GabaPentin - will cause or cure an addiction?

[howbe]

I've been suffering for months from an unusual withdrawal effect of opiate addiction. I get a syndrome somewhat like restless leg in the evenings that is painful and prevents sleep. Withdrawal from hydrocodone produced virtually no withdrawal symptoms (I was not taking much), but the sleep preventing syndrome persists for weeks, probably months to come. I have been desperately seeking something safe to help me sleep, while I wait for my brain disruption to normalize. About 1000mg of Gabapentin each evening shows promise after a few days. But I 've read wildly different things about this drug - from it being non-addicting, to it being harder to get off than the benzos!

I do not know who or what to believe about this drug. I would hate to pill myself into a doctor approved more horrible hell, or take something that will give me a rebound of my problem, if/when I taper off it. Any good information about this drug or how to safely use it (I've been taking a 100mg twice daily and 300mg at night for about 3 weeks, and now take
1000mg only at night, with 10mg of baclofen -- the combination that seems to work).

[howbe]

Not sure I am doing my comment correctly. How do I post a reply to a thread I started? I am trying this way and hope it succeeds. My problem is a lot more specific and worse than laurel453's comments suggest. The physical syndrome hits each night, causes considerable pain and prevents virtually all sleep. It is not that I aint sleepy. I am in pain all night, and all day trying to stay awake while sleep deprived. My health is fading on multiple levels. Laurel's God is a loving god. I ponder the puzzle of a loving god and the power of love, in situations which, once started, seem un unsolvable trap: One one can do, it seems is broil in the agony of the problem. it seems, if one already has the quality of love, one can just manifest it through one's problem, whether or not things turn out well.

I must solve my sleep syndrome, or I do not see how I can live daily life of any sort.

[laurel453]

Hi..

i can't answer your question as i don't have experience or knowledge about gabapentin but i would say that if you have read disturbing facts or opinions about it i would try other ways to solve your problem if possible.

hydrocodone was my doc and sleep was a problem for me for a long long time ... i don't know the reasons, I'm sure that my anxiety because of  the problems i was having in my life has to do with it. I found some help with melatonin and valerian root for the first months. And i say some help because having 5/6 hours of somewhat broken sleep  was a great thing for me considering my circunstances. I  also had this RLS for some time but with the suplemments and some patience i went through them. I know you have talked of feeling this way for some months and it can wear anyone's patience...but haven't you noticed any improvement on the symptons ( intensity, duration...) while taking other natural remedies ?