i tried baclofen a long time ago but it didn't work.
and the first med i used for neuropathic pain was neurontin but that wasn't working either.

then, i tried lyrica and i've been on that for awhile. it's much better.

work with your dr and keep a symptom (sx) journal. sometimes you need to try different things.

ps...welcome to NT

Gabapentin was the first drug given to me (other than IV solu-medral) and it was a very terrifying experience. I was starting off with three pills a day and it almost killed me, lost my memory didn't know how to talk, my eyesight was so messed up and my boyfriend said my eyes were rapidly spazzing back and fourth. So they offered other neuropathic pain killers but I just deal with what I have to deal with

I was also prescribed the baclofen and I have chose not to pop any of those yet, I'm scared it's going to turn me into a zombie :\

Sorry for what you are going through..insomnia is the pits!!

These are some tricky meds to take for sure. I started with Gabapentin years ago, 300mg ONLY at night..it always helped me sleep. Then it was added 3 times a day (for seizures) and I was soo agitated on it.. I would eat eat eat..and could not sit still. Hmm..

Then Baclofen 10mg was added 2x a day and can take another dose midafternoon if I need to. I did get used to 2x a day of Gabapentin now.

Its too much to start you with, IMO, but maybe you can start out with less, or less often THEN gradually go up to whatever dose works for you.

Perhaps your system is just really agitated with so many drugs. Do you take any other meds? Shots? Steroids?

Good luck.. you need your sleep. Let us know how you're doing ok?

Jan

There may be something to the baclofen causing insomnia. Because I dont fall asleep most nights until the next morning. (didnt fall asleep till about 6am)

I'll lay down around 3am and not fall asleep most nights, (watching a tv show that's on at 2am every night) and so I'll get up and read my Kindle a little bit to try to get tired. If it's coming up on 5am, I'll just give up on sleeping and go have breakfast with my dad if it's one of his working days. (he makes me a bowl of Cream of Wheat with cinnamon sugar on it...that'll help me sleep)

I didnt fall asleep till after 6am this morning. Stayed up after eating breakfast with my dad to wait for the paper to get delivered so that I didnt have to worry about my mom going outside to get it and falling down on any ice in the driveway. (yeah, as if I'm any more stable walking than she is)

My dad doesnt work tomorrow so I'm going to make more of an attempt to fall asleep before 3am. I am so tired right now, just sitting down makes me want to fall asleep. I'm going to set my tivo to record the show that I watch at 2am so that I can watch it tomorrow instead, and I'm going to make the attempt to lay down around 11 or 12 tonight and see if I end up falling asleep.

I live in the Central time zone, but I'm starting to wonder what state/and or country's time zone I sleep in...(maybe Hawaii time?)

I take baclofen, and haven't had many problems with it, however I do suffer from insomnia. I'm not sure if the two are connected. I had serious problems with gabapentin, so I take Lyrica instead. It does the same thing for me, but with fewer side effects.

I've decided that I'm gonna talk to my Dr. this week, I'm thinking that I have some form of depression, from the meds.

I'm starting to get anxiety attacks & I can't for the life of me force myself to go to work.

It's a vicious cycle, I don't sleep then as I'm laying in bed I have this internal argument. You're going to work even if you don't sleep. No I can't, yes you can etc. etc.
I do this for a few hours, then I get up & call in sick.
Then I beat myself up about it for the night. It all starts over again the next day.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but anxiety, anxiousness, depression & mood changes are all side effects of Gabapentin.

What are your thoughts on this??

Any time there is a concern about medications causing depression or other negative side effects you need to get off that medication.

Many medications are tapered...you start out at a low dose and increase slowly. You also need to taper off of those meds as the safest approach.

Yes, contact your doctor but it sounds like you need to start getting off of the medications now, you can start doing that.

jiggered, I am very med sensitive. I have had medication induced depression with suicidal thoughts several times.

I stop the medication "cold turkey" then I notify my prescribing doctor. Going "cold turkey" is not a safe or accepted way to come off medication but, for me, it literally becomes the difference between life and death.

Took both medications at one time. I was up to 2700 mg of gabapentin a day. It did not make me sleepy after the first few days, and it did help some with the burning pain I was experiencing, but I was increasing my dose every six months. I was also experiencing some selling in my ankles, and gained about 15 pounds. I did not want to increase the dose again so under my doctor's supervision I tapered off of it. In retrospection, I probably tapered off of it to quickly I had been on gabapentin for over two years. The taper was pretty horrible -- constant nausea and dizziness (took me about 3 weeks). It then took about one more month after I was completely off of it to feel better. I definitely would not stop it cold turkey.

I was taking 60 mg of baclofen when I tapered off of it. It never really help my spasticity. this taper was much easier. I also tried tiznatidine for my spasticity. and it was helping a bit at a rather low dose, but It caused me to have extreme nausea.