Gabapentin Weight Gain

[ParisianTN55]

I am off ropinorole a month now which I am thankful for. I am taking 700 mg of gabapentin in a split dose of 300 mg early evening with 1/2 of a tramadol and 400 mg gaba with 1/2 tramadol at 8:30 pm. It seems to be working now. My problem is that I gained 10 pounds since starting the gabapentin. Is this normal and will it drop back off? My Dr said I could switch to pregabalin but I don’t think that will help. When I had my last labs done my tsh was high (5.78) but the dr said I didn’t need medication for it . I thought maybe that caused the weight gain. Thank you for any advice on the weight issue or switching to pregabalin?

[Joolsg]

formhealth.co/blog/gabapent...

Yes- it's a common side effect. The above link explains possible reasons.

[SueJohnson]

You might want to try switching to pregabalin. Although it is basically the same drug except you don't need to divide the doses, and the side effects are basically the same, some people find that the side effects that bother them on one don't bother them on the other. Divide the gabapentin amount by 6 to get the correct dose.

If you decide to come off the pregabalin (gabapentin) you need to do so very slowly to avoid withdrawal effects. Reduce by 25 mg pregabalin or 100 - 200 mg every 2 weeks. If you do so you will have very few or no withdrawal effects. If you do have any, slow down even further, In very very rare cases you still might have withdrawal effects.

If it is still a problem 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.

Or increase your tramadol or switch to buprenorphine.

[violetta254 in reply to SueJohnson]

Sue, please be careful with recommending trying dipyridamole. There is only one study that recommends it and that was with patients that had never had ANY RLS drug treatments before the trial. He said that he had no idea if it would work on patients that had had previous treatments. My experience and those of a few I have talked to say that it is ineffective and possibly makes things worse and the headaches are pretty horrible. My neurologist says he no longer prescribes it for its intended use because of the headaches. I lasted 3 days and was in dire pain with headache. So it might not be much of an alternative and it takes a lot of work to convince a neurologist to prescribe it and might not be worth the effort. This is my experience and of course, others may have had success although I haven't seen any on here that did. I would love to be proved wrong.

[SueJohnson in reply to violetta254]

There were 2 studies on it. There are at least 2 members of the forum with good experience on it and some on another forum I used to be on. Yes it can cause headaches but at least for some they go away after a few weeks. My feeling is it doesn't hurt to try it so that is why I recommend it. But you are right that it hasn't been tested on those who have taken DAs so I will add that and the headaches to my response in the future.

Thank you.

[Purpleyam]

Hi there, I can comment from my experience. On Pregabalin I quickly gained weight and had brain fog and grogginess well into the morning. I switched to Gabapentin and gradually lost that weight, feel no morning fog and I can go be active without cognitive issues. It's not perfect but much less side effects for me.