If you’re thinking about snorting Ambien to get high (we do not endorse snorting any drug), you need to know how to prevent potential harm.
Here, we review what happens in the body while snorting Ambien, as well as the dangers and safety concerns of snorting Ambien (you can get addicted to Ambien for years). Then, we invite your questions about using Ambien at the end. We try to answer all legitimate questions about Ambien with a personal and prompt reply.
Ambien: What are you really snorting?
Ambien contains the drug zolpidem, and is used to help treat insomnia, or troubling falling and staying asleep. Ambien stay in your system for a few days and comes as both a regular and extended-release tablet. In addition to the active ingredient zolpidem, Ambien contains the following inactive ingredients: colloidal silicon dioxide, hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, potassium bitartrate, red ferric oxide, sodium starch glycolate, and coloring agents.
Snorting Ambien to get high
Snorting Ambien allows zolpidem to be rapidly absorbed into the blood stream through nasal tissues. This can be dangerous, because snorting causes the drug to be absorbed in higher amounts than would normally enter the blood all at once. Such a large dose can result in overdose, resulting in dangerously low blood pressure, slowed breathing, and potential death. Even if you don’t overdose on Ambien, snorting it raises the risk of serious adverse effects compared to oral administration.
How does snorting Ambien affect the body?
Ambien is part of the sedative-hypnotic family of medications. Ambien works by slowing activity in the brain, which causes drowsiness. However, Ambien can also cause psychoactive effects if it’s taken in a manner other than prescribed snorting, for example. Possible psychoactive effects of snorting Ambien include hallucinations, but more commonly insufflated Ambien just causes trouble with concentration, focus, and coordination. Note also that even when taken as presribed, Ambien can cause memory loss if it’s taken without getting a full 7-8 hours of sleep.
Snorting Ambien vs oral
Ambien is only intended to be taken orally. The oral preparation is the safer of the two methods, for sure. Although snorting Ambien causes a quicker onset of effects, it also puts you at risk of the toxic effects of the drug.
Snorting Ambien side effects
Taking Ambien orally usually causes drowsiness and dizziness. In some people, Ambien can cause sleepwalking, and even carrying out daily activities during sleep. This can range from driving, to cooking, to even initiating sexual encounters – none of which the person will have any memory of doing. As you can imagine, this already extremely dangerous behavior is more than possible when you snort Ambien. Severe side effects of Ambien are more rare, but may occur more often when the medication is not taken as prescribed. Possible serious side effects of snorting Ambien include:
- blurred vision
- chest pain
- changes in mood or mental health
- pounding heartbeat
- slowed breathing or heartbeat
Snorting Ambien dangers
The side effects of snorting Ambien can be serious. Insufflating Ambien can put you at risk of accidents due to the drowsiness and confusion it causes. But snorting drugs also increases harm in ways that you may not expect. Snorting can harm your nasal passages and spread diseases like bacterial infections or Hepatitis, especially if you are sharing snorting straws/instruments. Snorting Ambien can also increase the risk that you will become addicted to this habit-forming medication. And, of course, snorting Ambien puts you at risk of overdose and death.
Snorting Ambien safely
While the FDA warns against snorting Ambien, it is safer to take the lower-dose, immediately-release tablet nasally than the extended-release tablet, which is not intended to be taken all at once. As a general guide, the FDA recommends no more than 12.5 mg of Ambien per day.
Snorting Ambien questions
Do you still have questions about snorting Ambien? If so, please let us know. We respond to all Ambien questions with a personal and prompt reply. And if we don’t know the answer, we will refer you to someone who does!