Z-Drug Support Group (Lunesta, Imovane, Zimovane, Ambien, Sonata, Zopiclone)

yes LadyDen - I SO HOPE you got your wish sweet lady!!!!

Happy birthday ladyden!

Hello all!

 

Just wanted to intro around my current Zopiclone hell

 

I've used zop on and off over the years but only short periods (a few days max) - I found even after a day or two i'd get a rebound insomnia effect where my body would tremble and do something very odd as I fell asleep without the drug.. it felt like dying to be honest. Sometimes I could cross the sleep threshold - and be glad and even surprised to wake up alive. I think I have a degree of PTSD around sleep by this stage. Other times I had to take zop, usually cutting it to the minimum dose needed. Even on zop I don't sleep more than 1.5 - 2 hour blocks as most.. a combined night of 5-6 hours would be a good night's sleep and I'll wake with a startle and in sweats.

 

Anyway now in a mess as I've been using it continuously over the past 3 months - initially because I was struggling with a shoulder injury, but very quickly found myself taking small amount of zop through the day just to cope with work. Before I knew it I couldn't back out of it. I then developed a strange 'gastritis' thing - stomach cramps and severe pains that no one could diagnose, I had a super thorough work up with a gastroenterologist, and a few times presented to the emergency room - they gave me buscopan... and then opiates as it was so severe, even morphine (!), which I very quickly realised was a bad idea although it's the only good day I've had in months and I walked for miles in the countryside afterwards. Funnily the pain settles, as soon as I take zopiclone. I even put myself through an un-sedated upper endoscopy yesterday to prove I didn't have an ulcer etc. (I turned down the midazolam IV as I didn't really want to be throwing another benzo in the mix and just had a throat numbing spray - lidocaine I guess). That was NOT fun.

 

What I'm trying to figure out now is if I should consolidate all the zop I take? - which to be fair is not a large amount - but there's some diazepam too. So I'm interleaving diazepam (2.5mg, 2.5mg) and zopiclone (1.875mg, 1.875mg) in the day and then zopiclone at night - generally part of a 3.75mg keeping some back incase I wake in the middle of the night. And am I better to move to equivalent diazepam or zopiclone and just deal with one of them?

 

Anyway loving reading back over the old posts on here and seeing there is hope and something to anchor myself to! Thank you!

 

bbking!! So, I'm thinking that the people who were on here who took zopiclone aren't here now and maybe that's why you've not had a response ... or your post got lost in the birthday party! Did you start a thread on the tapering board? That would be a good place to ask for input for your taper and managing 2 meds and resolving the dosage times.

 

Please let us know what you decide for a plan and how it's going!! I loved saying how my taper was going and reading what others were going through and I still do. We're here for each other and in it together!

 

As for my current status, when I see my ticker symbol I am amazed! When I wake up at 2:30 and can't sleep I accept it even though I don't like it. But I know I'll sleep better later, in a day or two. Yes, there are hard nights that I wish I could take a pill to sleep. But nothing as hard as the long list of awful symptoms I had for so many years never knowing it was the meds.

 

Twbd1ila~~!~how are you doing?

Jerry, how was your summer?

JohnHunter, I don't see your ticker yet!!! How are these early days? Still very happy for you!

LadyD, hope you're having WINDOWS!

Deanna, how is the change of season for you, are you getting rained on these Irma days?

Becks?

HelenHMB, how's your week, any improvement on sleep?

Others?

 

 

 

Ha Kachina,

Thanks for asking me. The summer here was cool, 20 degrees average daily. That was nice. Seperately I am doing not really well. Besides zopiclone I am aso using other medication and they changed the brand of it. Something I find hard to deal with. I am slowly crossing over to the other brand and I am now more than half way. My mornings and noons are really rough. When I am finished with crossing over, I will pick up my zopiclone taper again. I guess at the end of september. Huggs Jerry. I hope you are doing well….

Kachina,

 

It sounds like you are doing pretty well and have gotten to that golden place of realizing when you wake in the night it's not the worst thing in the world. It took me years to accept that!  Good for you.

 

Thanks for checking on me. I'm getting 5-6 hours of broken sleep most nights. It's not horrible, thankfully.  I'm like you....no matter how hard this is it's not as bad as still being on the meds and the dread of trying to be OFF of them. We're off...and that's something.

I feel sick everyday.  I write all my complaining on my blog.

LADYDEN!!!!

