[dmplaura]

Well, I finally could, at 3am last night.

I've been tapering off Neurontin. When I was up to 500/600mg of it (for burning mouth) I slept like a kitten, however it made my head feel like it was going to burst (not pleasant at all).

Now I've tapered to 200mg (spoke to my neuro's secretary today and told her I'm decreasing by 100mg every 2 days). I was never on a high dose of it, but wow, I went to bed at 10:30 pm last night, exhausted from bad sleep the night before, and could not sleep until, as I said, 3am.

I have a bottle of Tryptophan in my cupboard that my nutritionist sold me a couple months ago. I used to take 1 capsule before bed. I am thinking about taking this again to sleep, but my neuro advised that it's not good on the liver. Argh!!!

I just need sleep. Would you trust the nutritionist with the Tryptophan to take 1 a night until you're past the Neurontin withdrawal stuff, or stay away from it and go sleepless?

[Erin524]

I got some amitriptyline from my doctor. It works fairly well for my insomnia. Better than the trazodone that I tried before that. The trazodone made me feel weird in the mornings. Like a hang over.

[dmplaura]

Yeah, I don't know. I only take 10mg of Amitriptyline at nighttime. I haven't discontinued it. I tolerate it well, and with the off label migraine prevention aspect, I'm all for it!

[NurseNancy]

if your neuro didn't like it i'd tend to stay away from it.
but i'd ask your neuro or your pcp if they could suggest something to help you.

when i had sleeping problems yrs ago (i still do but i'm taking ambien) i would take a tylenol pm. it has 25mg of benadryl in it. but i'd ask your dr.
when you're taking a tylenol product you have to be very careful not to take more than the recommended dose (also liver problems).

but you can buy the benadryl ingredient otc. ask your pharmacist.
there may be other things more natural that you can take. i'd ask your nutritionist or a RD.

[Kitty]

I take Trazadone when I need help sleeping. But it causes such dry mouth. I wake up and it's like someone has shoved cotton in my mouth.....yuck!! But, it puts me out for the night.

[Erin524]

Originally Posted by herekitty1960

I take Trazadone when I need help sleeping. But it causes such dry mouth. I wake up and it's like someone has shoved cotton in my mouth.....yuck!! But, it puts me out for the night.

That was my problem with the Trazadone. Nasty taste in my mouth the next day. The hangover feeling was kind of bad too.

I dont take sedatives full strength. Had some Ambien in the mid 90's, and the first night, I took it full strength. Had a scary hallucination/dream where the room was bright red, and the tv was crawling across the floor, dragging the tv stand behind it. It was a little freaky.

I havent had that problem with the Amitriptyline yet. That's actually helped improve my dream content. Had some rather interesting and entertaining dreams on the Amitriptyline, and I only take 1/4 of a pill, maybe 1/2 if the insomnia is really strong.