So after years of not knowing what goin on in my body i have today been diagnosed with hypermobilty syndrome and a l5- s1 back problem with extenstive hip wear and tear( years of gymnastics and sports) .
Can anyone give me any advice on this and dr has given me gabapentin 300mg for sciatic pain ...
Im 5ft 7 and 8 stone i been told 3 a day but my pain is cope able due to yoga and mindfulness and alot of osteo. So is it a tablet u take everyday even when not in pain or is it like a painkiller u take when u in pain?
Any advice on this would b good
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Lulububs
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I have a lot of back issues inc a prolapsed disc s1 and degenerative discs in that area. The prolapsed disc was down to some pet geese. I tried gabapentin but gave up on them as they made me really drowsy. There is a weaker version called pregablin which I also tried. That did nothing. I take paracetamol and a mixture of opoids. They take the edge off the pain but gradually the dose of the oppoids need to be increased to get the same effect as your body gets used to them. This should not be done no matter what your state is as overdose does not take much. Fentanyl pain patches should be avoided as addiction symptoms are too bad. There is nothing ive found which kills my back and sciattic pain. Im still waiting to be helped by pain management in some form. Ive been waiting since 1996 due to the nhs largely and me having to move house.
if you have coping mechanisms avoid pain killers as they will cause you to injure yourself without knowing you have done so.
Try Alexander technique. Wear and tear is not the same as poor muscle usage which causes injury. Alexander technique will make you aware of things that you do not know about body behaviour.
Sciatic pain is a chiropractor problem. It is pressure on nerve roots caused by over contracted muscle. The chiropractor will un contract the contracted muscle re-moving the sciatic pain.
A slight tilt on the neck can cause sciatic pain tendencies. This is due to neck spinal reflexes. Something the doctor will not have much understanding of.
I have a nerve problem which causes sciatica and I used to be very fit. A chiropractor cannot treat this and it could be very damaging. Sciatica is not a musclular problem.
Muscles pull things out of alignment. This in turn applies pressure to things that should not receive pressure. This in turn leads to pain and discomfort.
In some cases sciatica is a nerve problem. However in many cases chiropractors have alleviated the sciatica. Things need to be investigated for them to be eliminated.
You may have problem that a chiropractor cannot cure. This does not mean that a chiropractor cannot reduce the stresses that are present and thus reduce the discomfort.
I have a problem that no chiropractor can cure. The MRI scans show extended discs in the neck with nerve impingement. I see a McTimony chiropractor once every six weeks on the NHS. The chiropractor in reducing the stresses caused by my body's response to my injury reduces the discomfort I experience considerably and enables me to function far better than I would otherwise.
One of the things I studied as part of an HNC course in the 1970's was instrumentation and control. This is the study of feedback mechanisms. How feedback from one instrument affects the functioning of another instrument. Many of the mechanisms I learnt about actually exist in the human body operating as a system.
It is an unfortunate fact of life that feedback mechanisms and feedback control is not part of a medical doctors degree. As a result many doctors cannot relate to how injury to one body system influences other body systems.
Anyway I will stop at this point to let you mull over what i have said.
Well i been to my osteo today and i feel much better and she seems to keep everything ticking over rather nicely.
Numbness in foots gone and scaitica more or less gone...
So i think as long as i can keep it like this with exercise( yoga) and walking loads and osteo that what il keep doing.
I dont want to result to serious meds as only 44 .... i could b on it another 20-30 years otherwise
The instructions on the datasheet tell you to take every day as per your drs instructions. I hope they work. I cant take nsaids either due to a terminal kidney and liver disease.
Gabapentin and its sister pregabalin are the 'marmite' drugs. They either love you or hate you. Rarely anything in between. If you can take them good...if not you will soon know.
They have to be started very slowly and stopped equally as sloly.
The dose to start is 1 x 100 x 3 times a day building up 1 tablet after about a week and so on til desired dose is reached. Same to come off.
Your GP has you on far too higher dose to start with.
With everything you are already doing to help yourself you may not need pain meds...only you can decide. But...they do need to be taken regularly to build up in your system.
Long winded way of saying not on the spot pain relief!
i didnt ask in doctors how i took them as in when in pain or all time! U know what it like i get in a dr room
And i always forget something.
