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

[[al...]]

Hi Wannabebetter, I just checked in and am so happy to hear that you are sleeping better. I generally am too although sleep fell off the rails for several days last week for some unknown reason. It is hard to settle oneself down again and relax into sleep. I've had a few long sleeps last few days and am feeling so much better. I guess we will always have to be careful  and practice good sleep hygiene and whatever calms us.

Funny you mention those rough days, L - no sooner had I written that my sleep was better when I suddenly had a bad night.  And I knew it was my jangled brain.  The insomnia was from out of the blue - not caffeine, sugar or stress.  So frustrating.  Hope to have a better night.  Looks like we are on a similar timetable.  Keep going.  WBB

 

Hi Wannabebetter,

I know just what you mean. My sleep has gotten much better over the last few weeks, but out of the blue my sleep fell apart last night. It took a long time to fall asleep and after finally falling asleep, I tossed and turned and then work up for good at 3am. The lesson is that we can't take sleep for granted right now.

[[Li...]]

Update; luckily I slept better last night, still without zopiclone. I am not feeling brilliant, but it is do-able. I am looking forward to the swimming pool, but first I get the person here who helps me to clean my house.

[[Go...]]

Hello, I'm new to this and have no clue if I'm even writing in the right place. I just started tapering about a week ago after trying to go on Cymbalta and Sonata because my doctor wants me off Ambien, the Cymbalta and Sonata gave me horrible headaches, nausea and made me want to just cry. I have a really hard time understanding why she wants me on a stupid antidepressant and a different sleeping pill that's much more expensive than Ambien. I've been cutting my last bottle of 10mg Ambien in half as she has told me that she will not refill it again and that I need to make it last. Should I be reducing faster? Today has been one of my worst days, I have had bad lower abdominal pain with nausea all day as well as being very emotional. Is this normal or am I depressed?

[[...]]

Hello, I'm no expert, but sonata was suggested to me as well because it has a really short t half life. I had a horrible experience with antidepressants and would just say be careful. Read about what they do and how getting off of them gies before starting. They made me feel numb and were awful to get off of. I know they help some, but studies show they are as effective as exercise and self care for many with way more side effects. I'm a bit jaded though because I had an underlying illness and they just threw handfuls of drugs at me. I'm glad you posted, people on here can help you a ton with getting off and getting through the woods!! I wish you the best of luck.

[[wa...]]

Hello, I'm new to this and have no clue if I'm even writing in the right place. I just started tapering about a week ago after trying to go on Cymbalta and Sonata because my doctor wants me off Ambien, the Cymbalta and Sonata gave me horrible headaches, nausea and made me want to just cry. I have a really hard time understanding why she wants me on a stupid antidepressant and a different sleeping pill that's much more expensive than Ambien. I've been cutting my last bottle of 10mg Ambien in half as she has told me that she will not refill it again and that I need to make it last. Should I be reducing faster? Today has been one of my worst days, I have had bad lower abdominal pain with nausea all day as well as being very emotional. Is this normal or am I depressed?

Hi Gonna and welcome.  I'm not totally clear about what you are on now or how long.  The Ambien is the closest thing to a benzo and you should hold until you figure out what you want to get off first.  If you talk to your doc and explain that you want to taper off these meds she might RX more Ambien.  I've been on every drug you've cited and I really can't recall anymore what happened to me on them or how I got off.  Ambien may come in smaller dose.  Try to get the same manufacturer from the pharmacist if you can.

 

Generally, the shorter the time you've been on the Z drug, Ambien, the easier it is to taper off.  If you are symptomatic now due to cutting  the Ambien - hold so that you can get a little more stable.  I had to on the Lunesta.

 

You may present a copy of the Ashton manual with the section on Z drugs included - to your doc.  Not a single doc of mine looked at it twice so don't be surprised if yours doesn't either.  Many folks work on their taper on their own.

 

The manual is archived somewhere here on BB.  Others will chime in but if you make a signature about what you are on and how long that might help.  WBB

[[al...]]

Hello, I'm new to this and have no clue if I'm even writing in the right place. I just started tapering about a week ago after trying to go on Cymbalta and Sonata because my doctor wants me off Ambien, the Cymbalta and Sonata gave me horrible headaches, nausea and made me want to just cry. I have a really hard time understanding why she wants me on a stupid antidepressant and a different sleeping pill that's much more expensive than Ambien. I've been cutting my last bottle of 10mg Ambien in half as she has told me that she will not refill it again and that I need to make it last. Should I be reducing faster? Today has been one of my worst days, I have had bad lower abdominal pain with nausea all day as well as being very emotional. Is this normal or am I depressed?

