Ambien overdose! What to do next?

Sounds like you made it through it. I’d just chalk that one up as lucky and move on while being careful not to let it happen again.

What does the packaging say? There should be an 800 number to call.

Ambien has a pretty short half life (2–3 hours), so it should be out of your system by now. The way you were feeling today was most likely from having the extra medication in your system. How are you feeling now? Have you had a problem with forgetting that you have already taken your medication before? If you are really concerned about it, don’t take a dose tonight, and call your doctor in the morning. If you are feeling fine, and assuming you are healthy in all other ways, taking your normal dose tonight should not be a problem. If you have any health issues that could effect the rate that your body processes the medication, that could cause the medication to stay in your system longer than expected and could have an effect when you take the dose tonight.

No need to tell anyone. They can’t do anything, esp by tomorrow. I think, but I’m not certain , that even though you overdosed you won’t be able to sleep unless you take your normal 5mg?? tonight. Evil drug.

You should be fine by the evening. If I were you though, I’d start a log of each time you take your pill and anything that happens thereafter. I say this because pretty much all people I know who’ve talked about taking Ambien have had some very strange things happen and some of them not good at all.

A partner of mine used to sleepwalk while on his and have very bad dreams. A co worker of mine recently told us he woke up to find a new ($3000.) plasma screen tv sitting in his living room that he apparently had purchased in the wee hours of the morning but didn’t recall. A few other acquaintances say they lost track of time and couldn’t remember appointments, how much they’d been drinking during the night, phone calls, tons of stuff.

I’d put it down to experience and try not to let it hapen again. maybe next time, keep the tablets in naother room to avoid the same thing happening again.
Those things are pesky :/

It’s already the next day. If you were panicked the time to call was last night. My advice is get a pill keeper for each day of the week, so you don’t make the same mistake again. And, it concerns me you take ambien daily, because it is so addictive, unless you have tried everything and this was truly the only way you can fall asleep.

I thought I would elaborate a little more. Ambien has a very short half life, which means your body eliminates it very quickly. Ambien is a go to sleep drug, not a sleeping pill. Anyway, the reason you can take it like normal tonight, is that even with your overdose, 24 hours later it is all gone out of your body. If it were a different drug this might not be the case, so don’t take this answer regarding Ambien as a universal ok to take a drug on schedule after a double dose.

I’ve been taking 10mg Ambiens for over a year to help me sleep. I have an inoperable pheochromocytoma so take enough downers to paralyze a moose. Short of mama loading up a dart gun and chasing me down like a bear. The Doc just discontinued me from Clonidine and Ambien due to hallucinations. now its blood pressure and valium after dinner, then Ambien when I am ready to go to bed. Unfortunately sometimes Ambien takes a while to sink in then POW I am out like a light, Other times I drift lazily off to sleep. and this is a pretty big dose. But this is the first time I’ve OD’d. I am reading it could have been a lot more serious. I didn’;t realize so last night.

do not take another dose tonight.

20mg of ambien is twice the recommended max dose. As was said above, the half-life is very short, 2–3 hours approx, but that depends on your kidney function, of course. IF you are otherwise healthy, I would say it’s OK to take another dose tonight, but you should definitely avoid alcohol or benzodiazepines (ativan, xanax, klonopin, etc) today and tomorrow. If you have other medical illnesses that may affect your kidneys, don’t take the med until you check in with your doctor. Of course, you it’s always OK to call your own doctor and ask. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

The pill keeper, as @JLeslie said above is your best bet to avoid this happening again. Get one and fill it each week and don’t take the pills from your bottle, only use the pill keeper.

A helpful idea as well (which I do with my own meds) is I make a list of the medicines, what time I take them, and post it on the wall. That way, each day, you can mark off that you took the medicine at the right time and the right dose.

@Neizvestnaya – Wow! That means your co-worker actually got in his car and drove while zoned out on drugs.

“Hey man, do we have any of that plutonian nyborg left?”
“Yeah man, just one bag in the transmitter compartment.”
“Is this enough?”
“Nah! Go for broke, man!”
“Good thinking, man!”
“You okay to fly this thing?”
“Yeah! You know you’re stoned, so you just let your hands run the controls as if you’re straight.”
CRASH!!!!