Ambien - Dream or Nightmare?

Here it is Saturday, and I took my first Ambien last night.  I checked online to see the risks involved, and didn't like it one little bit!  So I cut my pill in half.  And thank goodness!  They're supposed to be taken on an empty stomach -- um, what does that constitute?  2 hours after eating?  4 hours?  There aren't enough hours between getting home from work, eating dinner and going to bed.  *sigh*  So I just took it when I crawled into bed.  They're supposed to work rather quick, so I laid there and waited.  30 minutes go by and .. no sleep, but I didn't feel right.  Checked my FitBit and my heart rate -- which is normally in the high 60s just before sleep -- was galloping at 89 BPM.  Not so fast if it's
during the day while I'm at work, but too fast for sleeping IMO.  Deep breathing exercises didn't lower my pulse at all, and sometimes I can get it to 58 right before sleep.  Add to that, it also made me feel like a hot flash was taking over .... usually those happen about 3am, not right at bed time. 

With some of the stories I read about, I was worried that I might do something .... odd .... in the middle of the night so I hid my car keys (hope I can find them tomorrow morning!! haha) and tucked the bottle of pills away so I wouldn't wake up and think I needed to take another.  Some folks had written about doing some odd things, and I just didn't want to be one of those!!   One woman wrote that she drove to the store and bought some whipped cream.  Another wrote that she had gone to the next door neighbor's house to get some ice cream.  I live alone!  That can't be me!!

While I "slept" ... it wasn't any more restful (my Fitbit didn't log more than the normal 'deep sleep') or a longer length of time than regular sleep.  I'll have to take a whole one next time -- Tuesday night -- because I don't dare take them on a night before my workday!  And the whole addictive-ness warnings, and the withdrawals after taking them for a time .... naw this isn't for me.  I recognize these are unusual circumstances, but maybe it's better to just "tough it out" .

I think that as soon as the weather cools a bit, I can go back to walking Sadie in the stroller each evening after work and deal with the insomnia that way.  I'm not one for taking pills, and especially not these kind that mess with you!