I think they will stay in my medical cupboard for time being as i have learnt alot of pain techniques over last two years with being diagnosed till today so will stick to that for time being... if they had been given to me 8 months ago i would have gobbled them
Down i was in so much pain but now ur brain in a marvelous thing and i have learnt alot of coping techniques and mindfulness plus i have found a fantastic osteo who knew what was wrong before the diagnosis....
So i think il stick to that until needs must.
Plus i had liver failure dues to strong antibiotics about year ago and i do not want to weaken or upset that again.
Hi lulububs - your doctor prescribed you with gabapentin and would have explained when to take it etc. If not you can read the patient information leaflet which is inside every box. Bananas5 has given you some incorrect information when they say your go has put you on far too high a dose. 3 X 100mg dose is equal to 300mg a day - it just means you are taking your dose in one amount. However, gabapentin and Pregabelin do have to be introduced slowly Gabapentin is a drug that should be taken regularly, rather than when you have pain like paracetamol. I was prescribed gabapentin some time ago but had to change to Pregabelin because I was having amazing hallucinations. Once I got used to being on Pregabelin the hallucinations stopped. Remember - you can always give your GP a quick ring if you've forgotten to ask them something.
Good for you. Gp's aren't very good on telling you about withdrawals if you come off meds either.
It has been known for a while now that higher and stronger doses of pain meds don't work. You have found an excellent alternative....there are others but often costly and not available through NHS..
Hi, I take one in the evening and one in the morning. They are helping with coping with the pain. For me, they are OK. They are taking a bit from the top of the pain, do not expect to much from Gabapentine. In rest, depend on you to not exercise to much or to less...
Gabapentine or Pregabaline does not affect your liver(my qastroenterologist saed, while Paracetamol can affect your liver).
Oh thanku for that info it the liver and kidney thing that putting me off as antibiotics and naproxen have messed mine up quite abit so i darent take things that effect them.
Can i ask u ( tell me to mind me own if u dont want to say) what is ur problem, is it back pain?
As i said mine l5-s1 which gives me horrific sciatica but it not every day so that what worried me about taking something every day when i dont feel pain everyday...
I have DDD with multiple discs bulges in my lumbar, cervical and one in my thoracic spine. L5/S1 is my biggest problem as well.
Everything started 3 years ago. Initially my Gp prescribed Lyrica from the same class medication, but it was to strong for me. Like kokai answered to your question, my reflexes were very slow, plus a lot of weakness and numbness in legs and hand. So, my Gp changed Lyrica with Gabapentine for one year and after, I was changed on Pregabaline. They worked fine on me, don't side effects. In December I received from Pain management a Lydocaine infusion for my overall pain(I was diagnosed last year with severe osteoporosis and Fibromialgya), and it helped me extraordinary so, I have cut down the morning Pregabaline pill by myself. They were pretty terrible for few days the side effects (lots of sticky swets weakness and headache), but than I was fine.
In January I've had Haepataties A with very high liver function tests.
In June I was diagnosed with Cirrhosis and now I wait to have a liver biopsy next week, because my gastroenterologist doesn't know exactly the stage and why. He said that cannot be from my medication(Pregabaline, Tramadol, Amytryptilin) and definitely not from Haepataties A that I had.
So, this is in short my story. Don't take please any advice from me or from no-one. I just told you my story and yours can be different from mine cos, any organism is different and react differently on medication. What is good for me, can gave you side effects...
Sorry did mean to answer this and i wrote it all out and forgot to send it?
I more or less had same thing that why i dont take tablets aless i really have to as when my back first went noone knew what it was as it was pain in side not back so they thought it was diverticulitus and gave Me these really strong antibiotics by intravenous then aload more to take home. On about 5th day i woke up and i was yellow!
I went to gp who sent me straight to liver specialist that day and they took my lfts and they were 1080 it should b between 40-60!!!
Went for mri and it showed new lesions on liver all through these antibiotics and it had given me hepatitus A.
Had to go back every 3 days for 1
Month but with lots of fluids and rest and vitamin c tablets i got better and they were down to normal function in that month but lesion are still there.
So as u can imagine when my dr gives
Me any tablets now i find it hard to just take like normal people i want to know if it ok on liver and kidneys and my body.
I asked my doc doc when I was given these, what side effects I could expect, he just said "A dry mouth",
I trusted him! I took them and a few days later, once they were in my system, they start to affect your co-ordination and balance and slow down your reflexes.
