Gabapentin

[Kingfisher489]

I was first diagnosed with PMR on October 2021. I finished Prednisilone in April 2023. I have been prescribed Gabapentin for a flare up of my symptoms. Has anyone any experience of this treatment please?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

If it is a flare up of PMR, then not sure how Gabapentin is going to help..

what you need is Pred and have to say less than 2 years is quick for your PMR to have gone into remission…

[Hunstonhun in reply to DorsetLady]

I would advise Nurofen they do the trick for me. Gabapentin won’t help at all.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If the symptoms are due to PMR then gabapentin won't help. It may help with nerve pain, and is used off-label in patients with fibromyalgia, PMR is not a nerve problem and it is NOT the same as fibromyalgia,

Finishing pred in April and having symptoms by the end of May is pretty typical of a low level of disease activity and the inflammation building up to a level that demonstrates symptoms. You need to go back on a low dose of pred.

[piglette]

What did they say about the Gabapentin? What symptoms were they supposed to be helping? If you have PMR Gabapentin is not the right product. Do you think your doctor thought you had something else such as fibromyalgia?

[GOOD_GRIEF]

If you're taking Gabapentin, also make sure your eating a lot of fruit and fiber. It's very constipating.

[Grammy80]

I have GCA and lost sight in one eye prior to being diagnosed...that actually led to my diagnosis. I have seen a rheumatologist and ophthalmologist all the time; since 2019. The visual field test I would have done every few months at my eye doctor showed increasing areas of blocked or sporadic vision. Finally, my score was poor, and the results showed the upper half of my right eye dark on paper. My ophthalmologist referred me to a neuro-ophthalmologist who immediately started me on Gabapentin, 300 mg, thrice daily around April 2022. I was initially tired, but my body has become used to it.

My visual field now only shows a few tiny blind spots and one area in the lower right portion where I don't respond. He found I had optic neuritis, no doubt optic nerve damage caused by the GCA. He teaches a Indiana University and will often have students in. I'm so grateful to him; I could have lost that eye too. Fortunately, I had the kind of eye Dr. who said, "Marilyn, I'm just an ophthalmologist and you need more."

That is my case, my story, and my experience. Can you ask him why? and what he is trying to accomplish...or his nurse? May put your mind at ease. I know I was like--"WHAT?"💞

[KASHMIRI1]

I have been prescribed gabapentin for pins and needles and pain in both feet

[Caroljlove in reply to KASHMIRI1]

are the pins and needles from taking prednisone?

[KASHMIRI1 in reply to Caroljlove]

I don't think so. They started July 2020 just after my GCA diagnosis and have never gone away. I think it may have more to do with back issues. I had an inconclusive nerve conductivity test last year.

[Missus835 in reply to KASHMIRI1]

I have serious low back issues at this time. Also PMR since Jan 2022. Is the gabpentin helping the pain, as this is intolerable. Plus, I may also be going through a PMR flare right now, but the two types of pain are different and the prednisone does not help the low back pain.

[KASHMIRI1 in reply to Missus835]

The gabapentin makes no difference at all to the very painful pain issues l have in my left buttock, hip and down the leg unfortunately. It takes the edge of the manic neuropathy in my feet.

[Pixix]

Yes…but for fibromyalgia years before I had polymyalgia!! The side effects were so bad I stopped after two weeks. I wouldn’t think it would be appropriate, or help, with PMR, tbh.

[autumnlass in reply to Pixix]

I was prescribed Gabapentin in place of Amitriptyline . I tried it for a month and the peripheral oedema was awful. Sleep however was great. Now on Mirtazipine 15 mg … it makes one very hungry and have put on weight which is slowly coming off. Gabapentin does nothing for PMR. Mirtazipine - well jury is out. Does cause oedema too, but not as badly.

Hope you find relief soon. 🍀

[Pixix in reply to autumnlass]

I think your reply is for Kingfisher 489, but interesting to me, too!

[autumnlass in reply to Pixix]

Sorry Pixix - a long thread! 🌷

[Pixix in reply to autumnlass]

I agree, but I didn’t want kingfisher to lose a reply! S x

[Bramble2000]

yes. It won’t touch the inflammation from PMR. It can also be very addictive.

[Booklover57]

I was diagnosed with polymyalgia in May 2022 and suspected GCA in June 2022 and started on 40mg prednisolone. I had visual disturbances and what I can only describe as unusual head and neck pains, which worsened on the steroids. My rheumatologist referred me to a neurologist, who considered the head pains to be tension-type headaches, and that the pains and fatigue in my limbs that had led to my original PMR diagnosis were more likely linked to cervical and lumbar spondylosis. I was started on Gabapentin building up to 600mg at night, and started reducing the prednisolone rapidly, finally reaching zero in February this year, unfortunately not before I had developed glaucoma. I have now been four months on only Gabapentin 600 mg and generally I am much better. Although there was some stiffness at first in my hips and aching thighs, they are manageable and improving. I am a bit groggy in the mornings on Gabapentin but I sleep really well and have had no other side effects. My GP originally suspected fibromyalgia, and I continue to have doubts about the PMR diagnosis, especially as my blood tests were normal.

That is just my experience! I have benefitted from Gabapentin, but posssibly because I did not have PMR in the first place?? Good luck going forward.

[autumnlass]

I sent you my thoughts in a post which I mistakenly sent to Pixix about the Gabapentin and PMR. I hope you can see it? Best Wishes

[autumnlass]

Sorry Kingfisher489. I sent you my thoughts on Gabapentin to Pixix by mistake. I hope you can see it in the raft of replies!

[Merryfield]

I have been on gaba for a number of years for back pain and it had no effect on my avoiding developing pmr (diagnosed 12/23.) It does help with pain and sleeping. Off-brand use is also for anxiety.