just above. But I recall that made me sleepy during the day.

Ambien is the brand; Zolpidem is the generic name and made by numerous companies. Sometimes a tablet from one pharma will work with a person and another will not. Yous may have to try different ones. You should not be getting hangovers or feel drugged the next day. These are short-acting hypnotics.

I have taken Ambien CR for several years due to chronic gut pain and nerve pain from TM. The last time I had my prescription filled, I got the generic form - Zolpidem. I've tried it now 4 times and every time I've woken up with a TERRIBLE headache. The first time or two I thought maybe it was just something else that caused the headache, but now I'm convinced it is something in the generic form. Not taking it any more!!

Stay away from Teva (Israel) Dr. Reddys (India)and find Qualitest Pharmaceuticals. Or the very best is the Mexican Generic.

I didn't notice any difference between Ambien and the generic. I did have a lot of problems with sleep walking, and talking, never eating but I was found exercising (of all things) in my sleep. So in my case I could have lost weight in my sleep lol. I don't take it anymore.

mike_lee wrote:

Stay away from Teva (Israel) Dr. Reddys (India)and find Qualitest Pharmaceuticals. Or the very best is the Mexican Generic.

Turns out the "Mexican Generic" (Stilnox) is actually the name brand drug - which I guess is why it's the best. Price in Mexico $75.00 Price in USA $225.00 + cost of prescription.

DawnK wrote:

Yes, I have bought the generic from overseas pharmacies. I liked it better than the ambien.

Where did u get this from ??

I have been on Ambien for years and have always gotten pretty good night's sleep. Just recently I noticed I am waking up in the middle of the night almost nightly, and eating like a bear. I am mostly sleep walking because hardly remember getting up at all. I looked at bottle and noticed that they are the generics all of the sudden. MFG-Teva They Suck!!!