I am a 76 year old woman. About 6 years ago (AFTER I retired as a writer), I started experiencing an irritated scalp and tight neck, which gradually got worse. Docs, including a neurologist, wanted me to go on gabapentin immediately, but I wanted to give other solutions a try. I did physical therapy with several different practitioners, but no luck and the pain was getting more constant and waking me up at night. I finally went to a pain specialist who immediately said it was occipital neuralgia. Happy to have a diagnosis, but I seem to be trapped in a 3 month cycle with steroid injections in my neck. I have relief for about 6 weeks, but I can’t have more steroids until 3 months, so about six weeks of pain, up to a 10 at intervals. Treated with Tylenol and ibuprofen, every 3 to 5 hours. I recently stopped the ibuprofen, but my body is on a rebound schedule so I have to take the Tylenol every 5 hours now. I am very fatigued and this is affecting my social and emotional life and energy level. I may try the gabapentin next. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with a low dose of gaba? Any other suggestions? Sorry for this long post.