[Anonymous]

I was prescribed Zopiclone 3.75mg tablets for insomnia. Took one last night. No effect whatsoever I don't think. I've read that most people are prescribed the 7.5mg - should I take two 3.75 tonight? I know my doc was only been cautious and I am very grateful for this... but the lack of sleep has gone on so long now and I feel like death so think any risks associated with pills are not as much as the dangers of chronic sleep deprivation...

Many thanks for your time

[moya]

try 3.75mg again, but on an empty stomach this time (no food for 2~3 hours), take it and go straight to bed...

if that doesn't work try 7.5mg again, same technique

if that doesn't work, do NOT take any more, go back to your GP and try something else

[Anonymous]

Thanks moya I did go straight to bed last night but yes I had eaten 2-3 hours before. This sleep deprivation is such a vicious circle when you let it get this bad - forever craving either food or drink. I could easily go for hours on end with just water, but this also adds a problem as if you're full of it it will wake you up in the night! Do you know what the effect of having a full stomach on the zopiclone is? Does it just has no effect at all? Wish my doc / some instructions told me this Funny how I have to rely on the internet more than people in person who are actually paid for this...
How are you so clued up on all this btw? Excuse my memory (it's pretty much stuffed short term), but have you used zopiclone yourself?

Thank You again

[moya]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Thanks moya I did go straight to bed last night but yes I had eaten 2-3 hours before. This sleep deprivation is such a vicious circle when you let it get this bad - forever craving either food or drink. I could easily go for hours on end with just water, but this also adds a problem as if you're full of it it will wake you up in the night! Do you know what the effect of having a full stomach on the zopiclone is? Does it just has no effect at all? Wish my doc / some instructions told me this Funny how I have to rely on the internet more than people in person who are actually paid for this...
How are you so clued up on all this btw? Excuse my memory (it's pretty much stuffed short term), but have you used zopiclone yourself?

Thank You again

as far as I know, things like zopiclone are absorbed much better (as in more of it is absorbed, bioavailability).

And in my experience, the times I have taken it on a stomach with food in, it has not worked in the slightest. The times I took it on a completely empty stomach...it worked very well.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by moya)
as far as I know, things like zopiclone are absorbed much better (as in more of it is absorbed, bioavailability).

And in my experience, the times I have taken it on a stomach with food in, it has not worked in the slightest. The times I took it on a completely empty stomach...it worked very well.

Aw Very well as in how much sleep? How often do you have to take?

Thank You.

[moya]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Aw Very well as in how much sleep? How often do you have to take?

Thank You.

enough sleep, possibly 7 hours or so

it only worked a couple of times, then I built a tolerance to it very quickly (within a week) and if you get to this stage, do NOT take any more (really, don't, the memory loss it causes is horrible)

but I have stopped taking it now as I don't need it

[Anonymous]

(Original post by moya)
enough sleep, possibly 7 hours or so

it only worked a couple of times, then I built a tolerance to it very quickly (within a week) and if you get to this stage, do NOT take any more (really, don't, the memory loss it causes is horrible)

but I have stopped taking it now as I don't need it

Nope I'm going to be more cautious than the world has ever seen before Taking the bare minimum, while weighing up with the risk of keeping up being chronically sleep deprived which feels it may be taking its toll. So going to try again on an empty stomach tonight, then assess tomorrow again.

[pipsi]

I was prescribed the same tablets a couple of weeks ago by my Dr. He put me straight onto the 7mg dosage, which is the maximum. He told me not to take them every night. I've found they do very little for me, if they work at all.

Because he recommended that I don't use them every night, I've been trying to get to sleep naturally before resorting to taking a pill. This means that most nights I try to go to bed at around 2200 and persevere as much as possible, trying different things, such as all the lights out and trying to sleep without distractions, trying to read, having a little background noise such as the tv or music. After exhausting all of these options it's getting on for 0100, sometimes later, when I decide to take a tablet. I find it does little to help me sleep, either that or it takes a long time to kick in, I'm usually still awake a good hour or so after taking the tablet, usually not even feeling drowsy.

