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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 a small dose of Klonopin for a short time and it helped me greatly. I also got talk therapy and addressed some health concerns. I no longer take that med though. I try to avoid any med that isn’t necessary. My sleep hygiene greatly improved. I am now having early a.m awakenings, but can return to sleep and sleep quite well. I also fall asleep with no trouble. And, feel rested and refreshed the next day. I believe my issue now is some worries on my mind. After that’s resolved, I think I’ll be fine.
I have great doctors. I’m mostly in the Duke and UNC system.
@kristajsorensen Since it can only be refilled every 30 days, I take half a dose of the 2mg pill. For me it calms my axiety, but does not help w/maintaing longer sleep periods (falling asleep is not an issue).