Lower back pain

[budegirl]

Hi all, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis 4 years ago and have mainly stuck to Paracetamol as I have side affects from other pills I have tried, pain patches made the pain spread even further than the original pain, now I have been given Gabapentin to try but feel very nervous to tack as they are for Epileptics, has anyone any comments on this please?

[Bananas5]

Hello Budegirl and welcome on board.

Many meds in the long battle to give pain relief are used for their 'side effects'. \yes Gabapentin is an epileptic drus but only when given in very high dodes. Treating CP they are used at pretty low doses.

You start on a low dose and increase slowly til the recommended dose is reached. If you have to come off it they reduce slowly too.

It is an excellent med but unfortinately many find it not for them with too many side effects even on llow dose.

Your GP or pain consultant will have told you how much to take and how much to increase by.

Stick with it if you can - it does have good resukts.

Pat x

[budegirl in reply to Bananas5]

Thank you Pat, I will give it a go and hopefully with get some good results. x

[Bananas5 in reply to budegirl]

We probably get more posts about gabapentin and its 'sister' pregabalin than any other topic. It's the marmite drug - love it or loathe it!

Good Luck and hope it helps

Pat x

[2280]

i to was given that but like you i was to scared to take it

[budegirl in reply to 2280]

I will post on here after a week and let you know how it helps with pain and any side effects

[2280 in reply to budegirl]

thankyou

[earthwitch]

As has already been said, this is a very commonly used medication for certain types of pain control. Many medications are used for more than one type of problem. If you are scared to take it, start taking it on a weekend when you have a couple of days to get used to how it feels before you have to go to work. Also you will start at a low dose, but you could decide not to increase it until you are sure you have got used to that dose, even if that makes the increases a bit slower than you were told to do.

[budegirl in reply to earthwitch]

Thank you for your reply, I am starting with 1 pill a day and will gradually reach 3 pills 3 time a day, this was charted out by my Dr. as he wanted me to have as few side effects as possible, hopefully it will help me with less pills than the upper dose, will post in a few weeks with results.

[Bryan08]

Since 2009 ive been on gabapentin. I currently take 600mg x 3 daily. I never thought the med was working until i ran out early bc i was having a bad month, so i was taking extra ones. It does help with the burning, but i never have felt where the gabapentin helps with sharp shooting pain in my back,hips,shoulder,legs,and left foot. Just make sure you tell your pain management doctor, thats who writes me mine, and keep asking for him/her to up the strenght. Lyric is also good if you can get your insudance company to approve it, its almost like gabapentin, but stronger when i was on it.

[BeccaWhite]

I have been taking this for about two years now, 900mg 3x daily, which is rather a high dose, so I am told. I am also taking nefopam 60mg 3x daily and topomax 75mg twice daily ( amongst other things ) My Dr says he has no idea how I am functioning at all.

I would like to come off the gabapentin and topomax entirely as I do not trust the side effects ( and they were very bad to start with but you do have to persevere if you wish to get any benefit ) long term. I am also on a lot of this type of medication and I don't think that is good.

But gabapentin gave me relief from some pains and the ability to get some sleep for the first time in about 20 yrs. I had six hours sleep and that is unheard of.

I have numerous problems but my main one is RSD/CRPS so I am in constant unrelenting pain and have been for 22 yrs now. It helped give me some relief.

Whatever your choice, I wish you all the best.

[budegirl in reply to BeccaWhite]

Thank you Becca I hope you can find the right relief. I am gradually taking the pills and will post how I'm doing in a couple of weeks