Gabapentin start

[RLSchrippe]

I’ve recently been subscribed Gabapentin by an neurologist and started the withdrawel of Sifrol. The Gabapentin is on 300 mg. You usually recommend to increase the dose with 100 mg. As I don’t have 100 mg capsels, will 300 mg be to much to increase the dose?

[SueJohnson]

You could increase by the 300 mg up to 900 mg but I would ask your doctor to prescribe the 100 mg capsules and tell him/her you don't want to increase more than you need. If necessary you can get an inexpensive jewelry scale on Amazon ($11 in the US) that measures down to .01 gram and open up the capsule and measure out 1/3.

[RLSchrippe in reply to SueJohnson]

Yes, I had in mind to contact my doc about subscribing 100 mg actually.

Thanks for the tip about the scale.

[Munroist]

My experience with pregabalin which is basically the same drug was that I was able to comfortably increase or decrease in 75mg steps and to be honest sometimes I had a hard time noticing much difference. As gabapentin doses are 6 times larger then a 300mg gabapentin dose is equivalent to a 50mg pregabalin dose so if you can’t get the 100’s then I suspect you will be ok with 300 and if not then it shouldn’t be be an issue to reduce straight back. Of course it’s best to do as Sue advises and take it steady and also take the minimum necessary to cover your symptoms so 100’s are best if you can get them. Some people are more sensitive to the effects than others so slow is best.

[RLSchrippe in reply to Munroist]

I got a fast respond from my neorologist who have now subscribed 100 mg.