I didn't even make it to the end of the street while walking the dogs before I just lost my balance, fell forward landing flat on my face breaking my nose. My reflexes had slowed so much I couldn't even get my hands out in front in time to take the brunt of the fall..
I lifted my head about half inch, that was all I needed, to find out, yep it was a real bleeder!.
My husband put his scarf under my nose, took the dogs home then took me to hospital.
We waited 7 hours without being seen so had to go home ( one of our dogs was on insulin) .
If a nose break isn't put straight within a few hours, they make you wait two weeks before they'll re-break and straighten it. I didn't go back,
But I didn't trust that doc again. I looked at the leaflet in the box the meds came in, and sure enough it says: Slows down reflexes, loss of balance, lack of co-ordination.
So if you do choose to take these, please be very careful. I only broke my nose, that fall could have been much worse.
I have decided to put them in the medicine cabinet and leave them there. If i seriously need them at some point il try them but as it is i think il stick to yoga and osteopath! Do it natural.
I dont really like taking tablet i have to even consider paracetamols so im not ao sure about these and they gave me 300mg im not sure i should have been given a smaller mg. ie 100mg. Im only 81/2 stone and i think they may effect me as im not got great balance and coordination at best of times
Same here, I'm between 8 and 8 1/2st too. My weight has only gone up once ages ago due to some meds I had to take, but that was so long ago I can't even remember the name.
But as far as co-ordination and balance goes, I'm usually pretty good as I've always been a long distance walker, hiking up hills and mountains or following coastline paths, which was why we were both so surprised when I went down. I had to reduce them slowly even though I'd only been on them a very short time. I didn't/ still don't think my body had become addicted to them for me to have to reduce the dosage in order to stop, I think maybe my doc was being a little too over cautious there, but I wouldn't leave the house till around a week after I'd taken the last one.
Google should give you the 'Common side effects if Gabapentin so you can see fir yourself what you can expect.
But if you are concerned about the dosage then ask them fir a smaller dose to start with. If your doc agrees, and you then feel the pain is too much and the lower dose isn't enough, you'll already have the higher dose to take. if you need it.
Meds affect different people in different ways. You may feel perfectly fine on them, but if you do need to take those higher dose ones, see if you can maybe take one on a day you know you're home all day, so will be safe incase they do have any adverse reaction.
Hi I' have joint hypermobility and fibromyalgia. I've been on pregabalin (similar but not as sleepy) for 9 years. It's specifically for nerve( sharp type pains) so needs taking regularly really. I had to stop naproxen (which worked really well with pregabalin but has given me an inflamed stomach which is quite sore! O have 20mg amitryptiline for pain and to sleep as I don't otherwise. Hope this helps.
Hi lulububs I too have l5s1 problems constant pain in my back and sciatica pain I'm interested in what you do naturally to cope with the pain as I like you would like to stay off meds . I did yoga until 6eks ago was given a facat joint injection and it's made things worse mobility wise and hasn't touched the pain.
So i see a very good osteo once a week at mo hopefully till things get bit better then mayb go up to once a month.
I do some exercises she gave me which i got to say work a treat as in i think mine comes in and out ( my disk) so i can get it back in myself i also do some good sciatic exercises that are on youtube which help stretch it out and the pain does generally go ...
I also do yoga for beginners .
There great exercise where u lay on ur stomach and just do a press up but not all body just hip up... as if u were standing and bending back. That helps aswell if u do it on floor or standing. There are good physio exercises on you tube and physio actually talking u through it .. if u put in herniated disk or scaitica.
So i do these exercise about 3 times a day.
Also i meditate just take my head away from the pain for bit.
Also when u lay always have ur legs up and on pillow never lay flat.
There lots of little cheats that can make it easier on urself.
I also take glucosamine, coq10 and msm just to make body stronger.
I also have problems with my L5 S1 due to the brake in my sacrum last year. I am not healing properly. I am on Pregabalin and have been told to take it 3 times a day at the same time everyday. So I am assuming it's the same for you. Wishing you all the best.
Gabapentin helped me stand up on two feet again. I've been taking it for 5 years now. No side effects. It has definitely worked for me. I have Post Polio Syndrome and the nerves in my body are sometimes electric.
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