Zopiclone addiction questions
Posted , 3 users are following.
I’ve been taking Zopiclones for about 2-3 years now, only half a blue pill and usually every second night-ish because I work on-call shift work and need to be rested and alert when I go to work. Recently I’ve started to get odd anxiety attacks, chest feels tight, feel like I can’t take a full breath, but only when I relax or try to sleep. I’ve looked at the other cases of Z addiction and people seem to be taking a bunch of them at a time, I’m only taking half of a 7.5 at a time and that’s not every night, is it possible that these issues I’ve been having are from the Z’s? Has anyone else had these issue with fairly minimal use? I don’t have a history of anxiety, these attacks just started at the beginning of the year. Thanks!
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harriet67221 Cole1125
Posted
They have awful side effects which creep up on people.
If you taper down safely the side effects will wear off. This is what I am actually doing at the moment.
carol09801 Cole1125
Posted
Yes, I have had the chest pressure (initially you wonder if you're having a heart attack) that feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest and it hurts to take a deep breath. I don't have it all the time.
Long story: I started on Ativan 20 months ago hoping it would help with the itching and pins and needles I have from contracting Ciguatera almost 10 years ago. Ciguatera is a toxic fish poisoning you can get from eating reef fish who have eaten little fish on reefs in hot water like the Caribbean. I got it from grouper at a fancy restaurant in Florida. Anyway, my regular doc was on vacation and another doc prescribed Ativan to tamp down the itching and pins and needles. BAD IDEA! It worked at first and then I developed a tolerance. I got as high as 2.5 milligrams per day and tried three times to withdraw myself with a bad result. I went to a psychiatrist f(covered by my insurance) to help me withdraw for a year who was really no help-he is a prescriber not an addiction withdrawal expert.
Fast forward to January, I was referred by a family member to a wonderful pyscho-pharmacologist (a rare breed) who used an adapted "Ashton method" to get me off Ativan (I was at .75 milligrams a day) by using 9 milligrams of Valium a day with decreasing the Ativan very slowly. I could sleep too. In two months, I was off Ativan (which has a short life) and am now in the process of getting off of Valium very slowly. I am at 7 milligrams daily as of today (decreasing .5 milligrams every week). This great doc and I have a plan that starts to titrate me (water solution of the pill created at a compounding pharmacy) when I get to 5 milligrams daily and going down from there .2 every week and for the last 9 weeks down .1 daily. The schedule (hopefully) ends around Dec 1.
This is not easy. I have the chest pressure quite often and itching and headaches especially the first few days of a "cut", but I am going forward. This doc is private pay like the few of them who have their own practice (there are only two of these specialists in a 100-mile radius in my area-no insurance), but he is really well worth it. I suggest you try and find a benzo addiction withdrawal specialist and have that person set you up with a w/d plan. It will probably take a long time, but YOU CAN DO IT!
carol09801 Cole1125
Posted