I took ambien for 2 weeks as a trial to see if it was something I wanted to continue taking. I stopped cold turkey, from 15mg per day (1 1/2 pills). The withdrawals are so severe that after 11 days of not taking it, I am still in severe pain, too tired to do anything, and feel extremely cold.
This is precisely the same feeling you get from opiate withdrawal, however the duration is much, much longer than pain killer withdrawal. I consider myself an intellectual person. I am extremely attentive to how things affect my body. I've spent a lifetime studying drugs, health and fitness. My family works in medicine.
I have taken many medications for various surgeries and ailments, and have stopped all of them cold turkey at some point. All medications give side effects that are severe for a few days, but I have never experienced any withdrawals that have persisted steadily, for 11 days after only taking the medication for 14 days. Ambien is by far the most addictive medicine I've ever taken, not because of the effects, but because of the side effects.