Eszopiclone anxiolytic effects?

[Lightning-Nl]

Hey guys, in a little less than a week, I will be seeing my doctor about meds again, and I'm going to tell her I just can't take all the medications that *might* produce an anxiolytic and/or sedative effect anymore. I've been doing this for 3 years now, and nothing has helped me for anxiety other than drugs that affect GABA.

A different doctor gave me Zolpidem in the past and I had a great response to it. I slept extremely well without having it produce a hangoverish feeling the next day, it gave me a strong anxiolytic effect than either Valium or Lorazepam, and when I stop it after 30 days of concurrent use, I had no physical withdrawal symptoms.

I would ask for Ambien again, but she has told me in the past that she doesn't feel comfortable giving me Ambien, apparently only due to its hallucinogen effects that MIGHT happen. So, since she isn't going to give that to me, I'm going to propose Eszopiclone (Lunesta) to her when I see her this week.

I'm not too worried about it not having a powerful sedative/hypnotic affect, but I am worried that its anxilytic effects may not be as strong as Zolpidem.

Can someone here who is currently on Eszopiclone or has taken Eszopiclone in the past tell me how powerful its anti anxiety effects are?

 

[Morphling]

I didn't experience any anxiolytic effect from eszopiclone, but I always took the doctor's dose just for sleep.

I still think it's a better drug than ambien, ambien is just far too unpredictable in effects. I've had some nasty consequences from taking those damn things.

Who knows, it might work for you. I don't think taking hypnotic drugs for anxiety, especially during the day, is really the way to go, but some people disagree with that. Anyway, good luck!

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Thanks for the info! 90% of all my anxiety occurs at night, so that's why I feel a Z-Drug would be perfect for me. I'm not especially tolerant to GABA enhancers, so that could be the reason for the powerful anxiolytic I felt from from Ambien, but then again, you would think a benzo like Ativan or Valium would therefore give me an even more powerful anxiolytic effect than Ambien!

Oh well. The way I see it is, it's either between Eszopiclone or Zaleplon, and because of Zaleplons extreme short half-life, I don't think it would be all that great for me....

 

[custard]

I know this thread is a month or two old but just thought I'd add my 2 cents. I agree, that at least in my personal experience, Z-drugs are the way to go. Ambien was a nightmare... major anxiety withdrawal .. plus I was apparently sleepwalking on the stuff with absolutely no memory of it. Even heard of people 'sleep-eating' and 'sleep-driving' on it. Luckily I didn't go beyond the walking stage.

I've got friends who've tried Ativan/Valium, and while benzos seem to be decent anxiolytics, your tolerance increases very quickly on them, which has the potential to lead you down a road of either nasty withdrawl or even addiction.

So yes, I have found Z-drugs to be the best overall. I've been taking Zopiclone (Canadian version of Eszopiclone?) for a few months now and it's quite nice. I also suffer from anxiety-insomnia.. and it's definitely helped me in the realm. I personally do experience anxiolytic effects from it; just popped one a half hour ago and feel nice and relaxed. I also don't get any zombie-hangovers the next morning from the drug, or any other number of nasty side effects that tend to occur in sedative-hypotics. So that's been the drug that after much pharma-experimenting, has finally worked for me.

*there are also some recreational discoveries I have made with zopiclone.. but that is perhaps best left for a different thread..