Gabapentin

[ganna64]

Hi Everyone, I went to the Dr. today and she would like me to try Gabapentin. I asked her if it was addicting and she said no. Has anyone here tried this drug and does it help with pain? Any alternatives for nerve pain? Thank-you. Stay safe.

[Jesselespaul]

Speaking only for myself, I had a very bad experience with Gabapentin. I became unable to think clearly. At all. Stopped the drug voila back to functional clear thinking.Do your research - talk to your doctor about possible side effects. I have a MS friend who has taken it for years and for her it works a treat.

This is the most individual disease - no two of us are the same - yada yada

Best wishes

[nexttothesalt in reply to Jesselespaul]

I had the same problem. I was standing at the sink one day and couldn't remember how to use the faucet for about 30 seconds. Which seemed longer than it sounds. It was a bit scary. I do have friends who take nerve pain medications and do just fine on them though.

[ganna64 in reply to nexttothesalt]

Thank-you.

[ganna64 in reply to Jesselespaul]

Thank-you.

[starlight5]

I tried gabapentin and cymbalta for nerve pain, neither worked for me.

[ganna64 in reply to starlight5]

Thank-you.

[hairbrain4]

Gabapentin can be good for nerve pain or neuropathy although it doesn't work for everyone. Its not addictive. Lyrica is another med for neuropathy but a lot of insurance companies don't like to pay for it. I have to get an authorization for it on my insurance. It's not addictive.

[ganna64 in reply to hairbrain4]

Thank-you.

[Elizt3]

I’ve been on Neurontin for over 10 years for nerve pain in my feet and hand. No weight gain, however, if I increase the dose too much, I do feel a bit zombie like. I get 100 mg capsules so I can adjust the dose depending on how I’m feeling. It’s not addictive, however, you can’t go off this medication abruptly if you’ve been on it for a long time. One needs to taper down very slowly.

[ganna64 in reply to Elizt3]

Thank-you,

[BlanketTime1]

i gained 17 pounds in 10 days on lyrica and couldn't eat during that time; i haven't a clue what happened there. i took cymbalta and it didn't help. it just depends on the person, their body chemistry i dunno, but gabapentin works best for me. i even went off it to try cymbalta. i didn't have any trouble going off and was on cymbalta nearly 2 years. good luck🤗

[wolfmom21fl in reply to BlanketTime1]

oh god.. the cymbalta and drugs like are the combo anti-depressants that have the SNRI's and the SSRI's together.. I have been thru those those too and the last one they forced on me was Pristiq which caused me to start having siezures.. SNRI's have this listed as a side effect.. to me it seems totally wrong that a pain doctor or a Primary care doctor should ever be allowed to prescribe these drugs for any reason.. they have no clue what they do and pain doctors are prescribing them off label for pain.. Cymbalta and drugs like it have a BLACK BOX warning on it now but prior to 2015 there was no such thing. Thanks in part to a close friend of mine who still suffers from the backlash of having had Cymbalta and drugs like forced on her by pain doctors. She had a major reaction and ended up with a major injury from which she never recovered.. just sayin' these doctors that prescribe these drugs off label have no business doing so and the pharmacists that throw the patient leaflets out are complicit.. There was a huge lawsuit over this and that's why there is a black box warning on these drugs now.. but pain doctors are STILL prescribing them! ugh.. sorry.. rant over..

[ganna64 in reply to wolfmom21fl]

Thank-you.

[BlanketTime1 in reply to wolfmom21fl]

wolfmom21fl oh no! i didn't have a clue about any of that. you're right; certain drugs need to be prescribed by specialists only. i'm even happier to be off cymbalta. i realised i was taking it and added back gabapentin and thought, 'this doesn't make sense.'

[wolfmom21fl in reply to BlanketTime1]

people wonder why I hate doctors so much. We pay them to help us but we need to make sure they arent prescribing stuff that will kill us because they are so focused on a symptom instead of the person. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to remind one of my doctors that I cannot take this medication because I take that one, or that I am not able to take this because I have something.. It's maddening quite honest;y.. I suppose that's why they claim to be "practicing" medicine tho

[ganna64 in reply to BlanketTime1]

Thank-you.

[BlanketTime1 in reply to ganna64]

'practicing' indeed🤨

[Peruzzot]

I tried gabapentin for back pain a long time ago. It made my fatigue and brain fog a whole lot worse. It didn't do anything for my pain. One of the VA doctors added it to my file that I'm allergic to it. When I noticed that in my file I asked the doctor about it at my next appointment and was told that I had an adverse reaction to it, so the doctor that listed it as an allergy was just trying to discourage any future doctors I might see from trying to prescribe it to me again.

[ganna64 in reply to Peruzzot]

Thank-you.

[MarkUpnorth]

I tried it for a while. No negative side effects I can remember, but I do remember it did nothing for me. My neurologists had me try what seemed like everything over the years, till they emptied their war chest of possible meds they told me. CBD flower, recommended by one of my neurologists when it became legal in my state, only the flower, not some concoction, vaped works like magic. I also use edible CBD, however vaped flower works 100x better.

[ganna64 in reply to MarkUpnorth]

Thank-you.

[palomino27]

LoL No offense

But, your doctor is crazy

Gabapentin can be very hard to get off of. Lyrica is even harder atleast for me.

[ganna64 in reply to palomino27]

Thank-you. After researching everything I could find on it, I have decided not to go on it.

[mrsmike9]

I tried it for my painful toes. It didn't help...or hurt, anything. So I stopped.

[ganna64 in reply to mrsmike9]

Thank-you.

[1yoyo]

I am taking gabapentin for nine years-only at night.Maybe you should slowly increase the medication-it might then work.

