Klonopin & Gabapentin for sleep

Posted by weijamin @weijamin, Jan 30, 2023

Hi, I am 78, almost 79 & have been taking klonopin, .5 - 1mg for almost 30 yrs. Now it isn’t working so well, so Dr added gabapentin, 2-300mg.
It is working, but I understand the dependence w/ klonopin & in the past have tried to quit, but it has been too hard. Just would like to hear from others if anyone else is taking both of these meds, & what people think about their safety.

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@tcainaru

I started having sleep problems January 2023. It has turned into chronic insomnia. Dr gave me Trazone and that ave me side effect sobI quit working. I am 71 and still have insomnia. Usually I can fall asleep then wake up and can not fall back to sleep. Trying a small dose of seraqual, but extremely nervous about it because of what it is. Been getting light headedness and taking 25mg lamotrigine for it. I have been a Type 2 diabetic for 30 years. Have tried everything else to restore my sleep, nothing is working. Even gone to a psychiatrist in which is making it worse. Please help me!!

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I took seroquel 15 mg and may have reached 25 along with sertraline 25 and it helped me.

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@tcainaru

I started having sleep problems January 2023. It has turned into chronic insomnia. Dr gave me Trazone and that gave me side effect so I quit working. I am 71 and still have insomnia. Usually I can fall asleep then wake up and can not fall back to sleep. Trying a small dose of seraqual, but extremely nervous about it because of what it is. Been getting light headedness and taking 25mg lamotrigine for it. I have been a Type 2 diabetic for 30 years. Have tried everything else to restore my sleep, nothing is working. Even gone to a psychiatrist in which is making it worse. Please help me!!

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So sorry you’re going through this. I have been able to work with a sleep medicine doctor and sleep therapist and we finally found a med that works for me, a very low dose of mirtazapine and melatonin. Tried CBTi but that didn’t work for me.
Highly recommend sleep professionals. Good luck!

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@raisingtwins

@arthur57
Thanks for sharing your opinion on Klonopin. I took 1mg 2x/day for yearss & it worked well for me (in my situation/at the time). I have since asked 6 doctors to prescribe this medication to me (to NO AVAIL) bc I have severe
anxiety. I wasn't aware of the addiction effects of Klonopin and don't remember how I felt when I quit taking it.
My severe anxiety causes me problems with chronic canker sores, social issues, problems concentrating and completing my day to day responsibilities such as paying bills, making phone calls, and making Dr appointments. My to do pile keeps getting taller and all these problems have gotten totally out of control. I feel that I'm so behind that there's no hope in ever getting back on track in my lifetime (hopelessness).
So, just needed to speak that out loud & I guess I'll continue to suffer bc I've got my mind made up that Klonopin is the only thing I want bc it worked so well for me in the past. My PCP prescribed buspirone which is nothing more than a waste of time for me to just swallow them.

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Just saw this as I have been out of town! If you didn't notice any withdrawl symptoms with the klonopin, good for you. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones as it obviously affects everyone differently. It truly messed me up while taking it and after stopping. The fact that 6 docs would not prescribe it should tell one something. I had my regular doc along with 2 sleep docs, and a nuerologist tell me they would never have given me the klonopin. The only reason I saw the neurologist is because I thought I might have something more serious coming on from the body vibrations so wanted to make certain. He told me he saw no signs of anything during his evaluation but NO to klonopin. While mine wasn't for anxiety, it was for a sleep issue. While it did seem to help me sleep better, the side effects were very bizarre for me to ever consider continuing this med. Really messed with my central nervous system. Best to you!

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@tcainaru

I started having sleep problems January 2023. It has turned into chronic insomnia. Dr gave me Trazone and that ave me side effect sobI quit working. I am 71 and still have insomnia. Usually I can fall asleep then wake up and can not fall back to sleep. Trying a small dose of seraqual, but extremely nervous about it because of what it is. Been getting light headedness and taking 25mg lamotrigine for it. I have been a Type 2 diabetic for 30 years. Have tried everything else to restore my sleep, nothing is working. Even gone to a psychiatrist in which is making it worse. Please help me!!

