Anyone had success coming off sleeping tablets?

[UpsyDaisyDo]

I've been using a combination of Clonazapam and Zolpidem (prescribed for anxiety and sleep problems) for about 2 years now and think its safe to say I'm physically addicted to them. I have an appointment with my consultant psychiatrist tomorrow so will discuss with him but just wondered if anyone has successfully come off their medication and been able to fall asleep by themselves again. I've tried but end up tossing and turning for hours. I'm the kind of person who needs a lot of sleep (I was almost in tears last night at work I was so tired from the previous nights lack of sleep). Before ds (5)was born I never had a problem falling and staying asleep and would do anything to be the same again.

In the past psych has suggested mirtazapine as an alternative but I've heard the side effects of this can be horrendous. I'm in a far better place now mentally than I've been in years and really want to ditch the meds.

[topsi]

Am not sure bacause your body will probably be physically dependant on them now. I guess you will have to wean yourself off them over a period of time.
I use St Johns Wort and Tryptophan to help me sleep which you can get from the health food shop but they are not as fail safe as sleeping tablets and I still go through bad patches.
There is the insomia thread where you will receive lots of advice and support.
Good luck

[UpsyDaisyDo]

Thanks topsi. Yes my body is physically dependent on them which is why i'm reluctant to swap my current anti-d and the zops for mirtazapine as I can't see how that's going to help.

Will have a read of the insomnia thread xx

[arcadia96]

Yes Upsy come and join us on the insomnia thread! There are lots of us with similar problems. I am trying to come off nytol at the moment, but they are no way near as addictive or strong as prescription sleeping pills (are certainly not physically addictive in the same way at least) - you could see if they work for you as a next step? They work pretty well for me combined with other things, but don't completely zonk you out.

See you on the insomnia thread, we're very friendly there!

[arcadia96]

p.s. I'm the same didn't have problems sleeping before dd (now 8 months old) and like you I need lots of sleep to feel OK!

[GetDownYouWillFall]

hi there upsy there are quite a few of us on the insomnia thread, who have had their sleep pattern severely messed up after having a child!! Come join us!

I have taken zopiclone too, but thankfully never enough to get dependent.

You have made the right decision to try and come off them, well done. REally really slowly is the way to go. Your psychiatrist will advise. Yes, you WILL be able to sleep naturally again, it may take time, but you will.

FWIW I take mirtazapine. It helped my sleep enormously and I never had any bad side effects (I had terrible side effects on two other ADs that I tried first) mirtazapine suited me brilliantly. I am now weaning myself off in order to try for another baby, but I would consider going back on it in the future.

[UpsyDaisyDo]

Arcadia, I've tried Nytol and they just don't do it for me at all unfortunately.

Getdown, thanks for the reassurance. I think Mirtazapine may be the way to go. Will keep you all posted on the other thread how my chat with psych goes tomorrow.

[GetDownYouWillFall]

what dose of C and Z do you take? It is helpful to have a schedule when you are weaning off e.g. 3 weeks at one dose, then drop by a mg and another 3 weeks etc. Keep a diary so you now how long you've been reducing, and make a note of how you feel as well. You may have to "plateau" at the half way point for a while to give your body a chance to catch up.

It took me a year to get off olanzapine because my sleep always went down the pan when I reduced it, but I got there in the end.

I took 6 months to get off lithium by reducing very slowly. And I have taken 3 months to get down to my current dose of mirtazapine. You honestly can do it, if you are patient with yourself.

Out of interest, how did you manage to get a repeat prescription for such addictive drugs??! You dr. has been seriously out of order letting you get dependent like this. My Dr. never prescribes me more than 2 weeks worth of zopiclone, and if I need diazepam I only get about 10x 2mg tablets! They are so strict about not letting me have any more than that, which is good really.

[orangeflutie]

Hi Upsy I agree with GetDown in that your Dr shouldn't have let you take these drugs for so long. I have been prescribed Zopiclone in the past, but the Dr wouldn't prescribe more than about six tabs which was a bit annoying at the time!

