I started taking Gabapentin about 3 years ago. Shortly after i started taking Gabaentin i was not able finish when my lovely wife would have sex. I could last for 30 minutes or more but i just could not get to he top of the hill. If i took viagra and had not had sex for 4 or5 days i could make it.
Also about that time if i was top fall asleep for more than a hour i would wake up frozen. If ,my wife was not where she could hear me and come and get started it would take me from 5 to 15 minutes to get up and start moving. I was not aware that Gabapentin was the cause of these two things until i stopped taking it about 2 weeks ago.
I have not woke up frozen since the first day i stopped taking it. I am also back to normal (for me) in the bedroom.
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Bailey_Texas
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"In 1998, Pahwa et al. reviewed the efficacy of gabapentin in the treatment of essential tremor in comparison to a placebo. The first 14 days of the study showed no difference between patients receiving 1800 mg gabapentin per day in comparison to placebo. But in 2000, Ondo did six weeks of research on a group of patients receiving up to 3600 mg gabapentin per day in contrast to the placebo, and patients demonstrated significant improvements in self-report scores for tremor, observed tremor scores, and daily activity improvement scores."
And how much Sinemet do you take? I was thinking today on a walk that I hadn’t seen you around for a while. I’m thinking of increasing my meds but like everybody I’m concerned about dyskinesia. I remembered that you took quite a big dose of Sinemet. Do you not have dyskinesia? Again I think I recalled that this wasn’t something that bothered you and I was wondering if You had any theories as to why this might be. Good to hear from you and I hope that you’re doing ok.
A small, decent CT back in 1997 showed some efficacy for PwP, but generally failed to reach any statistical significance.
A similar very small 2004 CT showed no change in on/off hours, but "a significant reduction in the magnitude of the motor response after gabapentin was obtained (P < 0.001)."
In my area of the US, strictly "off label" for PD symptoms unless the PwP has RLS and the doctor feels RLS is a PD symptom.
So interesting. I am in Canada and at least in my case, I have found the docs tend not to send you for too many tests once you have been diagnosed. The doctor, Neurologist in my case, decides what to prescribe. He does listen to me and my extensive studying into my symptoms, at least?
Blaszczk wrote an interesting paper in 2016 --- Parkinson's Disease and Neurodegeneration: GABA-Collapse Hypothesis....
"Within CNS the Ca2+/GABA mechanism stabilizes neuronal activity both at cellular and systemic levels. Decline in the Ca2+/GABA control initiates several cascading processes leading to both weakened protective barriers (in particular the blood-brain barrier) and accumulations of intracellular deposits of calcium and Lewy bodies." Very interesting.
Bohnen believes...
"Animal studies of PD suggest that one of the reasons why people with PD have difficulties with balance and gait is that GABA is excessively blocking the outgoing connections of the basal ganglia (movement centers) in the brain."
So, Gabapentin as an anticonvulsive is apparently impacting the blocking mechanism of GABA. It implies something else is at work other than the dopamine system in PD.
Like I said, in both my PD support groups I coordinate over 10 years I have never encountered anyone mentioning it.
Thank you for this informed reply. I am so interested in the complexities of our disease. I also appreciate the sharing of knowledge. This new age of sharing information so readily may be exactly what is needed to help solve or at least alleviate some of the symptoms people with disease have.
I take 2 300 mg Gabapentin's 4 times per day. For some of my symptoms, I have found some measurable relief with this dose. I find, for me, I have less pain, tingling, numbness and electrical misfiring’s.
I have never taken a survey about this question with my support groups, so my opinion isn't terribly scientific, but clearly NEUROPATHY ISN'T A PRIMARY. Most PwP I talk to identify their progression problem as some sort of motor dysfunction, i.e. 1) tremors, 2) posture and balance problems, 3) slow movements (bradykinesia), and 4) involuntary movements (dyskinesia).
However, those PwP who are also diabetic ( a higher % than many think) do mention neuropathy issues. Yet, I don't believe we have enough evidence to suggest diabetics are prone to more PD impulse disorders or more aggressive PD than normal. Possible, but still controversial.
In summary, yes, neuropathy is part of the "litany" of PD symptoms, which is almost endless, but not a primary symptom for most.
Interesting, in my case, I went to a clinic in the middle of the day because my right side of my body felt numb and tingly. Long story short, I was rushed through many obstacles and in short order landed in a Neurologist’s office. My walk down the hallway showed my right arm didn’t swing and when talking to the doc I mentioned my slight tremor of my right hand, diagnosis Parkinson’s. C/L therapy worked for final confirmation. But, the c/l worked on the classic “Parkinson’s Symptoms”, what I went in for, what bugged me, the tingling, numbness, and what feels like electrical misfirings and pain were still there. So I dug and found many other Parkinson’s sufferers were prescribed Gabapentin for these “other” symptoms. Low and behold, the edge was taken off with the Gabapentin. My other very electrically controlled problem I personally had was Afib. After trial and error of 6 meds, we found Flecanide which works for me. I am finally 10 years since heart problems became unbearable and 6 years since Parkinsons diagnosis, I am feeling relatively amazing. I even sleep through the night (hadn’t for 25 years). I am 130 pounds, fit, eat healthy and not diabetic.
About 4 to 5 years ago I was having a similar sexual problem to reach an orgasm. On that time I was taking various PD medications ( dopamine agonist) in addition to gabapentin for a neck and shoulder pain and Wellbutrin for depression. I started to search information in the web looking for the reasons of my trouble and just found a similar isolated case of an individual who blamed Wellbutrin for the inability to reach the climax. In my case I was also having several side effects from the medication cocktail I was taking ( leg swelling, bruises, cardiac arrhythmia, falling asleep anytime) so I decided to stop cold turkey all my meds. I had been on all them since 2010 and I was lucky I didn’t end in the hospital when I suddenly stopped my meds as I have later learned that I experienced soon after that a severe and deep depression lasting for a week that is named DAWS (Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome). Shortly after that I started just on Sinemet and still today the only Med I’m taking and now dealing with different ugly side effects and I’m gradually weaning and switching to mucuna. Now I’m wondering if the trouble maker of the sexual dysfunction was the gabapentin and not the Wellbutrin.
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