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Hi
Was wondering what side effect you got from trazadone?
I am on my 3rd nite and it causes ringing in my ears but helps me sleep

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@aviswalton123

Hi
Was wondering what side effect you got from trazadone?
I am on my 3rd nite and it causes ringing in my ears but helps me sleep

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I felt zombied the next day
The natural self was gone. Just felt weird!

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@horowitz71

I finally got to see a psychiatrist through the VA. After reviewing my list of medications, she told me not to take alprazolam/Xanax (I'd been taking 0.5 mg for many years. I asked her why, since I take such a small amount--never more than 0.5 mg's, and ofter go 3-5 days without taking any at all. She said that doctors should not prescribe Benzos--never, and when I asked her why, she replied, "because they may impair your cognitive abilities." I got up and walked over to her where she was holding the list of meds I'd given her and proceded to point out six med's on the list which were more likely to cause memory problems: Depakote (for being bipolar), Lexipro (anti-depressant), Lipitor (because I'd had a mini-stroke several years ago), Gabapentin ( for pain/sleep--had service-connected injuries while in Vietnam and whenever I'd roll over in bed, I'd awaken from sharp pains in either of the surgicall-repaired shoulders), and Celebrex--also for pain. Every one of the above-mentioned med's are worse than the small doseage of Benzos I'd been taking, and I when I asked her why those med's shoulden't be removed from my prescriptions, she simply looked down, kept entering notes into her desktop, and when I questioned her again, she simply gave me a stern look and went back to her notes. You want to know how I feel about doctors. They're people who seem as if they're underpaid while making $3-4 hundred thousand dollars a year plus benefits, and exactly as you stated, "...don't know shit." I personally research all the medication the doctors prescribe, including the chemical structures, speak to pharmacists who usually know a heck of a lot more than the quacks I've seen, and most of them should have their licenses revoked. I have yet to find a doctor through Medicare or the VA who will even prescribe a couple of miligrams/month of Benzos so that I can titrate off the crap they had originally prescribed. Every time I see a neurologist (for Parkinson's), or a primary care physician, or in the last case an uncaring robot-like psychiatrist, I expect the worst (and usually get it--especially the being talked down to as if I were too stupid to respect their god-like superiority), or ask to be titrated off most of the med's I'm taking, my words fall on deaf ears. Doctors use their patients as guinea pigs while getting kick-backs from the sales reps for Big Pharma. Healthcare in this country is just another rotten business.

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I'm glad you figured out that healthcare in the U.S. is a business. I've been all over the globe as an international pro surf bum. In the industrialized countries I visited, they ALL had socialized healthcare, universal healthcare, or similar care for not only their citizens, but even passersby like me. And in the countries that didn't, I paid cash for whatever care I needed; and the cost was always far below what doctors bill you for here.

I can relate well to your post. In fact, at first I thought I was reading something that I'd written and forgotten about. That's how closely your story is to mine. I once asked a psychiatrist who I was seeing reply when I asked him about the long-term effects of Depakote, Zoloft, and whatever Benzo he had me on, he gave a terse reply while typing his notes, not bothering to even look at me, "Can't be good." These days, I'm having to fight for my rights from the VA with whom it takes months to see a neurologist, and usually a quack, in order to get a diagnosis for Parkinson's Disease; probably a result of Agent Orange exposure while serving in Vietnam or drinking toxic water when I was stationed in Camp Lejeune. The young enlistees are being advised on how to get disability claims even before their enlistment period is up. It seems as if everyone one of them got severe PTSD no matter what occupation they have or had while in the service. I'm a Purple Heart vet and these kids enlisted. I'm receiving a 20% disability, which is not much. And the VA is ignoring Vietnam veterans like me, waiting for us to die. I'm currently experiencing withdrawal from years of taking Benzos which were prescribed by the VA, and the VA doctors, acting as gatekeepers tell me my illness is not service-connected, but as a result of bipolar med's I took over the years. Talk about a Catch 22. At my age, it really wouldn't matter much if I was prescribed as little as half a mg of Klonopin, but I am unable to find a doctor who will even consider prescribing benzos. I didn't expect nor did I want to live beyond eighty, but as I close in on that day, I'm wishing someone would put me out of my misery. I'm no longer able to drive, public transport is nonexistant where I live, and I sit at home all day, alone and isolated. This is not a way to live out one's life.

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