So it's often almost 0300 before I get to sleep and then I'm up again between 0730 and 0830 depending on what time I need to be up in the morning. I then feel groggy all day (or until I've drank enough caffeine to sit still for more than ten minutes without feeling like I want to nod off).

I didn't take a tablet last night because I had a couple of small glasses of champagne in the evening to celebrate my housemate getting her PhD offer and the tablets are not supposed to be taken if you've had alcohol. Despite going to bed at a reasonable time it was about 0200 when I last looked at the clock and I got up when my alarm went off at 0800. I did however take an anti-histamine at around midnight because I was feeling itchy after sitting outside on the grass in the evening. This morning I feel like a zombie and I'm finding it difficult to concentrate.

I'm considering going back to my Dr next week to see if he will try me on something else. Or at least give me something I can take every night short term. Once my dissertation is in on the 1st I don't really care how well I'm sleeping, but right now I need to be able to concentrate and feel alert during the day and sleep at night.

[morris743]

(Original post by pipsi)
I was prescribed the same tablets a couple of weeks ago by my Dr. He put me straight onto the 7mg dosage, which is the maximum. He told me not to take them every night. I've found they do very little for me, if they work at all.

Because he recommended that I don't use them every night, I've been trying to get to sleep naturally before resorting to taking a pill. This means that most nights I try to go to bed at around 2200 and persevere as much as possible, trying different things, such as all the lights out and trying to sleep without distractions, trying to read, having a little background noise such as the tv or music. After exhausting all of these options it's getting on for 0100, sometimes later, when I decide to take a tablet. I find it does little to help me sleep, either that or it takes a long time to kick in, I'm usually still awake a good hour or so after taking the tablet, usually not even feeling drowsy.

So it's often almost 0300 before I get to sleep and then I'm up again between 0730 and 0830 depending on what time I need to be up in the morning. I then feel groggy all day (or until I've drank enough caffeine to sit still for more than ten minutes without feeling like I want to nod off).

I didn't take a tablet last night because I had a couple of small glasses of champagne in the evening to celebrate my housemate getting her PhD offer and the tablets are not supposed to be taken if you've had alcohol. Despite going to bed at a reasonable time it was about 0200 when I last looked at the clock and I got up when my alarm went off at 0800. I did however take an anti-histamine at around midnight because I was feeling itchy after sitting outside on the grass in the evening. This morning I feel like a zombie and I'm finding it difficult to concentrate.

I'm considering going back to my Dr next week to see if he will try me on something else. Or at least give me something I can take every night short term. Once my dissertation is in on the 1st I don't really care how well I'm sleeping, but right now I need to be able to concentrate and feel alert during the day and sleep at night.

I'm so sorry to hear this, and Thank You for such an informative, caring post. Hope you are 100% asap x

[Rybee]

Ello


Can't add more to what moya has said... 3.75mg is a very low dose, I'd be quite surprised if it turned anyone's lights off really.

Really I'd just go with what moya said... empty stomach try 3.75mg again and see how you get on. If it's no improvement I'd try 7.5mg the next night and see how that is. If 7.5mg doesn't help you, stop taking them and see a doc as it's possible that you can try an alternative medication

Hope it works out for ya

[morris743]

(Original post by Rybee)
Ello


Can't add more to what moya has said... 3.75mg is a very low dose, I'd be quite surprised if it turned anyone's lights off really.

Really I'd just go with what moya said... empty stomach try 3.75mg again and see how you get on. If it's no improvement I'd try 7.5mg the next night and see how that is. If 7.5mg doesn't help you, stop taking them and see a doc as it's possible that you can try an alternative medication

Hope it works out for ya

Thank You

[king0vdarkness]

(Original post by pipsi)
I was prescribed the same tablets a couple of weeks ago by my Dr. He put me straight onto the 7mg dosage, which is the maximum. He told me not to take them every night. I've found they do very little for me, if they work at all.

