Drowsiness as side effect imipramine for neurological pain

Can somebody help with info on the drowsiness with imipramine?

Why? I like to think I’m optimistic but my symptoms are getting me down.  I'm trying to get rid of drowsiness and fatigue after depression and on-going neuropathic pain; it gets so bad that at times I just don’t do anything in a day. I’m investigating several avenues, one of which is my medication. I take 100-150mg imipramine pd, 100-200mg Gabapentin/Neurontin and 100mg Provigil.  Drowsiness is listed as a side-effect of imipramine but most references say it is normally short-lived and I had minor symptoms of drowsiness before I started it. I tried to cut down on it very slowly (-10% over 2 weeks) but after getting down to 80% (80mg pd) I had enough of what I put down as withdrawal effects (anal itching, bad RLS) and went back to a standard dose.

Relevant medical history.  I’ve always felt a little more drowsy/tired than I’d expect (I’m now in my late 50s).  20 years ago I had a partial turbinectomy; with every cold I had my nose would hurt for a few days afterwards. 5 years ago I began to feel very drowsy after lunch, followed 2 months later by depression from divorce and work stress alongside RLS when I relaxed. I couldn’t take to Venlafaxine and changed to Imipramine.  2 months later, with my depression getting better on the medication, CBT and reduced stress, I had debilitating pain in my nose; an ENT specialist could find nothing wrong and a neurologist diagnosed Atypical Facial Pain; he prescribed Gabapentin/Neurontin alongside the Imipramine, then later Provigil to counter my drowsiness.  I had a sleep study, was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea; a CPAP machine gave me good O2 levels and changed my desperate tiredness on waking to low tiredness; my wife reports I often have restless legs at night. My nose is mostly slightly painful with the odd flare up. 18 months ago I began to have tooth pain after a filling that is probably linked to my nose pain. I now consider that I’d be over the depression were my drowsiness and fatigue not frustrating and depressing me.

Typical example. 2 days ago I spent the day as if I had a lead sheet over my brain and shoulders that made any movement a feat of motivation; by 8 pm I felt as if I had a ton of weight pulling my eyes down so badly I was a wreck and wanted to die (figuratively not literally!). Today I woke up around 0700 after a good 8 hrs sleep. After breakfast I sat reading until 0930 when I fell into drowsiness where I spent 75% of the next 4 hrs sleeping without feeling refreshed.  More Provigil and a coffee made me functional.

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