Ambien and abdominal pains
In 2005, I was presecribed Ambien as a sleeping aid. At the beginning, it seemed too good to be true; I would sink into a peaceful, restful sleep without any problem, and I'd wake up refreshed with no leftover drugged feeling in the morning. I used the Ambien maybe once every week or two.
I started getting bad abdominal pains, but it took a long time before I made any connection between the Ambien and the pains. The pains were very localized; I could point to the exact painful spots. At first, there was a painful spot right below my sternum. Later, I would also get pains to the left or right of my navel. The pains would come on gradually and would last several hours. The painful spots were not always in exactly the right places each time.
As the pains worsened, I sought medical treatment. I underwent every sort of test. I drank barium and had X-rays; I had an MRI; and so on. I had a full work-over. None of the tests turned up any detectable problem at all.
My doctor prescribed me a drug on the possibility that the problem could be acid reflux. While I was in the office, I forgot to ask whether this new drug could interact with the Ambien, so I stopped taking the Ambien until I could see my doctor again. About a month went by in which I did not use Ambien at all. During this time, the abdominal pains gradually lessened over a period of weeks, and eventually disappeared.
When I saw my doctor again, he said there were no known interactions between Ambien and the other drug I was taking for possible acid reflux. So, I took Ambien again a few nights later. The next afternoon, the abdominal pains came back. This was the first time I had used Ambien in a month, and it was also the first time I had had the pains since they had tapered off. I still had not made the connection, however. Over the next few days after the dose, the pains slowly began to taper off.
I took Ambien a second time a few nights later. The next afternoon, the pains became much worse again.
Now I finally figured out the pattern. If I took Ambien before bedtime, the pains would start up the next afternoon. They would gradually fade over several days or weeks.
I researched this on the web. Some descriptions of Ambien, but not all, list abdominal pains as an uncommon side effect of Ambien. It was not listed in my doctor's reference book, and he was skeptical of the hypothesis that the Ambien was causing my pains. I'm convinced that this is the right explanation, however; the correlation I was seeing between the times of taking Ambien and the following times of the pains seemed clear. Stopping the Ambien use was followed by to a gradual tapering-off and disapperance of the problem.
The gastroenterologist was less skeptical. He said that he could not give an exact explanation, but he said that Ambien works on the GABA receptors, and there are many GABA receptor sites in the abdomen. The perception of pain involves the GABA receptors, he said.
It's surprising that Ambien should cause such problems so long after the dose. Since Ambien has such a short half-life, it is unexpected that it should be causing such problems for so long after the dose. I am unable to give an explanation; I'm simply reporting a clear correlation which I observed.
I discontinued using Ambien in late August 2005. As of this writing (May 2006), I have had no further incidents of the abdominal pain. I predict that I could induce the pains again by taking Ambien, but I don't care to experiment further without a good reason.
Somebody named Richard wrote to me with the following experience:
Hi Sean,
I found your website describing your reaction to Ambien by doing a google search on Ambien & abdominal pain.
I have been using Ambien off & on for about 6 months now. After taking it for the 1st month (aprrox every other night) I noticed my left breast swelling and being sore (Gynecamastia) as well as a burning soreness in my left abdominal area under the edge of my rib cage.
I had an ultrasound which reveled nothing. My Doctor doesn't believe that Ambien is the cause of either problem.
I recently tried a week without the Ambien and did notice significant reduction in both left breast soreness and abdominal soreness. As well as a significant improvement in overall mood despite the fact that I was very tired from not getting enough rest.
I started taking the Ambien again 2 nights in a row now and today I am having the pain again.
I was relieved to find your posting (THANK-YOU) it has given me hope that if I can stay away from the Ambien that I may heal my abdominal/breast issues.
Have you found any alternative that works for you to help sleep on those nights that you MUST get good sleep (meeting w/ boss, etc...)?
Thanks again for sharing your experience.
Regards,
Rick