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Zopiclone withdraway

Posted , 27 users are following.

jaygee2081
jaygee2081

Very interesting to read the discussions on this forum. And especially helpful for me since I am on day one of stopping zopiclone and feeling a bit wobbly after just one night of no sleep (well, actually about two hours in fact), nightmares, sleep paralysis episode and sweating. I've been on Zopiclone since 2001, having been given it as a last resort after several years of chronic insomnia. I started with 3.75 and have increased roughly every four years. Now I've been taking 11mg, supplementing the 3.75 dose still prescribed for me with internet orders every few months. Somehow I couldn't admit to my GP's that I was doing that. I'm now retired and living a stress free life, so all the presenting circumstances for insomnia A&E way in the past. When I moved to a new life in a peaceful island environment at th end of 2012 I decided to come clean with my doctor about using internet 7.5 doses. But I've continued to take the 11 mg dosage until now. I haven't slept naturally for at least 14 years so I'm very scared of stopping. But the effects of the drug have got worse and now I want to stop. For a long time, my brain has felt foggy, I have a horrible hangover for half the day, really fatigues, forgetful and speech stammer. I've been reading up since last week and this is the most informative and supportive forum I've found. I looked at the CITA site and the adivice seemed to be not to go cold turkey but to do a crossover to an equivalent dose of diazepam first and then reduce from there.

I met with my GP yesterday and he is supportive and has given me 2 mg pills of diazepam to make the tapering easier. He's also going to monitor me and see me once a week to check progress.

i feel really scared about this, for all the same reasons I've read here. Zopiclone has given me the security of going to bed and knowing I will lose consciousness. That's been huge and I've traded that off against the feeling of being dulled, impaired and drugged in my daily life. I've done lots of amazi things over these last 13 years, lots of achievements, but all against a background of feeling crap. 

Last night was my first night without Zopiclone.  I took 9 mg Diazepam at bed time (probably too late I think) and set up relaxation cd I've been using, a radio, a corner of my spare room to curl up in with my book instead of lying in bed sleepless. I was awake until around 3.30, when I think I slipped into a two hour dose. But had mini hallucination about the radio playing ( it wasn't) and me ripping the batteries out (I didn't) I also had a nightmare, which I've never had before, and some sleep paralysis on waking from it. My temperature went up and down too, with some sweating.

i  will go on with this but would so appreciate any support or ideas. Many of you know too well how savage the effects are of acute insomnia and I know I'm in for a rough ride. I've bought some Phenergan but didn't take it yet. I'm also sending off for 5 HTP. 

So that is night one over. Any words of encouragement welcome. I'm not at all sure I can do this, with a supply of Zopiclone still in my bedside drawer. But being sleepless and not on the drug feels better than sleeping badly with it.

I'll keep you posted....

 

6 likes, 85 replies

85 Replies

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  • zaphod
    zaphod jaygee2081

    Posted

    I myself was quite suprised when my GP reduced my Zopiclone from 15mg to 7.5mg without any explanation or any warning at all. I now take 7.5mg of Zopiclone aling with 5mg of Diazepam.

    I am sleeping fine, if not a bit better than when I was on 15mg.

    Suprised me after being on 15mg of Zopiclone since around 1991.

    So although I was concerned when I noticed my repeat prescription had been altered, I didn`t bring it up with my GP, (I suspect this would have lead to a rather swift stopping of Zopiclone altogether), and am now managing a good 6-7 hours kip just fine.

    Hope you all manage to find an answer to your problems,

    All the best

    Paddy

  • michael60102
    michael60102 jaygee2081

    Posted

    I stopped taking zopiclone 7 days ago by takng 5 mg of diazepam. The first night I did not sleep and I had anxiety, sweating and weakness the next days. But after 4 days I have been sleeping most of the night with much less anxiety during the day. I feel so good. I was taking 2 x 7.5 mg of zop each night. Actually I had been on sleeping pills for 32 years .  I have a ways to go but you can stop. Just get throught the first week and things look better. The fear is the big issue. I have a super psychiatrist , younger and more up to date. He was eager to get off the z drug. There is hope and a person can stop ! Persevere........you will succeed. I will keep you posted. MJW
    • jaygee2081
      jaygee2081 michael60102

      Posted

      That's encouraging to hear. I've gone from 9 mg diazepam when I crossed over  and stopped the zopiclone ten weeks ago, to 5 mg now. About to drop to 4 mg tomorrow. I've been following the CITA advice about tapering the diazepam slowly, though am tempted to just stop it altogether. But don't want to risk the progress I've made. Clean of Zopiclone after 14 years depending on it for sleep. Still scared of facing total insomnia again when I finish the diazepam but maybe not. I'm getting some sleep every night, not great but I don't feel poisoned every day as I did with the Z. It's hard but worthwhile. So far!

