Ambien questions
 

Soin search of the perfect sleep aid for flights and jet lag, i have a new perscription for Ambien. Do people like it?
Like all sleep meds it says dont' drink. i usally drink wine on my flight before taking a pill. do other have experience with this and ambien?
I have 10 mg pills. should i try one or half for sfo-lhr - after dinner with about 6 or 7 hours to go?
any personal experiences appreciated.

Ask your physician.

great stuff. Go for it.

I will assume that the doctor has been consulted and that the drugs were duly prescribed. My two cents...(and I used to work for the company, and we got if for free!)

Try it at home before the flight. You may have a reaction and that is best handled at home. DO NOT DRINK. The two guys that drank (they could have been FlyerTalkers based on their consumption) were both mistaken for dead. One on an airplane upon landing...he was a pretty pale guy to begin with. And the other fell asleep while on the phone with his wife. She got so worried she called the hotel and they went into his room to find him asleep with nothing on, not even a sheet. This is not urban myth...each of these guys was my boss at one time or another.)

Many people sleep fine with half a tab. Again try that at home. Don't try and medicate 8 hours of sleep. You want to medicate the falling asleep and then let your body take over. Otherwise, the plane lands and you are still kinda zoned out.

And then a friend took her pill after dinner on an ORD to CDG. Then the plane landed at JFK (or someother NY airport) due to mechanical problems. Another passenger helped her gather her stuff and get to the replacement jet. She hardly remembers that.

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Help! I've fallen in status and I can't get up.

Ambien does do its job well, but you would do well to heed Comicwoman's advice... The best thing about Ambien is the feeling of truly "natural" rest after you wake up. Other sleeping pills that I've experienced leave you groggy and disoriented after you wake up. I've found that with Ambien, my sleep is more natural and that I wake up refreshed and ready to go!

I would caution that you take it only when you are ready to fall asleep though (duh!!). Sometimes I've taken it too early and you really get woozy and seem to have an "out of body" experience if you try to resist its effects. "I'm floooooatttinnggg...." http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif Then 'BAM!' you hit the pillow asleep.

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"There are those who travel, and those who travel well."

It works best for me to take it at my final destination at night that way I wake up in the morning adjusted to the local time and no jet lag. I am afraid to take it on the plane if I am travelling alone. I also find that a 2.5 mg will work for shorter hours than a 5 mg. Unless you are used to taking it, a 10mg may be too much.

I prefer trazodone to Ambien; in fact, I almost never give my patients the latter. Trazodone is actually an antidepressant but it's commonly used off-label for sleep. It has very rapid onset, minimal hangover, and it's non-habit forming, so you can take it every night if you like. The usual dose is 50 mg, but people range from 25 to 100 mg. Best of all, it's dirt cheap.

Sonata is the other option. It's similar to Ambien but has a much shorter duration of action. For a shorter flight, such as the the North Atlantic, it might be a good option. Perhaps your primary care provider has some samples.

Good advice from all, especially about trying it at home first.

I love Ambien. When I fly, it's typically ORD-LHR or ORD-CDG in coach. Once we are airborne, I take an Ambien, put on my eye mask and ear plugs, and generally fall asleep within about 15 minutes. I personally prefer getting extra sleep rather than waiting for the meal service on the plane. I've always been able to wake up feeling relatively refreshed in time for a quick clean up before breakfast is served.

I also take one the first night I'm in Europe and the first night I'm back in the US. This seems to almost eliminate jet lag for me.

For me, Ambien is by far the best jet lag remedy other than getting down to work. I observe that the biggest problem most people have with jet lag is worrying about it, and trying to "plan" for it. I subscribe to the John Denver jet lag approach - "Sleep when you can, work when you should."

Anyway, comicwoman's advice is great. Also, I weigh about 190, and 1/2 pill is sufficient for me.

I find Ativan works best for me. It's not a sleeping aid per se, rather just an anti-anxiety medication with relaxing properties. A small dose (.5mg - 1mg) is enough to get me soft & cozy enough to doze off without making me stupid or groggy when I wake up. An added feature is that the pills can be obtained in sublingual format (dissolving under the tongue) which speeds its effectiveness. I also use it at the destination to fall asleep more easily at the "right" time and get a full night's rest.

Ativan is just less of a sledgehammer than some of the stronger sleep aids out there, so for someone like me that just needs a little boost to get to sleep, it fits the bill perfectly.

In addition to the info here, there are multiple threads on this topic in TravelBuzz. Many different kinds of experiences reported. Ambien works out to be a perfect drug for me. It has helped reduce my jet lag on countless trips, both domestic and international. I can take it after a glass of wine with no side effects; it helps me fall asleep but doesn't make me woozy; I can wake up after 4 or 5 hours of sleep on a flight just fine. A 5mg dose works best for me; I used this amount LAX-LHR and was knocked out for most of the flight. YMMV

Some here say that travel with Valium. Any experiences with that?

d

Well, I took this (prescribed, and had been taking it for awhile) on a JFK/EZE flight and didn't fall asleep, and it was a near disaster. The "maximum" I will take for anything anymore on a plane is 50mg of benadryl with cognac.

thanks all. yes, I have a prescip and talked to my doctor, but he doesn't travel like you folks do. He said 10 mg might not make me fall asleep on the plane. I weigh 150 lbs and am generally sensitive to medication - so i guess he's way wrong. see what info you can gather on FT!

So i'll skip it on the plane tomorrow, try it onthe ground for jet lag, and maybe on the flight home. Many thanks.

First of all this post is about my exoerience, not a suggestion for what you should or shouldn't do.

IIRC, my Rx is for the 5mg variety, and was written as "take as needed" for some reason. The pharmacist said the usual dosage was from 5-10mg (one or 2 pills). Web research that I did suggested that serious insomniacs are prescribed higher dosages than this.

I took 5mg on a SFO-NRT (gasp-Westbound Flight) in an E+ exit row and slept for 4 hours. No booze. Did a nice job for me and when I arrived, I stayed up unitl about midnight partying and then slept through. Did not use any more in Tokyo because I was drinking every night.

NRT-SFO I went 7.5mg. I think I drank 2 beers before my big snooze. Awoke for the breakfast service. Great trip stuck in E+ non exit row. Napped a tad in the PM after an early AM arrival. 5mg more for a solid nights sleep.

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Now the dilema

Will be flying ANA in F NRT-SFO for my first international "F" experience in 2 weeks. Should I go for sleep or service?

BTW, I'm, 6-6, 260. YMMV