What are the side effects of gabapentin?

Posted by cate321 @cate321, Mar 22, 2025

I'm taking 300mg 3x day for nerve pain in my leg due to a ruptured disc. It's helping but not completely. I've started to have memory problems that I haven't had before. And the other , more troubling thing that has happened is I'm having trouble speaking. I can't pronounce some words and end up saying something else. Or I say a word similar but not correct. Also, swallowing food has become a challenge. Do you think this is from gabapentin or something else? Thank you for reading and responding!

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bajjerfan | @bajjerfan | Jul 3 9:36am

In reply to @sharshy "I get constipation with Gabatentin and Trazodone but what else can I do. Seems all pain..." + (show)

@sharshy
A notable side effect of opiods; neither Trazodone nor GabaPentin are opiods.

marja27 | @marja27 | Jul 3 3:39pm

In reply to @marja27 "@dogloverinfl After some weeks I could not breathe very well. Unpleasent feeling, so I finish to..." + (show)

@marja27 Yes!

bkhc54 | @bkhc54 | Jul 5 12:32pm

I took gabapentin several years ago and the only thing that changed was weight gain of over 20lbs. That didn’t help my severe chronic full body pain with the extra weight on my back, feet and joints. Because it didn’t help with pain I stopped taking it and lost the weight quickly. I do have Sjogrens disease which, in my case, causes dry mouth and eyes and if I let my mouth get too dry I can’t swallow. I don’t want to take something that would cause that feeling. I have had over 30 surgeries with another knee surgery in two weeks. I have given up trying to find a provider to help me with my pain. A pain management specialist gave me an epidural in my lumbar spine and I felt like I was 20 years old again (I’m 71) without low back pain but it only lasted 2 weeks. I have an amazing neurological surgeon professor and our teaching hospital in Portland Oregon (1 1/2 hours away) who agreed to do the surgery to implant a pain pump but wants a provider close to me for refills and rechecks. I can’t find one. So, I give up. I will enjoy my family when they gather at our home and stay home when they take day trips…which I convince them is fine. I’m older now and will spend my days resting and moving around to prevent any further problems.
I hope Neurontin is the answer for you but please check in with your doctor to see if these symptoms are related and if there may be something else to try.
God bless you ~ Barbara

bkhc54 | @bkhc54 | Jul 5 4:19pm

In reply to @joanihm "I switched to Lyrica and have less side effects." + (show)

@joanihm I tried lyrics years ago but stopped. I’ll look back in the journal I keep to see why I stopped it. I’m in intense, uncontrolled pain and I will talk to my neurologist about giving it another try.

bajjerfan | @bajjerfan | Jul 5 7:54pm

In reply to @bkhc54 "@joanihm I tried lyrics years ago but stopped. I’ll look back in the journal I keep..." + (show)

@bkhc54

The only pain it helped me with is something like diabetic neuropathy in the left side of my chest. Didn't do diddly for my back or bursitis. Leads me to believe that it's not nerve related. I don't seem to have pain from peripheral neuropathy in my lower legs. i used to have this constant infernal itch all over. Lyrica took care of that.