My experience of zopiclone (down the rabbit hole)

PS 8 days Zopiclone FREE !!

Steve -- i'm really glad to hear you have a doctor who is not so rigid and unknowing about the use of this kind of medication. I sympathize with what you said about how you were taking zopiclone, it helped you sleep, and other than that, you felt well, you weren't having troubling symptoms from it--so it would be jarring and harsh--and unhealthy, to just force you to go off it cold turkey. I think it's disrespectful, to not operate with the patient as a team, not a one way authority structure.

And the whole issue of anxiety about getting enough sleep--i relate to that, there are many things i tell myself that make me fearful of not getting enough sleep to a point where i have poisoned myself with these medications for years. But the importance of getting enough sleep is sane and natural--no one doubts that we all need sleep. Those of us who take meds to get to sleep are not ill motivated, we would all like to sleep fine without medication and have failed at doing that, which has led to the medications in the first place.

Then, the anxiety can kick in and have its own ill effects, and the thoughts can become poorly grounded in reality. But being protective of sleep is a natural urge for good health. And to feel good. That becomes the dilemma. Like you, for many years, my Ambien use was not at a high enough dose that it was having any side effects, other than my memory was not as good, but not extremely bad. It was only gradually, in reaction to particular life circumstances, that i needed to increase the dose to get enough sleep to safely drive home from work without falling asleep while driving. After that, the dose gradually crept up and the side effects spread into the mornings and now, into late in the day before wearing off. I feel the most normal at bedtime, which is sad. Sad to them take more meds, to take away that normal feeling.

Everyone is different in the way their body and their lives react to these medications, related to the many differences of all kinds in people. These medications, when taken for a long enough period of time (and that varies from person to person) alter the neuro chemical system of the brain, i think that the two main neurotransmitters that the brain operates on, when it performs executive functions throughout the body, are GABA and Glutamate. I just read this yesterday--GABA tells processes to quiet down and glutamate tells processes to speed up, and the brain intelligently caries this out for normal functioning. These medications alter the natural way that these processes go on. The brain has to adapt, zopiclone acts on the GABA receptors in the brain, and taken over a period of time, changes will be made in the brain and it doesn't simply go back to normal usually when removing the medication, the brain needs to rebuild its natural functions. So there's a variability among individuals in how long it takes to complete that process, and as to symptoms people have when they stop the medications.

That's why a doctor should never just cut off a person's medication of this kind. But this is not something doctors know about, they can't help it, there's no research into it, just people like us (if you include people on benzodiazapines, that's an awful lot of people) who have experiences of what it's like to stop the medication quickly or slowly, and in various ways. Since doctors don't really know much if anything about this, since what they know is based on what's been studied and taught to them, each individual needs to be an active participant in how they manage their dependency on the medication. It would not be safe to not take into account how a patient feels in reaction to having the medication cut down.

good luck!

Yes, this forum and people like Christine whom have excellent advise is definitely a Blessing it gives me hope that there is a light at the end of this Merry-go-round of addiction with the dreaded Zopi.

Hi Osborne, i read that you are on Tramadol, I have just recently been prescribed that medication so i just wanted to know how do you find it? I am taking it because i recently had a brain bleed in August 2013 and have had Migraines ever since my GP prescribed codeine for the pain, but it never worked so now i am on Tramadol which works wonderfully no more headaches a little wobbly but that's fine as long as i don't drive i don't mind a little wobble. Although i must say that when i take the zopi on top of the Tramadol it knocks me out for the entire night whereas before i was waking in the middle of the night because of the headaches and i always found it difficult to get back to sleep however last night was my first night with both the zopi and the Tramadol.

Today i have noticed a itchy rash on my body, have you noticed side affects from taking Tramadol Osborne? And dry mouth with a sore throat so i am taking 'Vicks Drops for dry throats and drinking heaps of water'

Rina - glad to hear the Tramadol has freed you from headaches, what an ordeal. Dry mouth is a common side effect of both Tramadol and Zopiclone, as is sleepiness, so your symptoms sound predictable. If too extreme, you probably would want to call your doctor. But i think you might adjust to the Tramadol and the combination of the two so that you might not get as knocked out at some point. I'm looking on the wikipedia page for Tramadol, it lists rash among the common side effects. probably should check with your doctor if it seems very bad. Maybe if your headaches are better, you can sleep without Zopiclone, it can be tricky to go off it though, especially when other things are going on. Good luck, headaches are a curse, life is so much better without them.

