SLEEEP

Dear all

Can any one help, went to see my doc last week new one never seen before, however I was call in for a review of meds. My GP has said that Zopilcone, which I have been taking for a while has been re classed, therefore I am no longer going to be able to get it on prescription.

What other meds can I get to help me sleep he didn’t give me Phenergan , but this didn’t help.

Any help would be much appreciated

Hello

Zopiclone has always been a drug that is meant to be taken in the short term. Perhaps your regular gp felt comfortable prescribing it for you longterm…go back and see him/her. Either way, the one you are taking now is not working so you need to give another brand a try.

Good luck xx

I had to look up Phenergan, which is an antihistamine. Are you saying, the doc has stopped Zopiclone cold without weaning you off? that can’t be right. Sorry if I’ve misunderstood.

xx

Yer I basically put a repeat prescription in and got a call from the doctors to review my meds

My gp prescribed Amitrytiline for pain and sleep.

If you’ve been on zopiclone longterm, it’s not advisable to suddenly stop. How long have you been on it? I’m not surprised you can’t sleep. Go back and see your regular gp. xx

The problem I have is my long term previous gp has retired who is in my experience one if the best gp every. Blossom many thanks for your input I been on zoplicone for a least 12months

All I can do is repeat my advice. This gp is wrong to just stop the zopiclone after 12 months…it’s incompetence and bad practice in my opinion. Get on to them tomorrow.

You could ring 111 and ask there advice about this, if you feel it would help.

Let me know how you get on.

xx

Hi

For a long while a few years ago I was dependent on temazepam to get to sleep. The doctor always warned against the danger if becoming addicted to it, but I argued I’d rather be an addict who slept then a non-addict who didn’t sleep. But obviously, it’s best to not be reliant on any sort of medication, ad I’m thankfully in a place now where I’m in a good sleeping pattern.

There’s lots of things that help. No caffeine after about 5pm, not eating late, getting exercise in the day, dimming the lights in the evening and turning the brightness down on the computer or TV screen, don’t watch TV or go on a computer when in bed, never look at the time during the night. And never, ever, toss & turn. There’s a book called Overcoming Insomnia by Colin Espie, and one of the things he says is to get up if you’re not asleep after 15 minutes or so. Do something relaxing like reading or doing a puzzle, and then only go back to bed when you’re feeling sleepy (not just tired, but actually sleepy).If you still don’t fall asleep after another quarter of an hour, get up & repeat the process. You want to be able to get your brain to associate being in bed with being asleep, not with lying awake.

I also find it helpful to give my brain something to concentrate on other than thinking about sleep. So I might listen to an audio book on my mp3, but with the volume really low so you have to concentrate to hear it. Or I do an equivalent of counting sheep, and countdown backwards from 1,000 in multiples of 3 (ie, 1000, 997, 994, 991 etc). I rarely make it out of the nine hundreds.

I hope they (& the book, if you get it) help, and you get some good kip : )

Dan