Not sleeping

[billybags]

Here we go again, to sleep or not to sleep. New prescription to-day called Gabapentin capsules. They are supposed to be for restless leg syndrome. R LS means no sleep, starts as soon as husband gets into bed. Have been reading the distructions and what do you know they say don't take if you have kidney deceases, they all so double up for epilepsy, lots of DO NOT TAKE If's so what do you do. Any one out there taking them?

[paris]

My sister takes Gabapentin. She has fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid arthritis.  She has had great luck with the drug and sleeps 8 hours everynight.  I hope it works for your husband.     And don't you just love all the "do not take if you have kidney disease" labels?  Crazy.

[Brightsky69]

I wish i could get up and do something when i am laying there wide awake. I am on PD so i am tied to a machine for 8.5 hours at night.

[Brightsky69]

Ok....last night i took all my drugs and was ready for a nice drug induced sleep. UGH!!! I get into bed and my legs were all achy. So I could not get comfortable. I lay there exhausted and not able to sleep. I managed to fall alseep after 1am. Then I woke up at 3:30am. I think i got about 4 hours of sleep total last night.

And here I am with achy legs still.

[billybags]

First two nights of taking Gabapentin. and he has slept like a baby, no restless leg, no aches I hope this keeps up.

[murf]

The best part about having acute insomnia is that I can watch the 20/20 cricket world cup into the wee hours of the morning. Can't sleep so might as well enjoy myself.

[Caroline85]

The same thing has been happening to me since I started! I can sleep for usually 4-5 hours before I am wide awake and unable to go back to sleep. Sometimes it's less than that. I figured I would eventually fall asleep when I was tired enough but so far that has only happened once or twice. I have tried tylenol pm, melatonin and bendryl all without success. I have an appointment in a few days with my neph and I am going to talk to him about getting me something. I work 65-70 hours a week in addition to doing dialysis and this sleeping thing is killing me!

[billybags]

We haven't had a sleepless night for 5 days.(fingers crossed) neph prescribed Gabarpartin 100mg for hubby's restless leg syndrome, which he has suffered a lot in the last year with and never had a good nights sleep,. these seem to be working. yes. If he sleeps, I sleep.

[bountyhunter_ga]

Boy it sure would be nice if the doctors had a clue about what type of side effects we all go through.It seems like they don't want to get outside the main issue of Kidney.
What can we do to make our other effects of Kidney Disease important to the doctor as well.

[cariad]

Billy, I took gabapentin for a month, prescribed by my nephrologist. It didn't do any damage. I had no idea it was for RLS - I took it for nerve pain, and it worked a charm.

I must discuss the RLS treatment with my husband (who is not in renal failure). Not only does he have terrible RLS, but he also is currently suffering from nerve pain, so perhaps we can solve two problems here. Gabapentin (neurontin) is also used as an anti-depressant.

Thank you for this info. My poor husband took a drug for RLS (ropinirole) and it made matters worse. I was up all night after he took that first dose and I told him if he ever wanted to give it another try, he knows his way to the guest room....

[billybags]

cariad, it is still working, I told him only to take it when his legs are really bad, along with other tablets you just do not know if they interact, so he takes it when he feels the need and with in 10 minutes he is away. I feel better because I can sleep as well.

[kitkatz]

I have been off of work for a month and a half and I am not sleeping well anymore. Sigh.

[Henry P Snicklesnorter]

.

[bountyhunter_ga]

I had enough of not sleeping and restless, and moving from bed to bed. I work as a cop and this has been effecting my job pretty bad.

I cornered my doctor at the Dialysis Center and told him I need sleep and that was all I had to say. Well he prescribed a drug called GABAPENTIN 100 MG , it seems to be working, I have three good nights so far and I'm actually pleasant at work.

I hope this may work for as well ,I do know what your going through no sleep just adds to the frustration of life.