Because he recommended that I don't use them every night, I've been trying to get to sleep naturally before resorting to taking a pill. This means that most nights I try to go to bed at around 2200 and persevere as much as possible, trying different things, such as all the lights out and trying to sleep without distractions, trying to read, having a little background noise such as the tv or music. After exhausting all of these options it's getting on for 0100, sometimes later, when I decide to take a tablet. I find it does little to help me sleep, either that or it takes a long time to kick in, I'm usually still awake a good hour or so after taking the tablet, usually not even feeling drowsy.

So it's often almost 0300 before I get to sleep and then I'm up again between 0730 and 0830 depending on what time I need to be up in the morning. I then feel groggy all day (or until I've drank enough caffeine to sit still for more than ten minutes without feeling like I want to nod off).

I didn't take a tablet last night because I had a couple of small glasses of champagne in the evening to celebrate my housemate getting her PhD offer and the tablets are not supposed to be taken if you've had alcohol. Despite going to bed at a reasonable time it was about 0200 when I last looked at the clock and I got up when my alarm went off at 0800. I did however take an anti-histamine at around midnight because I was feeling itchy after sitting outside on the grass in the evening. This morning I feel like a zombie and I'm finding it difficult to concentrate.

I'm considering going back to my Dr next week to see if he will try me on something else. Or at least give me something I can take every night short term. Once my dissertation is in on the 1st I don't really care how well I'm sleeping, but right now I need to be able to concentrate and feel alert during the day and sleep at night.

Take melatonin works in about 30mins after taking it. Then when you wake up you feel completely refreshed after a couple of minutes. But make sure you don't have any liquids before bed, because if you get up to go to the cloakroom after falling asleep for a bit you, will not be able to get back to sleep. Also make sure you don't take too much or you'll suffer from a headache the next day. Other than that there arn't any other side effects. Take about 0.3-0.5mg on first use the increase if it doesn't work. Hope this helps!

[morris743]

(Original post by king0vdarkness)
Take melatonin works in about 30mins after taking it. Then when you wake up you feel completely refreshed after a couple of minutes. But make sure you don't have any liquids before bed, because if you get up to go to the cloakroom after falling asleep for a bit you, will not be able to get back to sleep. Also make sure you don't take too much or you'll suffer from a headache the next day. Other than that there arn't any other side effects. Take about 0.3-0.5mg on first use the increase if it doesn't work. Hope this helps!

Hmm I've read that this might mess with your body's own production of melatonin and may screw things up even more long term?

[king0vdarkness]

(Original post by morris743)
Hmm I've read that this might mess with your body's own production of melatonin and may screw things up even more long term?

Wow! that sounds bad i've been taking it for quite a while now! where did you read this? thanks for the reply!

[morris743]

(Original post by king0vdarkness)
Wow! that sounds bad i've been taking it for quite a while now! where did you read this? thanks for the reply!

Hmm just bits and pieces around Google tbh. And everyone seems to say something different about these things so

[king0vdarkness]

(Original post by morris743)
Hmm just bits and pieces around Google tbh. And everyone seems to say something different about these things so

Thanks i think i'll cut back for a while! ps cool profile pic!

[morris743]

(Original post by king0vdarkness)
Thanks i think i'll cut back for a while! ps cool profile pic!

Thanks I'm not against trying melatonin still myself, have to come up with something - it's gotten to the point where nothing is really riskier than carrying on with this sleep deprivation.

[king0vdarkness]

(Original post by morris743)
Thanks I'm not against trying melatonin still myself, have to come up with something - it's gotten to the point where nothing is really riskier than carrying on with this sleep deprivation.

Yh i guess if you just take melatonin once in awhile it won't have the bad long term effects.. ps havn't really had any short term effects apart from the headache from an overdose! So good luck with your sleep! get better soon!

[morris743]

(Original post by king0vdarkness)
Yh i guess if you just take melatonin once in awhile it won't have the bad long term effects.. ps havn't really had any short term effects apart from the headache from an overdose! So good luck with your sleep! get better soon!

TY And be more careful please

[pipsi]

Thanks on the tip on melatonin. It's worth a try I suppose and I can always stop taking it if I find it's playing havoc with my body. Where would I get it from? A health food shop? Boots?