Trazodone for withdrawal from Zopiclone?

Hi, I am wondering if it would be a good idea to take some Trazodone to help get off Zopiclone. I am finding that it is affecting my word recall when I take enough of it to help with sleep ie 1 1/2 x 7.5. It is a difficult time for me as my husband has advanced cancer. I need help with sleep!

 

I also have been taking 10 mg of Doxepin and will drop that before starting Trazodone.

 

I saw my family doc today and he wrote a script for Traz and said to talk to the pharmacist about how to do this. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for any advice and support. L

I was taking Trazodone before I stopped clonazepam and still take it.  It has helped me sleep for sure.  Others on here haven't had a good experience with it.

 

It's so hard cause what works for one person doesn't work for another.

 

Good luck whatever you decide to do and sorry to hear about your husband.  Such a tough time for you.

How long have you been taking it for? Do you have a sensible taper plan in place? I hope you are not planning to cold turkey from it. Having said that I withdrew from zopiclone  15mg . My benzo w/d doctor did give me trazadone for sleep to help, he said it would not interfere with my benzo w/d. It does make you sleepy  but it also lowered my blood pressure and that was a problem for me so I discontinued it last week. I did not knock me out like zopiclone though. But others here on BB have found it did knock them out...You will just have to try it to see how it goes....trial and error. I am sorry to hear about your husband and I can understand why you need you mental health and sleep right now. Zopiclone really messed with my brain too,  way more than clonazepam ever did but all the side effects disappeared within days of my last dose of zopiclone and have gotten better every day since.

Hi, I took Zopiclone some years ago and then managed to titrate off it. I also was on clonazepam years ago too after having breast cancer. It was hard to get of.  I did a direct taper as my family doc would not agree to a switchover to valium.

 

I have presently been taking Zopiclone for over 5 years. You would think I would know better than start it again but at that time my husband was in ICU with very serious bleeding for 6 weeks. I felt I needed sleep in order to cope.

 

So, here I am again with my husband in serious decline and other problems going on in my life. It is a lot to deal with and hard when I am totally sleep deprived. If I take 1 1/2 Zop then I can't think and also have problems with word recall.

 

I do not have a sensible taper in mind yet. I would like advice. My family doc said to consult with the pharmacist and I will. But I think you people here have far more experience.

 

My doctor gave me a RX for 50 mg of Traz and said to start with one for a night or two and if if doesn't help then go to 1 or even gradually 1 1/2 or 2. I will stop the Doxepin 10 mg. Very small amount just for insomnia.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Loveslife

 

I know how hard it is to balance w/d with personal problems. Normally I would suggest staying on it and waiting until the stress had calmed a bit and then try a taper but I can understand when you don't function properly on these pills and want to be yourself again. I did not did not start functioning until I came off Z. I did a direct taper from it. I went from 2 x 7.5mg  pills of Z to 1 and 1/ 2 , then down to 1, then down to 3/4, then down to 1/ 2 then down to 1/4 then off. They are hard to cut so I used an xacto knife/blade. I cut every 10 days or so. The side effects were rough for me but like I mentioned, they disappeared almost instantly when I was done......That was my experience with the whole thing. Let us know what you decide and keep us updated.....Alabama.xo

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Thanks Everyone for the advice. At the moment I am exhausted and so hope that the Trazodone just helps me catch up on sleep. Once stable, then I can consider decreasing Zopiclone. I took 1/2 50 mg tablet the night before last instead of 10 mg Doxepin. Sleep was worse. Last night I increased to 50 mg Trazadone. Better but short sleep - @6 hours.

 

I am not sure what I can do to reduce the underlying anxiety from life problems. I did have one glass of rum and diet coke the past few days before dinner. Probably a negative although it did relax me.

 

Any ideas? LL

I take them both together. Trazodone helps keep me asleep but it won't get me to sleep. If the traz works for you then IMO it is much better than zopiclone in terms of being less evil.

Alambama's Zopiclone withdrawal schedule is pretty much what I'm doing right now. Got down to 1 pill, then cutting a quarter pill every week or so. A pill cutter works well to get them into quarters, I used to use a carpet knife, but it didn't work well at all on the 7.5 mg pills. I was on traz and just stopped it at half a 50 mg pill. It may have helped my length of sleep, but it didn't knock me out by itself, but everyone's different. You could add an over the counter unisom or something if you're not getting to sleep. I'm using clonidine and unisom to sleep along with whatever dose of Zopiclone I'm on. At this point the zopiclone isn't doing much if anything for me for sleep, it's just causing problems. I'm sorry about your husband, I know how difficult it is to try and deal with withdrawal and have other stressful issues going on.

Hi All, I kinda lost track of this thread. Life problems. Thanks all for the advice. I am ready to try it now.

 

Alabamawerle said:

 

"I went from 2 x 7.5mg  pills of Z to 1 and 1/ 2 , then down to 1, then down to 3/4, then down to 1/ 2 then down to 1/4 then off. They are hard to cut so I used an xacto knife/blade. I cut every 10 days or so. The side effects were rough for me but like I mentioned, they disappeared almost instantly when I was done....."

 

Just wondering what the side effects were....other than insomnia and resultant exhaustion and low mood? And wondering ways to cope. My husband is hanging in after a rough couple of months. Other family problems somewhat better.

