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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on October 9, 2001, at 17:19:46
I tried Neurontin 100 mg twice a day for about a week. The nights did me in. I often have trouble sleeping in the early morning, but with Neurontin I had the most vivid dreams. The dreams led to crazy but compelling ideas that I knew at the time made no real sense, but seemed to be of monumental importance. I wasn't awake but I wasn't asleep either. I couldn't seem to move to wake up completely and shake off the ideas. I was aware while I was partly awake and partly asleep that my back was tightening up to the point of pain. I woke up each morning with a terrible muscle backache.
During the day, the only problem I noticed was that my head felt kind of thick and heavy, and my thoughts seemed slower. This could have just been the result of the disturbed sleep.
Has anyone else had these side effects on Neurontin? If so, did they go away and how long did it take? Would it help not to take any at night?
Most importantly, what was the medication doing to my brain to cause such an odd experience?
Posted by JohnX on October 9, 2001, at 20:38:52
In reply to Neurontin and odd dreams, posted by Dinah on October 9, 2001, at 17:19:46
> I tried Neurontin 100 mg twice a day for about a week. The nights did me in. I often have trouble sleeping in the early morning, but with Neurontin I had the most vivid dreams. The dreams led to crazy but compelling ideas that I knew at the time made no real sense, but seemed to be of monumental importance. I wasn't awake but I wasn't asleep either. I couldn't seem to move to wake up completely and shake off the ideas. I was aware while I was partly awake and partly asleep that my back was tightening up to the point of pain. I woke up each morning with a terrible muscle backache.
> During the day, the only problem I noticed was that my head felt kind of thick and heavy, and my thoughts seemed slower. This could have just been the result of the disturbed sleep.
> Has anyone else had these side effects on Neurontin? If so, did they go away and how long did it take? Would it help not to take any at night?
> Most importantly, what was the medication doing to my brain to cause such an odd experience?I got weird dreams on Neurontin, but it didn't
make me too cloudy during the day. Any cloudiness
subsided after a few days of sticking it through.
I did have one note, Neurontin exits the body
really fast, I found that I had to take it exactly
8 hrs apart (3x a day) to keep it from having
start-up and stop side effects. When i fixed the
dose timing, the side effects stayed away.The dream thing is strange. I have had experiences
on meds like neurontin where it seems like i am
dreaming soo intensley yet I feel like I am awake,
or I want to wake up but I am trapped in this
dream. Its really spooky. I'm with you on that
one.PS. what is the neurontin for? maybe we can find
a different solution.-john
Posted by Ted on October 10, 2001, at 11:36:38
In reply to Re: Neurontin and odd dreams » Dinah, posted by JohnX on October 9, 2001, at 20:38:52
The dream thing is the same for me with depakote. I think it must have something to do with the way these mood suppressor drugs work.
Ted
> The dream thing is strange. I have had experiences
> on meds like neurontin where it seems like i am
> dreaming soo intensley yet I feel like I am awake,
> or I want to wake up but I am trapped in this
> dream. Its really spooky. I'm with you on that
> one.
Posted by dove on October 10, 2001, at 13:13:43
In reply to Re: Neurontin and odd dreams, posted by Ted on October 10, 2001, at 11:36:38
I have reported many of my experiences on Neurontin, and one thing I've always stated is the very minimal side-effect profile it has for me. However, because I'm taking six different meds at the same time, I think I mislabel a lot of side-effects to the wrong med or to just living life in general. Odd vibrant dream sequences, where I'm neither aware nor completely unaware have been going on for at least 6 months (probably longer).
Since the majority of my Neurontin is taken during the day, I now may be able to point a finger at some funky daily routines I've taken up. Almost everyday, there is a short time period (about 30-60 minutes) between my morning doses and afternoon dose, where I sit around in a fog. I forget what I was doing; things like making lunch are finished but forgotten on the counter. Other days, everything around me seems gray and dull, while my mind is churning with strange affiliations of what I actually see and the fanciful totally unrelated image it is painting. Then if I try to pin the image down to examine it, I lose it in the fog. Now all of these experiences happen around the same time of the day, and to a greater or lesser degree, they occur six out of seven days a week.
Maybe the Neurontin actually has some side-effects that I've been ignorant to, and maybe messing with the timing I could erase that yucky odd time-period in my day. Thoughts....
dove
Posted by jay on October 10, 2001, at 19:40:58
In reply to Neurontin and odd dreams, posted by Dinah on October 9, 2001, at 17:19:46
Hi Dinah:
Yes, I had nasty dreams on Neurontin...no matter how small the dose. In fact, this seems the way (for me) with most anticonvulsants. They seem to keep you locked in the "dream phase" of sleep, and I have odd ones that are honestly so vivid, and feel *so* real, it scares the heck out of me.
I do understand a good dose of benzos can help keep these away, though. I wish I could be of more help...
Jay
> I tried Neurontin 100 mg twice a day for about a week. The nights did me in. I often have trouble sleeping in the early morning, but with Neurontin I had the most vivid dreams. The dreams led to crazy but compelling ideas that I knew at the time made no real sense, but seemed to be of monumental importance. I wasn't awake but I wasn't asleep either. I couldn't seem to move to wake up completely and shake off the ideas. I was aware while I was partly awake and partly asleep that my back was tightening up to the point of pain. I woke up each morning with a terrible muscle backache.
> During the day, the only problem I noticed was that my head felt kind of thick and heavy, and my thoughts seemed slower. This could have just been the result of the disturbed sleep.
> Has anyone else had these side effects on Neurontin? If so, did they go away and how long did it take? Would it help not to take any at night?
> Most importantly, what was the medication doing to my brain to cause such an odd experience?
Posted by Dinah on October 10, 2001, at 20:55:17
In reply to Re: Neurontin and odd dreams » Dinah, posted by jay on October 10, 2001, at 19:40:58
I suggested Neurontin to my pdoc because I had heard about the lack of side effects. It did seem to work well for anxiety for the one week I took it. I was taking it for anxiety and to level out my moods. When I mentioned to my doctor about the dreams and the thick-headedness, he immediately told me that I didn't need that and he discontinued the medicine. He also insisted that I call him in a few days to make sure I had no problems discontinuing. I suppose that made me view the dreams with more suspicion, since doctors usually try to encourage you to wait out side effects.
I don't have any dream problems with Depakote, even at higher doses than I am currently taking. I also usually have few dreams, and the ones I have are rather mundane, so these were especially disturbing to me. The oddest part was that one part of me was thinking that the ideas following the dreams would bring about world peace or something equally important and I must wake up immediately to act on them. The other part of me was thinking that if I were awake while I was thinking these ideas, that I would be delusional or something, because they were so odd. So I would try to wake up immediately to shake them. And of course I couldn't even move my tongue or open my eyes.
I'll ask my doctor about this later this month and see if it is worth another trial. However, when I told him that I was hoping Neurontin would be similar to Klonopin in that it would just reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety without changing the quality of my thoughts, he replied that maybe he could use that information to make a decision about future meds. Maybe he has something different in mind.
This is the end of the thread.
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