Gabapentin and sleep apnea
Hi. I have insomnia in addition to OSA. I have been taking Seroquel but I know it increases my apneas. Now I am thinking of taking Gabapentin. My doctor prescribed it for my insomnia. (I haven't taken it yet though. ) My regular doctor
Knows nothing about OSA. Does anyone here know about Gabapentin? Does it cause apneas to increase?
I am going to the sleep doctor Sept 4th so I thought I'd ask him.
Thanks for sharing
Kim
Kimberly from Honolulu
RE: Gabapentin and sleep apnea
Right off I can't remember much about it except it has been discussed here a lot. Until someone who is more in touch with their memory banks than I am comes along to answer you question, try doing a forum search for that word. I did one and got some results.
Here's the link to it:
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/search....order=desc
But in case that link doesn't work (not sure it carries over), you can try doing one yourself.
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...rum-Search
PaulaO
Take a deep breath and count to zen.
RE: Gabapentin and sleep apnea
Be very careful about Gabapentin. Take it according to directions, and watch out for the side effects. Read up to know what to watch for, don't just leave it up to your doctor. Sometimes the doctors are a little too blase about the side effects.
There can be withdrawal problems. Suicidal thoughts can also be a problem.
Unfortunately, I didn't really answer your question, but felt the warning needed to be said.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software
here.
Useful links.
Click
here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
RE: Gabapentin and sleep apnea
(08-28-2014, 02:32 AM)archangle Wrote: Be very careful about Gabapentin. Take it according to directions, and watch out for the side effects. Read up to know what to watch for, don't just leave it up to your doctor. Sometimes the doctors are a little too blase about the side effects.
There can be withdrawal problems. Suicidal thoughts can also be a problem.
Unfortunately, I didn't really answer your question, but felt the warning needed to be said.
You are right about the warning. I know a few people that have taken this and discovered that all the things they were experiencing were because of this medication. I met one person that liked it. Either way, do your homework and research this and all medications. Go to the websites that are set up to discuss the medication and read what patients say about the medication.
EX: One of my doctors, a long time ago, prescribed a medication for me. Before I would fill the script, I researched the medication and found out that it was newly put out on the market. Just like a first year car, I don't do first year medication. Good thing I didn't because there were some bad things with this medication and I believe there were some lawsuits because of it.
Just be careful and do your homework. Gabapentin has been around for a while but I have heard more complaints that good things about it.
RE: Gabapentin and sleep apnea
Gabapentin did help me... my left foot was spasming at night and waking me up; the gabapentin stopped that... I do have some paresthesia in various extremities so the doc was OK with me taking it. I can't tell you if there's a relationship to cpap; I've only been on cpap for 6 months.