 

:happybday: :happybday: :happybday: :happybday: :hug: :yippee: :mybuddy:

Thank you sweet Kachina!!!! Hugs to you 

Helen, Deanna and John much appreciation for the birthday wishes.  :smitten:

Hope you all are doing better. Love to you all.

 

Bbking I'd like to welcome you to Team Z! I'd encourage you to get a taper plan for the Zop and stay on the diaz while you taper. I'm not familiar with how to taper Zop but our former Zbuddy Shay tapered zop. Perhaps you can PM her. I do wish you well as the others have. It won't be easy but you can do this as all of us have.  we're here to support you as you tackle this head on. It sounds like you're having tolerance WD. And YES the stomach, head symptoms, blood pressure/heart symptoms, aches and pains, weird symptoms, sweating, cold, fatigue, spasms, dizziness, boatiness, etc etc etc are more than likely ALL effects of taking Zdrugs and benzos. If you're too bothered by them, going to the doctor will ease your mind AND when doctor tell you your tests are normal then it will confirm that it's the meds you're taking. You will NOT feel better until you taper/get off them. The feeling better may be gradually but it's worth the wait of letting your brain heal. Best wishes to you.

You can do it!!!

I have not been on the bb recently and happy to see the progress and huge milestone.

Congratulations John!!! 

 

I'm still on 2.5 mg a night. been taking it very slow partly because I'm currently working a lot and get anxious about sleep. Its a miracle to be at this low dose, but feeling very insecure about the last step.

 

Curious about other people that tapered off ambien about the last step of weaning off ambien. Does the low dose of 2.5 really effect our sleep.

I have tried several  nights to sleep with no ambien, but after an hour of not sleeping, I put the 2.5 mg underneath my tongue. Really am amazed how 2.5 makes a difference.

 

Thinking about taking a vacation or something to come off this last bit.

glad I'm not on this journey alone, For those that have jumped off the last bit of sleep meds, how did you do it?

 

Happy belated Birthday LadyDen!!

 

Welcome to the board bbking, identified strongly with "the pain settles, as soon as I take zopiclone"

I suffered for over 5 years with bad burning/pain in my hip and leg. Discovered on this board how I was experiencing interdose withdrawals.

 

Starting from 20mg, when I got down to 5mg, the pain almost disappeared. Take care Team-Z

Hey Twbd1ila, sounds like you continue to do well. Yes, 2.5 mgs is quite small. I jumped off 1.25 mgs. 11 days ago. That's small but I did notice that jumping off that low dose did affect my sleep a bit. I have been using Valerian, Calmes Forte, and Pure Potent's brand of CBD oil with melatonin in it in it's place. This stack helps me sleep. Also, I believe a daily supplement of Ashwaganda has helped a great deal to reduce the anxiety I had. It's basically gone. Quite amazing really. It took about six weeks to really kick in. The first three days after my "jump" my normally poor sleep was even worse but it has since gotten better. Last night was the first in many months that I slept five hours straight without waking up. I even went back to bed and got some more. So I guess sleep improves after jumping. I think your idea of taking a vacation to finish this off is a good one. I'd give it a try if I were you. Get it over with and start living your life.

I have not been on the bb recently and happy to see the progress and huge milestone.

Congratulations John!!! 

 

I'm still on 2.5 mg a night. been taking it very slow partly because I'm currently working a lot and get anxious about sleep. Its a miracle to be at this low dose, but feeling very insecure about the last step.

 

Curious about other people that tapered off ambien about the last step of weaning off ambien. Does the low dose of 2.5 really effect our sleep.

I have tried several  nights to sleep with no ambien, but after an hour of not sleeping, I put the 2.5 mg underneath my tongue. Really am amazed how 2.5 makes a difference.

 

Thinking about taking a vacation or something to come off this last bit.

glad I'm not on this journey alone, For those that have jumped off the last bit of sleep meds, how did you do it?

 

Hey Twbd1ila - I jumped off Ambien at 2.5mg after a quick 5 week taper from 10mg.  I would have to look back at my journal but I recollect that it was a few weeks of tossing and turning with fragmented sleep.  I was so determined to be off this drug so it never occurred to me to take it again.  I just accepted whatever sleep I got and knew it was what I had to endure for the chance to get out of the pain.  I do recall that by month 3-4 my sleep did get better, but there are still nights now (at 14 months) that I wake up for 1-2 hours and have trouble falling back.  I have worked hard at sleep hygiene and still no caffeine or computers past 8pm.  Lavender candles and spray are very calming.  It is a new world off Ambien but am so grateful for the chance at full healing. 

I have not been on the bb recently and happy to see the progress and huge milestone.

