Zolpidem withdrawal

[[El...]]

Hello,

Coming on here to look for some words of advice on my situation and recommendations as to how to approach my tapering here onwards.

My drug history:

Zopiclone:

2010- 2019 couple times a week 2,5mg (there were probably long stretches of pauses between some weeks of usage)

Zolpidem

2019-2023 4 times per week at 3,3mg (There was a month of not taking it in july 2022)

(Mirtazpine withdrawal started) 2023 August until September 15 Every day 5-7,5mg

September 15 until October 1st: 3,3mg every day

October 1st until 14th: 2,5mg every day

October 14th until November 1st 1,6mg every 2 days

 

Xanax

2019-2022: Sporadic usage, couple times a week to sleep, but with pauses in between at 0.25mg

2022: 2-3 times a week at 0,25mg, latter half of the year it was 2-3 times per month

2023 until june 2 times a month to sleep at 0,25-0,5mg

(Mirtazapine withdrawal started) 2023 August until September 15th: every day 0,5mg to sleep. Had a couple of days when the dosage went as high as 1,5mg

 

Mirtazapine

2022 january-june 2mg daily to sleep

Quit CT in july with a week of stomach problems but nothing else

Started taking again August 2022, very sporadically, couple times a week at 2mg until 2023.

2023: 3 times a week between 3,75-5mg

 

Trazodone

1 week in November 2021 at 0,75mg

 

My withdrawal started when i jumped from Mirtazapine on August 2nd 2023, i did a cold turkey as I was taking the medicine about 3 times a week and approximately 3,75mg-5mg which according to my psychiatrist 'was no dose at all'. It was very clearly from Mirtazapine as I suffered every symptom under the sun, insomnia, terrible diarrhea, stomach problems, flu feelings, headaches, tremors, shaking, visual disturbances, depersonalization, derealization, heart palpitations, terrible anxiety and depressive waves, it was awful. Because I was so freaked out and did not understand what was happening, my first reaction was to take Xanax to try to sleep and also continued my sleeping pills as I had been taking those anyway. When I started to understand that this problem wasnt going to go away quickly i decided to drop the Xanax before that could develop into a longer standing problem, which I did on September 15th - Altogether I was on Xanax for 6 weeks in a row. On that date I also set a limit to my Zolpidem usage at 3,3 mg which was the dose I had always taken it because I understood things could really go awry. To my surprise the sleeping wasnt that horrible, it was broken sleep for about the first month between 4-6 hours, but ever since mid october I sleep 6-8 hours pretty consistently, with maybe one bad night per week (The zolpidem isnt the cause of my sleep for a long time now). My symptoms over the past month have been mainly emotional with deep feelings of anxiety coming up, ruminating about my situation and horrible depressive feelings, some internal tremor, muscle tension, paresthesia but those only come up when i get into bed in the evening and they are simply uncomfortable but nothing intolerable. I have been trying to exercise, keep myself busy, distracted, do yoga etc as much as i can but the emotional states get really bad at times and I feel unsure as to how long I can take this. I am having a hard time understanding how much of this is still withdrawal and how much is just PTSD of what I went through and fear about how long it will still last. I have GAD and am just generally a very sensitive person and on high alert about what i am feeling etc

I also started tapering Zolpidem as when I switched to a lower dose of 1,6 mg and started alternating days in mid october, I noticed that I was very clearly feeling better on the days when I wasnt taking it. That lead to me deciding to drop it altogether at the start of November and on day 10 I started to feel incredibly anxious and some of the withdrawal feelings returned with more intensity which scared me deeply so I reinstated at 1,6mg daily. Right now i am at 1,25mg for a week now with taking it daily, but I had one day where I just fell asleep and forgot to take it, that was the day with less tension and anxiety in my body.

My questions are:

Do you think that dropping the Zolpidem might have caused a setback in my recovery because I was feeling way more stable and calm before that?

What to do when I feel that taking it is making me feel slightly worse but also dropping it suddenly seems to not be an option?

When and how should i continue my taper and to how tiny specs should i take it to before jumping off?

Any similar experiences from people and if the Xanax could also be a culprit here?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks a lot,

Anna

[[de...]]

Welcome to Benzo Buddies!   Glad you are here.     I will try to go through your list of questions as best I can.   Overall, it looks like you have started and stopped several psychotropic drugs in the last few years.   The Z-drugs (Zopiclone and Zolpidem) are not technically benzodiazepines, but they work on the same receptors.   So for our purposes, I am going to group them with the Xanax you have been taking.    Then the mirtazapine is an atypical anti-depressant and the trazodone is an anti-depressant as well.    I just wanted to lay that ground work so we are on the same page.    Anti-depressants do not work like benzos but they can have withdrawal symptoms similar to benzos.    So it appears you are currently taking 1.6 mgs of Zolpidem daily.  Is that correct?   

Yes, dropping the Zolpidem probably brought on the intense withdrawal symptoms.   Now that you have reinstated you should stabilize eventually and then you begin to taper again.    I would recommend a very slow taper as you get to the end.  

Yes, Xanax could also be a culprit.    Even though you used it sporadically, you still could have developed a physical dependency.

