Adjusting Dosages

[weordmyndum]

My sleep meds have been pretty much unchanged for a year or so, but the other night I was spacing out and forgot to take them on time, and by the time I realized, it was too late to take them if I was going to be up in the morning. Interestingly, though, I noticed I was much more awake/less drowsy the next day after ~2 hours of sleep than I usually am after sleeping ~6 hours with my sleep meds. Obviously, I don't want to go off the meds altogether, since I know the greater alertness wouldn't last long if I went several nights with little sleep. But I am interested in seeing what a reduction in dosage might do, and I'd like to have some suggestions for my doctor when I see him Monday.

For reference purposes, I take the following:

gabapentin 600 mg

prazosin 2 mg

nortriptyline 50 mg

I don't want to adjust more than one at once so that it will be very clear what makes a difference. My suspicion is that the most likely culprit is the gabapentin, but it could just as easily be the nortriptyline. Anyone have ideas about what dosage I should suggest lowering first?

[shimmeree]

have you tried trazodone? i'm taking 900 mg gabapentin and 50 mg trazodone every night. helps my sleep. just upping the traz from 25 mg to combat nightmares. i used to take melatonin, but it made nightmares more vivid, which my pdoc said was common. good luck!