How much ambien cr should i take

Both: if 6. Elderly, debilitated, or mild to moderate hepatic impairment: 6. Risk of complex sleep behaviors eg, sleep-walking, sleep-driving, engaging in other activities while not fully awake ; discontinue immediately if occur. Monitor for CNS depressant effects and next-day impairment. Reevaluate if insomnia fails to remit after 7—10 days of use. Suicidal tendencies.

Evaluate any new onset of behavioral changes. Compromised respiratory function. Sleep apnea. Myasthenia gravis. Drug or alcohol abuse. Below is a list of medications that can interact with zolpidem. This list does not contain all drugs that may interact with zolpidem. Before taking zolpidem, be sure to tell your doctor and pharmacist about all prescription, over-the-counter, and other drugs you take. Also tell them about any vitamins, herbs, and supplements you use.

Sharing this information can help you avoid potential interactions. If you have questions about drug interactions that may affect you, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Taking zolpidem with certain medications raises your risk for side effects. This is because zolpidem and these other medications can cause the same side effects. As a result, these side effects can be increased. Examples of these drugs include:. Taking zolpidem with certain medications raises your risk for side effects from zolpidem.

This is because the amount of zolpidem in your body may be increased. When zolpidem is used with certain drugs, it may not work as well to treat your condition.

This is because the amount of zolpidem in your body may be decreased. The following information describes dosages that are commonly used or recommended. However, be sure to take the dosage your doctor prescribes for you. Your doctor will determine the best dosage to suit your needs. The liver of an older adult may not work as well as it used to. This can cause your body to process drugs more slowly. As a result, more of a drug stays in your body for a longer time.

This raises your risk for side effects. Your doctor may start you on a lowered dosage or a different treatment schedule. This can help keep levels of this drug from building up too much in your body.

This may cause trouble driving. This drug may cause changes in behavior, such as increased agitation. You may act differently. Symptoms can include muscle cramps, vomiting, sweating, flushing reddening and warming of your skin , and emotional changes.

These can include feelings of nervousness, panic attacks, and uncontrollable crying. If you have an allergic reaction, call your doctor or local poison control center right away.

If your symptoms are severe, call or go to the nearest emergency room. Taking it again could be fatal cause death. Eating food with zolpidem may make the drug take longer to work. You should take this drug on an empty stomach.

Drinking alcohol can increase your risk for sedation and drowsiness from zolpidem. If you drink alcohol, talk with your doctor. You may need to be monitored more closely for side effects. For people with depression: This drug may make your symptoms of depression worse.

Ask your doctor if this drug is safe for you. For people with myasthenia gravis: This drug may slow your breathing or make it shallow.

This can decrease the amount of oxygen in your blood. If you have myasthenia gravis, you may already have lower oxygen levels. For people with sleep apnea: This drug may slow your breathing or make it shallow.

If you have sleep apnea, you may already have lower oxygen levels. For people with liver disease: If you have liver problems or a history of liver disease, you may not be able to process this drug well.

This may increase the levels of the drug in your body and cause more side effects. It may also cause a serious condition called hepatic encephalopathy. With this condition, the poor function of your liver causes problems with the way your brain works. Symptoms can include being confused, forgetting things, and slurring your speech. If you have severe liver damage, you should not use zolpidem. Research in animals has shown negative effects to the fetus when the mother takes zolpidem.

Studies have shown that when mothers take this drug late in their third trimester, their newborns can have slowed breathing and excessive sleepiness. Your doctor will monitor your newborn closely if exposure to zolpidem occurred during your pregnancy. This drug should only be used if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk. FDA recommends that the bedtime dose be lowered because new data show that blood levels in some patients may be high enough the morning after use to impair activities that require alertness, including driving.

FDA is also reminding the public that all drugs taken for insomnia can impair driving and activities that require alertness the morning after use. Drowsiness is already listed as a common side effect in the drug labels of all insomnia drugs, along with warnings that patients may still feel drowsy the day after taking these products. Patients who take insomnia drugs can experience impairment of mental alertness the morning after use, even if they feel fully awake.

FDA urges health care professionals to caution all patients men and women who use these zolpidem products about the risks of next-morning impairment for activities that require complete mental alertness, including driving. For zolpidem products, data show the risk for next-morning impairment is highest for patients taking the extended-release forms of these drugs Ambien CR and generics.

Women appear to be more susceptible to this risk because they eliminate zolpidem from their bodies more slowly than men. Because use of lower doses of zolpidem will result in lower blood levels in the morning, FDA is requiring the manufacturers of Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, and Zolpimist to lower the recommended dose. FDA has informed the manufacturers that the recommended dose of zolpidem for women should be lowered from 10 mg to 5 mg for immediate-release products Ambien, Edluar, and Zolpimist and from What is zolpidem?

Why is FDA requiring the manufacturers of certain zolpidem-containing products to revise the labeling to lower the recommended dose of zolpidem for women and to recommend consideration of the lower dose in men? What should patients currently taking the 10 mg or Will a lower dose of zolpidem be effective in treating insomnia? Is FDA requiring the manufacturer of Intermezzo zolpidem tartrate sublingual tablets to also change the dosing recommendations?

Why is FDA informing the public about this safety risk now, after zolpidem has been on the market for nearly 20 years? Is next-morning impairment the same as complex sleep-related behaviors?

Is FDA requiring the manufacturers of other insomnia medicines to revise their dosing recommendations? Do other insomnia medicines have the same gender effect as zolpidem? Do over-the-counter OTC insomnia medicines that are available without a prescription have a risk of next-morning impairment?

What can patients do to decrease their risk of next-morning impairment with insomnia medicines?