Hi jaw444, yes i feel so much better now without the headaches a little side affect i will tolerate to be rid of the cursed headaches my daily life was so affected by the headaches i was just not functioning properly with my day to day, but now i am and that is since i started on Tramadol i feel like my old self again before the brain bleed have so much energy now and i actually feel well. Which is fantastic, before this day i was absolutely feeling depressed and hopeless.

Of course I would love to be off these drugs but for now it is giving me time out from pain to reconsider my options regarding where can i go from here as good as those tablets are making me feel right now i know that it is only a temporary thing until i can find a addiction FREE solution, my GP is a wonderful man, but he is only trying to help me with my pain by giving me pain relief with what he knows which are drugs that will only make me an addict...i guess if there was a better solution out there someone on here would have found it by now, so all i can do is keep my Faith and eyes on this site that someone will come up with a better solution for pain relief.

thanks for your comments jaw444 - much appreciated. I was very close to making an official complaint about the other doctor who was just trying to force me off Zop in a rather confrontational way - he showed no understanding of my problems whatsoever.

Hello everyone,

I am so glad I looked into the medication Zopiclone that was given the my 23 year old daughter yesterday by the doctor. She phoned to tell me how much her insomnia is really getting her down & to let me know she had gone to the doctors yesterday as a last resort. I asked her the name of the tablets the doctor had given her & decided to look them up. Thank goodness I did!!!! I can not believe doctors are still prescribing this medication when you can get addicted to it almost straight away. The doctor had told her to take one tablet then wait a day or two before taking another one. Reading how some people have become addicted after just taking 3 in the space of a week is frightening. My daughter took one 7.5mg tablet last night & apart from giving her slurred speech she then went on to sleep only 2 hours - so it didn't help her at all.

Thank you to everyone that has written their experiences on here. This information is invaluable.

You have done the right thing Jojowales. It was twenty five years ago that my doctor prescribed Zopiclone - for a few days - I have lived a nightmare since then as a junky. Put the Zopiclone down the toilet and save your daughter from a future life of addiction hell.

I'd strongly advise looking at herbal alternatives. Melatonin has also been suggested but is not for everyone as it can cause vivid dreaming although it is safe.

Dave - THIRTEEN DAYS ZOPICLONE FREE!

jojo--

i feel for your daughter, insomnia can really interfere with life. but having exhausted the benefit of sleeping pills, i have learned about various other ways of improving insomnia and wish that they were more in use by society so that they would be well known and would be covered by insurance. They don't work like pills where you take it and it knocks you out, some patience is required, and what these things act on is ability to relax and changing expectations about sleep, rather than acting on the brain as these kinds of drugs do.

I am thinking of neurofeedback and cognitive behavioral therapy. you can google those, they are both nontoxic and noninvasive. They aren't a quick fix for the problem, but they do begin working with persistence and the results are lasting instead of dependent on ingesting the drug. Neurofeedback is a specialized kind of biofeedback that trains the brain to be inclined toward relaxation in appropriate circumstances, such as laying in bed waiting to go to sleep. It's a kind of behavior modification that changes the way the brain responds to various things. It's used for insomnia and various other things, like anxiety, migraines or attention deficit disorder. It doesn't act on the conscious mind, the person doesn't have to make an effort to change, the brain is trained directly and new brain habits are developed.

Unlike neurofeedback, cognitive behavior therapy works on the conscious mind, where people can practice new ways of thinking, challenging beliefs that stress them out and trying out new beliefs that are reassuring and encouraging and achieve a change of perspective on things that bother them.

I haven't tried any herbs for sleep in a long time, when i did, it seemed that they didn't do anything to me. I'm thinking of valerian root and chamomile. I have also heard news reports raising questions about the safety of various herbs. When i have gone to discussion forums about this subject, it seemed that most people reported not getting any effect from the herbs, but this would be people who have been on medication. People who aren't used to taking medication might get more of an effect from them. i have tried herbs successfully for otter things, but not for sleep.

Insomnia is not a problem to be ignored.

Hypnosis may be another approach that can help a person learn to relax more. there's a big difference between laying awake in bed for hours and worrying about not sleeping, worrying about the next day and being tired, being depressed and frustrated about it, being disappointed to not fall asleep, and on the other hand, to lay in bed for hours in a relaxed calm quiet state, ti's quite restful, whether there is actual sleep or not, sleep becomes easier to get to in that state, and it's a state that can be learned, there are ways people can and do learn to do it in a way that becomes effortless and natural. Once it's learned, it stays, it's permanent.

Hopefully your daughter's insomnia is temporary. i was about 23 when my doctor first prescribed Valium for sleep, and i really liked the way i could just take it and get to sleep and not worry about, and ended up dependent on it for the next 20 years. When i got off the Valium, i had trouble sleeping again and my doctor prescribed Ambien, which is similar to zopiclone. that was 20 years ago. These drugs are vey unhealthy. But insomnia can be a serious problem and it's hard to find ways other than medications of helping people with it.