[billybags]

Gabapentin.has been a godsend to my husband. He started taking it about 3 weeks ago, not every night, only when his legs ache and they actually work, they don't make him dopey, he is dopey any way.

[cariad]

Gabapentin.has been a godsend to my husband. He started taking it about 3 weeks ago, not every night, only when his legs ache and they actually work, they don't make him dopey, he is dopey any way.

Gwyn spoke to our GP about his RLS (I was in the room) and the GP prescribed him Mirapex, which he can apparently take as needed. Apparently, I don't know what I'm talking about (try to contain your surprise, everyone) and the twitching that Gwyn does in his sleep is not restless leg, but a separate condition termed "periodic limb movements disorder" (although these parasomnias are all related, this I remember from my studies of them). The GP said Mirapex won't make him sleepy, whereas I believe Gabapentin does. Also, the GP said that he has RLS himself, but does not believe in medicating it unless it starts interfering with his life, and he encouraged Gwyn to approach medication the same way. Gwyn only gets RLS a few nights a week at most.

We asked about Gabapentin and the GP said "That's just buckshot." We don't understand hunting metaphors, so he explained that the drug can treat so many things, it's basically "shooting and hoping you hit something". I'm a little disappointed, because I know it's a great drug that is working for many, but I think Gwyn is secretly relieved as he can have his beer and not worry about drug interaction.

Nice to hear that you all are finding solutions. Sleep difficulties are miserable.

[RightSide]

I am still not sleeping well. My sinuses have been killing me so I've been taking a Tylenol sinuses pain and conjestion medication. it usually knocks me out at night.

Ah, somebody else who has sinus problems as well as kidney problems, just like me!

I'm finding the combination of sinus problems and kidney failure to be really tough. The main treatment for sinus problems is to stay well hydrated, which is not so easy when you're on fluid restriction for ESRD.  And the sleep aids all dry out the sinus membranes.

[kamar55]

Having terrible sinus problems, constant insomnia and being on dialysis is really hard for me. The meds for my sinuses dry me out so bad, some nights I could cry because I'm so thirsty. I try to avoid using them, but I can't breathe otherwise so it's the lesser of 2 evils. The best thing I've ever found for dry mouth/thirst is those ice pop tubes you stick in the freezer-they come in many brands. Some are even organic and some sugar free. They're only 1-2 ounces and they pack a lot of cool relief for a tiny amount.

[bountyhunter_ga]

Been over two weeks with sleep, its made me a new man. The GABAPENTIN 100 MG is working for me at least. after about 14 week with little or no sleep it is a relief.

[Brightsky69]

Maybe i should try this Gabapentin stuff. No matter what i take I normally wake up at least twice during the night. Last night I woke up every hour on the hour.

[Matt58044]

I had been struggling with insomnia for a few months until I got a blood transfusion because my hemoglobin was 7.1.  For some reason, I have gotten solid sleep for at least 8 hours each night now.  Probably because the extra energy has helped me stay up and active all day and be tired at night.

Just my input and experience.

[Brightsky69]

Well.... my doc gave me a script for gabapentin. Hopefully it will work as well for me as it has for everyone else.

[bountyhunter_ga]

Now I use it for restless leg syndrome, but it allows me to sleep better,I don't take any kind of sleeping Ade. I tried that and I could not focus for about 2 hours after waking up.

[Brightsky69]

I took the Gabapentin last night. I only got up twice cause of the itching. Gabapentin did knock me out. I feel like I slept hard. One bad thing is it made me feel kind of dizzy and left me with a hangover. I only took 100mg. I think I'll save it for the weekends when I can sleep 10 or 12 hours. 

[bountyhunter_ga]

Now I do catch up on weekends, because i need to be at work at 0800hrs during the week. As long as I stay away from milk products I don't itch and that also helps help.

It takes about 2 or 3 days to get enough in your system to be effective. And also I take about 2 hours before I go to bed.Its not a miracle drug its just something in the arsenal of medication available to us when we find out.