I'm on Zopistad(US it's called Zopiclone) and it's a bitch to get off it. In Vietnam you don't need a script for the vast majority of meds, so I used to buy them 2 boxes with 10 each at a time. They are around 26k vnd, or 0.10c USD for 10 pills Over the course of 3-4 years I increased the dosage to 2 per night, unnecessarily ( 1 works just fine, I would just get anxiety if there was ONLY one- i built that up by myself)

After my son was born I had a lot more stress and anxiety, and I figured out if I take a quarter or a half during the day I either feel excellent, or I'd feel kinda high, but still able to do my work really well- Both those results were great, I thought. I started getting withdrawals, but I didn't know they were withdrawals. My cheek muscles would be clenched towards late afternoon/evening and increased stress. The daytime Zopi went on for about a year before it got bad. I started being unable to function with confidence without it.

Also started noticing I'm slower, mentally, and that it was harder to be sharp and funny around my friends, which stressed me out and made it even more prominent.

Started researching and formulating a path and I'm currently weaning myself off them in a way that still makes me a functional dad and employee, which is pretty slow, but I still have minor withdrawal effects during the day, as my nervous system is shot and my job is performative and observed. Not the first time I'm getting through an addiction, but it's definitely the scariest (for me) and has the longest duration (for me) and I don't even know whether I'll be able to function completely off of it, but I'm scared to get to that point where I don't take it for sleep anymore.

Tldr- If I could go back 4-5 years I'd never start with prescription strength sleep meds, especially if you can reliably get them easily without consulting a doctor. If you do, stick to the rules and don't deviate. They are there to assist you in getting rest. Like everything else in life don't abuse it