I was given Ambien to help with sleep. Not only did I have short term memory problems but physical problems -aching all over. Fortunately the side affects did go away as soon as the medicine wore off. I agree with choo choo - the stuff is poison.
I was given Ambien CR to stop me from waking up so much up in the middle of the night. It caused me short-term memory problems, too, but the problems went away after I stopped taking it. I had a really bad problem with doing stuff in the morning and having no recollection of what I did. I'd actually do quite complicated things, too, like have breakfast, a conversation with my partner and check my email. Personally, the stuff creeps me out. I, too, will not put that stuff in my body again.