Just a thought. Valerian did nothing whatsoever for me either but as a Bi-Polar sufferer I have been taking 5HTP for the last six months or so as a means to keep my Serotonin levels up and level. 5HTP acts for Serotonin much as manure does for plants.

It is well known that depression is a major cause of insomnia so it is possible that the 5HTP is the reason that I seem to be having so much success this time at dumping the Zopiclone and am sleeping so well without it.

Dave - THIRTEEN DAYS ZOPICLONE FREE!

Thank you dave88 & jaw444, your comments are much appreciated.

I will definitely look into herb remedies plus hypnosis. I know she is willing to try anything. I think that she does lay there thinking constantly about trying to sleep & waits for it to happen rather than just relaxing. I feel for her as it's affecting her work & her state of mind. Let's hope we can find something that helps her. Thanks again guys.

Well done Dave on being 13 days Zopiclone free!!

I have a question. How do I know if I'm addicted to Zop? My new GP used another word: 'reliant' which I think is more apt for me.

On a website i just found using google with the terms drug addiction drug dependence, i found a link to a site where there was this info, which may be the same as on other sites discussing the distinction. It's more general than i thought the distinction was. i'm not sure if this is a general terminology which is used by clinical professional or if there are differences of opinion about it.

Why Distinguishing between Drug Dependence and Drug Addiction is Important

03/30/09 | by the professor [mail] | Categories: General, Nomenclature

The terms drug dependence and drug addiction are often used interchangeably, but this practice leads to confusion among professionals regarding the diagnostic implications of these terms and also contributes to misunderstanding the underlying causes of substance use. As described earlier, drug addiction refers to a behavioral syndrome where the procurement and use of a drug seem to dominate the individual's motivation and where the normal constraints on the individual's behavior seem largely ineffective. Inherent in this definition is the overwhelmingly powerful motivation to obtain and self-administer the drug. And as noted earlier, drug abuse simply means that the substance is used in a manner that does not conform to social norms; the motivation to use the substance may or may not be particularly strong compared with other motivators. The causes of drug abuse and drug addiction can be the same, but they are very often much different. Specifically, drug addiction involves the biological action of a drug on brain reward and motivation systems, while drug abuse often involves other psychosocial factors with only modest direct effects on brain reward systems.

Drug dependence, in contrast to the two terms described above, refers to a state where the individual is dependent upon the drug for normal physiological functioning. Abstinence from the drug produces withdrawal reactions which constitute the only evidence for dependence. Drug dependence can involve disturbances in general bodily (i.e., somatic) function such as vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, and the resulting symptoms indicate a physical dependence syndrome which is usually specific for a given class of drug. Drug dependence can also involve disturbances in psychological functioning, such as inability to concentrate, anxiety, depression, and the resulting symptoms indicate a psychological dependence syndrome which often shares common features with other abused drugs. It is important to note that psychological dependence has a physiological basis and thus it is preferable to use the term physical dependence to refer to disturbances in somatic function to avoid confusion.

Thanks for that jaw444. I think dependent is the word for me. But isn't anyone who needs prescription medicine dependant on their drug? For example is someone who has to take pills every day for diabetes or high blood pressure dependant or addicted to their medicine? Maybe I'm splitting hairs but there seems to be a double standard here?

Hi all, what an interesting and slightly scary discussion ! I have been taking zopiclone for about 4 years now and to be honest it has been great ! I have had problems with sleeping for years, anxiety, stress unable to switch off and a snoring wife all combining to make life a misery. I had tried all the usual non prescription and lifestyle changes to no effect and zopiclone has been something of a life saver for me. I have had minimal side effects and quite a few good years of kip.

I came to this page however as i would like to try without again and have been scared silly by people commenting on it as poison, cancer risk etc. I am aware it is addictive/habit forming but have never considered that an issue as my GP is happy to carry on prescribing. An addict only has a problem if they can't get a fix ! Also i think it is becoming less effective at 7.5mg doses, i am now only getting about 5 hrs sleep on the drug and don't want to keep on increasing the dose. I think the bit that scares me most is the stats on increased likelyhood of accidents but then when i was getting virtually no sleep for nights on end i would have been a pretty high accident risk too. I am curious to know about effects on memory ? I am 53 so maybe it's normal aging or early onset of something nasty. Anyway, i would like to return to a drug free life so will speak to my GP bout how to do this safely. thanks for all the info posted here, it's given me food for thought and will help frame by discussion with my GP.