DOSE:

15 mg

oral

Pharms - Zopiclone

(pill / tablet)

BODY WEIGHT:

150 lb

[Apologies for the length. Blame profs and editors more interested in word count than anything else. There is something resembling a summary further down, in [these] square brackets.]

I've taken Imovane [aka zopiclone] off and on for about ten years. I think it's great stuff, and almost every doctor and pharmacist I've talked to about it agrees: much lower addiction/tolerance-building risk than benzodiazepines, can be used long term, etc.

I -- 120lb female -- usually take 7.5 mg to 15 mg most nights. No knockout effect, but a great and happy relaxation; I would NOT want to do anything requiring much by way of motor skills though am only slightly visibly affected by it. I can go to sleep whenever I please after I take it, and get _nothing_ by way of morning `hangover.' There is a bit of a bitter taste in one's mouth from it, not notably objectionable, and it has on occasion made me extremely hungry. And I am every now and then sort of privately humiliated because I will: go out and drink too much, and come home and take, eh, probably too much of it; come morning, I have had some _very_ blank periods from it. Short-term memory loss is listed as a side effect; cross it with a belt of something else, wake up and try to reconstruct the night before.

Thus making it useful to caution: do not try this stuff when drunk yet not in bed safe and alone or with your other half. Blank periods I've had, and heard of other people having, from even low doses after just a few pints, are scary to think about. Despite how calm and relatively happy it makes me, be very cautious about recreational use. Right now I'm sitting here furious because I gave a pill and a half to a girl I peripherally know, while saying 'lock the door, unplug the phone, find a book and get in bed, THEN take it...' And she went off and had people over, iffy ones, and, oh dear. I should've realised she was too far gone on other stuff for it.

That said...

For the last few hours I've been checking on a 150lb male, a friend whose sleeping pill supply I exhausted when I last visited, knowing I'd 'reimburse' him asap in case his insomnia attacked. He took at least two, possibly one more, without waiting for me to explain much of anything about them. Dammit!

That bit of recklessness courtesy cocaine/crack & alcohol. None in really reckless amount -- sipping low-alcohol cocktails, etc, but I find that combining almost any other drug with Imovane, especially alcohol, makes for a dodgy combination.

He spent a period being pretty happy, then a period in bed extremely contented, an understatement; he is a depressive, and his life is over-the-top stressful right now -- I don't think I've ever seen him so at peace with the world.

Which was all nice and so on until he fell completely asleep, can-not-wake-him sleep.

So I looked after him best I could. (First aid courses can make one a bit too quick to do things like check pupil reaction to light and other bits of well-meant pestering.) He has _no_ memory of anything that happened after he first got sleepy.

I've seen people take a half-7.5mg-pill and hardly notice it, and people who ditto and almost have to be carried to bed. This one was so happy, and not in any manic or over-the-top fashion. Which was fine until he passed out into a can-not-be-woken-up state. Two of his close, deeply caring, sensitive friends: 'Oh, he's been like that before; just let him sleep it off, he'll be fine.'

Jerks. Ahem. Beg pardon. He and I are, well, more sort of 'grown-ups,' and too aware that what's okay one night might be 'coma' another time. /Not/ a good end to the evening. While he was awake we had a huggy-kissy period, and I felt like pulling away, knowing he was in no shape to want/not want much of anything. Not quite the state to be in. Even after ten years of on/off use, I can still get a 'blackout' from _one_ beer and _one_ 7.5mg Imovane. It's a good job I don't drive; never learned, and I don't even want to imagine what would happen with a young person's parent(s) messed up on it with bad-idea substance mixing.

It's not that much of a popular drug, best I can tell, in Canada; it's not cheap -- c. 60/CDN$77, but with the relatively new generic, CDN$44, but still not covered on the provincial drug scheme. Which means that people of limited means never end up getting it. 'Oh -- poor? Well, stick with the benzodiazpines. Addiction potential? Pardon? Look, oldschoolpam is great...' I've had a few people try it, and come back to me and say 'Can I have another one? I slept beautifully. And didn't even think about smashing my alarm clock in the morning!' A few who shrugged, not impressed, not made upset either. I don't think I know of many other drugs that have such a wide variety of effects on people.

Apart from the 'great' and 'what was that supposed to do?' folk, there's the small number who got far too wrecked combining it with something else. Which is a pity for something relatively benign and so useful -- and so nice for the insomniac; get a whiff of pleasant relaxation, and go to sleep 'normally,' not knocked off your feet.



[Ahem. Attempt at `executive summary': Imovane is a great sleep aid; over the ten-odd years I've used it for extended periods here and there, I've never wanted to up the dosage. My experience with myself and other people is that the worst possible side effects are limited to going to bed, or being too contented to want to go to bed. Unless combined with other substances; consult your psychopharmacologist if your other substances come in amber bottles from someone in a white coat, illicit stuff seems extremely dodgy (there seems to be a lack of Imovane addicts, there isn't much info to go on), booze + Imovane = blackouts, sometimes in surprisingly small quantities. Don't take it, or give it to somebody to take, unless they're in a safe place; watch them, esp. w/regards to intake of other drugs, alcohol, or moods that would make anything a disaster.]


Last dance: I had a hard time with whether or not publicising a drug, especially one that I think is only just new to the US and coming with a heavy ad campaign, as something akin to a date-rape Rohypnol(sp?) substitute. Then considered all the men in my life, and realised that for any one violent addle-pated jerk who might see this and get dreadful ideas, there are infinitely more who will put the info to good use.

Exp Year: 2005	ExpID: 46729
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 13, 2006	Views: 50,793
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Pharms - Zopiclone (272) : Various (28), Retrospective / Summary (11), Second Hand Report (42)