Long term use of Zopiclone

I also have the worst time due to taking Zopiclone long term,but find that without taking it at all I get the worst withdrawal symptoms with hallucinations,palpitations and nightmares.

Doctors give such conflicting advice,a cardiologist told me to increase the dose by 3.75. My usual prescription is7.50.My GP tells me to decrease the dose to 3.75 each night,another says one night on and one night off

the 7.50 dose.The bottom line is that they just DON'T know or realize the true damage these pills cause.

I wish I had an answer for you and also for myself,but all I know is that I want to get a good night's normal

sleep which has eluded me since 2000,probably longer.

I am much too scared to take other pills for fear of bad side effects.It does not help that I am alone and have no family support.

I break up the pills with my pill slicer. I take one 5mg and half of another. Tonight I will try to take less. 6 1/3 hours yes isnt that bad, but I am someone who needs much much more and I didnt really sleep for three weeks so I need to catch up badly.

Wendl, I am sorry to hear you have no family support. Have you talked to a psychologist? I am starting yoga classes today and I am hoping it will help with everything. I suggest you try it to! Its been around for so long, theres no way it will hurt.

I'm fearing this "one night on, one night off" thing is something my doctor will want me to try, having told her that the 3.75's don't do anything for me. Anyone new to the drug and just taking it for the odd night will probably find that the next night after the one they took it they will feel a little hyped up and find it rather more difficult to fall asleep than usual, so ... ?

Recently I read of taking diazepam (Valium) to come off Zopiclone. Having read before that it's as addictive as some of the hard street drugs, I was a little surprised.

For myself, I'm quite sure I'd leave Zopiclone in the medicine chest any time I didn't need it.

Was also told to try Diazepam instead of Zopiclone.Felt dreadful,that is whyI don't want to try other pills for

fear of bad reactions.

But what bad reactions do you guys have to Zopiclone? So far, I don't THINK I have any... and I've been taking it for 1 month or 1 month and a half, every night!

For many people the worst was the metal taste as described above, which if you are having trouble sleeping is nothing.

Times past, I think the concern with Zopiclone was that it was psychologically addictive rather than pharmacologically and if you wanted to take it for more than 28 days it was because you had another underlying condition causing the trouble. It was also thought it became ineffective after a month or two.

Now there's concern about cancer, whether the neurotransmitter receptors it attaches to are damaged, whether the body produces more receptors to offset the effect of Zopiclone and whether that causes problems. There's also some association of accidents with it for people under certain circumstances.

Ok! Thanks a lot II feel it is psychologically addictive... The thought scares me of trying to sleep without taking Zopiclone :S

Without going into too much detail, I speak from both a personal and professional stand point. I am currently detoxing after a 10 year addiction to zopiclone. It is both psychologically and physically addictive. I experienced a siezure when I stopped taking them suddenly some years ago.

If there is an underlying mental health condition, zopiclone is particularly dangerous.

There is a reason why Drs will only prescribe for a few days now and why they are no longer 'over the counter' drugs in Spain for example.

Sleep depravation is awful and that is what led me to such a damaging addiction. I have no answer but would urge people to use with caution as the devastation this drug has had on my life could never be put into words.

i took zopoclone nearly everyday for five years. i got up to 15mg and it eventually stopped working for me. like totally useless. so i stopped takingt it and have been sleeping without for the most part. okay i do take zolpidem when needed, but for the most part am off the sleeping pills. i have my bad times because sometimes i dont sleep at all for a couple of days. what ive found is you wont die from lack of sleep and will become so exhausted that you will sleep anyway. these pills dont work forever and some point you have to face the problem

Agreed ^

The trouble is though, is it not, that for some people, notably PTSD sufferers with residual insomnia and those with primary insomnia, medication is the only way they have of getting enough sleep.

It would seem at this time that the only sure medication is one that opens Cl- channels on the GABA A receptor – melatonin related medication won't cut it and it doesn't look as if orexin related medication will either.

I note (with some disappointment) that developments to bind to more specific points on the GABA A benzodiazepine receptor are in the anxiolytic direction rather than a sleep inducing one.

Actually, you can die from lack of sleep – they've used mice to prove it. Poor mice.

The moderators seem to have decided against allowing my post with a link to a talk on sleep by an American Associate Professor.

Possibly the main point in it I wanted to put here was that people getting only 5 hours sleep a night for five nights in a row may already be prediabetic.

"... cumulative long-term effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke." — Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem." Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research; Colten HR, Altevogt BM, editors.

hi Eggbert, i am interested in your taking of zopiclone for 17 years. do you take the pill everynight, or is it just occasional use. i take it everynight and although it doesnt really work as a sleeping pill, it does relax me enough to sleep. i find i get a mild hypnotic effect after about an hour of taking the drug. i take 7.5mg. i would really like to get off it all together, but i have to get off the additional 20mg of ambien that i also take often. i just strted a new job six weeks ago, and i have been very heavily dependent on pills ever since. ive been taking zopiclone since january 2008, its now May 2014, so thats over six years. but i do find the pill alot weaker now. have you experienced similar tolerance issues.  Mike