TJ_Fitz
Well-Known Member
I saw my GP yesterday about getting on gabapentin. The biggest concern I hope to address with this drug is sleep. I have some old trauma from my parents frequently fighting after I went to bed (with me wide awake listening intently), and after some ah-ha moments in self-awareness, it seems that going to bed is a trigger for that trauma. Interestingly, I can lay down for a nap during the day and sleep just fine.
I asked her for 900 mg gabapentin (300 mg 3 times daily), since that's the usual starting dose I read about, but she suggested that I just take 600 mg in the evening so I didn't get groggy during the day.
She also made the observation that my autonomic nervous system (ANS) seemed to be sort of backward: it's supposed to be relaxing me in the evening and night, and keying me up for action in the morning and throughout the day, but it seems like it's doing the opposite. It seems like a reasonable explanation for what I'm experiencing. If I was trying to sleep during the day and stay up during the night, I'd expect to be keyed up at bedtime and groggy when I was awake.
In addition to the 600 mg gabapentin in the evening, she suggested taking a certain magnesium supplement at dinner and at bedtime that is supposed to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (composed of magnesium malate, lysinate, and glycinate). On the other hand, the only magnesium supplement I've read about that is known to cross the BBB is magnesium threonate, so I don't know if that's really what's happening to her other patients who've taken it.
I asked her for 900 mg gabapentin (300 mg 3 times daily), since that's the usual starting dose I read about, but she suggested that I just take 600 mg in the evening so I didn't get groggy during the day.
She also made the observation that my autonomic nervous system (ANS) seemed to be sort of backward: it's supposed to be relaxing me in the evening and night, and keying me up for action in the morning and throughout the day, but it seems like it's doing the opposite. It seems like a reasonable explanation for what I'm experiencing. If I was trying to sleep during the day and stay up during the night, I'd expect to be keyed up at bedtime and groggy when I was awake.
In addition to the 600 mg gabapentin in the evening, she suggested taking a certain magnesium supplement at dinner and at bedtime that is supposed to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (composed of magnesium malate, lysinate, and glycinate). On the other hand, the only magnesium supplement I've read about that is known to cross the BBB is magnesium threonate, so I don't know if that's really what's happening to her other patients who've taken it.