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Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
I have struggled with getting quality uninterrupted sleep since I was a child. I am now 40 years old. It’s getting harder to maintain life with little sleep. I keep trying different habits, general sleep hygiene tips, I know I can exercise more regularly but even when I was dancing 5 times a week I still had the same sleep difficulties. It’s difficult to fall asleep before midnight and I often wake up around 3 or 4am, then don’t sleep till about 6am. I need to get up around 7:30am for work. I have been trying 300 mg of gabapentin with melatonin for 6 months, it helped initially but now I feel it has stopped working. Can someone advise if:
- does Long term use of gabapentin has negative side effects?
- I am not ecstatic to be taking an anti seizure medication for sleep - you thoughts?
- any idea what causes this waking up between 3-4am?
- do we get easily addicted to gabapentin to where I would need to increase the dose?
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I took 2 weeks of Gabapentin for something else, but couldn’t tolerate it due to blurry vision. Wish I could take it.
I get to sleep pretty well, but wake up 3-4 hours later and struggle to resume sleep. I occasionally will sleep throughout night especially if I take a Klonopin (small dose). My therapist, says that our internal clock gets used to a certain schedule and it’s difficult to let it know to stop that early morning wake up. I think I need a sleep aid to get my body adjusted to staying asleep. Sort of a reset on my inner clock. I’m going to talk to my doctor about it.
Please let us know if your Dr has any suggestions. I have this same problem and haven't found an answer.
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1 ReactionI took gabapentin for a year for chronic insomnia. I stopped taking it when I got an uncontrollable upper eyelid twitch.
" Long-term use of gabapentin for sleep isn't well-studied, and its safety and efficacy over extended periods are not well-established"
It's helpful to have different cocktails in your toolbox. That way you can rotate.
To resume sleep after I wake up. I use "NatureMade Back to Sleep. Take 1 fast dissolve tablet upon waking in the middle of the night to fall back asleep. Dissolve in mouth or chew before swallowing. No water is necessary." It works well for me. I've never had any side effects after waking.
I have used "Life Extension Melatonin 6-hour timed release", and "Pure Encapsulation Melatonin 0.5mg" with Rx 100mg micronized oral progesterone. What works best for me is 5mg of a cannabis gummi.
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1 ReactionI talked with my doctor about the night awakening. He made suggestions about me trying to do it myself and said to let him know if we need to try something else. I will try what he said. He said to try getting out of bed if I can’t resume sleep after 15 minutes. Go to another room. Don’t watch tv or anything electronic. (This will be difficult for me.) Return after 30 minutes or if I get sleepy again. Also, he said that caffeine, even if it’s only in the morning can affect sleep. He said that when we are young, caffeine metabolizes quicker than when we get older. I doubt that 1 cup of coffee would be the culprit, but I’m going to do an experiment and see. He said melatonin normally helps with getting to sleep, but not staying asleep. I got the impression that he will prescribe me something if it continues.
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1 ReactionI wonder if pioneers had sleep problems or if it is a product of
our modern society. A friend told me if you can't sleep, look at it as an
opportunity to read= fiction & nothing too stimulating, which does often
work for me. I also take Tylenol PM & a 10mg Melatonin gummie, which also
usually works. Ask your doctor for various prescription & over the counter
alternatives until you find what works for you........& understand that you
probably may have to change again if you get immune to the first suggestion.
Good luck; don't give up! KR
New to this group. My husband is the insomniac but it affects me as much as it does him. He has been taking a "bad" pill, temazepam, for years. He is 86 years old. It is no longer working and is giving him weird side effects. Is there any sleep aid that a senior citizen has used that works and is not extremely dangerous?
Has he had a sleep study done to rule out sleep apnea? He could try Trazodone, which is commonly prescribed for insomnia as one side effect is sleepiness. He could also try a low dose of melatonin. I take 2.5mg melatonin 15 minutes before bed along with 50-75mg trazodone. I also take a sleep gummy with 10mg CBN and 5mg THC (Minny Grown brand called Highbernate). Take with a light snack (I eat yogurt) as it helps both the Trazodone and CBN last longer in your system. Another drug prescribed for sleep is Mirtazapine, about 7.5 mg. It has a longer half-life than Trazodone so might make the sleepiness last into the next day.
He definitely has sleep apnea and has used a cpap for years. He tried melatonin and that didn't seem to to a thing for him. We will discuss Trazodone and the others you mentioned. Have not heard of any of them. Is CBN and THC over the counter? Thank you for your help.
"CBN and THC over-the-counter" If you live in a state that has legalized cannabis you can get CBN and THC at a Cannabis dispensary store. If your state has not legalized cannabis the answer is no, CBN and THC are not OC. A lot of older people are using 'edible lower dosages' of Cannabis for sleep.
He can't use the CBN or THC because he is on a blood thinner. But I'm glad to have the name of the sleeping pill to suggest to the sleep doctor.