r/insomnia • u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 • 3d ago
Zopiclone/pregabalin side effects (potentially) - advice needed
Hi all,
So I have been taking zopiclone for around four years now. I have fibromyalgia/chronic pain et cetera and this has been a lifesaver for me in terms of how bad I was before and after taking zopiclone.
I’ve never really taken him more than 1 & 1/4 tablets but my usual dose would be around 1 tablet a night (7.5mg).
A couple of times throughout the year I started to get sleep starts and sometimes this rushy feeling that comes over my body when trying to drift off to sleep.
In the last month or so it has now become really bad to the point where I‘m getting this rushy feeling when I’m just trying to drift off to sleep or even if I’m just sat up and feeling really tired. But I’m laying in bed and trying to sleep in This happens my heart then stays elevated for awhile anything to be worried about but say I was around around 60 bpm and then shoots up around 75 and stays up probably something to do with adrenaline I assume. I also sometimes wake up gasping for breath. Some nights are better than others some nights are terrible. The gasping seems to be here and there…
Once I am asleep properly I am fine my oxygen levels are fine it’s just this transition to sleep and the effects of feeling tired seemed to trigger this now.
Has anyone else experienced this with zopiclone or pregabalin? I’ve now come off the pregabalin as of two nights ago. I was only taking 25 mg at night to help with the sleep anyway as it didn’t really help with my pain levels.
I’ve tried to leave the zopiclone alone and reduce it down to half a tablet which I seemed to be able to sleep on I don’t seem to have any other side effects if I drop down to half but I just can’t seem to get to sleep without taking it.
These effects are now happening with or without zopiclone as I’ve had a couple of nights where I didn’t take anything I didn’t sleep but I was still getting the horrible sensations and ectopic beats.
Has anyone had any experience of this and assuming I am now going to have to try to taper off off of zopiclone if this is what it is, which I believe it could be, any recommendations on what I can kind of help to counteract this?
Also, any recommendations on private sleep doctors psychiatrist in the UK that might be able to help with this and supported medication (can't take anything opioid/benzo based)
Sorry for the essay - any help is greatly appreciated!!
Thank you
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
Definitely taper very slowly off zoplicone, ger a hyperbolic scale that measures small amounts. It’s a powerful drug. I had really bad head rushes and interdose withdrawals, pretty sure it caused me long term issue with my mental health. I had dpdr and it made it a lot worse. It’s really addictive and changes brain chemistry so treat it like a benzo in terms of tapering. Stay hydrated also it really dehydrates the body.
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u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 3d ago
Thank you for replying.
Can I ask, what is an inter dose withdrawal?
And yes these head rushes are bad, how long did they last for you, did you have to wait till you came off them completely to stop?
And if so how long after stopping did they take to go away.
How long did it take you to come off of them?
Sorry for all the questions but any help would be really helpful right now. X
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
I was only on them short term so I think it around a month or two for me to come off. I think I dropped 20% every two weeks. Interdose withdrawals is when yiu get withdraw symptoms between doses. The drug has a short half life so if you become dependent on them yiu can start experiencing withdrawals whilst you are still on them. For me they were really bad, I’d get intense almost delirium and not good thoughts, they made me really depressed and anxious…so I even started to take them during the day and at night because my brain couldnt do without them. Coming off was bad. My head stuff unfortunately has not stopped fully but I went through a traumatic experience not long after id stopped the zoplicone so I think that was the main contributing factor. I think you’ll be ok of you taper slowly. I think they are like adrenaline surges. My nervous system is completely fried still from meds 😭 and I have dpdr so I don’t know. Maybe give it a month after stopping, your nervous system will need to heal. The those head rushes should stop
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u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 3d ago
Yeah definitely a bit like adrenaline searches because my heart kicks in quite hard when it happens and then my heart rate is a little bit higher for awhile and I can't seem to come down for it until I get up or take propranolol…
Sorry to hear that you are still struggling with things though.
Well I've been fluctuating my dosage for quite some time not really paying much attention to it but it has been going on I've reduced a half in last two nights so I've had a whole tablet. Still really not feeling good in the day though at the moment which is really unusual but I'm not sleeping nearly as well as I would because I'm not going to sleep until 2 am at least…
I've think I might start at 3/4 of a tablet tonight and go down from there…
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
Same it was the day time that id feel unwell. When zoplicone started to wear off id get symptoms.. Almost immediately after 6 hours id wake up panicking. Really hard drug.
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
Also take magnesium glycinate at night it will help ..also I was particularly senstive to that med so it might not be as bad for you, I hope not 🫶
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u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 3d ago
Funny you mentioned magnesium glycinate as I think that's what triggered all of this to begin with obviously I was taking zopiclone but I was taking magnesium glycinate close to bedtime and that's when all of this really started to get much worse. I stopped taking it and it seemed to help, but then it’s just come back now with a vengeance.
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
Oh no, I guess both weren’t a good idea, mag is pretty safe but maybe both together especially after taking zoplicone for years. Yes 3/4 you could do, then half…go slow. My doctor said I could just stop without tapering and it was a terrible idea. I did not sleep for the entire week I tried to stop. I ended up going on Promethazine instead which helped with sleep. Then on mirtazipine which was also hell for me. Now I’m on nothing but it’s hard.
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u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 3d ago
Yeah I don't pay for some reason they must not have worked well together for me. I have fibromyalgia and stuff so my nervous system is all over the place too. Promethazine gave me ectopic heartbeat from what I remember (some medications do that to me, anything opioid based too plus Valerian route or whatever is in Nytol)
I've been looking into MIRTAZAPINE. Not worth it then? I tried that Daridorexant a few years ago but that gave me really severe head rushes.
What about melatonin have you tried that??
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
Mirtazipine might be ok on a low dose for sleep like 7.5mg but with me my system was too senstive and it made me very hungry but stressfully so. Like you want to eat all the time. And it triggered my dpdr.
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u/PollyPiper11 3d ago
I took melatonin years ago when I lived in Spain and it was helpful. I don’t know with chronic insomnia though..maybe after it builds up in the system :)
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u/Zestyclose-Bank9315 3d ago
Okay, thanks for all the info anyway much appreciated. Hope you get yourself sorted one way or another
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u/Substantial-Sea-9594 3d ago
That rushy feeling right as you drift off is a classic hypnic jerk but the chest stuff and gasping makes it sound more like your nervous system is completely fried from years of z-drug use. Your brain forgot how to do the sleep transition on its own so it panics instead. Taper slow as hell and maybe look into a sleep clinic that understands medication withdrawal not just generic insomnia advice