 

I am glad that you are getting off of Ambien because it can cause all kinds of problems. 10 mg of Ambien for a female is twice the recommended dose. I'm wondering how long you have been taking that much and if you found that it is no longer working the way it used to. If you take too much Ambien for too long you can become tolerant to it. Many of us then start to experience withdrawal symptoms between doses because Ambien has such a short half-life causing the amount in your blood to drop very fast.

 

It seems that once tolerance sets in there is no easy way off the drug, but you have to start getting off of it. Doing a long drawn out taper can be hard because you will most likely be experiencing interdose withdrawal symptoms along most of the way. A short taper will get it out of your system faster, but can possibly prolong the insomnia that is part of the withdrawal. I got off in about 10 days and to be honest, my withdrawal story doesn't sound any worse than people who slowly tapered after having grown tolerant to the drug. If you have not grown tolerant to Ambien then going slower might be a good idea. I personally just don't like the idea of putting so much additional drug in your body since it is not really intended for regular use for more that 3 weeks or so.

 

Most benzos are probably more suitable for tapering since they tend to have a longer half-life. Some people replace their Ambien with a longer lasting benzo and then taper off of that more slowly. You have to make sure you know how much of the benzo equals a dose of the Ambien in order to make that process more seamless. The one thing that you DO NOT want to do is abruptly quit taking your Ambien because that can potential cause seizures and other serious health issues. If you decide to do a slow taper, you are going to need to get more Ambien prescribed to you. Otherwise, you can consider using what you have left in slowly decreasing dosages every couple of nights or so until you run out. That will prevent the potentially serious medical problems, but no matter which way you decide to go, you might have a period of protracted withdrawal symptoms and a long bout of insomnia. All will end in time.

 

Just so you understand, Sonata is not really all that different from Ambien so I see no purpose in switching to it. Ambien has a half-life of 2 hours while Sonata is only 1 hour. It seems to me that Sonata will not do much for you other than cost more money and create a more rapid fluctuation in levels in your blood. It will also probably be even harder to taper off of than Ambien.

 

Regarding your nausea and depression: these are common withdrawal symptoms. If you found that depression has been slowly sneaking up on you over the past weeks or months, it could very well be due to interdose withdrawal symptoms from your Ambien. You may have also noticed an uptick in anxiety. Doctors often prescribe antidepressants to treat these problems when the real cause can be from the Ambien that they are also prescribing. I tried a couple of antidepressants to lesson my withdrawal symptoms, but decided that fighting a drug-induced chemical balance with more drugs was not something that I wanted.

 

I have known people who have gotten off of Ambien with little or no problems without doing a long taper (my best friend for one), but these folks never seemed to grow tolerant to the drug and did not have to increase the dose. Regardless of any problems experienced in getting off the drug, not getting off can probably lead to worse problems in the long run. I am wishing you the best of luck.

 

[[Lo...]]

Wannabebetter and AlohafromHawaii, I had another bad night last night but realized the cause...anxiety. We are all heading to Florida this weekend for Spring Break. My one adult daughter forgot about needing her passport and left it at the Spanish Consulate here in Toronto - she needed to get a visa as she has a job later next month in Spain. Panic as she was to leave here this afternoon with her family. All turned out - she managed to get it. It would certainly have been a huge disappointment if they couldn't go to Florida. Kids are very excited about Disney and the pool of course. I fly on sunday with another daughter and family.

 

I realized that I'm really not good at just LETTING GO.  Probably a big part of the insomnia all those years and the use of sleeping pills.

 

I/We need to follow the Serenity Prayer....God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

 

I still have a small amount of sleeping pills here at the house. What would happen if one night I really freaked and took one?

 

Have the rest of you thrown out all that you had left? Oci

 

 

[[wa...]]

You know, Loveslife, I am still unable to make plans of any kind really due to my stubborn anticipatory anxiety which is largely the reason I got on the Z drug in the first place. 

 

I can't make morning appointments without accepting also that I'll get little to no sleep the night before.  I am going to have to address this at some point.  Now, I am still so symptomatic, I cannot yet deal with this which causes me alot of embarrassment but anger at others who do not understand. 

 

I have a couple of pills somewhere but can't see a reason to ever use them at this point.  I never want to go through the w/d again.  I suppose some folks can use them the way they were originally intended  -- but not for years out from last use, my guess.  Nobody really knows.

 

And, right now, I spend more time than I'd like trying to get to sleep and don't drift off until the early hours.  Like someone on another thread, (Siggy?)  I am married to a professional sleeper who, after hearing that he may have prostate cancer, slept soundly for 8 hours after having a nap. OMG - I wish I was like this!  I was the one that lost sleep over his health issue.  He was fine (and is fine as it turns out)  My goal is to be more like my hubby!  WBB

 

[[al...]]

