Can't sleep without taking Zopiclone - 9 days in

Thanks for your reply- it's really nice to talk to someone about this.

I had 0 hours sleep last night and I'm currently on an early shift in work.

It's been almost 11 days since I last slept naturally. All other sleeps have been 'chemical' - induced by sleeping pills.

I feel I may have done sleeping pills wrong though - as I've been taking them around 1am when I give up tossing and turning.

I have a good diet, I'm 23 and I take multivitamins everyday.

I just have a fear of not sleeping and it gets worse as it goes on. I don't know if I'm suffering from depression but the insomnia has introduced some bad feelings

Do you think I should stick with the pills and take them at 10pm to get a normal pattern back? Or to go cold turkey again like tonight.

I don't want this to last any longer

You're suffering from classic case of anxiety induced insomnia. Sleep is a state of relaxation of our brain, and relaxation and worry doesn't mix well, so you will not sleep well if you're worried. So the fear is something you should address. The sleep will come back once the fear is gone.

Dealing with the fear is really hard, you need to find a way to relax, how to let go, how to focus on different things than sleep. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) might help, meditation might help, listening to a podcast can help. You need to experiment and find what works for you.

You might also visit a psychiatrist and try to address your anxiety medically. Just be careful with what they prescribe, benzodiazepine should be no-no. They cause dependance and tolerance with prolonged used. SSRI helped me when my insomnia started, they are safe, but not as strong as benzo and take a few weeks to kick-in (which seems like years for someone in your situation, I know ). 

Zopiclone you're taking has similar risks to benzos. It causes dependance with prolonged use. It makes the brain unable to relax on it's own (but you're not at this point yet, so don't worry about that, it takes weeks). So try to limit the usage as much as possible. I know it's hard and frustrating (I myself have gone 3 nights without any sleep this week). But pills are not the cure, medicine doesn't have a safe and effective sleeping pill. The only way is to change the way you (and I) think about sleep.

Be strong, it will get better, you're not alone in this. There are milions of people suffering from exactly the same issue.

Oh dear! So you don't sleep at all if you don't take the meds? And when you take the meds, how many hours do you sleep? One thing that helped me get back on track while tapering off lorazepam was tart cherry juice, said to be rich in melatonin. I was like you, just desperate for a natural sleep rhythm once again. It felt like torture. Maybe try tapering off the medication and see how your body reacts, so your brain may adjust to getting back to rest naturally. During the day, do you get much sun or exercise? Exercise is good because it can help wear you out and burn off stress at the same time. With my experience, I can tell you that the good, natural sleep probably isn't going to come suddenly but gradually.

-Rachel

Thanks for this. 

I have 3 pills of Zopiclone left and then my Dr won't perscribe me anymore.

I am terrified of not having there to help if I can't get some sleep.

I have been trying to go to bed everynight, trying to go to sleep naturally but I end up taking the tabs at around 12am becuause my body hasn't shut down naturally.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do when I have no more pills left?

I have been on them for  2 weeks now

Do you have a stress problem? If you didn't have to get up to go to work in the morning or take on whatever resposibilities you do, do you feel you would sleep better then? Do you sleep Friday and Saturday nights, when maybe you've got the next day free?

The worst you are probably doing is worrying about sleep all day. Do whatever you can that leads you away from thinking of the night and sleep, just try to enjoy the day without stressing yourself.

If you doc feels there's anyway you might sleep naturally, even if it means changing your job, I doubt s/he'll prescribe any drugs. In the UK, the drug licence only recommends us for up to 28 days; in the US, eszopiclone can be prescribed longer.

In essence, you've got to try and put all your cares and stresses behind you. You're still in your early twenties, you must find a way of enjoying life and stop worrying.

The thing is, you wont get some sleep while you're terrified.

You shouldn't try to fix your sleep, you should try to address your anxiety about sleep.

The thing is Zopiclone is not a cure, it doesn't address the reason why you don't sleep, it only masks the symptoms (your insomnia) by knocking your brain out, and it can do that only temporarily. These drugs cause real physical dependance and the rebound insomnia during withdrawal is nothing you've experienced. People go months with as little as one hour of sleep every few nights, because the brain is unable to self-regulate it's activity, because of changes this drug has done to GABA receptors. You really don't want to go that way, and thats why your Dr won't prescribe anymore.

