Advice or/and succes stories needed. Want to quit taking Zolpidem

[[Le...]]

Hi all, I’m from the Netherlands so am not a 100% good in writhing and explaining myself in English but will do my very best!

I’m on Zolpidem 20 mg at bedtime but I am experiencing tolerance issues. I went to my psychiatrist and she told me to do cold turkey (because of the working time) or switch to 20 mg of diazepam and taper that of in 6 weeks.

I once tried lowering my dose of Zolpidem from 20 to 15, did that for 6 days but didn’t sleep at all or slept 2 hours at the most. Asking you all what the best plan is, ct, taper the Zolpidem or switch to diazepam? My anxiety for not sleeping at all in huge ( I know…not helping) but maybe if I hear positive stories it will reduse my anxiety.

many thanks in advance!!

[[Co...]]

Hello @[Le...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

Your English is easily good enough.

20mg zolpidem is a low dose. And given its very short half-life (about 2 hours), if it taken just once per day, you are effectively withdrawn from the medication every day. For these reasons, in this situation, it is usual to just stop taking the medication in a single step.

Being reliant upon the medication for sleep is not the same thing as being 'dependent' upon the medication. If you are taking zolpidem to help you sleep, it is probably to be expected that you will experience some insomnia when you reduce your dose.

The downside with switching to diazepam is that because of its much longer half-life, even when taken once per day, you be chronically dosing yourself - this can lead to the development of dependency where little to none existed before. For some, dependency can develop within 2 weeks.

In your shoes, I think I would either taper off from zolpidem over a few weeks at the most, or (more likely) follow the instructions of the psychiatrist and stop taking it in a single step.

It is to be expected that you will experience the underlying insomnia when you stop taking zolpidem. But this is probably not a withdrawal effect, per se. Rather, it the return of your underlying condition. I suggest that you start a topic on the Insomnia, Depression & Anxiety forum for ideas to help you better manage your problems with sleep.

[[Le...]]

@[Co...] thank you for your reply.

I am experiencing the withdrawal symptoms daily. I do fall asleep on zolpidem (in the Netherlands 20 mg is a really high dosis) but will sleep for 2-4 hours max. My withdrawal symptoms are, muscle cramps, nervous, constant feeling of anxiety and racing thoughts. I like the fact that diazepam helps ease the withdrawal symptoms but I am also really worried about the dependency and als having to taper off from that within 6 weeks.

If I would taper off the zolpidem, what steps would you recommend? Doing it in one step is something I am really afraid off.

thank you again in advance 🙏🏼

[[Co...]]

10 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

@[Co...] thank you for your reply.

I am experiencing the withdrawal symptoms daily. I do fall asleep on zolpidem (in the Netherlands 20 mg is a really high dosis) but will sleep for 2-4 hours max. My withdrawal symptoms are, muscle cramps, nervous, constant feeling of anxiety and racing thoughts. I like the fact that diazepam helps ease the withdrawal symptoms but I am also really worried about the dependency and als having to taper off from that within 6 weeks.

I am using Ashton's equivalency tables. But these were created for the purposes of substitution. These are not direct equivalent doses.

https://benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha01.htm

Those could be withdrawal effects, but there is no way for me to know. Has your psychiatrist commented these symptoms?

10 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

If I would taper off the zolpidem, what steps would you recommend? Doing it in one step is something I am really afraid off.

thank you again in advance 🙏🏼

If you (and your psychiatrist) feel that you have become dependent, then a plan to taper off gradually might be more appropriate. On the one hand, given that your psychiatrist has recommended simply stopping in a single step, this suggests that he/she thinks you have not developed dependency; but on the other hand, he/she suggested switching to diazepam and tapering off from that.

Another approach might be to taper off directly from zolpidem and only switch if you and your psychiatrist feel this is for the best.

I cannot give you exact answers. At best, all I can provide you is with best guesses based upon the widely varying experiences reported by our members. If in doubt, you probably should proceed more cautiously and decide what to from there according to how you react.

[[Le...]]

My psychiatrist just said….. “Or you start with diazepam but I will not subscribe you for more then 6 weeks in total. Or you just stop with the zolpidem, tapering down is shown not helpful”

She did said my symptoms are tolerance based. But every sleep medication is having that on the long term…. “Just accept the fact that you have insomnia and find a way to live with it” 

As you can imagine, I don’t feel understood by her and don’t have any trust in her opinion anymore.

I think I will try to taper off the zolpidem instead of switching to diazepam because of the dependence dangers.

But I’m so insecure about it. I’m trying to find succes storries about stopping with zolpidem……

[[Co...]]

Hi @[Le...],

Unfortunately, benzodiazepine use and particularly withdrawal, are rather unpredictable. There is often a large element of having to simply try and see how you react.

2 hours ago, [[L...] said:

I think I will try to taper off the zolpidem instead of switching to diazepam because of the dependence dangers.

Sounds like a plan. Of course, if you do experience difficulties, you can always again discuss the possibility of substitution with your psychiatrist.

Please do keep us informed of your progress.

[[Le...]]

Hi @[Co...] thank you so much for your time and answers! I feel understood and that helps.

I will sure do an update if I made my decision.

thanks again 🙏🏼

[[Co...]]

44 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

Hi @[Co...] thank you so much for your time and answers! I feel understood and that helps.

I will sure do an update if I made my decision.

thanks again 🙏🏼

I corrected my last post for a typo. It might have been confusing for you.

And you are welcome.

[[or...]]

@[Le...] I tapered off zolpidem (Ambien) rather than cross over to valium. My taper was crude, but here's what I did. I was on 10 mgs and asked my doc to prescribe 5mg pills. I chopped them up into 1/4 s as best I could. So to start I had 2 batches of 1/4 s or 8 pieces of zolpidem. For the first week, I took 7 pieces, for the next week 6 pieces, and so on until I was at zero. My taper took 8 weeks. It worked well enough. Of course I got insomnia, but I looked into various OTC preparations (Unisom mainly) to help with that. I did not ask my doc for a prescription sleeping aid as I wanted to get to a place of NO DRUGS. Hope this helps you.

Edited February 25 by [or...]

[[De...]]

I am 10 days cold turkeyed from zolpediem, however I was dual using Klonopin. They updosed my klonopin to counteract the cold turkey and I’ve experienced pretty drastic insomnia. The first couple days were ok but I’m doing a rapid taper on klonopin.

Remember that zolpedeim is a benzo, so switching to low dose Valium for a SHORT period, might be an acceptable option but you are going to experience withdrawal insomnia which ever way you go. 

I WILL say, that after not taking Ambien, my sleepless nights are not nearly as stressful as sleeping for 3 hours on Ambien and being shot awake after 3 hours. 

[[De...]]

Sorry, I should have said “sleep issues” not insomnia. Not everyone will be the same. One way you can potentially approach this, is to cold turkey but drastically alter your nighttime routine for a little while and slowly adjust. Perhaps setting a bedtime of 2am instead of 10pm for example and test that out. Increasing your exercise might also help.