I was prescribed zopiclone when i was ill recently but I have to say I absolutely hated them. They made me sleep OK but I didn’t feel rested because it was more like a knockout than a stop-worrying-and-drop-off sensation.
They are also really shit with alcohol. I tried them for 3 or 4 days over a week but by the 3rd one we had a bottle of wine in the evening, and I had a really bad memory loss episode during the next day (so the wife tells me anyway, have no memory of doing the things in question :-(( ).
Zopi is only approved in the UK for a month’s regular use as it is somewhat addictive and not really different from temazepam in that respect (according to my GP who checked with the pharmacist). Don’t know whether it is a physical or a psychological dependency, to be honest I don’t really see the difference as brain chemistry is just a part of body chemistry AFAICS.
It also messes seriously with your anxiety etc and doesn’t even give you the temporary relief from it that temazepam and friends do.
When I was researching before accepting the prescription (always like to know what I’m putting in my body donchaknow ;-)) I found a lot of first hand tales on a patient’s discussion site, from people who had been given ZC for months or even for years, and who were crawling up the wall with it but unable to get themselves off it. Have a look for yourself:http://experience.patient.co.uk/discussion_list.php?d=194
I stuck to temazepam prescriptions, but made sure I wasn’t using it every day – just to knock me out when things got too bad. If I was sleepless but not feeling anxious/wound up then I might only have a half a tab, or else just got up and spent hours reading PV until I was tired :hopeless:
Much better now I have to say. Those ZC’s are still in the drawer and after my experience I have no desire ever to use them – must take them back to the chemists …
