Posted by ronaldo on December 10, 2006, at 12:33:49 [reposted on December 11, 2006, at 1:04:26 | original URL]
Is this the right way to do it?
Anyone ever come off it successfully cold turkey?
I am a veteran of two attempts. First time I got down to 2.5 mg and the insomnia made me pack it in. My full dose on that occasion was only 5 mg.
Next time I successfully got down to zero Zyp for about 11 days but persistent insomnia plus anxiety plus restlessness forced me to go back on the Zyp. Lack of sleep was making me hypo-manic. Things were also complicated by the fact that I started a course of Seroquel just as I came off the Zyp. The Seroquel intended for sleep did not work for me. I also tried 7.5 mg and 15mg of Zopiclone. That didn't work either. Some of my suffering may have been caused by the Seroquel I don't know. I think I may have spoilt my chances with the Seroquel by taking too much. The closest I came to actually falling asleep was on just approx. 8 mg of Seroquel. I lay down on my bed and the room revolved a bit but no I did not fall asleep! I had been taking 25 mg and 50 mg and 100 mg.
As you can gather my main problem is insomnia. It seems to me that once your brain is thirsting for some Zyp it will not allow anything else, in my case Seroquel and Zopiclone, to work. It seems that you have to fight this devil on even terms without the help of anything else.
I have embarked on my third and hopefully my final attempt. I was on 10 mg then I brought it down to 7.5 mg and then I brought it down to 5 mg. That is where I am at present. I have been on 5 mg for 11 days. I plan to stick with the 5 mg for another week and then take it down to 3.75 mg - a 7.5 mg tab cut in two. I will stick with that for about two weeks and then I will reduce to 2.5 mg. Three weeks on the 2.5 mg and then down to the 1.25 mg for approx. two weeks and then ZERO. And this time I hope the Zyp will concede defeat and not come back and bite me in the bum!
poster:ronaldo
thread:712455
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20061010/msgs/712455.html