Wannabebetter and AlohafromHawaii, I had another bad night last night but realized the cause...anxiety. We are all heading to Florida this weekend for Spring Break. My one adult daughter forgot about needing her passport and left it at the Spanish Consulate here in Toronto - she needed to get a visa as she has a job later next month in Spain. Panic as she was to leave here this afternoon with her family. All turned out - she managed to get it. It would certainly have been a huge disappointment if they couldn't go to Florida. Kids are very excited about Disney and the pool of course. I fly on sunday with another daughter and family.

 

I realized that I'm really not good at just LETTING GO.  Probably a big part of the insomnia all those years and the use of sleeping pills.

 

I/We need to follow the Serenity Prayer....God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

 

I still have a small amount of sleeping pills here at the house. What would happen if one night I really freaked and took one?

 

Have the rest of you thrown out all that you had left? Oci

 

I threw out all of my pills on the day that I took one for the last time. I had a whole bunch of prescription bottles and just got rid of them all as soon as I could. Had I not done that I probably would have sought out rescue doses many times and it probably would have messed up my healing. My advice would be to find another source of comfort and get rid of your pills.

[[...]]

Anyone else still on Z?

 

I'm realising that I need off it, it's disabling me from living a normal life, since I went up to 15mg my issues have compounded... Brain fog until 4-5pm...

 

Depression...

 

Anxiety...

 

I need to get off this crap.

 

Before I was actually quiet happy to just stay on it as long as I slept I didn't care that I needed to take a pill to sleep...

 

Now theirs just too many negatives...

 

I honesty don't know where to start with the WD

 

I don't want to take valium don't see the point jumping to something more physically addictive than zopiclone

 

Any non valium WDers?

[[wa...]]

Hi Zuko - I remember you from last July.  What have you been up to?  WBB

[[...]]

Hi Zuko - I remember you from last July.  What have you been up to?  WBB

 

Just taking lots of zopiclone lol

 

I came down from 15mg to 7.5mg 3 nights ago and feel great less brain fog and better cognitive function

[[Li...]]

Update;

I am now one and a half week without zopiclone. My sleep is not really ok, because I wake up quite early. But I will not reïnstate, this time I will be strong. Today I will go to my painting lesson. And I will go voting because it is election day here in Holland. Have a nice day! Jerry.

[[wa...]]

Update;

I am now one and a half week without zopiclone. My sleep is not really ok, because I wake up quite early. But I will not reïnstate, this time I will be strong. Today I will go to my painting lesson. And I will go voting because it is election day here in Holland. Have a nice day! Jerry.

 

Congrats, Lights.  Good for you for getting out, too.  That's amazing.  WBB

[[Li...]]

Update;

I am now one and a half week without zopiclone. My sleep is not really ok, because I wake up quite early. But I will not reïnstate, this time I will be strong. Today I will go to my painting lesson. And I will go voting because it is election day here in Holland. Have a nice day! Jerry.

 

Congrats, Lights.  Good for you for getting out, too.  That's amazing.  WBB

 

I am now two weeks off and having a tough time, mostly because of waking up early and also because of thin sleep. The Celtic salt doesn't seem to help, which is a pity. I am not feeling well and like to stay in bed. I will keep on fighting and stay off Zopiclone. Jerry

[[El...]]

Update;

I am now one and a half week without zopiclone. My sleep is not really ok, because I wake up quite early. But I will not reïnstate, this time I will be strong. Today I will go to my painting lesson. And I will go voting because it is election day here in Holland. Have a nice day! Jerry.

 

Congrats, Lights.  Good for you for getting out, too.  That's amazing.  WBB

I am now two weeks off and having a tough time, mostly because of waking up early and also because of thin sleep. The Celtic salt doesn't seem to help, which is a pity. I am not feeling well and like to stay in bed. I will keep on fighting and stay off Zopiclone. Jerry

congrats and stay strong there

You can do this, and ofcourse the salt doesnt work, nothing works for w/d only time and time again, and thin sleep and waking up early is a part of the w/d, we all go through it, its no fun but its the only way through it, theres no shortcuts through this miserable road to healing. Try not to be obsessed with sleep, it helped me to go through it to just give a shis, I know its not easy but its a skill to be learned just to give a f...and take everything as it is, SYMPTOMS... we have to go throught it and its through the symptoms we heal. Your brain now has to learn to sleep without using a benzo weelchair, and it takes time, just like when we have to learn to function again after a major injuri. Dont be scared and please please dont reinstate when you get other symptoms. Just be kind to your self, dont push to much, if your body says it wants to just relax and do nothing, then this is what you need....just vegetate and try to learn some meditation, breathing and relaxing exercises. u can find many on youtube. Im following your progress here, and you will pull through, be strong and all my strenght to you

[[bu...]]

