Misc Zopiclone or phenergan for sleep?

[Gaz1985]

Hi guys
I have chronic insomnia and have been treated for it with phenergan/promethazine. I take 50mg as 25mg doesn't always work. 50mg knocks me out for 6 or 7 hours without any middle of the night awakenings, I just hate the "hangover" that lasts half of the next day.


I explained this to my doctor and he has given me a weeks course of zopiclone 7.5mg. So the questions I am asking is zopiclone a stronger sedative than phenergan? And considering phenergan at 50mg makes me sleep will the 7.5mg zopiclone? Thanks, insomnia is a pain!

 

[Hodor]

Zopiclone is a "non-benzodiazepine", i.e. a drug that hits the same receptors as a benzodiazepine, but is not based on the classic benzodiazepine structural scaffold. It is also called a "Z-drug" due to its relationship to the related hypnotics zaleplon ("sonata") and zolpidem (aka "ambien").

If you're familiar with ambien, you can basically imagine zopiclone as a stronger version of that; in general, it is supposed to be closer to a "true" benzo than the other two z-drugs. As such, it produces a pleasant feeling of sedation and relaxation that, unfortunately, comes with a significant risk of addiction if used carelessly. Its half-life is a fairly manageable 5 hours.

Phenergan, on the other hand, strongly blocks your histamine receptors (and to a lesser extent dopaminergic and serotonergic receptors); as you are probably aware, the effects it produces aren't necessarily even pleasant.

Unfortunately I don't have direct experience with promethazine (only with prothipendyl, which is a similar drug used in europe for the same purpose), so I cannot tell you what the dose equivalent is.

Note, however, that different types of downers generally tend to synergize well with each other, so you might consider taking 25mg of promethazine with half a tablet of zopiclone.