Zopiclone withdrawal help or advice needed

Thanks - does it help with the nightmares?

I don't have many nightmares, so I can't really judge.

By the way, not all areas of the UK have walk-in centres for drug addicts. The government is trying to force local authorities to set them up but there are huge gaps in the services. In many cases, the clinics will ony see people on heroin/cocaine etc.

This needs to be addressed urgently. And so does the education of GPs who have patients wanting to come off zopiclone etc and have no idea how to help them.

love Tes xx

I'm also trying to get off zopiclone and figured I'd try using diazepam instead. I tried diazepam for the first time last night and took 5mg. Unfortunately it didn't get me anywhere near falling asleep, ao after a couple of hours I took 7.5mg of zop. That didn't work either so I took another 7.5 at 6am. Think I then got about 2 hours sleep. Trying to figure out what to do tonight. Having great difficulty with this at the moment.

Thank you Robert, it is comforting to know I am not alone. Do you suffer from nightmares too? Does your Doctor give you Zopiclone. I sometimes think taking them is better than suffering the withdrawal symptoms as I am happier but know I should stop.

I do dream, but (fortunately) nightmares are rare. At one time it was thought zopiclone caused poor REM sleep which is probably when we dream most. I remember pointing out to a psychologist once that despite taking zopiclone, I had at times "dreamt my head off".

Yes, my current doctor(s) have allowed me repeat prescriptions for 7.5 mg once a night. Really, I don't think I'd have a positive quality of life at all without them, and without at least 5 hours sleep a night, I think you also risk other serious health problems, diabetes for instance.

My case may differ from yours, however, in that I don't believe I have clinical depression, though I have in the past been treated with antidepressants.

Hi Robert.

i also take one 7.5mg zopiclone a night, and have been doing so for the last fifteen years or more.

i also dream, but never have any nightmares.

i agree that my quality of life would be impaired if I didn't get at least five hours of sleep, which is all zopiclone will,let you have , it seems. 

Others on this forum would disagree but I have tried giving them up and felt very ill indeed.

I am 71years old now and feel that it probably doesn't matter too much.

ideally, I would love to be able to sleep more, but who wouldn't.

Hi Vivien.

I agree with you entirely. It probably DOESN'T matter too much.

I have struggled and struggled with my tapering and am still making mistakes, although it's generally going well.

But I do often wonder WHY we all need to come off benzos or Zs.....

And since doctors put us on them, doctors ought to know how to get us off them.

It sounds like you've made peace with zopiclone. That's good. As you know, I was taking MASSIVE doses (all 28 in the box at a time) so I really needed some help.

I was lucky, because where i live HAS got a clinic which has helped me.

But I wonder.........will I be able to stay off them???

And yes, it does make us feel very ill indeed just to suddenly stop them.

My love to you.

Tess  xxxx

Wow. What a LOVELY quote, Robert.

If I can't sleep, I don't care any more. I just feel awful the next day, and know that I will sleep the next night.

When not sleeping, I drink a little milk and read books that I've read before. I find that concentrating on books I haven't already read keeps my brain too active to fall asleep.

I'm sixty and have been taking benzos and Zs for forty years.

Loooooooooong story....................

love Tess xx

Actually, on the subject of dreams, the ones I have most often which are very disturbing are what i call my 'tube train' dreams, where I am stuck in the tunnel and a train is coming. Or I'm stuck on the roof and approaching a tunnel. or I'm stuck in a train and have to get out - onto the tracks instead of the platform, whilst avoiding trains coming the other way.

My daughter (aged 33) also has 'tube train' dreams, and she has never taken benzos or Zs or any illegal drugs. She (and I) find them terrifying.

I also dream, very occasionally, that I am stuck on the roof of a very tall building with the Yorkshire Ripper.

But as I said, I don't have these nightmares very often.

My favourite dreams are the ones where my husband is making love to me.............and then I wake up and find him fast asleep next to me, and I am disappointed.........TMI but it happens.

The greatest lesson I learnt was that it is the fear of not sleeping that can cause insominia. As I don't work now it doesn't matter if I have a bad night but the fear is so entrenched it's hard to kick the feeling. I panic and reach out for zopiclone. If it wasn't for it's horrible side effects I would just take it.

I am sure you're right, Nigel. Fear of not sleeping obviously alerts our flight or fight hormones so we're charged with adrenaline.

Which keeps you awake.

Please don't taper off zopiclone by using zopiclone. Its half-life is so short that you have terrible withdrawal symptoms.

Switch to diazepam and taper slowly of that. diazepam has the longest half-life of all the benzos and Zs, so tapering is easier.

Have you googled the Ashton Method yet?

YesI have been familiar with the Ashton Method for sometime thanks. Getting hold of diazepam is a problem

I think you'll find a way lol

I hope so - thank you for your help. I forget - did you come off Zopilcone and if so how long did the withdrawal symptoms last?

I am in the process of getting off zopiclone, using diazepam, prescribed by my doctor, and I haven't felt any withdrawal symptoms at all.

that's good to know  -thanks

Woud you mnd tell me how much Zopliclone you were taking per night and how much diazepam subsitutted it with (only roughy would do?)?

Only just saw this - sorry.

I was addicted for forty years to every sleeping pill and tranquilliser ever invented.

At the height of my addiction I could take 14 - 28 tablets of 7.5 mg at a time. Plus other sleeping pills - all bought online.

This was wrecking my marriage and terrifying my husband and children, needless to say, so I saw my doctor and confessed. For two years she gave me as much zopiclone as I wanted (legally) and still i found it impossible to taper, although the doc was very supportive.

Then we moved, so we had to move surgeries. The doctor I saw at the new surgery told me about the addiction clinic and calle them for me, although it is actually self-referring. I went along, sceptical.

Wow. The doctor saw me the next day (at the clinic) and immediately started me on 30mg diazepam a day. He gave me daily prescriptions so I only had 30mg each day. He saw me every fortnight and uncovered all the reasons why i got in so deep.

The man is a saint.

After three months he tentatively suggested going down to 28mg diazepam daily for a month. i agreed.

Now I'm on 16mg daily and about to go down to 14 mg.

Ashton suggests that 20mg diazepam is equivalent to 15mg zopiclone. You take the diazepam how you want - a little during the day, most of it at night was what suited me.

Professor Ashton has recently suggested that her original tapering method was TOO FAST and that the addict should only go down a dose when comfortable on the one they are on.

I know it sounds like a long haul but you'll NEVER achieve it using zopiclone.

Love Tess     PM me any time........xx

Hi Tess. I'm a long-term zopiclone user but recently found it's not working like it used to and also giving me worse side effects. I read about the diazepam method and decided to try for the first time last night. I took 5mg about an hour after going to bed, but unfortunately it didn't get me anywhere near falling asleep. So I took some zopiclone (as usual) instead, thinking that otherwise I'd be awake all night, which I was pretty much. Will 10mg of diazepam make me sleepier? 5mg didn't seem to have any sleepy effect at all.