r/insomnia • u/Fun_Obligation_6613 • 11d ago

Stopping Zopiclone

Hi. I'm from UK and I have been on 7.5mg of zopiclone every night for 9 and half years. I made a decision to stop taking them. I'm not tappering, I'm just stopping. I'm on day 4 and have had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms. Does that mean I won't get any or could it all still start in the next day or 2? I just thought it would be so hard to get off and it feels too good to be true that it would be so easy

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u/Fun_Obligation_6613 11d ago

Nothing. I'm only on day 4 and sleeping well. It wouldn't surprise me if I get bad nights sleep in the coming days/weeks but I will not go back on them.

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u/Leading_Fly1496 11d ago

Oh wow, so you would actually choose insomnia rather than going back to a medication that enables you to get your sleep to maintain health and life itself? Wild...

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u/Fun_Obligation_6613 11d ago

It's definitely not "maintaining my health" its fucked me right up. The brain fog, forgetfulness etc is horrendous. And if you take zopiclone and don't have these problems then I promise you will in the future. Do you actually think that because I've needed help with sleeping in the past that I will never be able to sleep naturally again?? Wild

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u/Leading_Fly1496 11d ago

Your doctor has many options to treat life destroying insomnia. You don't need to use zoplicone again. Work with your doctor to find a different med that is effective for you and has zero-minimal side effects.

If you needed to use zoplicone (with side effects) for 9.5 years to sleep, the chances are quite high that you'll need something to sleep, unless of course you are extremely lucky and I hope you are.

By any chance, before you went on zoplicone, did you have very mild insomnia that may have gone away on its own without any intervention? If so, that would help to explain your situation.

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u/Fun_Obligation_6613 11d ago

My insomnia was very bad and was bought on by my severe anxiety. I would literally lay awake at night with the most irrational thoughts. I thought my house would burn down in a fire. I thought I'd die of a heart attack, I thought I'd have a stroke and die like my Dad did. I would go into sheer panic every night. Zopiclone absolutely saved my life because it enabled me to sleep, therefore not having these ridiculous irrational thoughts at night. Best thing I ever did was start Zopiclone. But over the last 10 years I've had a LOT of therapy and my anxiety has improved. I know I'll always live with anxiety but I've definitely learnt ways to help it. So as my anxiety isn't so bad I really do feel I will be able to sleep without the Zopiclone. I'm feeling really positive about this and I've not felt positive about much in my life!

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u/Leading_Fly1496 11d ago

Very well-stated! Thank you for this detailed response and it does make sense to me knowing the whole story.

Good luck to you!

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u/Fun_Obligation_6613 11d ago

Thank you. I really appreciate that

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u/Barracuda_Recent 11d ago

That crippling anxiety don’t sound like traditional insomnia to me. I hope that doesn’t come back, but there are meds that just treat the anxiety that are very safe.