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Does Gabapentin have any side effects?
I have had neuropathy (chemo induced) since 2009. In the early years, under doctor's directions I had to gradually increase my daily intake of gabapentin to 2300 mg (yes, 2.3 grams) until I felt any relief from the pain, burning, ...etc. I had to gradually decrease my intake to 0 mg because of the 8 possible side effects that Google reported, I had 3 of them. The one of most concern to me was double vision. The other two were extreme tiredness and I could fall asleep while I was talking to you. After stropping taking gabapentin, I do not have double vision but am still sleep deprived. Since that time I have used a mild Vicodin for some years, an d now tramadol. I have been very careful to not take more than prescribed. In fact, I do not take pain meds during the day. If I hurt, I just hurt.
I found that Tylenol helps between the more stronger meds. I found some socks that I wear at night that offers I some relief.
Now I'll pontificate a bit. I have been married for 70 years to a really good woman, have children, grand children and great grand children, am a Korean War Vet, 92 years old, and have truly enjoyed teaching for 40 years as a high school and university teacher and have had many other experiences that have fulfilled my life, so it has been a good ride. So, even though our neuropathy will always be with us, as much as possible, keep smiling keep helping others less fortunate than , and keep on keeping on.
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I was on a low dose. At first would skip a day. I still had withdrawal symptoms. Talk to someone with knowledge on how to taper for me. It took about 2 months before I felt normal.
I messaged my PCP that I was having double vision and that I had learned that gabapentin could cause vision problems. I received a message back the same day suggesting I reduce my dosage from 900 mg (3 capsules) to 600 mg nightly. The second night I slept two hours less than with gabapentin, and I wondered how I would manage throughout the day. I did fine. Now after four days on the 600 mg dosage, I don't know if the vision problems have reduced, but I feel so much more like myself and I'm sleeping around 8 hours instead of the 10 hours I've required since I had COVID-19. I'll stay on this dosage until I talk to my PCP in person next month.
While Gabapentin did help me, I unfortunately gained 30 pounds while on it. Ugh! Now that I’m off of it and lost the weight, I’m taking Tramadol for nerve pain. I don’t think it helps.
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1 ReactionI am a 74, very small sized female with neck and head pain and a diagnosis of possibly occipital neuralgia.
Gabapentin definitely caused double vision for me and I did not continue using it.
It’s a side effect that may not emerge for everyone but it did for me pretty fast and on a low dose.
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1 ReactionYes. Following a TBI in 2008 I was put on gabapentin due to extreme headaches, later determined to be CSF linkage at Bethesda (then Naval Hosp). Worked great for a short time till my left eye decided to look at my nose. Was taken off and ~ 30 days later after doing eye exercises was back to normal. So yes there are side effects.
My current neuropathy was not caused by the TBI. 2020 spinal cord injury did that. I take 25mg amitriptyline, Tylenol, and kratom for that. Plus, just push thru.
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1 ReactionI’m on day 13 of 100mg, for numbness & much pain, in my feet. I don’t handle drugs well, so asked the dr to start low. I’ve been really spacey/brain fog, fatigued, bed wetting (I have bladder issues) & haven’t had any relief from the pain. After reading comments here, a higher dose is probable needed, but I don’t see ever getting to 1200mg. I’m going to stop taking it, as I don’t like the side effects & it’s not helping.
Hi @pitou, Welcome to Connect. I'm sorry to hear that the gabapentin is giving you bad side effects without any relief from the pain. Have you discussed any possible alternative treatments with your doctor?
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3 ReactionsThanks for the welcome. I’ll be writing to her soon. I wanted to give it 2 weeks, to see if I could adjust. She said we could try something else, if this didn’t work. I’m nervous about that, too.
Thanks, again.
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2 ReactionsI believe your decision is correct, because if you did get to a 1000 or 1200 mg dose, you would have had to gradually increased to that dosage; HOWEVER, to get off that level you would have to gradually decrease to 0 and still have side effects as you were decreasing. Good luck.
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3 ReactionsI found that at 2AM or 3AM, if I couldn't sleep, I could soak my feet in a hot water foot bath and it sometimes relieved my pain enough to get back to sleep for a little while. If you have a wife, husband, partner, relative, ..., to massage your feet, it helps.