I have a girlfriend that has been having serious sleeping disorder because of PMLD. She was diagnosed over a few years ago. She got laid off from her job and has had troubles paying the Doctor bills, thus she hasn't been going to the doctor like she should. She has been on Klonopin 1mg for at least a year. The doctor recently increased it to 2mg and that wasn't working so he added Gabapentin 300mg and it worked!

BUT NOW SHE HAS A SEDATED SIDE EFFECT THE NEXT MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. She has been on Gabapentin for 3 days now.

The withdraws if she quits Klonopin have really got me concerned, although Gabapentin suppose to help if you quit Klonopin. I am hoping she can quit the Klonopin all together and lower her dosage each night to 100-200 mg of Gabapentin.

Has anyone been in this situation involving the drugs Gabapentin & Klonopin? If so, how did you deal with it and what was the outcome? Thanks for your help in advance

Hi everyone, I was prescribed Neurontin at bedtime for severe neuralgia resulting from several discs out in my cervical spine. She started me out on a low dose of 300mg and I was to titrate up to 900mg after two weeks, but I found I could barely handle 600mg. Initially I thought it was causing me to hallucinate or have waking dreams. Over the next couple weeks I worked on being more cognizant of what was actually happening, and found that I was flying up out of bed gasping for air. My Doc ordered an over night pulse/ox text and confirmed that I did quit breathing. I loathe to quit taking the Neurontin because this has been the first time in 3 years that I can go for almost 8 hours without being in severe pain but at the same time I am only 30years old and I dont want to have a breathing machine just because of a medication. Has anybody had any similar experiences or found an alternate solution..I would greatly appreciate any feedback
Kristy, Oregon

Please check out this post:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post827707-8.html

You could try stopping the gabapentin & see if the apnea stops as well, but this might take a while for the gabapentin/effect to get out of your system.

You could discuss with your doctor trying a different med. Others commonly used for neuropathic pain include (but not limited to) Lyrica and Topamax/topiramate. Since all of these meds affect the nervous system, they'll all have some potential to effect respiration as well, but that doesn't mean they will.

Has it been determined whether the apnea is central, obstructive or complex (mixed)? Type of apnea can bear on possible treatments; a sleep study may be in order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea

If it's obstructive, you could take up playing the didgeridoo.

We tried a custom-made appliance, but it didn't work.

Nobody likes the idea of the machine, regardless of age, but there are worse things, it's non-invasive, it allows you to continue pain control, and most importantly, it works for most (though it takes some getting used to - being on gabapentin should help that too.)

Doc

I was diagnosed with central sleep apnea and prescribed BIPAP. I find it does not help me though and I still wake up with a massive headache,dizzy and freezing cold. I also have some neurologic defects with my brain ( ACC and septo optic dysplasia as well as what they call 'aquired chiari malformation") Does anyone else have central sleep apnea and has anything else other then BIPAP been used with sucsess?