Anyone tried Zopiclone?

[Pluto46]

I was prescribed Zopiclone by my GP in case I had trouble getting to sleep at nights. I took a half pill last night (tastes foul by the way), and was wincing around from about 1 to 3-4 am. Instead of sending me off to sleep, it kept me awake.

According to a leaflet circulated by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, "The use of Zopiclone for RLS is off-label which means that although the manufacturer of the medicine has not specified it can be used in this way, there is evidence that it works to treat this particular condition."

I'm not sure whether Zopiclone is the same as Imovan, but they gave me one of the latter while in hospital to help me sleep, and that too had the opposite effect.

Chris

[Hidden]

To me Zopiclone only leaves me drugged and sedated with RLS - I am still unable to sleep but I am too tired to get up and walk about. I may doze more throughout the night but I am hung over and unable to get up and going in the morning more so than if I just had a night without sleep.

But, as the saying goes you mileage may vary and you may find they knock you out.

Best of luck.

[Pluto46 in reply to Hidden]

That's why I don't want to use sleeping pills - or any anti-rls pill - on a permanent basis. The stories of augmentation and withdrawal on this site are too frightening.

I had a new bed delivered on Monday - it's so high I need to take a running jump to get onto it. But it's probably better for all manner of complaints than the knobbly, 40-year-old bed I've using up to now.

[macewan13]

I tried Imovan once. It kept me wide.

[Pluto46 in reply to macewan13]

It does say on the notes in the box that one of the side effects of zoplicone is sleeplessness.

[macewan13 in reply to Pluto46]

I have found that with several types of insomnia meds. I don’t know whether it relates to RLS or not.

[Parminter]

We do not do too well on benzodiazepines, on the whole. Zopiclone does sweet blow all for me.

But there is a newer, purer version of zopiclone called Eszopiclone which is mentioned in the literature as being (possibly) helpful.

But all that the benzos are doing is whacking you on the head - which sometimes, really, we would like to do ourselves with a plank, it's cheaper. It does not get to the root of any problem.

The new science on adenosine is the key to the insomnia of RLS. Adenosine is the missing link between low brain iron - BID for Brain Iron Deficiency, and all the other brain chemistry.

But IRON is the key, we're way out the window on that. No iron = no cellular energy = brain unable to do what it needs except survive. It does not give a rat's backside if we suffer.

Have your ferritin levels checked, if you have not yet done so? If they are below 75 to 100, you need iron.

So the cascade seems to go like this - BID - adenosine - glutamate - dopamine = Akathisia and Hyperarousal.

[Pluto46 in reply to Parminter]

I have an appoinment with my GP for the end of the month for an iron shot. Otherwise my ferritin levels are well within the normal range.

[Hatsy]

I love zopiclone I sleep like a normal person

[involuntarydancer]

I find exactly the same as Raffs that zopiclone has no impact on my rls but leaves me groggy and miserable during an attack making everything that little bit worse. It also leaves me hung over the following day. Btw I think it is a ‘non-benzodiazepine’ rather than a true benzo. For some people the benzodiazepines have a positive impact on their rls.