Neuropathy: Anyone have any experience with gabapentin?

Gab. For 10 years! Have numbness in my toes along with tingling underneath the toes. I am curious about what your doctor explanation is?

The side effects made this drug not one I could take. I am very sensitive to almost all medications. I hope it works for you!

Great decision IMO. Gab is not the answer. I blindly took it for months and it made my PN worse and possibly dropped kidney numbers. Also, found myself needing more and more. Look at the studies. Many “normal” prescribed meds can CAUSE PN. I challenged my MD, Neurologist about it and he said “Well, GAB won’t address the cause, it’s for symptom management kinda like Tylenol for headaches” (!).

After a year of working on this, have it isolated to numbness at soles of feet. Manageable. I did this through, lifestyle change, keto diet with intermittent fasting (at first). Whole foods (no preservatives), no alcohol. Lost 40+ lbs. Hard to do, but got me here. Body inflammation reduction seems to be the key.

Also, did 24 weeks of e-stim on feet, lower leg 2x per week. It helped with incremental improvement every month.

Youtube is full of info, but be careful. over supplementation is not good/possibly harmful.

Good thoughts and blessings to you.

Yes, I do. Don’t. Just don’t.

I also tried to get an appt at Mayo especially since I’ll be moving to Arizona later this year, but they also will not take me.
They said sorry but there’s no appts available in the neurology dept.
So now what?
I was hoping they could find answers for me that my previous neurologists couldn’t do.

I don’t think Gabapentin has helped my pain. Now on 200mg 3X/day. I am going to ask Dr to take me off of it so I can tell if there is a difference. Don’t want to be on any meds, especially if I’m not sure they are helpful.

Good evening @vvvalsigkap. I am a bit concerned about your decision to ask your provider to take you off Gabapentin. It is accurate that the purpose of taking Gabapentin is symptom management. That means you may have to find a new way to control your pain and discomfort. Please do get help with the process of reducing your current dosage. It has taken me about six months to reduce my dependence on Gabapentin and find another way to control my SFN (small fiber neuropathy) pain.

At this point, I have learned to use medical cannabis in different dosages during the day and evening to control pain. Last month, I added an as-needed dose of ibuprofen, which had helped me with a couple of surgery recoveries.

In case it might be helpful, I will share my reason for discarding Gabapentin. I am 82 years old and was diagnosed with MCI. It became obvious that the Gapabentin medication was advancing my mental decline. It also took quite a while to make all these changes, and I owe a big thank you to my PCP, who is a true health partner for me. We work well as a team and share a trusting relationship.

May you be safe, protected, and free from inner and outer harm.
Chris

@vvvalsigkap
I agree with @artscaping.
Seizure meds like Gabapentin often affect cognitive functions.
Numerous researchers have found doctors are not prescribing high enough doses of Gabapentin to be effective in many people. It's not a one size fits all type of treatment. I've known people taking from 100mg to 7,200mg. My brother didn't get any relief until he took around 2,400mg and is currently on 3,600mg.
Take care,
Jake

Thank you, Chris. I did try the cannibus, but found, after trying several dosages, that it was either not enough or too much. I was out of it and didn’t like that feeling. I do hope you have found the comfort needed to go about your daily tasks.

Thank you for sharing, Jake. I think you are correct about the low doses not being effective against the pain. I don’t want to try the higher doses because of the effect on cognitively. I want to be able to drive without worrying about being alert.