Klonopin & Gabapentin for sleep

How long do you intend to stay on the Lunesta? I've read it's meant for short-term use and can cause rebound insomnia. I tried 7.5mg Remeron one night, and slept but was severely groggy for 3 days so stopped taking it. I've had severe insomnia for over two years since a bout of Covid triggered fibromyalgia and haven't had a good nights sleep since. I don't know what to do as I'm afraid of most of the drugs, especially the "hypnotic" ones with the side effect of sleep-walking activities that you won't remember the next day. However, this lack of sleep is having severe effects as I'm always so tired and I know it's not good for my health. I take 75-100mg Trazodone and 3.5mg Melatonin before bed, and sometimes a CBN/CBD sleep gummy. Most nights I fall asleep but always wake up about 4 hours later and can't get back to sleep, which I know is from my fibro. My Dr recommended 100mgs of Gapapentin 3X a day. I only tried it a couple days and it didn't seem to help. The possible side effects of long term use scared me. I'd be open to any advice you might be able to offer.

The only advice I can give you is to find a reputable sleep medicine doctor who knows the medications and can guide you to find a solution. All the sleep meds say "short term use" but with primary long-term insomnia, sometimes the benefits of staying on it outweigh the risks. Trust me, if I could sleep without help, that would be amazing, but having tried everything imaginable, and still was not sleeping, I'm ok with taking it long term. I did not have any major issues with Klonopin and it was great for sleep. It was terribly addictive but I didn't know that until I had to taper off, because I never increased my dose or craved it. Stopping just about any sleep aide is going to result in rebound insomnia. Only some people have the sleep walking side effects with hypnotics - I have had no issues at all. If I wake up in the night for any reason and need to get out of bed, I feel perfectly fine, and falling back to sleep is fairly easy. Any drug you take could have side effects, but it might not. For example, I took Ambien for several weeks and it put me to sleep well, no night-time shenanigans, but I had the side effects of morning nausea and daytime anxiety, so it was not a good fit for me. Everyone is different. Listen to your doctor and if you don't like what they offer, find another one. My psychiatrist (who I was sent to when primary care would not prescribe benzos at all anymore) felt it was better to not sleep at all than to take sleep medication. He made me come off Klonopin without a good exit plan, leaving me with terrible insomnia and anxiety. He also told me not to take CBD and said, " Stop looking for something outside of yourself to help you sleep". Remeron did very little, if anything for my sleep issues, while it makes other people very groggy, like it did you. Best of luck to you!

Maybe. But this really gets me! I don't need the government or pharmacy policing how I take my medication, this is ludicris! If someone is suicidal it won't matter if they've been prevented from hoarding controlled meds or not. Plenty of other meds are just as deadly overdosing on and plenty of ways to take your own life if that's what someone has decided to do. I have 2 drawers full of different pills mostly psych meds they handout like its candy and just as fatal if you take enough. My pediatric specialists used to bring me grocery bags full of medicine after I turned 18 and no longer covered on my dads policy. This included enough prednisone and sus-phrine vials/ syringes, terbutaline and other meds to last quite awhile. He was a professor of medicine, head of his dept and very much admired physician who today would end up in prison for making sure I had what I needed. He taught me at 18 that it's my responsibility to know what I'm taking and how to find that information in a PDR which is what every capable adult should do.

Exactly Right! The benefits of staying on a sleep med far outweigh not sleeping!!! So what do you take now? Hopefully something that works! Shame on the doctor who made you stop taking Klonopin! My doctor also sent me to a psychiatrist who had me try Mirtazapine...didn't work. So I'm staying on Lorazepam and my primary doctor is finally okay with it.

I also have tried many sleep aids, from melatonin to Benadryl with mixed results. Lately I have had better results with a ZzzQuil Ultra product containing Doxylamine succinate, a small tablet in a hard to open blister pack. But it seems to work with sometimes 8 + hours, sometimes interrupted, but rolling over going right back to sleep. Often with a dry mouth, but water close by relieves this.

The only advice I can give you is to find a reputable sleep medicine doctor who knows the medications and can guide you to find a solution. All the sleep meds say "short term use" but with primary long-term insomnia, sometimes the benefits of staying on it outweigh the risks. Trust me, if I could sleep without help, that would be amazing, but having tried everything imaginable, and still was not sleeping, I'm ok with taking it long term. I did not have any major issues with Klonopin and it was great for sleep. It was terribly addictive but I didn't know that until I had to taper off, because I never increased my dose or craved it. Stopping just about any sleep aide is going to result in rebound insomnia. Only some people have the sleep walking side effects with hypnotics - I have had no issues at all. If I wake up in the night for any reason and need to get out of bed, I feel perfectly fine, and falling back to sleep is fairly easy. Any drug you take could have side effects, but it might not. For example, I took Ambien for several weeks and it put me to sleep well, no night-time shenanigans, but I had the side effects of morning nausea and daytime anxiety, so it was not a good fit for me. Everyone is different. Listen to your doctor and if you don't like what they offer, find another one. My psychiatrist (who I was sent to when primary care would not prescribe benzos at all anymore) felt it was better to not sleep at all than to take sleep medication. He made me come off Klonopin without a good exit plan, leaving me with terrible insomnia and anxiety. He also told me not to take CBD and said, " Stop looking for something outside of yourself to help you sleep". Remeron did very little, if anything for my sleep issues, while it makes other people very groggy, like it did you. Best of luck to you!

Agree that finding a reputable sleep doctor is important. I was on Ativan (lorazepam); she was not thrilled with long term use of benzos. Connected me with sleep therapist and I did CBI. Did not work for me. But Ativan was no longer working and I didn’t want to increase it. Do she sent me to another therapist who worked with me to find the right med. (lunesta didn’t work and it’s not meant for long term) I now take Remeron (mirtazapine), I successfully tapered off of Ativan, and I sleep through the night about 95% of the time. I have done grogginess in the morning but it’s worth it. I feel so much better and my pcp (who no longer wanted to prescribe Ativan) is on board. (He is happy with this class of drugs.)
I was falling into severe depression and felt lousy all day without sleep. Now, if I have a bad night, I just tell myself that I’ll have a better one tonight. Makes such a difference to find out what works for each of us as individuals.