[SIimon]

Does anyone use them as a psyhcological back up on a basis?

By this I mean you’ll try to fall asleep and it gets to say 2am and you realise the prospect of an all nighter is on the cards (for me if I am awake at 2am the odds are I’ll be up all night) then pop a pill and get at least 3-4 hours sleep.

I did this last night for the first time, it got to 02:30am and my brain was still wired from the daytime – I knew I was for an all nighter but remembered I had some zopiclone stashed away.

I dropped 7.5mg, got 4 hours sleep and feel ok now, certainly able to function today, with zero sleep I’d be a mess.

My thinking is my anxiety about sleep will be less if I know that come 2am I can pop something to get me at least a few house kip and as my anxiety is lessoned by  having this ‘back up’ there will be more chance of me falling asleep naturally.

 

[Barbie]

I agree with what you’re saying but unfortunately I don’t/and can’t get a ‘stash’ of anything from my GP.

last year though I was desperate for sleep and was able to get a script for Temazapam. They were like gold for me and lasted a couple of months because I only took them when I really needed to.

I don’t want to get hooked on anything but it would be good to have something when you need it. At the moment I have an over the counter tablet called Restavit or Sleep Ease which is essentially an antihistamine. I take 1/2 occasionally when I have to work the next day (I only work Part time), so that I can get enough sleep to at least function properly.

I have a script for Avanza, which is an antidepressant but I’m to scared to take it because of past experiences with

[Steve]

I know what you are saying but I think once I took them the first time, it would become easier and easier to take the rest. However, I haven’t had a night of absolutely no sleep in a long time so even if I have a bad sleep, which is now about 4 to 4 and a half hours, at least I am functional the next day. If I go back down again to several nights of no sleep, I probably would consider it.

[Barbie]

…side effects. I wake at the same time every day, and now I’m trying to stay up until I fall asleep or at least until midnight.

[SIimon]

I had 10 zopiclones sitting idle for months…..I am really against using hypnotics as it is never a long term solution but am going to use them in situations like last night.

I plan to use them no more than twice a week from now on….need to research if that will lead to dependance and also if my gp will prescribe 8 pills a month.

Of course the idea is that if I know I have a ‘back up’ my anxiety will be reduced and I won’t need them.

[Edgar]

Don’t mean to scare anyone, but I have my Valium next to me at all times. For the first 2-2.5 years it worked good, only took it when I really needed to.

Like you all probably know by now, I take them almost every night. So…

On one hand it’s great that I didn’t have a 0 sleep night in more than 4 yrs. Also, I go to sleep pretty relaxed knowing I have it on hand.

The bad side, like I already said, is that I feel uneasy not having it close by. I would hate, HATE, to go back to those nights fron before, when every night there was a possibility of not falling asleep.

So, pills as a psychological backup are definitely a double edged sword. Perhaps give the method a try, but be careful.

[Martin Reed]

Prescription medication should only ever be taken as prescribed. Unless your doctor has suggested taking the medication contingently (based on how well you are sleeping on a night-by-night basis), then it’s rarely a good idea to do so — for a few reasons.

First, if you take medication contingently you are reinforcing the idea that you are unable to sleep without medication. So, whenever you have a bad night, instead of implementing techniques that will strengthen your natural biological propensity to sleep, you take a pill — and, when you sleep, you reinforce the idea that you would not have slept if you hadn’t taken that pill.

Second, if you take a pill and have a bad night of sleep, instead of recognizing that the pill was ineffective, it’s very easy to conclude that you are incapable of sleep (when this is not true).

Third, if you take a pill late in the night, you risk starting the day with a medication hangover and all the potentially dangerous side-effects that come with that. Furthermore, when you take hypnotics late in the night, you may start the day feeling very fatigued and lethargic. Instead of recognizing this as a symptom of the late-night use of sleeping pills, it’s all-too-easy to think this is a result of your insomnia — and this exacerbates sleep-related worry and anxiety and can lead to compensatory behaviors that make sleep worse.

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