Congratulations John!!! 

 

I'm still on 2.5 mg a night. been taking it very slow partly because I'm currently working a lot and get anxious about sleep. Its a miracle to be at this low dose, but feeling very insecure about the last step.

 

Curious about other people that tapered off ambien about the last step of weaning off ambien. Does the low dose of 2.5 really effect our sleep.

I have tried several  nights to sleep with no ambien, but after an hour of not sleeping, I put the 2.5 mg underneath my tongue. Really am amazed how 2.5 makes a difference.

 

Thinking about taking a vacation or something to come off this last bit.

glad I'm not on this journey alone, For those that have jumped off the last bit of sleep meds, how did you do it?

Honestly TW for me the last couple of mg of ambien was more psychological than anything. It’s too small to do much. For me it was paradoxically affecting me. I was very sick every time I took my nighttime dose. I wanted to speed up but I knew better. Do whatever you need to do to come off the last bit. You got this! Don’t let it mess with your head. Don’t give those scary thoughts any airtime in your brain. Keep tapering. I simply told myself when I took it “ this is too small but I can sleep on my own” and I did! I told myself that it’s no big deal and it isn’t 

Happy belated Birthday LadyDen!!

 

Welcome to the board bbking, identified strongly with "the pain settles, as soon as I take zopiclone"

I suffered for over 5 years with bad burning/pain in my hip and leg. Discovered on this board how I was experiencing interdose withdrawals.

 

Starting from 20mg, when I got down to 5mg, the pain almost disappeared. Take care Team-Z

Thanks TW! Big hugs to you. Very sweet! 

Thanks John, Deanna2020  and LadyDen.

 

Believe I will plan to take a week vacation when Im ready to jump off this 2.5.

 

My main fear is performing at work. 

 

You three are miricles in my eyes. thanks for being in my life. 

Good idea Twbd1ila! Take two if you can! Jump on Friday, that gives you nine days. Try to go to 1.25 before you jump if possible. It seemed to work for me. Best of luck to you!

Great seeing everyone here!

 

Jerry, sorry you are suffering, I really hope the switch over will get better for you. Are you swimming? Playing your Sax?

 

Helen, YES!!

 

Becks, I hope you'll see improvement and send you Love.

 

John, where's your ticker!!!! Congrats on 5 whole hours straight and then more!

 

Lady, hope you're feeling well!

 

Twbd1ila, YES, I get that ... I was so nervous or hesitant or other things, it felt like stalling but when I look back I see that I held when I needed and then did my taper, just as you are! I might tend to disagree with others saying 2.50mg is not a lot because they reduced the dose for women from 10mg to 5mg, so it is half a dose! I like John's idea of tapering before jumping. Do you have the oblong 5mg pills? I literally cut it down to 0.50mg which was a silly crumb ... but you could drop by 0.50mg every 10-14 days from here on out---or some such schedule. If it was me I'd get the oblong pill and do it that way to ensure success when you take the week off to jump. If it can help, I just want to add my experience with sleep since I stopped Ambien: 

 

Most nights I fall asleep within 30 to 90 minutes, a guess. I don't think I will but I do!

Some nights I cannot fall asleep. I may or may not take Benadryl and fall asleep around 2 or 3.

Some nights I wake at 3 or 4 or 5 and I relax in bed with a soothing podcast or get up and do my life--after trying to go back to sleep because sometimes I do!!

BUT I now know and see that I CAN live the next day on limited sleep and it is NOT as hard and scary as it was in the past. Maybe that was more the drug having a hold on me.

MOST IMPORTANTLY my body re-sets itself so that the next night or, if not that one, the 3rd night, I sleep well and it feels great!

 

I have completely changed my attitude, or it has been changed for me by being in this group with others and by getting off ambien~~I accept waking early rather than feeling ripped off, most of the time, lol!!! I come here and read and write on mornings I wake up early. Yes, when I have work commitments it is scarier for me. But it's just one day and one night at a time!

 

Lastly, I was at a hotel on the weekend and could not get to sleep and noises and smells and lumpy bed were all driving me crazy ... it was one of very few times I missed my ambien! But, I did finally sleep. Have had the joy of 3 other getaways but all were really crappy hotel nights sadly.

KB,

 

I like your writing! I'm glad you are in a pretty good place with the sleep. It helps me to read what others are going through and how they are coping. I appreciate your infectious good attitude and honesty. 

