Ambien for pain??

[kinipela]

My sister is an ambien addict. She is now taking 300mg to 500mg a day (30-50 10mg pills) she started off using only 10mg the normal dose and started to take more and more. My sister said it was the only medication that helped with her pain. She was diagnose with IC. Its a disease in the bladder that is incurable.She just had her bladder removed and as they were operating they found huge tumers in her uterus and cyst on her ovaries so they did a hysterectomy also. Has any one else used ambien for pain? How do you get off of it safetly?? we cant send her to rehab just yet since she is still recovering from major surgery but she is in no pain and is perfectly fine when she has her pills.She has attempted suicide a couple of times because the pain was just to much for her to handle.Any advice would help,thanks!

[grandma_barb]

I have chronic headaches and have found that the best way to get rid of them is 5-10mg of Ambien. I was just looking around to see if others used it for pain. How did she get such a high dose?

[kinipela]

Thanks for all your comments!! Her doctor that did the surgery knows about her addiction now and told the family to not pressure her right now to stop using since she just had a big surgery and needs to recover. She is still in the hospital and she is getting about 100mg (much less than usual) of the ambien a day but she wants more even though she is getting ativan,vicodin (was on dilauded)and they gave her oxycontin last night and demerol.She is also on an IV of fentanyl, and an epideral but they are trying to get her off all the IV's so there giving her more pills. All she keeps asking for is the ambien and before she even swallows the medicine she is already acting fine. I know alot of it is psycological because all these pain medication should help but she says she is still in pain without the ambien. She was getting different prescriptions from different doctors and also online. We are going to try to slowly taper her off the meds but we are just afraid of her trying to commit suicide if she doesnt get what she wants. She actually had 3 knives in her purse and i found them when she was in the recovery room. I think she was planning to kill herself if her surgery didnt go well or if the doctors werent going to give her the ambien. I know she will most likely have to go into a rehab but again we are afriad of her trying to commit suicide. She seems so happy and normal and wants to get better when she has the ambien (not tired like you would expect) but the minute it wears off she is a different person and doesnt care about what this medication could be doing to her body. I know she was in alot of pain and i dont blame her for using the meds cause i would have probably taken anything that would have helped I just dont understand why doctors wait so long to do anything. My sister has wanted this surgery for years for them to remove her bladder and now she had to rely on drugs and became an addict.I know she wouldn't be an addict if they would have just done something for her then.

[kinipela]

Thanks for all your comments!! Her doctor that did the surgery knows about her addiction now and told the family to not pressure her right now to stop using since she just had a big surgery and needs to recover. She is still in the hospital and she is getting about 100mg (much less than usual) of the ambien a day but she wants more even though she is getting ativan,vicodin (was on dilauded)and they gave her oxycontin last night and demerol.She is also on an IV of fentanyl, and an epideral but they are trying to get her off all the IV's so there giving her more pills. All she keeps asking for is the ambien and before she even swallows the medicine she is already acting fine. I know alot of it is psycological because all these pain medication should help but she says she is still in pain without the ambien. She was getting different prescriptions from different doctors and also online. We are going to try to slowly taper her off the meds but we are just afraid of her trying to commit suicide if she doesnt get what she wants. She actually had 3 knives in her purse and i found them when she was in the recovery room. I think she was planning to kill herself if her surgery didnt go well or if the doctors werent going to give her the ambien. I know she will most likely have to go into a rehab but again we are afriad of her trying to commit suicide. She seems so happy and normal and wants to get better when she has the ambien (not tired like you would expect) but the minute it wears off she is a different person and doesnt care about what this medication could be doing to her body. I know she was in alot of pain and i dont blame her for using the meds cause i would have probably taken anything that would have helped I just dont understand why doctors wait so long to do anything. My sister has wanted this surgery for years for them to remove her bladder and now she had to rely on drugs and became an addict.I know she wouldn't be an addict if they would have just done something for her then.

[Carrie76]

I'm sorry also, but I know nothing about ambien either. If she has tried to commit suicide due to the pain, then I would say c/t would NOT be the way. Maybe she could use something else to help with the pain while she very slowely tapers off the ambien??

[GA Guy]

I can almost bet that she's not being prescribed these dosages. More than likely she's an internet buyer. I have seen other people on insanely high dosages of this drug. I've never heard of it used for pain..although it does get rid of my tension headaches when I take my dose at night. The key is going to be coming clean to a doctor and doing a slow taper. I'd treat it just like a benzo, and wouldn't even attempt a cold turkey detox. Try going down 10mg increments every week or so..slow and steady wins the race.

[allaboutmary]

So sorry. Don't know much at all about ambien for pain. My mother was taking it and we had to get her off it because she was staggering around the next day. I can't even imagine how your sister is functioning on all she is taking. My guess would be get in touch with doctor that is prescribing that to her. Best of luck to you and your sister.

[wait2long]

you are not being ignored hun...most are still sleeping and it does slow down here on the weekends...be patient hun...someone will answer you soon...i do not know a thing about ambien...sorry....