Hi all, coming back to offer some hope for life after benzos! I am now off klonopin 9 mths and ambien 6 mths. Healing is slow but remarkable! I am living life so fully, I don't want to miss out anymore. But I do have to be careful, my nervous system is delicate. I need strict sleep hygiene. I am bad abut caffeine at times and it impacts my sleep.

 

I am also doing a lot to accept and heal childhood trauma. We all probably have reasons why we needed drugs either health or emotional. It takes time to learn how to accept and heal. I still have interrupted sleep from both but I am ok about it. I know tgat I will catch up sleep soon enough but it took some time to accept that.

 

My advice get off those drugs ASAP, get rid of the rest IMMEDIATELY! I see questions about reinstating, never let that be an issue, get rid of the pills! Do not sub new pills! I don't want to lecture but take some time to think about what is really going on, no pills will ever help. Some supplements can temporarily pike melatonin or 5 http but I am not using those at all. Look at vitamins you many need like D3 and magnesium, is your nutrition and exercise good. Do deep breathing etc.

 

I am happy to ask questions via PM. Wishing healing and happiness to everyone. We do deserve it!!!

 

[[al...]]

Hi all, coming back to offer some hope for life after benzos! I am now off klonopin 9 mths and ambien 6 mths. Healing is slow but remarkable! I am living life so fully, I don't want to miss out anymore. But I do have to be careful, my nervous system is delicate. I need strict sleep hygiene. I am bad abut caffeine at times and it impacts my sleep.

 

I am also doing a lot to accept and heal childhood trauma. We all probably have reasons why we needed drugs either health or emotional. It takes time to learn how to accept and heal. I still have interrupted sleep from both but I am ok about it. I know tgat I will catch up sleep soon enough but it took some time to accept that.

 

My advice get off those drugs ASAP, get rid of the rest IMMEDIATELY! I see questions about reinstating, never let that be an issue, get rid of the pills! Do not sub new pills! I don't want to lecture but take some time to think about what is really going on, no pills will ever help. Some supplements can temporarily pike melatonin or 5 http but I am not using those at all. Look at vitamins you many need like D3 and magnesium, is your nutrition and exercise good. Do deep breathing etc.

 

I am happy to ask questions via PM. Wishing healing and happiness to everyone. We do deserve it!!!

 

I agree 100% about throwing out all pills once off of them and never giving serious thought to reinstating. Why repeat a past mistake and risk putting yourself into a never ending cycle of misery.

[[...]]

reducing down to 7.5mg from 15mg side effect is early wakings I wake up around 8am now when before it was more like mid day

 

I went back up to 15mg for 3 nights last week but last two nights at 7.5mg with no issues...

 

Hoping I can stabilize at 7.5mg then drop down to 3.75mg

[[Li...]]

Update;

I am now almost three weeks almost without zopiclone, two nights I took a little amount of zopiclone. I had the idea that that would give me less withdrawal symptoms. But now I am really done with that and I am planning to stay of z. completely. Mostly in the mornings I feel worst. I take a cold shower every day, which really helps me to feel better. I try to do my regular activities; painting, playing sax and sports. The weather is good here, lots of sun which is nice. 

 

Something that might help those who taper zopiclone is to put the zopiclone in an emptied capsule, I used valerian capsules for this. Now you won't have that horrible taste in your mouth when you take the zopiclone. 

[[...]]

5 days from dropping from 15mg to 7.5mg and I'm sleeping better - waking up at a normal time (9am) and also not having groggy feelings during the day!

 

Just need to drop down to 3.75mg

 

Sleeping very well, no side effects, the opposite I feel amazing...

 

Not sure how I'll drop down from 7.5mg but been on 15mg for nearly 2 years so it was time...

 

Still worried constantly about "damage" the Z has done to by body from years of abuse... Damage mainly turned into convinced I've got cancer from zopiclone is fueling my WD

[[Lo...]]

 

You know, Loveslife, I am still unable to make plans of any kind really due to my stubborn anticipatory anxiety which is largely the reason I got on the Z drug in the first place.

 

I can't make morning appointments without accepting also that I'll get little to no sleep the night before.  I am going to have to address this at some point.  Now, I am still so symptomatic, I cannot yet deal with this which causes me alot of embarrassment but anger at others who do not understand.

