Muscle twitches?

I have two localized muscle twitches. One in my back and one in my calf muscle. They started about 4 months after I started zopiclone (not a benzo but same symptoms). I've been to two neurologists who said it isn't anything serious (ALS, MS, etc.) and called it benign fastitulation syndrome which basically means they don't know why they twitch. I'm convinced it is related to the zopiclone medication (along with alcohol). Zopiclone has a short half life so after my body became accustomed to it I started having daytime withdrawal. Every week it became worse and I believe it has caused some nerve damage. I do get twitches everywhere on my body but those two locations are pretty constant.

 

Anyone else have something similar?

Hi

 

Yep, I suffer from significant muscle twitching pretty much all over my body and have done for the past 9 years, in the calfs, under the feet, face, arms hands etc .. there are several versions of it, relentless: where it locks into one area for weeks at a time then disappears and then moves to somewhere else for weeks at a time.    returning: where it comes back to an area after weeks or months:  Recurring : Muscle twitches for a few minutes then nothing for a few hours and then back for a few minutes repeating over and over in the same spot.. Sporadic: A couple of twitches in one area then moves to another for a couple of twitches and so on all over my body .. I saw a neurologist who called it Peripheral Nerve Hyperexcitability/Neuromyotonia and Myokymia ) but didn't know what was causing it ... Interestingly I was on Zolpidem for 16 years which is very similar to Zopiclone ..

 

T

Strange twitching when I went to bed was my first symptom of tolerance withdrawal when I took Lunesta (the active part of zopliclone). I don't think it is nerve damage; I think it is a withdrawal symptom. Once I quit Lunesta, I had a lot more twitching though it is starting to calm down somewhat after ~ 2 months post taper.

 

If you cannot taper the Zopliclone (which is difficult because of the short half life), you may want to switch to valium. I would strongly recommend that you work on getting off of Zopliclone since it will only get worse the longer you are on it. I wish I had realized that the twitches were a sign of tolerance withdrawal (they started about 2 months after I started Lunesta) and quit then before things got really bad.

Strange twitching when I went to bed was my first symptom of tolerance withdrawal when I took Lunesta (the active part of zopliclone). I don't think it is nerve damage; I think it is a withdrawal symptom. Once I quit Lunesta, I had a lot more twitching though it is starting to calm down somewhat after ~ 2 months post taper.

 

If you cannot taper the Zopliclone (which is difficult because of the short half life), you may want to switch to valium. I would strongly recommend that you work on getting off of Zopliclone since it will only get worse the longer you are on it. I wish I had realized that the twitches were a sign of tolerance withdrawal (they started about 2 months after I started Lunesta) and quit then before things got really bad.

 

Thanks for sharing that. I'm really happy to know that it probably isn't permanent. The twitching started for me after about 3 months of nightly zopiclone so what you say makes sense. I believe that is when I started getting physically dependent on it because I also started upping the dose.

 

I am having success so far tapering. I was on 7.5 every night for 8 months and for the past 10 days I've only taken 3.75. I was going to switch to Remeron but I think I may just try to continue tapering down.

That's good that tapering is working for you. I had terrible tolerance withdrawal symptoms (ear ringing and terrible sinus headaches), but when I tried decreasing Lunesta to 2 mg, I only slept until 4 a.m. and the headaches were still there. At 1.5 mg (equivalent to ~ 3 mg Zopliclone), I would start to get sleepy, and then did not fall asleep. It was weird and very annoying.

 

Just make sure not to compensate for the decrease in Zopliclone by drinking more alcohol. Alcohol also binds to the same receptors.

That's good that tapering is working for you. I had terrible tolerance withdrawal symptoms (ear ringing and terrible sinus headaches)

 

I was getting both of these pretty bad prior to my taper. Inter-dose withdrawal I think. I actually feel pretty good since reducing my dose.

 

Just make sure not to compensate for the decrease in Zopliclone by drinking more alcohol. Alcohol also binds to the same receptors.

 

I haven't had a drink in 10 days after drinking every night for 8 months. I think that is probably a big reason why I feel better.

I've been on zolpidem for about 7 years and experience muscle twitching, only started this year though. I'm sure it's to do with inter-dose withdrawal. Seems to wane in severity though, it'll come and go for weeks at a time.