The medication that helped me during initial stages was a combination of Escitalopram - a safe SSRI, chlorprothixene (while the SSRI kicked in). Chlorprothixene is an old antipsychotic with strong sedative effect, it doesn't cause physical dependance, but looses effectivnes in a few months. Tapering off was ok.

If you go down the pills you way just be aware that all sleep drugs loose effectivness after time, so you need to use the time of clear thinking to learn a way how to cope with your anxiety without drugs, either by yourself, or with help of a therapist.

The problem happens every night - even if I'm going to work the next morning or not.

I am terrified of not sleeping and feeling awful and depressed the next day.

Before my problem started a few weeks ago now , I would go to bed around 10pm and drift off straight away and wake up around 8am (heaven I know).

so I have this expectation of what I should be getting and what I'm not getting.

I have 2 zopiclone tablets left and I wake every day with anxiety problems about how I'm going to cope without them in two days time

My insomnia did not come on quite so quickly as yours, but I know the problem with facing the doctor. I'd go to see her, tell her my sleep problem and she'd simply say something like: "I don't give out sleeping pills." I'd explain that I didn't know how I'd go on, that I'd just lie awake at night just getting more an more bored and more and more tired and, of course, without medication, more and more worried. I'd then get another prescription, but it wasn't to go on, things would have to be sorted out, etc etc.

Sarah,

My insomnia kicked back up again! I thought of you. Isn't this terrible? It's been since Saturday night and each night I've gotten at most 4 hours. I've been stressing about a family issue and I can't seem to get it off my mind. The first time I had the week stretch of no sleep came out of the blue. 

Have you tried tapering off the medication?

Hi there.

Sorry for the late reply.

Sorry to hear that your insomnia has crept up again it really is the worst!

I'm still on zopiclone but my GP has just prescribed me cilatropam which she thinks may help.

Because I've been on and off different tablets , she thinks the cause of my insomnia may be depression and anxiety.

I'm yet to try these drugs as I'm a bit hesitant .

Have you managed to sleep recently ? Take care x

Cilatropam is much safer drug than zopiclone, but takes a few weeks to fully kick in, so it would be better to start taking them. You most likely will not feel any effect for few days.

SSRI help me tremendously.

I'm a bit scared about starting them as I've heard some horror stories about them causing insomnia.

Did you have any nasty side effects ?

I was on escitalopram, and never noticed insomnia as a side effect. I think it might cause insomnia for people that are suffering from depression without they sleep being affected, as SSRI will make you active (motivated). So it might affect sleep this way. But for me, it allowed me to calm down, fight the sleep anxiety and in general don't worry that much about sleep, thus improving my sleep.

I didn't noticed any bad side effects.

Hi sarah,

No worries!

I slept about an hour each night all week. This morning, I didn't have to work so I stayed in bed, slept on and off from 5am to 11am this morning. I knew I was sleeping because I would dream, wake up, dream, wake up, etc.

I want to do stuff today and enjoy my weekend but I'm not very motivated. I have a headache from lack of sleep.

When I had a severe bout back in the winter, my doctor said my insomnia is from depression and anxiety.

I've tried sleeping pills and they don't work. Melatonin and tart cherry juice makes me tired but my brain won't shut off.

I'm going to try 5-HTP tonight, I'll let you know how that goes. This no sleeping business is making me feel bad, teary, depressed like I'll never sleep again but I'm trying to be hopeful.

Citalopram should help you sleep. My brother suffers from anxiety and it helped him, though he was very tired during his adjustment period. I was on citalopram 3 years ago, I didn't notice anything bad about it except I was a little more energized than usual but I still slept.

Rachel

Hello Sarah, is it better now? How are you? I am suffering from the same thing, am very grateful there are others in this same thing. You can try Bedoxine and limon balm. It didn't help me fully, but those are vitamins and natural tea, they relaxed me nicely.Was close to falling asleep with them, but it was already day, unfortinatelly i cant sleep during the day. Hugs..

Hey Sarah,

Just to let you know I found this thread because I googled the exact same title as your thread in search.

Ive never considered myself insomniac although I used to regularly stay up all night.

Then it got to point where I cannot fall asleep if I have to wake up for something. So if I set an alarm - or have to be somewhere next day, I just have to stay awake.

Luckily the following evening I'm usually tired enough to fall asleep but Ive recently taken zopiklon to help me (as Ive had a seriously important week of work) and now without zopiklon my brain feels hardwired / rigid and the normal release of that sleepy feeling just doesn't arise.

Did you sort out the issue. Did you manage to sleep in the end. And what was your solution?