3rd day cold turkey should i give up ? my doctor does nt support this

Posted , 4 users are following.

long and short I have cystic fibrosis its a lung illness I ve been on zopiclone coming up to 3 to 4 years everyday 3.75mg or less I ve had a awful 2 weeks and went from 1 and half pills to a full 7.5 only for two days tho .

my back story is I asked my doctor for help (this monday ) as its him who has give em me a top up of sleeping pills endlessly for 3 years. 

he says go to CRI | Drugs, alcohol the next town over. 

i stopped cold turkey tuesday night its not friday , i ve not had a sleep yet due to my legs kicking out just as i dirft off. 

i told the cri place what i was doing and my local has called saying that he does nt support me just stopping and to just get back on them 

am so upset... 3 days of hell ... for nothing.. what should i do ? 

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Posted

    It's not surprising that your body is reacting the way it is. You need to taper your coming off such as half a pill for a week, 1/4 pill for a week, then 1/4 every 2nd day for a week, then every 3rd day for a week and so on. Try to do some exercise on your off day if that'spossible with your condition. And remember, you won't die through lack of sleep for a few days,
    • Posted

      thanks for the reply I feel so down atm but thats due to lack of sleep..  if i do give in and take a pill how much do u think I should talk the full blown ? 7.5 or just 3.75 

      am just abit scared if am honest i really wanted to just drop the zopiclone but it seems 3 plus year (everyday took arund 3.75) has made me a mess over the last 3 days .. b4 that i was in a&e because i d not sleeped for 4 days ...

      am really thinking of going one more then without them to see if i sleep or maybe just take half a pills and see if the RLS leg jerk stop 

       

  • Posted

    Decide to stop but not all in a rush and a roar. Taper slowly, don't be impatient with yourself and find something to do when you are awake like listening to audio books or white noise or the world service... It will take some weeks so be prepared for that.
  • Posted

    Try if you are allowed it 5hpt, It is from boots or holland and barret. I worked for me eventually but I have only tried it for one night. I went to bed having taken the tablet and expected some response within an hour -nothing happened - went on line and found it could take up to three hours to kick in. Went to sleep after two and a half. It does something to your seritone level which is how many of the prescription stuff works. Zopiclone is the king but I am afraid a banished ruler. I have been on Zopiclone since 2008 and all of a sudden it is the bad guy. You share my sympathy - god nows I have been on rescue - crap   Valeria made me feel not so good, Kalms, Zolpidem, Hydro something. Anti histamine and haunted the doctors but zopiclone does not seem to have an efficient equivalent that is ok to have - UNLESS SOMEONE PLEASE TELLS ME DIFFERENT SO I CAN TELL  MY DOCTOR. You have my full sympathy - I have leukaemia and my life is about 75 per cent of what is should be and being messed about with sleep is not funny. I would not mind if it came glaringly to the newspapers for one week how bad zopiclone is supposed to be but it gets no publicity at all.
  • Posted

    Hi Oliver, I hope you're feeling a little better now. Did you go cold turkey in the end? I stopped taking zopiclones recently and had 3 or 4 nights without any real sleep, but after about 7 to 10 days things got better, partly with the help of Nytol. Weirdly, Nytol leaves me feeling worse in the mornings than zopiclone ever did, but at the end of the day an old fashioned antihistamine has got to be less trouble than zopiclone. If you want to taper off, I would definitely try halving your dose for a week or two, and then even quarter it for a bit following that. 
    • Posted

      hello yeah guys am still not 100% atm . i ve had very little atm from my gp . I ve not been out the house for 14 days . 

      atm am doing 1 day on 3.75 mg or nothing and the next on 7.5 mg  etc 

      am finding it very hard atm and i don t really think skipping a day and being at 7.5 mg is helping all thats happening is am not sleep for one day and then next day on the 7.5 sleep for 6 hours and make up feeling on edge all day .

      i would love to just stop em cold turkey and have 4 days of hell and use a low amount of dazipan but am not sure my doc would let me .. 

      i have 28 tabs of 2 mg of dazipan from A@e i was thinking of taking 2 mg the first week am off of zop and then 1 mg next week, and off 

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.