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Zopiclone/Ambien addiction

  • Thread starter Thread starter Codfallon
  • Start date Start date
C

Codfallon

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Ok so I have had my fair share of mental health problems, anxiety, anorexia nervosa (and im a guy lool), phobias, depression etc. and always have had sleep problems, the only thing that helps me sleep are zopiclone/ambien (I am one of the few ppl who don't respond to Benzos, I can eat them and feel nothing, maybe thats a good thing lool). Anyways the z drugs barely even help anymore, tollerance is insane with them but I just cant sleep sober like even taking something stupid like Asprin will help me sleep like 5% quicker beause at least I took something...

Can anyone relate here, I am someone who needs sleep and I work hard but I cant sleep withput these damn pills and need help
 
Oh Lord, I can relate,...

I have been a zolpidem addict for years...have tried EVERYTHING else to sleep and simply cannot sleep without them. I get script of thirty but end taking like 5 a night, then I am out, have ambien withdrawals which are miserable -although relatively short lived. Then I have the rest of the month to look forward to not sleeping. Over the counter sleep aids are just a joke to me. I wish I had a solution for you but at least you will know you aren't alone in this miserable, seemingly unbreakable cycle.

Oh yeah, regular benzos don't do it for me either. I can eat a handful and still be awake. GAH!

Perhaps give them to a trustworthy friend and have them dole them out to you?

Hang in there,
Peace,

C.
 
I have definitely struggled with Insomnia at many different points in my life. Unlike you, Benzodiazepines work wonders for my sleep, but they're also very addicting.

How long have you been taking Ambien and Lunesta? I know a lot of people get prescribed often a whole moths supply every month, but my old psychiatrist might give me 15x10mg Zolpidem IR tablets, as these medications are really not supposed to be used chronically, as like you mentioned, tolerance develops really fast. Their best to take for maybe a week or two, skipping days here and there to keep your tolerance low enough. I've known quite a few people who have become physically addicted to Zolpidem and most of them ended up having a Grand Mal Seizure as they quit cold turkey (ambien, at least, has an incredibly short half life)/
 
Intersting. I found Z-drugs to be quite unaddictive, but have a lot of recreational potential. Benzodiazepines on the other hand, I found to be extremely physically addictive, and have very little recreational potential.

Anyways, You should try tapering off of the Ambien/Zolpiclone and have your doctor prescribe you something like trazodone or Seroquel. Seroquel will knock you out for hours and it can be helpful with anxieties and depression.
 
I can relate 100% with this. I spent three years addicted to zopiclone, although i sure my addiction didnt match others on here, i was happily doing 30mg a night of zopiclone. Spending hours laid on the sofa drifting in and out ofa drug fuelled haze.
Scared the shit out of myself more then once by passing out and waking up on the floor, sick, dizzy and more then alittle ashamed.
Have you discussed your addiction with a doctor? they can prescribe a few things that can really help.
The two drugs that helped me end my addiction were pregabalin and mirtazapine.
First though you HAVE to bring your dose under control. If your sticking to the prescribed dose then great! if not then id suggest making a concerted effort to bring it under control and the sooner the better as the longer you leave it, the more it will hurt.
Once you manage to bring your dose down you will feel stronger and able to take the next step.
For me this step was to start pregabalin 100mg taken in the evening and mirtazapine (mirtazapine will put you to sleep, its got VERY strong antihistamine effect but doesnt feel horrible, its very calming infact). I started the mirtazapine at 15mg but eventually titrated up to 45mg, however i do suffer GAD and depression also.
With this combo it is possible to get off the Z-drugs without the terrible insomnia. However, you will still get a few days- a week of raised anxiety, shakes (i got them so bad it looked like i had parkinsons) not dependant on the anxiety though, even when i didnt feel any anxiety i had a tremor and a generally agitated state (this was just for a couple of days for me).
By far the worst is the cravings, these may stay with you for a long time but you will beat them because you will have confidence from getting this far.
By far your biggest tool is having a doctor onside and supporting you (they have the prescription pad!lol).
Any other info you need just ask and most of all good luck! you CAN beat this.
 