As to when you should jump from Zolpidem, it is hard to say.   Hopefully, someone who has had experience with stopping Zolpidem will weigh in.   I am not familiar with tapering Zopidem.

Please keep reaching out.   

[[El...]]

I went down to 1,25mg because as I said taking it always makes me feel worse or on days that i have skipped i notice that i feel lighter emotionally. If there is anyone here with experience then would be great to know that if it isnt helping me to sleep at all and i am just taking it to keep it in my body then would taking it every 2 days be an option? The 2 weeks that i took it like that were quite good, it was only 10 days after completely stopping that i felt like my body slipped back into a very weak state with blurred vision, strong physical anxiety, muscle stiffness and a weird tension feeling in my upper stomach. Physically I feel like i have recovered from the setback but emotionally its still pretty bleak, bad feelings and bad thoughts keep coming up..

[[El...]]

if there are any z-drug taper experienced people here, calling on your advice! having a really hard time to find any info/experiences of people who have actually tapered ambien properly..

[[sh...]]

I'm tapering Zolpidem.  Just really confused with your dosage.  Standard dose is 10 mgs per night.  If you are down to 1.25 mg, you are on a seriously small dosage.  I cannot believe a dose this low would have any affect on you at all.  I don't even think it would help you sleep at that low dose.  Please explain. Also, with the half life of zolp being around 2 hours, I can't imagine any w/d symptoms 10 days out.  I am tapering from a very high dose (60 mg), and I'm barely suffering b/c I'm doing it slow.  My sleep is fine, as I adjust to lower dosage and incorporate strict sleep hygiene behaviors. Also, I am on 2.5 mgs Klonopin a day, so that may ease or mask any w/d from Z.

[[or...]]

@[El...] so you are off xanax and off mirtaz, right? And you're on a tiny dose of zolpidem? My opinion is that your brain is so scrambled from your 2 cold turkeys, that's why you are feeling awful. I tapered zolpidem but I did it from 10 mgs once all my other drugs were tapered (neurontin, valium). It was not helping me sleep and was just giving me unpleasant s/z (malaise, dizziness) during the day. I got my psych to prescribe 5mg tablets and I cut 2 of them into quarters and dropped 1/4 (actually 1/8 of 10 mgs) weekly until I was done. That's not a very scientific taper, but it worked.

Now, on to your situation. If it were me, I would hold here at your tiny zolpidem dose daily until you feel better. At that dose, it is not helping you sleep. imo you will just have to put up with whatever s/x you are having until you feel better. Just fyi, I once CT'd my xanax and I felt like c**p for six months. No wonder you feel awful. Then, when you feel a bit better, I would cut your 1.25 mg zolpidem dose in half and take it for 2 weeks. (How do you get pills that are so small?) Then I'd cut that dose in half, take it for 2 weeks; then take whatever miniscule dose you have left for 2 weeks, then jump. Does this sound like something you want to think about? I'd do something like this if I were in your shoes . . . small, slow and steady . . . cut only when you feel okay.

Hope  this helps.

[[El...]]

Thank you for your insights! This definetly is not helping me sleep or with anything to be honest, i feel no effect when i take it..I am sleeping rather well on my own and as I mentioned as it was no longer helping with anything, I did try to jump off of it at 1,6 mg but after a week felt pretty awful and I dont have an idea if it was just a wave from the other stuff or a new withdrawal from Zolp. I am just worried that if i have used something for that long (altogether 6 or 7 years albeit very low doses and generally not daily) then shouldnt i taper super long and to like a tiny speck to not create a new withdrawal? As I understand youre supposed to treat it exactly like a benzo? My cutting is not very scientific, just trying to cut 1/8th of the 10mg pill, though i just bought the jewellers scale to try and measure them to be more exact..

Its been 4 months since i stopped Mirtazapine and 12 weeks since i stopped the xanax (as mentioned before the 6 weeks that i took it at night for withdrawal I was not a frequent user of xanax). 

I think you are right @[or...] as to not make any changes until i feel better but at the same time the internal panic is creating doubts as to maybe this tiny zolpidem dose is creating more symptoms and i should just get off everything to start to proper heal…

[[or...]]

@[El...] I understand your desire to get off everything soonest, but imo if you continue your slow taper from your zolpidem, that would be better for you. Just think . . . you're almost drug free! I know I felt lots better a few weeks after I tapered off my last bit of z -- it was the last drug and good riddance. And things have steadily improved since then. My advice: be patient -- your CT off xanax was not that long ago. Our brains love homeostasis, and yours will find that again once you are drug-free. Best to you.

[[El...]]

Thank you so much @[or...] for words of assurance, makes me feel so much better and much less alone in this. It is really hard because no one around me really understands what Im going through and relatives just trying to tell me to ‘snap out of it’. Its a weird time in my life because externally everything is absolutely great.. i am financially secure, i dont have to work, i have basically no external stresses whatsoever and then to be going through something so tough internally.. its all just really odd. sometimes i even wish that i had more going on in my life to lead attention away from what is happening within.

 

If there are any more people with similar experiences with being polydrugged and then tapering Ambien as the last one, all experiences/advice is greatly welcome!