holyservant
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2009
- Messages
- 35
Note: Mods if this belongs in a different section please move it
I have been taking both Zopiclone and Zolpidem every night to sleep for close to a year. I've been steadily increasing my dosage of both and am currently taking 3 x 7.5mg Zopiclone and 3 x 10mg Zolpidem every night in order to get to sleep. Sometimes I take even more than this if I am looking to catch a buzz or if I have had a particularly stressful day and want to be "knocked out" (Up to 6 pills). I have also found that a muscle relaxant called Tizanidine potentiates z-drugs (almost doubling their effect) and I take this almost every night as well because it is cheaper than buying twice as much zopiclone/zolpidem.
Recently I have decided to quit taking z-drugs. I have spent months searching the net and have not turned up very much on the topic. There is a myriad of information regarding quitting benzos, but very little on z-drugs. That is why I have decided to create this thread. For the sake of harm-reduction. I want to get as much information as possible together in one place. I know that z-drugs are widely prescribed across the world and I am sure that many find themselves addicted and may not even realize how much of an impact the z-drugs are having on their lives, nor do they know how to safely quit. I hope all of this info, and much more, will eventually come out of this thread.
Why am I quitting z-drugs?
Interestingly, zopiclone has also become my drug of choice. I LOVE Zopiclone. I love the metallic taste it. I love the inhibition. I love the zonked-chill feeling. I love everything about it... until I wake up the next morning.
A little background on me: Over the past 5 years I have gone through various periods of heavy drug use/addiction. I used lots of RC chems, smoked lots of pot, dabbled with opiates, and had a serious benzo addition for about 4 years. There were several month periods of time where I'd be taking 20mg of Xanax per day (yes, that is an absurd amount of alprazolam). I successfully completed 4 tapers (1 "rapid detox taper" and 3 slow tapers) and would have small periods of clean time, then would relapse. I finally went to a 5 month rehab program that was 100% drug-free and thankfully have been pretty clean of benzos since then (with the exception of having some medical procedures). In this rehab program they made me quit cold-turkey. They gave me an anti-seizure medication (which I had taken a multiple times before during and after my benzo-tapers) called Oxcarbazepine (US Brand name: Trileptal).
Needless to say, I am very experienced in benzo-like withdrawals. Out of all of my experiences I have found that cold-turkey is the easiest overall because, although it is initially exceedingly unpleasant, you can move on with your life much more quickly.
I have decided to quit my current Z-drug use cold-turkey. I am planning to take Oxcarbazepine to prevent seizures and hopefully help combat the severe rebound insomnia that will inevitably occur. I am planning to take 600mg Oxcarbazepine today and titrate upwards (as recommended by the prescribing info).
If anyone has any experience with Oxcarbazepine dosage for this purpose please share! I am wondering how long I need to take the Oxcarbazepine for and what daily dose I should be taking? I am a male, 120lbs, 20years old.
If anyone has experiences with quitting z-drugs that you'd like to share, or any advice, questions, comments, or supportive words, I'd appreciate it all
In the interest of documenting my experience I will be updating this thread with as much info as I can as I go through this entire process. I'll be posting the dosages of things I end up taking, how much sleep I get (if any), all of my withdrawal symptoms, etc. I will also update my original post as I think of things to add to it. I hope this will end up serving as a guide to others who are interested in quitting z-drugs and also as a testimony to how dangerous they really are.
I have been taking both Zopiclone and Zolpidem every night to sleep for close to a year. I've been steadily increasing my dosage of both and am currently taking 3 x 7.5mg Zopiclone and 3 x 10mg Zolpidem every night in order to get to sleep. Sometimes I take even more than this if I am looking to catch a buzz or if I have had a particularly stressful day and want to be "knocked out" (Up to 6 pills). I have also found that a muscle relaxant called Tizanidine potentiates z-drugs (almost doubling their effect) and I take this almost every night as well because it is cheaper than buying twice as much zopiclone/zolpidem.
Recently I have decided to quit taking z-drugs. I have spent months searching the net and have not turned up very much on the topic. There is a myriad of information regarding quitting benzos, but very little on z-drugs. That is why I have decided to create this thread. For the sake of harm-reduction. I want to get as much information as possible together in one place. I know that z-drugs are widely prescribed across the world and I am sure that many find themselves addicted and may not even realize how much of an impact the z-drugs are having on their lives, nor do they know how to safely quit. I hope all of this info, and much more, will eventually come out of this thread.
Why am I quitting z-drugs?
- I have started to experienec a bizarre phenomena, in which I have become so physically addicted to z-drugs that I actually start experiencing benzo-like withdrawal symptoms in the late afternoon. (These go away as soon as I take some zopiclone) This is starting to seriously impact my life. I become very anxious, frustrated, and have trouble thinking clearly. It is reducing my productivity.
- I am tired of relying on pills to regulate my sleep (and hence my life schedule).
- Consuming such quantities of these meds is getting extremely expensive.
- I'm tired of doing extremely stupid shit at night on these z-drugs. For some reason these drugs make me buy things impulsively, and have extremely emotional and absurd phone & SMS conversations that I typically regret the next morning. I'm really sick of waking up to $500 worth of charges on my credit card, and 2hours worth of text messages talking about sex, and not remembering any of it.
- I am concerned with the long-term health effects of these meds. Recently studies have been released linking zolpidem to cancer :-\
- I am concerned that these z-drugs may have negative effects similar to benzos such as depression, memory impairment, and immune system suppression, especially when taken in significant quantities for long durations.
Interestingly, zopiclone has also become my drug of choice. I LOVE Zopiclone. I love the metallic taste it. I love the inhibition. I love the zonked-chill feeling. I love everything about it... until I wake up the next morning.
A little background on me: Over the past 5 years I have gone through various periods of heavy drug use/addiction. I used lots of RC chems, smoked lots of pot, dabbled with opiates, and had a serious benzo addition for about 4 years. There were several month periods of time where I'd be taking 20mg of Xanax per day (yes, that is an absurd amount of alprazolam). I successfully completed 4 tapers (1 "rapid detox taper" and 3 slow tapers) and would have small periods of clean time, then would relapse. I finally went to a 5 month rehab program that was 100% drug-free and thankfully have been pretty clean of benzos since then (with the exception of having some medical procedures). In this rehab program they made me quit cold-turkey. They gave me an anti-seizure medication (which I had taken a multiple times before during and after my benzo-tapers) called Oxcarbazepine (US Brand name: Trileptal).
Needless to say, I am very experienced in benzo-like withdrawals. Out of all of my experiences I have found that cold-turkey is the easiest overall because, although it is initially exceedingly unpleasant, you can move on with your life much more quickly.
I have decided to quit my current Z-drug use cold-turkey. I am planning to take Oxcarbazepine to prevent seizures and hopefully help combat the severe rebound insomnia that will inevitably occur. I am planning to take 600mg Oxcarbazepine today and titrate upwards (as recommended by the prescribing info).
If anyone has any experience with Oxcarbazepine dosage for this purpose please share! I am wondering how long I need to take the Oxcarbazepine for and what daily dose I should be taking? I am a male, 120lbs, 20years old.
If anyone has experiences with quitting z-drugs that you'd like to share, or any advice, questions, comments, or supportive words, I'd appreciate it all
In the interest of documenting my experience I will be updating this thread with as much info as I can as I go through this entire process. I'll be posting the dosages of things I end up taking, how much sleep I get (if any), all of my withdrawal symptoms, etc. I will also update my original post as I think of things to add to it. I hope this will end up serving as a guide to others who are interested in quitting z-drugs and also as a testimony to how dangerous they really are.
