Klonopin & Gabapentin for sleep

All true I believe. However, in my experience .5 mg of Klonopin is a very low dose and is quite unlikely to be addictive. Years ago I was taking 6 times that much and had no issues. Of course that's only my experience.

They used to hand it out like candy (or sugary cerial). My psychiatrist called it "Captain K").

Hi @ekelks, Just an FYI. I had severe side effects of Gabapentin. Believe it or not I began to lose vision (shakey, over sleeping, bad balance like you had), so I stopped it. My Dr said Gabapentin can't do that, so I restarted it. Then came the side effects again.

My sleep disorder doctor prescribed Klonopin for me 8 months ago at a dose of .5 mg prior to sleep. No question, it helped me sleep, however, I developed tremors while sleeping within 1 to 2 months of beginning this med. I thought it had something to do with Covid/Vaccine but I was WRONG! I asked my sleep doctor (twice) if these new tremors (never had these before in my 65 years) could be result of Klonopin, he said NO! Not only did I develop night tremors but last few months I developed body buzzing during the daytime as well. I decided I needed to see if Klonopin might be the issue as I recently read tremors is a potential side effect, although considered "rare". I stopped taking my .5mg dosage cold turkey a few weeks ago. Even at .5mg which some feel is a low dose, the withdrawal was not good. That said, my trmors have disappeared so there is no question, Klonopin was the culprit. I still have minor body buzzing but seems to be slowly improving as well, almost unnoticeable now. This to me is a very dangerous drug and my sleep doctor is an idiot. My primary had questioned why he gave me this med. and he was right to do so. He said he would never write a script for this but he also had no idea why I developed these tremors. I actually see him today and will fill him in. For me, KLONOPIN is a NEVER drug.

You my friend, no not what you are talking about, may be safe for you but it DOES have side effects, what planet are you from? Just google the side effects, some aren't even listed I guarantee you.

I was put on Gabapentin for pain and fibromyalgia in my twenties. At the same time I found out other people I knew in there 50's and 60's were on it. When I talked to those people about it, what they had to say wasn't good. They were completely miserable from the medication, physically and mentally. So was I. I witnessed my best friends father struggle to get off it and how his Dr.'s said he may never be able to get off it. Luckily he did eventually. You see the side effects from the medication can be bad the higher the dose but when you want to stop taking it, it's like trying to go off other addictive medications. It was extremely hard for me to get off gabapentin. I've been on opioids for broken bones and that was easier to stop for me. It was so hard for many people back then to get off of gabapentin. The lucky ones who finally were able to stop taking it refuse to ever take it again. I was one of the lucky ones and I refuse to take it ever again. Now everyone is different and handles medications differently. At the age of 78 the benefits in small doses may be worth it compared to any other side effects of aging or medical conditions you may have. Plus Dr.'s may know more about how to prescribe and dose it better now then back then. I'm 44 now so I was on it 15 or so years ago. For me however it will always be a no based on my experience with it.

Klonopin worked for several years as a sleep aid (0.5 - 1mg bedtime). I'm post menopausal now and no longer able to sleep through the night. Increasing the dose causes restless sleep. I take an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer. Many years ago an excellent Psychiatrist treated my adolescent daughter. He now directs and oversees Nurse practioners in his practice. I'll be meeting one on april 4th to partner with in this journey....

Welcome @barrington16, Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to hear you have a care plan in place to help with your journey. Can you let us know how your upcoming appointment goes if you learn anything new that helps?

Yes, I definitely will.

I sure will.

Just wanted to comment in this thread, because I may have Klonopin induced insomnia, oddly enough. It’s given to me by trained staff at 6 PM and 7 AM daily, 1mg each time. The problem with getting it at 6 PM is I do fall asleep, before 8 PM, and I usually wake up around 1 or 2 AM. Getting back to sleep after that is hard. Last night I just stayed up all the way from 2 AM until daylight.

Unfortunately, in my living situation staff goes home at 6:30 PM, and they don’t trust me to keep my own Klonopin. We’ve yet to work out a solution to this.