I am quite experienced with zolpidem (US: Ambien, Europe: Stilnocht, Stilnox etc.). I suffer from insomnia and over the recent years I have used zolpidem about 200 times... not only because it's good for sleeping but also because I find its effects on me strange, magical and enjoyable.
Zolpidem
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: Ambien, Edluar, Stilnox, Stilnoct, Sublinox
Summary
Zolpidem (also known as Ambien, Intermezzo, Edluar, Stilnoct, Stilnox, Zolpimist, and others) is a non-benzodiazepine hypnotic of the imidazopyridine chemical class which is primarily used in the treatment of insomnia. When taken at recreational doses, it reportedly produces powerful and notoriously bizarre atypical hallucinogenic, dissociative, deliriant and even psychedelic effects. Zolpidem is a member of a family colloquially known as a "Z-drug." Other Z-drugs include zaleplon (Sonata) and zopiclone (Imovane).
Dose Information
Dose basis. Ladder is TripSit’s published range and matches the FDA label: Common (5–10 mg) is the labelled therapeutic range, and Strong begins at 10 mg — the maximum labelled daily dose. The FDA lowered the recommended dose in 2013 and recommends 5 mg for women, who clear zolpidem more slowly. Anything in the Strong band is already above what a prescriber would give.
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 2.5-5mg | 5-10mg | 10-20mg | 20-30mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources
Oral
Dose ladder — TripSitOnset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 15-45 min | 30-45 min | 1-3 hrs | 3-5 hrs | 5-10 hrs |
Tolerance
Build-up
develops within 1–2 weeks of nightly use; cross-tolerant with benzodiazepines
Reset
Falls after you stop, at a rate that varies from person to person. If you've been using regularly, cut down gradually with medical help rather than stopping suddenly.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for these drugs were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
How fast tolerance to these drugs fades after a break has not been measured well enough to draw, so don't count on a dose you used to take still being safe: after time off, start with a much smaller amount and don't use alone. Mixing sedatives with each other, with alcohol or with opioids sharply raises the risk of a fatal overdose. If you've been using regularly, don't stop suddenly: withdrawal from benzodiazepines, alcohol or GHB/GBL can cause seizures or delirium, so get medical help to cut down gradually.
Sources: FRANK: benzodiazepines · Alcohol and Drug Foundation: GHB · FDA 2020: benzodiazepine boxed warning · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing · NHS: alcohol use disorder
Cross-Tolerances
Benzodiazepines
Other Z‑drugs (zopiclone, eszopiclone, zaleplon)
Effects
Aggregated from 229 single-substance Erowid and 71 Bluelight experience reports (the Bluelight figures come from the 50 of them read for effects); 125 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 43
29.4% (95% interval 24 to 35 percent)
87%
25.5% (95% interval 21 to 31 percent)
78%
19.7% (95% interval 16 to 25 percent)
84%
16.2% (95% interval 12 to 22 percent)
–
14.7% (95% interval 11 to 19 percent)
79%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
79%
13.9% (95% interval 10 to 18 percent)
88%
12.6% (95% interval 9 to 17 percent)
83%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
79%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
82%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
86%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
88%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
79%
7.2% (95% interval 5 to 11 percent)
82%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
78%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
78%
4.3% (95% interval 2 to 7 percent)
77%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
75%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
Show 23 more positive effects
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
75%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
3.6% (95% interval 2 to 6 percent)
80%
2.9% (95% interval 2 to 6 percent)
75%
2.2% (95% interval 1 to 5 percent)
–
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
95%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
Adverse Effects 48
56.0% (95% interval 42 to 69 percent)
89%
30.0% (95% interval 19 to 44 percent)
80%
23.3% (95% interval 19 to 29 percent)
91%
22.9% (95% interval 18 to 28 percent)
80%
22.0% (95% interval 13 to 35 percent)
72%
20.0% (95% interval 11 to 33 percent)
84%
18.2% (95% interval 14 to 23 percent)
83%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
86%
17.5% (95% interval 14 to 22 percent)
88%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
83%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
84%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
86%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
92%
Auditory Effects
10.7% (95% interval 8 to 15 percent)
88%
9.0% (95% interval 6 to 13 percent)
80%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
82%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
91%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
84%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
87%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
83%
2.6% (95% interval 1 to 6 percent)
–
1.7% (95% interval 1 to 4 percent)
–
Show 26 more adverse effects
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
88%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
3.3% (95% interval 2 to 6 percent)
75%
2.6% (95% interval 1 to 6 percent)
–
2.2% (95% interval 1 to 5 percent)
–
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
Also reported in combinations. In the 125 Zolpidem reports where another drug was taken too, 18 (14.4%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 1 (0.8%) a seizure and 2 (1.6%) psychosis. In the 229 single-substance reports: 6.1%, 1.7% and 2.6%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Zolpidem alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Zolpidem with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 2 positive 1 neutral 5 cautionary visit
Having been prescribed zolpidem for insomnia, I discovered the fun I could have with it completely by accident. I had taken my ususal dose of 10mg before bed one night, I decided I would watch some tv while I waited for it to work.