I've been been on Zopiclone, on and off, for about 10 years. Started off prescribed by doctors in short courses. For the past 4 - 5 years have been ordering them myself from online pharmacy and take them every night. I know I don't find them as effective as I used to but alot of that could be down to tolerance. I start off by taking 7.5mg about 11 pm - this rarely knocks me out and I end up taking extra halves throughout the night until about 3 am up to a maximum of 2 - 3 x 7.5 mg tabs. I think increasing the dose beyond this becomes counterproductive. This does not always get me to sleep and I end up abandoning the quest for a night's sleep, leaving me feeling absolutely wretched the next day. It has finally clicked that if I take too many tabs over the course of a few nights my daytime anxiety gets very high and am unable to function at all - feel out of control, going mad, extreme fear, digestive disturbances, going to loo too frequently unable to leave the house. Biting off a small piece of a tablet relieves these symptoms. When the Zops were a long time coming in the post recently I was literally crawling up the walls. I want to stop taking these tablets - there not really effective as a sleeping tablet as it takes me so long to get to sleep and I have to keep increasing the dose. I can't envisage being able to wean myself off them as I can rarely manage to take just one at night. I can't see my doctor agreeing to taper me off them with Diazepam for fear that would set off another addiction, but then I've yet to seek their help. Any ideas?? I've tried taking Melatonin as well but found that I woke up after only 2 - 3 hrs sleep. Usually, once I am asleep I sleep well and consequently oversleep.
 
^
it is possible to add another antihistamine on top of the mirtazapine if your desperate for sleep bit i wouldnt do it regularly as tolerance to antihistamines seems to rise quickly.
If you can get them, then try the pregabalin/mirtazapine combo.
I use 150mg about 3hrs before the 45mg of mirtazapine and while that doesnt knock me out it does enable me to drift into a normal sleep.
The problem your likely experiencing is that your used to medicating yourself to unconciousness and you need time to retrain your body to sleep naturally. Sleep hygiene is very important for this (things like routines, distractions etc) if you dont have any info on sleep hygiene then a google search will yield loads of info.
 
Z-Drugs are just as addictive, if not more so, than standard hypnotic benzos.
The withdrawals are the same, if not worse.
Don't become complacent with them because they are marketed as a "safer alternative to benzos" and/or are heavily prescribed.

Only take them for what they are prescribed for ... sleep.

Don't take them and stay awake, you will become addicted extremely quickly and trying to quit is actually impossible, so be aware and don't put yourself in this position.
They are sleeping tablets, not chill-out pills.

Zopiclone works very well, but when taken habitually instead of only in extreme insomnia cases its effects will weaken within 3 consecutive days and you don't want to waste good medicine at the risk of dependence.

As I said above, withdrawals come with all the negatives benzos do, and can be even more dangerous.
Please respect the medication.
 
heck, i've gobbled so much zolpidem that only when they added quetiapine, i'd sleep. otherwise i'd sit stoned in the computer writing. i also took it in the morning, took it in the afternoon and so on. it was horrible the withdrawal. it seemed i lost my mojo. coincidentally, i started taking tramadol for my arm/hand pain and it sorta made easier to lose the zolpidem and get back to the same ole benzo.

my opinion is: get away from that thing.
 
All good stuff. I've resolved not to take any Zopiclone during the day at all. The longer I do without the drug, the more I visualise my nerve receptors healing. I've been to see my 'local' drug treatment centre and the counsellor there said it would be very unlikely that a doctor would prescribe me any alternative medication to come off Zopiclone. I have to wean myself off it (with counsellors help). I was quite panic stricken by this information as I have tried to reduce dosage myself with very little success.
 
