Since I've been taking Gabapentin, my anxiety and panic attacks have gone away. But lately I've been having trouble sleeping and it was the worse it's been tonight...

Tonight, I was exhausted so I decided to lay down a bit earlier than usual. Every time, right before I fall asleep, some random thought will be drifting through my head and I'll suddenly jerk and have what I guess is a "mini" panic attack. My body jerks, my heart rate increases, I feel dizzy/light-headed and scared. It happens like right at the moment I'm drifting in to "dream land". Anyone else having this problem?

I'm new to all this and still trying to figure out how to deal with this stuff...Any advice/tips would be appreciated. I'm gonna try putting some kind of easy-going movie on and see if that helps me fall asleep without the attacks.

I have struggled with this 'just as I start to drift off to sleep jerking' problem for years. It is one of the reasons I take gabapentin and why I had to up my dose to 900 mgs. I am up at 1:30 am because I was starting to jerk and twitch.

I find that my only solution is to get up and change environments for a while then start to going to bed process all over again.

I have never found any consistent solution.

I understand your frustration.

NWSmith, this has happened to me a couple of times (including last night, which is weird, as otherwise I've been feeling quite a bit better overall). "Mini-panic attacks" is a good way to describe it. No idea whether they have an organic cause or are simply related to the stress of a prolonged recovery. They do seem to have become less common as I've improved, but I'm going to ask my doctor about them eventually.

Yeah they are weird. I've had a couple more nights like that since I posted this but it seems like it's going away. It's probably been about a week or so since I've had this problem. Hopefully they are gone for good!

i've had them too...its awful.

I have them too... usually when I'm worried about something.