Ambien When I first took Ambien recreationally, I had read that it would get me high and decided to try it. At first, I took two 10mg pills, and then I took two more when the effects began to start. For the first 15 minutes, I felt nothing. Then, music began to sound incredible.
I had just gotten back from a 5 day cruise where I was completely sober the entire time. I had tried to get alcohol from several people, but no one was very helpful. Once we made it to St. Martin, I figured I'd at least be able to buy some weed and maybe even a cool looking bowl if I was lucky.
First time: My friend gave me an Ambien pill for free. It was white with AMB10 on one side and the number on the other side. it was maybe .7 centimeters long and looked like it wsa made of chalk.
Introduction For as long as I can remember, I have had a complicated relationship with sleep. At times I would sleep for over 16 hours each day, caught in a complex mishmash of consciousness where I could barely tell dreams from reality.
During my late teen to early twenties, I was fully immersed in the recreational drug scene, perhaps more dangerously than I cared to admit at the time. Through connections I had made, it was fairly easy for me to get hold of most abusable pharmaceuticals from Opioids to Benzos.
Theres a lot of different opinions and rumours circulating the internet nowadays regarding newly developed sleep meds and if they can be used long term, short term, if the have any side effects or are liable to cause tolerance.
Bluelight 6 threads 2 positive 2 neutral 2 cautionary visit
Ambien - Experienced - A Colection of Reports First time: My friend gave me an Ambien pill for free. It was white with AMB10 on one side and the number on the other side. it was maybe .7 centimeters long and looked like it wsa made of chalk.
Substance: Zolpidem Tartrate 10mg - oral Supplemental substances (those taken at/around the same time): Nortriptyline 10mg (also prescribed to me), Alcohol (½ bottle Mike’s Hard Lemonade), Tobacco (shisha – administered by smoking hookah) – also oral for all Age: 22 Gender: Female Height: 60 inches (~152 cm) Weight: 93...
Ambien 10mg - First time - Dancing and Reconstruction Ambien 10mg (zolpidem tartrate) First time experience with any sleep aides Intense Visuals, but very handleable (that a word?) I've always had issues with my sleep, and being in medical school doesn't help the least bit on my sleep schedule.
So ill first start off by saying that i dont have a time table or anything, as I wasn't even expecting to go on a journey. I wouldnt say this was a trip in the typical sense, but rather a really interesting experience that i feel has expanded my mind.
To begin, let me just say that I did not mean to get high! I did not know that you could get high on zolpidem/Ambien, but I was verrry pleasantly surprised by my experience on it I suffered with depression for a few years and, besides being on an antidepressant (Lexapro) daily, I was prescribed Ambien for occasional in...
Prologue: -> Here <- you can see which experience I had until this 'little' overdose. You will see it was at the beginning of my drug career. DISCLAIMER: Like all my posting I've written this one in all conscience.
Pill Identifiers
25
known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images
→
Zolpidem's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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Helpful Links
Import into PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app includes Zolpidem, but its built-in data can be thinner than ours. Importing this file adds a separate "Zolpidem (Substance Search)" custom substance with our dose ranges and durations, so you can log against whichever you prefer. It leaves tolerance out on purpose, for the reason given under Tolerance above.
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