Horizant Nightmare

[Woody4]

Finally convinced the VA to let me try Horizant. It turned out to be a horrific experience. I have been taking gabapentin for over 6 months. 600 mg around 7 then another 600mg before bedtime. I have been waking up after sleeping a couple hours, then having to take another 300mg to finish the night. I got the Horizant on a Saturday, took 2 600mg at 5 pm. First night wasn’t really good but assumed it could be my body getting used to it. Second night, same thing, 2 600mg at 5 pm w/food. Night #2 turned out to be one of the worse nights of my life. My arms went literally crazy, my poor dog must have thought I was trying to fly. I can’t even begin to describe how my body felt. I was close to calling for an ambulance. 12-14 hours later things started calming down. Has anyone else ever had trouble with horizant??

[SueJohnson]

I can't speak to your Horizant experience but can offer you advice on the gabapentin. Do you go to bed at 9:00? If not, then you are taking your last dose too soon as it should be taken 1 to 2 hours before you go to bed. You might also take your 300 mg at 5:00. And you could also increase the amount you are taking by 100 mg every couple of nights, As I mentioned before according to the Mayo Clinic Updated Algorithm on RLS: "Most RLS patients require 1200 to 1800 mg of gabapentin daily."

[SueJohnson]

Also, there is no advantage to taking more than one 600 mg of Horizant research studies have shown. But this information, of course, is useless for you since you obviously have a bad reaction to Horizant and should stop taking it.

[grassgree]

I think Horizant takes a while to be fully effective, like a week or so. Did you have those serious symptoms before you began taking gabapentin? Is it possible you are suffering withdrawal from gabapentin and Horizant isn't yet kicking in?

[SueJohnson in reply to grassgree]

Since they are basically the same, there shouldn't be any withdrawal symptoms from gabapentin.

[grassgree in reply to SueJohnson]

Yeah, hard to figure. There aren’t many people on this forum using it, as it is unavailable in the UK and prohibitively expensive in the US. Sorry to be of no help, and I hope you get it sorted.

[BeachGolfer]

Your experience sounds horrible! I was on Horizant for a few days and was unable to sleep more than an hour at a time. Thus, I discontinued it.

[BocaMom]

Horizant did not agree with me either - not super effective for RLS and felt depressed on it. Also think it gave me some peripheral edema but not totally sure about that.

Hope you find what works best for you!

[TeddiJ]

Hi and so sorry you had that awful experience. I take Horizant and was told to take only the 1 600 mg pill early evening-depending on when you go to bed. 5 was a bit too early for me.

It is highly possible you are taking too much. I was told the benefits are not there with higher doses and that side effects become much more problematic.

Best of luck to you!