Zopiclone causes amnesia

So what’s with this post title? Have you ever experience amnesia before? Amnesia is a condition in which your memory is lost, like a short-term memory. In Singapore, we usually mock our friends by calling them STM when they forgotten something, and clear enough, STM stands for ‘short-term- memory’.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been tormented by insomnia, and it was only until recently where I decided to visit a psychiatrist. And on my last visit, the psychiatrist prescribes ‘Zopiclone’; a hypnotic pill that helps you to sleep.

Zopiclone (7.5mg)

Zopiclone, or some call it Z-pills is considered a mild sleeping pill if compared to the rest of the hypnotic drugs in the psychological-world.

I’ve been taking it for a month now. When you take Zopiclone, it will temporary cause some alterations to your taste buds. It literally makes a glass of plain water taste bitter & metallic! And I got to say that it is not a very pleasant taste.

Frankly speaking, by taking one of these Zopiclone pills aren’t really strong enough to like knock me off to bed. But it does makes me feel a little tired, drowsy, weak limps and lazy; but all in the smallest details.

I myself will put it in this way; it does help but it doesn’t help much at all, it only made me feel more frustrated than ever, because it makes you feel like getting some sleep but still unable to fall asleep. You get what I’m trying to say?

What I really wanted for was something that could make me sleep and actually ABLE TO MAKE ME SLEEP! Not too complicated I hope? Regardless of my doctor’s instruction of only 1 pill per bedtime - or if I could, even better still, none at all - I usually took 2 of them a few hours before the time I think I would be sleepy enough to fall asleep.

Then came one night, I was so frustratingly desperate to get some sleep, I decided to pop 3 of these cheeky little bastards at once and guess what…?

WTF?

It happened last Saturday.

It was nearly 3 AM in the morning when I slapped myself with 3 Zopiclone pills at once! I remembered the timing because I looked at the time right after I took the pills.

3 AM in the morning.

I was in the dining room using my laptop; surfing the internet, Hotmail, Facebook, YouTube, etc…

Time passes real quick, I took a glance at the corner of my laptop screen, and realised that it is already 4.46 AM!

4:46 AM - You know, I am sure that I wasn’t sleepy or even tired yet when I looked at the time, but guess what? The next thing I knew… I found myself lying on my bed and the bright afternoon sun was shining through my bedroom windows! I was quite confused.

Have you watched those TV dramas where the lady actor goes into a bar, and then someone spiked her drink and woke up the next day totally not knowing who or how she got raped? - All the while I didn’t believe in this crap and thought that it was bullshit. How could someone not remembering a single thing just the night before? But now I do believe.


Amnesia, like how some people called it, loss of memory. Yes I experienced pure amnesia that night! It was really weird! I couldn’t recall anything at all! In fact, the last thing I remember was the 4:46 AM time. Other than that, I couldn’t remember what I did before I landed on my bed! And the funny thing is that I left my dining room lights on, laptop not shut down and with my spectacle neatly placed beside it!

I just couldn’t believe it; I couldn’t even remember the slightest of details! It is not like being drunk, because even if you are very drunk, you will somehow still be able to remember something certain details like how you got home, how you took off your shoes, how you fell asleep on your bed… Etc… Though blurry but it is still there.

I’ve got very drunk before in the past. Actually I’ve been through worse than drunk and I could still remember some details like those I mentioned above. But this amnesia I had, it’s like… the period after 4.46AM until the time I found myself on bed never existed!!

I’m not joking. It’s really that intense. I couldn’t believe it myself either and I actually felt quite fascinated by it! And therefore, I decided to try it again the next night…

At 1 AM, I took 3 of these Zopiclones pills again. But this time, I will note down how I’m feeling at the interval of every 30 minutes. Here, this is how I noted it down…

1 AM – I’m feeling fine.
1.30 AM – Still feeling the same.

And that’s it, amnesia again. I found myself waking up from my bed with the dining room lights and laptop still switched on and my specs were placed neatly beside it. The last thing I remembered was the time I am looking at: 1.44 AM



This will be the end of my story.

My conclusion is: Amnesia is scary but at the same time fascinating. But I probably wouldn’t try it again unless there is someone around to watch over me.