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Do not take gabapentin, makes it worse

Neuropathy | Last Active: May 7 9:32pm | Replies (70)

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@johnbishop

Welcome @jeffclaussen, Sorry to hear that you have the neuropathy numbness from your chemo treatments but I'm happy to hear you are not having the pain also. The numbness is bad enough by itself. I have seen zero research that gabapentin helps with numbness and I have not heard anyone with the neuropathy numbness say it helped but there may be someone out there with a positive experience. Before I was diagnosed I had been dealing with the neuropathy numbness that started in my toes and had been in my feet for more than 20 years. I decided to see if I could get a diagnosis and/or treatment. My primary care doctor gave me gabapentin which I took for a month and it did absolutely nothing so I stopped taking it. At my next appointment I discussed the gabapentin with her and that it didn't help. She went away for a few minutes and brought in others on her Mayo Clinic doctor team. After a few short minutes of talking to me about my numbness symptoms they all concurred that gabapentin does nothing for numbness. I shared my neuropathy journey in another discussion here - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/310341/.

I think you might find the following discussion helpful:
--- Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: What helps get rid of it?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chemotherapy-induced-neuropathy/

Another thing that might be helpful is discussing supplements that may help with your doctor. Here's some information that explains more:
--- Dietary Supplements in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A New Hope?:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8838672/

Have you looked into any complementary or alternative treatments?

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Replies to "Welcome @jeffclaussen, Sorry to hear that you have the neuropathy numbness from your chemo treatments but..."

thanks for your reply. the oncologist told me he got his info from Loprinzi studys. I couldn't find anything there to support his claim of 50% either.. or 15% for that matter. As far as suppliments go, I read where vitamin B12 was good to take, my primary Dr said unless your deficient in that vitamin there's no need to take it, sounds reasonable. On a facebook page a number of people recommend R-Lipoik Acid. Been taking that for 2 months, no results. I picked up some nonprescription cream... Nerve Renew ... just started this , thought I would give it a try. Also foot and body massage twice a month. What's really frustrating is I know how great a foot massage is supposed to feel but I can't feel anything... try explaining that to the chinese masseuse who doesn't speak English. thanks for the links, I'll check them out