However I was eventually given instead Promethazine (a sedative antihistamine) which helped me though took more time to work than Zopiclone.

Would Promethazine be any good for you? I know it's swapping one drug for another but it isn't addictive and might help for a while.

[arcadia96]

Is Promethazine the one that is in nightnurse? if so it is also in Sominex which you can buy over the counter (in theory at least - I never saw it in the chemist but have bought it at an online pharmacy) - and it works well for me. It seems stronger than nytol (which is also a sedating antihystamine). I use mine as a little treat! . There are also some other sedating antidepressants such as amitriptyline. My GP gave me a few tablets of a really low dose (10mg). So I now basically rotate the nytol, sominex and amitriptyline so that they all keep working and I don't get addicted on one thing, but maybe that's worse?!

[expatinscotland]

I use Piriton tablets most nights - just one.

If I need more I take a Piriton tablet and three melatonin tablets (I get these in the US).

[Kaloki]

DP is addicted to zopiclone, first GP to give them to him gave him a months supply of 3.75mg and told him to take them every night. Nowadays he has to take 7.5mg to sleep :(

[expatinscotland]

Oh, I could definitely see myself being addicted to sleeping tablets. I've got hella insomnia. I took this one quiz on facebook, 'What drug are you?' and I was barbituates.

[GetDownYouWillFall]

kaloki - that's awful your poor DP. To be told to take them every night for a month - that's worth making a complaint to the practice. It's totally out of order.

[Duritzfan]

Hiya Upsy

I was on sleeping pills ( ambien / zopiclone ) for twelve years .. til a year and a half ago .. was completely dependant on them and it took me a good six months to get off them but am now completely off them and I think its the biggest achievement of my life !!

It was hard work -I had to retrain myself ..Like you - my need of them followed the birth of my first child when I suffered severe PND and PTSD .. I couldnt sleep without them ..

I tried mirtazipine a couple of years ago and it certainly knocked me out - but I couldnt cope with the massive weight gain it gave me - a stone a month at least ... twas horrible...but that doesnt mean it would do that to you of course .

I came off the sleeping pills in bits and pieces .. Id have a couple of drinks to wind me down, have a bath and have a herb tea ...then Id take half a tablet ..Most nights that would do it, then Id wake up early but I had to just accept that for a bit ..
Next step was to get to bed with out the half a tablet - I always kept 1/2 a tablet on my bedside table so I knew it was there if I really couldnt sleep ..again, most nights I would get through ..

I would take a whole tablet at the weekends so that I didnt get too exhausted ..
and I just carried on, slowly the weeks turned into months until I was only taking tablets at weekends or on the very odd bad night.. So i began to cut down the weekend ones to half..

It was really hard but I never ever thought that I would get off sleeping pills ..thought i was on them for life ..
But it can be done ..

I still have bad nights now and again but manage to cope by having a herbal tea and using Molton Brown Sleep mist ...

If I cant sleep i force myslef to get up - for me lying there tossing and turning makes the whole thing worse..so I get up, make a drink and watch a sky plused Eastenders or something quick and brain dead..
I only stay up for half an hour or so and then nine times out of ten at least when I go back to bed I go to sleep...

I really feel for you .. have been where you are and its so hard...
Good luck ...

I may check out the insomnia thread too.. am currently 7 months pg and terrified I will start the post baby cycle all over again ...

[topsi]

Expat how is the melatoin? I have some in the cupboard but have never used it, I guess it works the same as the tryprophan?

[expatinscotland]

I get mixed results with melatonin. For me, it works best in combination with the Piriton or, on a good night, with Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea.

I try it with the tea first most nights and then Piriton if I'm just not getting there.

I have had insomnia for as long as I can remember, although I remember its being quite marked by the time I was about 13 and I'm now 39.

It gets worse with certain triggers, such as living in this place every time we get a new neighbour.

It doesn't help that I've always been an incredibly light sleeper, too, and suffer from depression characterised by a lot of anxiety.

