Waves,

The sensible thing to do would be to take the meds, put on the cpap mask, and lie down in bed. I felt the med kicking in very late tonight. Maybe I should keep better track of when it "kicks in" as a sleepy med.

I will call pdoc if I need to. promise. I thought of calling him for something like Ambien. I do not know what he would say.
When I last saw him and asked for a back up for a problem with sleep, he said to take more of the Gabapentin --- he wrote the script for 4 capsules per day.

M

Hi Mari

yes i understood it makes you fall asleep for a short time. my observation was that you were "crashing out" inadvertently and it was probably not quality sleep. might as well make it quality sleep, if possible... and in a different situation you might sleep longer, was my thought (perhaps wrong).

ok, anyway, just now when i saw your other post listing your recent titration what jumped to mind is that you are going too fast.

i would step the dose up by a week at a time. i'm not kidding. it's not usually necessary for gabapentin, but then, people aren't usually as sensitive to the drug as you are. imho, that needs to be taken into consideration wrt titration as well.

i understand you "need" results .... and i've seen you do what i felt was "jumping the gun" on other meds (my opinion of course, forgive me if i am out of place saying so) but if as you say the primary side effect of stepping up is sleep deprivation, then all the more reason to go slowly.

sleep deprivation will only work against you -- it will produce more anxiety, tend to increase all types of pain sx you might have, decrease concentration etc etc i'm sure you are all too aware... or then again perhaps not. i wonder if you get sleep deprived so often and have been for so long that you've begun to see some of the sx as primary issues rather than ascribing them to the sleep deprivation.

anyway. my point is i would slow the titration to a 30ish mg per week.

~ waves ~

I woke up because a guy from the electric company came here to install a heavy duty professional surge protector at the base of our meter.

Whenever the lights go out our electric fire alarm makes a chirp.


NOISES.

I am going to go back to sleep and reply later.


Mari

Hi, Waves

I did not get back to sleep in the afternoon and have not gone back to bed. I do not have any idea what is going on. I feel depressed.


See, I did not know that until you pointed this out. Gabapentin helps with sleep less than anything else in the world.

That is exactly what was happening.

That is right.

I know. And you sort of said something along these lines the last time I put myself through this.

Friday night I took 200 mgs (two capsules) for the second night in a row. . . Mostly it is hard to work with the capsules. I need a scale or some tool.

I do not remember doing this with other meds. For those other meds, I took this as prescribed. The Gabapentin I have been playing with for 13 or 14 months now. I am ok with taking your word for it because I feel really messed up right now.
Here is the thing. while I am titrating I am getting depressed and missing sleep and getting nothing done. I have a list as long as my arm that I have to get done by August 13 when we return to people and meetings and more expectations on top of what I already have in my hand.
Oh heavens, I am so freaked out about having my work done on time.
Just before I posted this, emailed a request for a phone appointment with Work Buddy. Two weeks ago, I put out a distress call for phone help and then we talked almost two hours and I felt better about my stuff I am trying to get done.

I crammed before that call. . .worked all night for two nights . . . He helped tremendously. He enthusiastically offered suggestions, gave me lots of ideas, told me what I had so far would work, reminded me to be realistic, . . .
That was eight days ago and I feel stuck again. I do not know how to get progress on that particular project without him.


I am aware. I have some logic for this. I cannot remember what it is, but the plan (HA!) made sense for a moment.

This seems insightful but I do not understand. Maybe you can explain it to me.

I really hope that after three nights of this dose, I will settle in. Maybe I can stay at that 200 mg dose for a week or more before considering titatrating a little more.

PLEASE recognize that I am very appreciative of your help.
I suppose that my replies show that either 1 I am not thinking clearly or 2 I am thinking clearly but have a not so good plan.

M

for what it is worth, it sounds like you are thinking clearly. enlist work buddies help again....there is no reason not to ask for help, he would help you anytime you need it...it seems.
bizi

Dear Bizi,

Thank you for telling me that I am thinking clearly. I worry about that.

M

Dear Mari

sorry i was out for a while... mostly just busy. thought about how to explain taking "sleep deprivation for granted" but you said right above that that you are aware of it so sounds like that point was not applicable. (it was my... what if you are not aware... you said you are.)

200. ok. well. if you're coping... maybe i was wrong about you stepping up too fast.

i agree with Bizi about enlisting work buddy's help.

good luck with the step up. i understand splitting pills is hard and my recommendation on that was and still is to split into half capsules for regularity, if split you must. not divvy up further.

i don't think i have more advice on this.

good luck.

waves

Thanks, Waves.

I appreciate your experience with this and other medications. I could not deal with these meds by myself.

M

how is it going? How are you?
bizi

Hi,

I noticed yesterday that my depression seemed to have lifted (first day I was not crying). I am not sure about the anxiety.
That means that twelve days at 200 mgs helped the depression.
I will wait three or four weeks before deciding to raise the dose again.

Labor Day weekend is a good time to raise the dose again if I feel that I need it.

M