Yes, I agree, over the counter meds for insomnia are a total joke (the ones on sale in the UK anyway), though some people may be taken in by the 'placebo effect'. I don't find antihistamines much help either.
 
All the otc meds are antihistamines except the herbal ones of course.lol
Best advice i feel would be to talk all this over with your doctor.
The doc and yourself could then work out a proper (and safe) regime for lowing your zopiclone use because until you get your use down to at least 3.75mg a night, you stand very little chance of quitting. Trying to cold turkey off 15mg or more a day will cause you crippling WD symptoms and ime will lead to quick relapse.
The advange about doing this under your GP is that they can prescribe you some meds to help such as hydroxyzine which although is an antihistamine and might not help with your sleep, does have a mild anxiolytic effect and might help with daytime anxiety.
Also if your working closely with your GP they will be able to see you making a concerted effort to quit and will be more ameniable in the longrun to the possibility of a short diazepam course to help with the final steps of your withdrawal.
 
yea OP, unfortunately, Z-drugs are basically benzo's that are just way more selective towards the hypnotic subuunits of the gaba-a receptor, and b/c of this they are just as habit forming and are extremly similar in effects and acute withdrawals. I suggest you go to the doctor fes up, and get on a smalll, gradual diazepam taper, just like you would do for a benzo dependence, b/c they may be labeled non-benzo's but they really are just that similar, and addictive and cross tolerant. FOr example if i dose zolpidem to sleep more than one or two days, my benzo PAWS really kicks up a notch, morning freak out rage panic attacks, severe anxiety, sleeeplessnesss, all that. it scares me how benign these z-drugs are labelled when there really non labeled benzo's in a way. I'm sorry hope this helps
-Davis
 
What you need to do is ask your doctor to refer you to a sleep specialist doctor there are many many other drugs that can help you sleep it does not have to be ambien and maybe the other medications will work better. I was taking 10 10mg ambiens at a time but I got off them I really didn't feel a W/D from it maybe I'm lucky ? Talk to your doctor get refered to a sleep specialist and get on some other medications best thing you can do. I went through it all and the sleep doctor gave me many different types of sleep meds till I found one that worked that wasn't ambien.
 
help please!

im new to this forum but im in a bit of a bind. to make a long story story short my brother committed suicide and i lost my mother right after. i had always been a drinker a heavy drinker after the two deaths i quit cold turkey. i got depressed i stopped eating i stopped sleeping i shut down. i also got awful migraines. so the doc put me on lexapro 10 mg and topamax 25mg and ambien it worked for a bit i guess i kind of just went numb. went back a few months later he put me on effexfor 125 mg 30 mg of restoril 100 mg of topamax. i eat maybe every other day im just not hungry im always crying i have to eat hand fulls of the ambien and the restoril for it work at all. i cant take bennadryl it makes me hyper. i want to drink but that wont help. the doc gave me 10 mg of valium which i ate in a week... what do i do?? im not sleeping im not eating and im very very sad. nothings helping. any advice would be welcome thankyou
 
I personally suffer from long bouts of insomnia followed by very short bouts of hypersomnia.

When experiencing the insomnia I have never found any medication 100% effective at making me fall asleep(with the exception of large doses of alcohol), I've been prescribed benzos, z-drugs and most recently mirtazapine.
Mirtazapine is a tricyclic antidepressant that very commonly causes extreme drowsiness, it was prescribed because though i had some benefit from zopiclone the tolerance and addiction potential makes it not viable for long term use, Mirtazapine on the other hand doesn't develop tolerance close to as quickly as z-drugs or benzos.

As I said, I've never experienced 100% effectiveness with anything, but Mirtazapine does defiantly contribute somewhat to how tired I am.

good luck
-p
 
thank you

thank you so much for the advice ive gotten worse im having panic attacks and praying i can see my doc mon ill mention the medication you suggested. hopefully ill get better soon this is awful
 
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