Gabapentin or Pregabalin

[Bloodhound669]

Ok! I've been on this Gabapentin for a while and about every other day is livable, however, I still have insomnia and sleepwalking and falling. Now for, the past two days, I have woken up nauseous. Does this ever end? I am in the process of contacting my doctor to, get her feelings, about this. I know she knows nothing about RLS but I need to see if she has another drug of choice. You mentioned Pregabalin before is it more "user friendly"? No side effects or maybe different ones?

[SueJohnson]

You can try switching to pregabalin. It is more likely to help with insomnia. Although it is basically the same drug except you don't need to divide the doses, and the side effects are basically the same, some people find that the side effects that bother them on one don't bother them on the other. Divide the gabapentin amount by 6 to get the correct dose.

However you said your doctor can't prescribe pregabalin.

[Bloodhound669 in reply to SueJohnson]

They said they couldn't prescribe it but they said many things that I find not to be so. I was curious about any other drug that may be available. I need to get some sleep.

[Joolsg in reply to Bloodhound669]

What is keeping you awake? Is it the RLS - the legs waking you. Or has the RLS settled and you now have classic insomnia where you are just wide awake?I ask because opioids can cause either extreme sleepiness or extreme alerting and wakefulness. Gabapentin or pregabalin are often added because they usually have a sedating effect and help sleep.

[Bloodhound669 in reply to Joolsg]

You may be on to something here. I think I may be afraid to fall asleep because it leads to sleepwalking, which in turn may be because of lack of sleep for fear of sleepwalking. On the other hand, I felt just a little sleepy last night and before I knew it I had slept for about 4 hours, awoken to urinate (prostate thingy) and afterward lay down again and slept for about 3 more hours. Never has this happened in the past few months. I woke up this morning and have had no indication or onset of RLS. (YET!) Crazy stuff!

[Joolsg in reply to Bloodhound669]

It can take months for sleep issues to settle.If you had a good night last night- you will have other good nights. Hang on to that thought!

One good night allows us to survive 3 or 4 bad nights.

Fingers crossed that your body is adjusting to gabapentin and your RLS stays away.

[Bloodhound669 in reply to Joolsg]

Thank you all for the support. I hope other sufferers out there will find this site. The most informative and understanding of all the sites I've found.