 

I fall asleep quickly (which amazes me) but I never get a lot of sleep.  I usually wake up a few times during the night and then wake up much earlier than I'd like so 5-6 hours of broken sleep is the norm. But I'll take it!!  If I have a night with one of those bizarre hours long adrenaline rushes, I'm MISERABLE. That I can't seem to handle. But otherwise, I take the nights as they come. 

 

You're inspiring. Thanks for writing to us.

 

Helen

 

Team Z! Hey everyone. Hope you’re all doing well. Sorry I’ve been feeling terrible the past week. Kachina thanks for the well wishes. These morning dread followed by morning waves are kicking my butt. In 10 days I’ll be 15 months. Hopefully this will subside soon and go back where it came from so I can start back walking. It’s funny how as soon as I make some progress, I get a shift. Funny but I’m not laughing. But I’m not complaining because someone is worse than me. Matter of fact just few months ago I was worse. I’m just not used to this get better then go backwards. Maybe nobody ever gets used to it. Either way it’s still healing even though it doesn’t feel like it. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep a journal so we can go look at the true picture of our recovery. It’s getting cooler here now especially in the mornings and at night. Fall is at the door. I’m praying that I can start back taking walks. I love the fall weather. Perfect for walking and fresh air.

Love y’all

I’m a newbie to the Z group but not this website. A few years back I was on Ativan 1 mg x2 per day, due to anxiety and sleep issues associated with a leukemia diagnosis. Doing well now. Took Ativan off and on for three months and daily for three months. It took 7 months to fully taper off.

 

Now as a result of sleep issues from osteoarthritis pain in shoulder for the last 2 1/2 weeks I have taken 10 mg of ambien many of those nights, 5 mg some nights and skipped it all together about three nights. I noticed yesterday after taking no ambien the night before I had a really bad day with a lot of edginess, anxiety, and stomach issues. This happened a few days before after not taking any ambien, so my guess is I was feeling w/d symptoms. I took 5 mg last night and feel pretty good. I mostly feel a bit stressed and anxious about tapering, especially since I have been out of town on vacation the last two weeks. Will be home tomorrow.

 

My taper plan is to take 5 mg/ night for a week, then 2.5 mg for a week or two, then 1.25 mg a week or two, then jump. I’m hopeful since I’ve only taken ambien for a relatively short period of time, this will work.

 

Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated. Just being able to access this community has reduced my anxiety and stress over this.

I wouldn't be surprised if your former Ativan use is why your body developed dependence so quickly, you're smart to recognize the signs and take steps to get free sooner rather than later.

 

I like your taper plan, but of course if you run into problems you can slow it down. 

 

I’m in a similar boat. Off Ativan since 2 months but still experiencing WD symptoms. not sure what to do because I’m currently tapering  zopiclone also. I’m at 4 mg right now and it’s not working so well as some nights I have insomnia. Should I wait and stabilize or maybe go CT? I’m worried that taking zop is affecting my GABA healing…

Hello, nice to see some new people, welcome! I wish I had some ideas but I don't, other than the big idea we all have---getting off these meds and staying off.

 

Helen, very kind words, thank you. I made that post and proceeded to have 3 very difficult nights which took a lot out of me, then napped for several hours yesterday afternoon---something I usually have never been able to do for years ... and then thankfully a fairly decent, anyway BETTER, night's sleep last night. But it does take a lot out of me to go through that and feel down from it. I truly started thinking I want/need the big A. Oh great, you know I'm in a desperate and bad place if I think that. Anyway, got some blues ... which has always happened for me in the Fall. Maybe it is the already less daylight and dimmer day light affecting me, S.A.D. I have a light I will pull out and turn on the AM soon. Maybe it was all the reading and watching I did of 9/11 stories, leaves me with such a heavy heart. Depression sucks, but being told to not feel what you feel sucks more! I can take care of myself and I'm allowed to not feel great all the time! This too shall pass.

 

LadyDen, keep on keeping' on!! Thinking good thoughts for you.

 

Deanna, haven't heard from you for a while?

 

hugs to all, in the coming Fall, lol

KB

Hi guys,

I am still crossing my clozapine over from the Aurobindo to the Auro brand. It is tough but I manage. I discover it decreases my concentration and I play less good on my saxophones. I have less energy to do things. I still go to the swimming pool. I also find it hard to write,

hugs Jeroen

KachinaBirdsong,

 

I'ms sorry you've had some rough nights and feeling low.  We surely do cycle through these things, don't we?  I'm glad you know better than to think the Big A will help you.  It ain't your friend.....  You have every right to feel what you feel. Sometimes we just need a day or two to be sad and then try to rise out of it.  I'm thinking of you.