Gabapentinoids Do you also get vivid dreams from gabepentin and baclofen? Why don't benzos do the same thing?

[tarman]

Might be a captain obvious topic, but damn, baclofen and gabapentin give me bright, clear, memorable dreams. Do you experience the same thing? And are we in the 'appropriate' mode of sleep when experiencing them? That is, are the brainwaves the same as regular dreaming?

Why is it that these two gaba influencing drugs precipitate dreams and benzos seem to mute them? I haven't really had nightmares, but I've had a few that I woke up and was like "whoa, that was a ride."

 

[DKs]

baclofen and gabapentin give me bright, clear, memorable dreams. Do you experience the same thing?

Yes.

And are we in the 'appropriate' mode of sleep when experiencing them? That is, are the brainwaves the same as regular dreaming?

Maybe. Maybe not. Don't know.

Why is it that these two gaba influencing drugs precipitate dreams and benzos seem to mute them?

Benzos bind to benzodiazepine binding sites on the GABA-A receptor which enable natural GABA to activate the receptor longer and better. Natural GABA does not bind to these sites. Gabapentine and Baclofen both bind to GABA-A receptors, directly activating them. I think they bind mainly to the /gamma-sites on GABA-A. There are also GABA-A receptors which don't have the binding sites making them sensitive to benzos, but are sensitive to gabapentine and baclofen.
So benzos just activate to some extend different kinds of GABA-A receptors and the way the work on the receptorsthey "activate" (they don't really as they need GABA) is slightly different, too.
I hope this explanation makes sense and is kind of what you're looking for. You see: it's complicated.