       

    • julie1111
      julie1111 jaygee2081

      Posted

      hi jaygee im doing the same im down to 4mg diazepam they are dropping me to 2mg worried to be honest x
    • jaygee2081
      jaygee2081 julie1111

      Posted

      Think I'm sticking with one mg every two weeks. My GP seems to be letting me tell him what I'm doing and will keep repeating the diazepam till I'm done. I'll slow down even more once I get to 2. Yours sounds like quite a big drop. Well done to you though. I know how hard it is and it seems to be stretching ahead.
    • michael60102
      michael60102 jaygee2081

      Posted

      Well done ! My dr says if I need to stay on .5 mg of diazapam for sleep that will be okay. He wants me to try melatonin and light therapy with CBT, for an eventual of o mg of diazapam. But not to worry, I m not lookng down the road too far .....one day at a time. Our courage, in this situation, is more than most people will ever know. Stay the course !
    • michael60102
      michael60102 jaygee2081

      Posted

      Very Good.  I am on a 1 mg drop per week ,for 20 weeks. ( going from 10 mg to .5) . It sounds like the taper my vary but we are on the right track. similarly my dr. says I might have to stick with the lower doses for a longer time. I m so glad to be off the zops ! I feel better and actually yawn. We have to build a stronger sleep refex and wake reflex ,I m  told.

       

  • Kels909
    Kels909 jaygee2081

    Posted

    I'm so pleased for you, you all sound like the tapering is working for you.

    Unfortunately i don't have this option as apparently i am "Benzo resilient" just my bloody luck :-/

    I found this out when i had to go to London hospital 3 years ago for a bone marrow biopsy as i had cancer at the time, and i had already had the biopsy done before and it bloody hurt!! so i wanted to be sedated,

    After they kept topping up the dose of sedation they kept talking to me and frowning lol i was meant to be completely knocked out but i was sitting up wide awake, the doctor turned round to me and said well i'm sorry to tell you that you are benzo resilient and is not affecting you in the slightest so i had to just go ahead and have that awful biopsy as i was.

    So as Diazepam etc does not do anything to me i have not heard of any other way/method to taper off the zops ;-( really fed up with it all now.

    Good luck to you anyway i really hope you make it i really am so pleased that you have a chance to get your life back.

    Kels x

    • jaygee2081
      jaygee2081 Kels909

      Posted

      Just an update - I dropped to 3 mg Diazepam about ten days ago and this has been the hardest so far (been doing the tapering since 23 June, starting with 9mg). I didnt get any sleep for a few nights this time , or that's what it felt like, just the odd hour here or there. And I felt the way I did all those years ago before I first found Zopiclone. So was a bit panicky as it went on for well over a week and the other reductions had stabilised after a couple of days. I phoned CITA helpline for reassurance and they were very helpful, stressed that it does get harder as you get to the low dosage, each reduction is a bigger proportion. It has settled now and I am generally sleeping better again, with the odd bad night. Still taking 5HTP an hour before bed and supplementing with 2 Phenergan about twice a week. It does help, but I don't want to get used to it.

      So....still on track. And I try to remind myself I've come a long way since being dependent on 11 mg Zopiclone for 13 years.(Tolerance increased from the initial 3.75 dosage and I was needing 15 mg by the end)  I remember being given 10 mg Diapezam long beofre Zopiclone was prescribed and I was at my wits end with exhaustion - and it had no effect at all. So it can only be good that I am now sleeping fairly well with just 3 mg. It's a hard road, though, I've felt like chucking the whole reduction programme out the window sometimes.  Can anyone else tell me how they got through the last stages of diazepam reduction?

  • michael60102
    michael60102 jaygee2081

    Posted

    Hi I m 3 weeks zap free and on 9 mg of diazapam. I feel good but I think 9 mg of diazepam slows me down during the day. Anyone experienced the same? Also should I take the diazepam right at bedtime or sometime before?The first week the withdrawal was difficult and I still have occasons of weakness. Can anyone relate?I feel a personal triumph detting ogg the zops, I was so scared to try but somehow I had enough. I m also more alert when driving.biggrin
  • zaphod
    zaphod jaygee2081

    Posted

     I had been taking 15mg of Zopiclone, that I had been prescribed for nearly 20 years, I was terrified when they were made a Controlled Drug, and my GP had to cut the dose to 7.5mg a night.

    However, much to my amazement, I sleep just as well now (if not better) than I did on 15mg.

    Just goes to show how everyone is different.

    I would never dream of ordering them off the net, mainly due to quality issues, and extortionate prices (last time I looked).

    Paddy

    • vivien58797
      vivien58797 zaphod

      Posted

      Hi there. What will you do when your gp stops giving them to you, which will probably happen sometime in the future.  I will buy of the internet if i have to, but ok at the moment.  Thank god.
    • julie1111
      julie1111 vivien58797

      Posted

      the gp may put you on the ashton plan ! i have been on the ashton plan and not had any zopiclone now for 3 months . allways away round it.. goodluck

       

    • zaphod
      zaphod vivien58797

      Posted

      I`ll have to do without, unless something new comes along.

       

    • zaphod
      zaphod

      Posted

      Do you really think that after around 20 years 7.5mg is actually putting mre to sleep?. At my stage it`s all pschological, but as a GP once said to me "if Psychological works, then that`s good enough for me"

       

    • kelly_10984
      kelly_10984 zaphod

      Posted

      Zaphod can you help me out here I have been told to stop taking zopiclone 15mg a night I am now cutting this down to 7.5mg but am still finding this hard to do went to my GP who then sent me to see a shrink he didn't understand what so ever put me on some drug called pregabalin I haven't took it yet and I was wondering how do you get your GP to let you stay on 7.5mg mine won't listen to me
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