[ganna64 in reply to 1yoyo]

Thank-you.

[Tazmanian]

I have never tried it but good luck

[ganna64 in reply to Tazmanian]

Thank-you.

[Raingrrl]

I’ve taken gabapentin for many years for neuropathic pain. It helps wth the pain and has not caused me any side effects. I sometimes forget my dose and don’t have any sort of addictive withdrawal symptoms. We all are different though.

[ganna64 in reply to Raingrrl]

Thank-you.

[KarenUSA]

I use a cream made at a compounding pharmacy that contains gabapentin. It works great to relieve foot pain without the side effects of an oral pill.

[ganna64 in reply to KarenUSA]

Thank-you.

[wolfmom21fl]

Yeah... no.. I had too had bad experiences with this drug. I was unable to think straight, unable to walk straight, felt like i was always kinda listing to the left, which is my stronger side actually, and I was unable to drive while I was taking this. It also did very little to help my pain at all. Like they kept increasing the dose but it was like taking baby aspirin for all the good it did and the side effects were horrendous for me.. Then they switched me to Lyrica, which is the "newer" form of the drug and that was even worse and did nothing for the pain either..

[ganna64 in reply to wolfmom21fl]

Thank-you.

[pamgarner]

i know a bunch of people take it with good results, but i took it and in 2 days i had a bad reaction and had to be carried in my house! no more!

[ganna64 in reply to pamgarner]

Thank-you.

[MSbeGone]

I felt that it wasn’t working a great deal for the nerve pain in my body except my mouth

[ganna64 in reply to MSbeGone]

Thank-you.

[AriSmyelin]

I noticed that it is a very independent drug. In other words: You have to try it before you truly know because everyone reacted different. Not a simple " I like Excedrin better simply because Ibuprofen doesn't help not because I reacted bad." My mother hates it. I on the other hand do really well with it. My only down fall was that my body can definitely tell at night if I missed a dose. If I miss 1 dose of meds (because I am on a very high amount) especially the afternoon and night meds. My body will wake up despite being on melatonin and the 12.5 Ambien that at time my nerves are so jacked up I am fairly confident I wake up and can swear my pinky toe can feel my eyelashes growing. Lol. But keep in mind I have been on Gabapentin for years! and again a very high dose. To taper down took a lot of time. I honestly would rather be an insomniac without pain than go without it. Because when I have those bad nights My doc said I that due to the fact I was still prescribed for a higher dose but was tapering down I can take an extra one at night if my nerves are going nuts with a baclofen. I found that if I do that I give it 30 min to an hour and I can go right back to sleep. So yes, there are pros and cons but it definitely helped my nerve pain. Hoped this helped at least a little. Let me know if there is anything else. Forgot to mention: My mom does not have MS she was using it for her back I think. It just didn't agree with her.

[ganna64 in reply to AriSmyelin]

Thank-you.

[starlight5]

My niece used to work as a pharmacy tech and she said gabapentin was the most often prescribed drug that she saw being filled.

[ganna64 in reply to starlight5]

I have read that Gabapentin is the most dangerous drug in America today because of the potential of abuse. But it remains safe for approved uses. I know I need to get my pain under control, but I am too scared to use this one. I think any drug taken today has the potential for abuse. Yes I have heard it is a most often prescribed drug. Thank-you for your reply.

[starlight5 in reply to ganna64]

If it had worked I would probably still be on it. I got to the top dosage and it still did nothing so I weaned myself off.

Most drugs have the potential for abuse or addiction. I now take tramadol because it actually works for me. I prefer to take a med as needed, not one that needs to be taken several times a day to maintain a certain level like gabapentin.

I hope you find something that gets your pain under control.

[wolfmom21fl in reply to ganna64]

It's because of the opioid abusers using it to double or even triple the effects of those drugs. When you take the 2 together the gabapentin greatly enhances the effects of opiates and the drug abusers have discovered this. Gabapentin is cheap.. I think it's on the $4 list at Walmart so if they can get on it and double the effect of that next heroin dose then by all means, ya know? it's disgusting.. the fact that doctors are prescribing this drug without thorough follow-up or even initial patient exams to start with is hideous. I mean you can walk into almost any doctor's office in the country after looking up neuropathy on Dr. Google and walk out after first visit with a script for gabapentin. That's why I say only certain doctors should be allowed to prescribe certain drugs, and certainly not on the first visit

[AriSmyelin]

I'm not surprised one bit.

[wolfmom21fl]

I was just researching this drug for my grandson's mom last evening because they are considering this as an off label drug from him to treat his bipolar depression.. I begged her NOT to allow them to give it to him. I went and looked some stuff on this and one of the things I found is that it GREATLY enhances the effects of opioid pain killers. On the surface this might seem a good thing, however, it went on to say that people have OD'd on their normal dosages of said pain killers when they took them concurrently with gabapentin. There have been reported deaths due this combination of drugs when taken within a certain time frame. Again, no thanks.. like i said, while it may seem a good thing on the surface, it's something that isn't well understood by many doctors but apparently addicts have found it to be a great thing and the FDA has issued an alert on this

[ganna64 in reply to wolfmom21fl]

Thank-you.

[starlight5 in reply to wolfmom21fl]

That is scary. Great job in looking out for your grandson, I hope she listens.

[wolfmom21fl in reply to starlight5]

me too. He has enough issues, this isn't one that needs to be added to the mix

[DIsneyQueen]

I take 100mg in the morning and 300 mg at bedtime. It helps with spasms and I sleep well I have not had any side effects. It works for me

[ganna64 in reply to DIsneyQueen]

Thank-you.