[UpsyDaisyDo]

Morning all! Well I had a good night sleep last night but more due to 5mg of zolpidem, 2mg of Clonazapam, 2 cans of lager and my sleep hypnosis cd on my ipod. I was so exhausted from trying to sleep with nothing but 2 promethazine the night before tho that I really needed it.

OrangeF promethazine does help and I use it if I've run out of the others (which I did this week). Maybe it could be the next step once I start weaning myself off.

Duritzfan did you get insane carb cravings when you were on Mirtazapine? Weight gain was one of my worries too - probably the main reason I said no to it first time around - but I've read that its not necessarily the tablets that make you gain weight more that the tablets make you crave sugar and bad carbs.

As regards my GP giving me these tablets long term he didn't. I've been in and out patient at my local psychiatric hospital for about 7 years now and my prescriptions/med reviews are always done there then passed onto my GP. The sleep problems started when I swapped my AD's from Prozac to Venlafaxine (Effexor). I was initially on Zopiclone and Diazapam but he changed me to Zolpidem and Clonazapam as they are "less addictive" apparently I'm also on a very low dose of seroquel/quetiapine as well.

Appointment with psych this afternoon at 4.30pm. xx

[expatinscotland]

i took a piriton and three melatonin and slept like shite.

i've never been addicted to drugs, but even after geneal anaesthetic, whatever they give me to reverse it sends me into overdrive.

last time i had a GA, i was up walking around within 30 minutes. went to nurse's station at 2AM telling them i couldn't get to sleep.

they finally brought in consultant after finding me in my room wide awake at 4AM to give me something to make me sleep.

he said it took him longer to put me out at all than most women my size.

[GetDownYouWillFall]

expat I feel for you when I was really ill with PND I just couldn't sleep at all, I think I went 5 nights without sleeping.

They gave me temazepam, I took 3 times the prescribed dose because I was so desperate and it only knocked me out for 2 hours! They told me I'd taken enough to knock out a man for two days and nights!! (I am 8stone)

[UpsyDaisyDo]

expat and getdown sounds like you both have a high tolerance level to these things. I'm the same. Have had diazapam to sedate me when having loads of dental work down and the anaesthetist said he couldn't believe how much it took to send me off. The following time he had to use twice as much again. Its so frustrating isn't it. x

[Duritzfan]

Hi Upsy

to answer your question no I didnt , I was really careful about what I ate - but the weight just piled on regardless..

Glad you got a good night sleep .. I had a rubbish one - but that was largely due to a very wakeful baby doing somersaults on my bladder !!

[GetDownYouWillFall]

I have been taking mirtazapine for well over a year and have no problems re. weight gain. I guess it affects everyone differently.

Don't rule it out, because not everyone puts weight on. If it doesn't work out you can always come off it and try another AD

[UpsyDaisyDo]

Thanks GetDown I'll see what psych has to say later this afternoon. I've put on weight recently anyway and feel pretty crap about it so a bit more can't make me feel any worse!

Oh Duritzfan I remember that feeling. When are you due?

[expatinscotland]

Glad it's not just me who is hard to knockout! I was furious with the last hospital, they made me feel like a criminal or druggie. Well, sorry, but I don't knock out easily. DH is the same way. When he had a GA the surgeon was amazed as the pre-op failed to really sedate him.

I've never had a drug problem in life, or done anything more than smoke marijuana I either grew myself or was grown by friends, which, incidentally, as the best thing I ever used to treat my insomnia.

But of course, it's illegal to grow your own for personal use here so I don't.

[Duritzfan]

Another ten weeks to go yet

I've been told I have a high tolerance for drugs too ...Interesting to see a few of us on here.. Pre meds dont work on me at all .. have given up with them and nost pain killers dont work either ...

I have a theory that because it takes such a lot to knock me out, when something does knock me out it really kind of gets a grip .. make sense ?

woudl totally agree with Getdown .. Try the mirtazipine - it may be your miracle drug and you may ahve no side effects at all..
I can take things that most people cannot tolerate for a day - we are all so very different ..

And as a positive too, the weight fell off me, literally, once I stopped the mirtazipine ... was brilliant !!