Gabapentin and lupus symptoms

[Mickie55]

hello,

Since beginning gabapentin I have experienced very painful joint pain. Mayo Clinic says anti seizure medications like gabapentin can mimic lupus and once off the med the symptoms disappear. Anyone experience this and if yes what medication they use for RLS?

Thank you!

[SueJohnson]

Another one to try is dipyridamole. You might want to discuss this with your doctor. It has helped some people on this forum and another forum I was on and has completely eliminated RLS in some. In the winter 2022 edition of Night Walkers, the publication of RLS.org there is an article by Sergi Ferre about dipyridamole discussing the effectiveness of it in a 2 week double blind placebo controlled study showing it completely ameliorated all symptoms. The study was by Dr. Garcia Borreguero movementdisorders.onlinelib... sciencedirect.com/science/a...

Take it on an empty stomach. (fats inhibit absorption) about 1-1/2 to 2 hours before bed. If you have headaches they tend to disappear or lessen after around 5 days. Coffee can counteract its effects by blocking the same receptors that dipyridamole aims to enhance.so the advice is to avoid it 12 to 24 hours before taking the dipyridamole. It is possible you could take it in the morning or it is possible you can't take it at all.

[Mickie55 in reply to SueJohnson]

Thank you Sue.

[Tanker1]

I'm wondering what kind of joint pain. Is it inside the joint? Or the ligaments surrounding the joint? I'm asking because my knees and shoulders are quite sore where the ligaments attach to the bones.

[Mickie55 in reply to Tanker1]

I had been doing physical therapy for knee pain. The pain for my knees and hips was awful after the PT. I’d say in the joint itself but I could be wrong. . Had to take pain meds. I stopped Pt - seeing Neurologist next Tuesday and will post an update.

[Tanker1]

Thanks. Sorry to hear about the knee pain. I'm also doing PT to recover from 2 knee surgeries. I suspect my problem is tendonitis and arthritis. My knees are rather old and they have done alot over the years. If anything I think gabapentin may tamp down the pain. I know I got a healthy dose of it for my surgeries in addition to some other pain meds.