Gabapention

hi. Has anyone had a bad reaction to this med

It made me nuts...or more nuts than usual...less crazy now thank you very much...

Hi, It made me very light-headed, even more so than I usually am....

I take 4800 mg/day. Today I shredded about a 1000 palm fronds into garden mulch. Yesterday I swam 2 miles. Without gabapenten I walk like a duck, my hands fumble with everything I hold, and I fall over more often than not,,, quack, quack, quack!

At 1200 mg/day caused mental confusion. I almost hit a Wal-Mart Store head on. Couldn't figure out my feet were to be used for braking. Just in time used the emergency brake and avoided a naaty collision. Now I take 600 mg at night and none in the morning or afternoon. I have no pain just tingling for now, so it works out fine.

May be going onto a trial of it next month so am interested to hear what others have to say

What? There are a lot off proven th

Th

Therapies out there.

You can reliably say that almost any drug will have side effects, sometimes called adverse events (AE) in technical literature.

It is important to know that drug companies list (are supposed to list) all known AE to get approval and this information is published (though sometimes hard to find) Like this. Trials find out about AE. Anyone on a trial should be fully briefed on reporting EVERYTHING.

If at all concerned, look for the published info AND talk to the prescribing doctor AND the supplying pharmacy, because you may have to stop the drug OR it may be something entirely different you need fixed.

It makes my pain a 3-4 instead of 8-9. Take 1400mg/day 400/400/600. Bad days I go to 1600-1800mg/day. It’s been around a long time … Every drug has side effects … Mine have only minor sleepiness … Little bit of dry mouth at higher dose. Bottom line it allows me to function a lot better on a daily basis… CIDP sucks …this drug allows me to deal with it

I have been taking gabapentein for 4 years 3600mg daily I do recall some brain fog and a sense of floating excpecially when driving like I was in a car in the show the Jetsons but after being on the dose where I have continued on I geuss your body adjusts and do not feel any issues like that anymore,and it did take care of the involuntary jerking and twitching tnat is nice to rid of soo I am all for GABA.

Birdman

That’s a drug I don’t take. I take 900 ml of nuratine (spelling?) Dry mouth is the only side affect…

I tried it but couldn’t function day to day with it. Didn’t have a clue what was going on and the confusion was severe. Ended up on lyrica instead which works great for me.

I started on neurontin (gabapentin) several years ago. My Dr. stressed the importance of starting at a low dosage and working up. I have mild polyneuropothy and erythamalgia and I was always chasing both. Flares could start in late afternoon and last until late evening. My neurologist suggested Gralise which is a time-release gabapentin–very similar to Lyrica. It took me several months to land on a dosing schedule and now I take 1800 mg in the morning after breakfast of egg, cheese and sausage (Special K flatbreads) as fat is needed to allow Gralise to be digested at a slower rate. At night I take another 1800 mg following dinner which also has to contain some fat. I have recently added a probiotic (thanks to this site). Knock on wood, this is working fairly well for me. I can now prepare dinner, I am no longer reading my book upstairs while soaking my feet in cool water, I can walk about three miles with my husband. Also I have not gained any weight either from the Gralise or the extra fat in my meals because I’m able to walk and work out. I almost feel badly writing this as I know many of you suffer so much with this disease. Let me end by saying that it is good to be cautious in using any drug that impacts the nervous system. Start low and increase slowy - the same is true coming off these drugs.

I've been on this drug for years and it helps with the burning, tingling and numbness. All the doctors want me to take more than I do. At this time I take it just like I take all my other meds like a person would who had a headache. If the burning is bad I take 100 to 200 mg for that and 100 at night. I refuse to take the high dosages I was on years ago as it completely ruins my functioning and I get memory loss and confusion. I had a very bad reaction to Lyrica and other anti-depressants that didn't help the pain and mad me severely depressed and confused. I don't care anymore what the doctors advise. If the muscle pain is bad and the spasms severe in my foot and ankles I will take a small amount of prednisone and a half an oxycontin. If that doesn't work I'll take the other half of the pain med. If I get severe muscle spasms I'll take a 5 mg valium and, yes, occasionally an aspirin for the headache I get. To me gabapentin is the mildest drug I've had and I find small amounts helpful. I'm 71 years old now and my condition is only now being diagnosed as progressive neuropathy with no real help out there other than maintenance and an occasional almost good day. I've suffered attacks for years now and I'll take anything that works (if it doesn't have severe side effects) and I've tried almost everything from ketamine treatments, epidurals, light therapy, drugs, spinal stimulator and psychology. I know I just have to manage my days and fight to stay independent. Physical therapy (done by a bunch of brainless young phys ed babies) hurt me and I just go swimming for exercise. If I can get to a pool I do my laps and it works better than anything else to keep me walking. I'm sick of doctors and people with simple advice like "all you need to do is walk," "you need to work on a more positive attitude," just as if I were a moron and I hadn't first tried all this. I will say I am very careful with any drug I take and usually take less than what is prescribed and always get off the stuff very slowly. I just wish I could get off all of it. Still angry that most of the doctors I saw over the years refused to recognize this in early stages as I was very fit and looked fine.

I have been on gabapentin for several years, it is the only drug that makes the pain tolerable, sometimes like right now it is a 0. I have never had any noticeable side effects. But like anythi ng else it effects people differently. You will just have to try it.Usually they start you off on a low dose and raise it at least that is what they did with me.

Good luck, hope it works for you.

Mama Bear

I’m on it. I take 200 at night and 100 in morning. I only take more if I’m in severe pain. As it makes me very drowsy. I can’t takr Lyrica as I started to see white spots.

What type of side effects are you concerned about

I take 3600mg of it daily, but can't say it does anything for me other than make me groggy enough to sleep through the night. Well, I guess, I lied, it causes me to have fluid retention and weight gain. Every now and then I will go off of it and will lose about 10# in less than two weeks, but you don't want to go off of it cold turkey, you have to titrate it down.