 

I have a couple of pills somewhere but can't see a reason to ever use them at this point.  I never want to go through the w/d again.  I suppose some folks can use them the way they were originally intended  -- but not for years out from last use, my guess.  Nobody really knows.

 

And, right now, I spend more time than I'd like trying to get to sleep and don't drift off until the early hours.  Like someone on another thread, (Siggy?)  I am married to a professional sleeper who, after hearing that he may have prostate cancer, slept soundly for 8 hours after having a nap. OMG - I wish I was like this!  I was the one that lost sleep over his health issue.  He was fine (and is fine as it turns out)  My goal is to be more like my hubby!  WBB

 

I can't make morning appointments without accepting also that I'll get little to no sleep the night before.  I am going to have to address this at some point.  Now, I am still so symptomatic, I cannot yet deal with this which causes me alot of embarrassment but anger at others who do not understand. 

 

I have a couple of pills somewhere but can't see a reason to ever use them at this point.  I never want to go through the w/d again.  I suppose some folks can use them the way they were originally intended  -- but not for years out from last use, my guess.  Nobody really knows.

 

And, right now, I spend more time than I'd like trying to get to sleep and don't drift off until the early hours.  Like someone on another thread, (Siggy?)  I am married to a professional sleeper who, after hearing that he may have prostate cancer, slept soundly for 8 hours after having a nap. OMG - I wish I was like this!  I was the one that lost sleep over his health issue.  He was fine (and is fine as it turns out)  My goal is to be more like my hubby!  WBB

Hi Wannabebetter, I'm sorry for not tuning in earlier! I see that I last posted 2 weeks ago. It is a sign that things are going well. I was off to Florida with 2 of my daughters and their families - yes the one daughter did locate/retrieve her passport.

 

I had a fairly good time although it was a bit of a struggle at times - weather colder than I'd hoped and I got a nasty cold. Also I had bunged up my knee just before I left. However I did sleep for the most part.

 

Then flew home for overnight and then flew out to Edmonton, Alberta to be with another daughter who needed help while husband away. Crazy and exhausting. I have really been sleeping a lot here. Very tired for some reason! it is wonderful that I can now sleep! However, I'm sure that sleep will be up and down depending on what anxieties I have going on.

 

I have not been tempted to use any Zopiclone and on nights when I may struggle to get to sleep a bit I don't really want to get up and search for it. I really should just get rid of it!!! 

 

However, just now my brother-in-law is in critical condition and I am relieving many of the times my husband was struggling too with acute conditions. And then his death. It is all coming back to me. But does that mean that I should "take something"? No, of course, not. You can see that I am still ambivalent!

 

I am away just now but will get rid of the remaining pills when I get home.

 

I agree to some extent re morning appointments. I try not to make them. We left for Florida flight in the early morning and I found it really hard to get to sleep. I think this is normal for some of us.

 

I too was married to a man who found sleep an escape. I remember him receiving the news that his prostate cancer was now metastatic and he went home and had a nap!

 

Guess that is all for now. I will check in again soon. Keep chugging along....you are doing well!  Oci

[[Lo...]]

Wannabebetter and AlohafromHawaii, I had another bad night last night but realized the cause...anxiety. We are all heading to Florida this weekend for Spring Break. My one adult daughter forgot about needing her passport and left it at the Spanish Consulate here in Toronto - she needed to get a visa as she has a job later next month in Spain. Panic as she was to leave here this afternoon with her family. All turned out - she managed to get it. It would certainly have been a huge disappointment if they couldn't go to Florida. Kids are very excited about Disney and the pool of course. I fly on sunday with another daughter and family.

 

I realized that I'm really not good at just LETTING GO.  Probably a big part of the insomnia all those years and the use of sleeping pills.

 

I/We need to follow the Serenity Prayer....God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

 

I still have a small amount of sleeping pills here at the house. What would happen if one night I really freaked and took one?

 

Have the rest of you thrown out all that you had left? Oci

 

I threw out all of my pills on the day that I took one for the last time. I had a whole bunch of prescription bottles and just got rid of them all as soon as I could. Had I not done that I probably would have sought out rescue doses many times and it probably would have messed up my healing. My advice would be to find another source of comfort and get rid of your pills.

Thanks AlohafromHawaii, I will certainly heed your advice! Sooner or later, I am bound to slip up! Why risk it?!!!

[[Li...]]

Update; I have still stopped using zopiclone. I am now three weeks without it. Sleep is quite ok. But the mornings are tough, not feeling well. Weather is great here. Lots of sun!

[[...]]

What do people do to help fall asleep without the zopiclone?

 

Replacing the ritual of taking the pill just before you sleep?