 

BTW, I did try the Trazadone and it was a bust. I was not sleeping nearly as well as when on Doxepine and Zop. So, I am back to Doxepine. Doctor wants me on one Zop and 2 Doxepine. However, Doxepine stimulates my appetite and I gain weight. Urgh.

 

Any advice gratefully received!  LL

 

 

My side effects are very unusual. I get really bad low blood pressure from this w/d. Most get high blood pressure but I get low,.It makes me so dizzy all the time it's awful. I can't think straight without oxygen to my brain. . I almost fainted several times. Insomnia for sure. Most people get a set of withdrawal symptoms that seem to follow them to different degrees and at different times during their taper. Zopiclone made me depressed and exhausted and that lifted once I was done with it thank god. I felt so much better. 

Hi, I will give you my experience that I don't recommend. I was taken off lunesta, yes, cold turkey, by a psychiatrist and replaced with 100mg trazodone. I did sleep but I went through withdrawal, which was tolerable, bu I think the trazodone covered it up because now I cannot get off the trazodone because I get the same symptoms as I am getting trying to withdraw from ativan. I know traz is supposed to be safer according to everyone on here but for me it is just as addictive as the benzo and I regret going on it. However without it I would get no sleep. I would say it's a toss up.

wow you guys are talking huge cuts in zopiclone!!  25 and 50 percent cuts are imo way too high!!  thats how i got myself in trouble last fall...i wouldnt wish that hell on anyone! 

wow you guys are talking huge cuts in zopiclone!!  25 and 50 percent cuts are imo way too high!!  thats how i got myself in trouble last fall...i wouldnt wish that hell on anyone! 

 

zopiclone has a very short half life compared with most benzos. it means that we are effectively kindling on a daily basis. for me the interdose withdrawal was far worse than the actual withdrawal. in fact, i started feeling better as soon as I started tapering. i would never advocate cold turkey but i think one month is a safe time frame for most people. it seems to be a common amount of time for many zop users here.

Please do  not C/T off of the Z-drug. It's just like a benzo. I had no choice but to C/T off of ambien CR 12.5 mg., and called the pharma which manufactured it. They said under no circumstances should you C/T off it. They advised me to take valium to help with withdrawal, and drop about 10-25% every week or so.  Luckily, I had valium in my system so I am sure that helped loads. After four days of anxiety and 0 sleep, the ambien left my system and I was fine. Except of course, the insomnia naturally came back. Using unisom for that now.

Thanks folks for the advice. I will stick with 7.5 until Sunday or Monday and then cut by a quarter. Maybe every 10 days. Will see how it goes! LL

Meanwhile, Loveslife, it's a good idea to make sure you're supplementing your diet with a good bio-available magnesium glycinate, spread out over the day because stress eats up our magnesium stores, and we need magnesium for over 300 enzymatic/metabolic processes. Another way to get it is through Epsom salt bath (1-2 cups) or a simple foot soak (1 cup)...to get mag in your system. It relaxes and can even help with sleep but if we're deficient, it might take a little while to raise our level. I'm doing that anyway. I take magnesium no matter what med changes I make...these meds deplete us. Hope that helps, hon. 

Thanks for the reminder. I have taken magnesium glycinate in the past but not much in the past little while. And this past week I gave the bottle of it to my daughter and so have had none. Will get going on it ASAP because I too believe in the need for it.

 

I have also tried magnesium oil but found it irritating to my skin. I then tried the magnesium lotion which is better skin-wise although not as effective. I get migraines and magnesium is very important to take for prevention. Probably as it is effective re stress and tight muscles.

 

Thanks again. Will do!  LL

Trazadone made me extremely tired but I couldn't sleep because my mouth got so dry I kept drinking water and then eat having to pee.

Thanks for the reminder. I have taken magnesium glycinate in the past but not much in the past little while. And this past week I gave the bottle of it to my daughter and so have had none. Will get going on it ASAP because I too believe in the need for it.

 

I have also tried magnesium oil but found it irritating to my skin. I then tried the magnesium lotion which is better skin-wise although not as effective. I get migraines and magnesium is very important to take for prevention. Probably as it is effective re stress and tight muscles.

 

Thanks again. Will do!  LL

 

Hi again, Loveslife.  Yes, I only learned these past six months how important magnesium is for anyone, even NOT dealing with benzos - stress depletes magnesium stores in the body and medication makes it worse. Hard to get enough in our foods, and with the anxiety we tend to experience tapering off benzo, well, that's more stress -and I really do think magnesium is helping me. You're right about the migraines! Magnesium will help that. Gosh, it helps everything - and I got the same irritation with mag oil but eventually I just started rubbing the soles of my feet a few times a week (in addition to oral pills) and that seemed effective. Also got my RBC mag checked to see where I stood. It's come back up to normal lately but a daily battle to keep it there. So yes, start back on your magnesium, and spread your doses thru-out the day to avoid bathroom issues 

 

Sleep has always been a problem for me, but I think this magnesium helps. Sending you a hug! 

Trazodone made me feel so sick and dizzy the day after I would take it, I literally would have to hold on to walls to stand up. I also couldn't think straight because of it. I hated it.