Gabapentin: How long does it take to help with nerve pain?

How much are you taking, I was taking 300mg and I take 600mg now and have a few puffs of cannabis and I am ale to sleep. Opioids don't work for nerve pain for me.

@maria7521 I have now been on Gabapentin for 3 years. My neurologist and very cooperative health partner has asked for feedback and modified not only the dosage but also the time to take this medication. I use cannabis during the day and, in light of that, my gabapentin dosage is for 900 mg about 30 minutes before bedtime and none during the day. I have not had any adverse effects with that program and am grateful that it pretty much insures a restful sleep. I think we have to be our own advocate and seek solutions that integrate RX medications with available alternatives. Hope this helps and let us know how it goes. We are all on our own journeys and supportive of yours.

I’ve been taking it about 3 yrs. I take 1200 mgs a day. 600 in the morning and 600 at night. My pain starts about 3 pm and goes all night. It doesn’t work well alone. I also take 3 mgs of norco a day plus Tylenol. At night I also use Salinas lidocaine plus roll on. My pain is manageable with all of this but not all gone. I know it’s a lot but it works for me. I hope you can find relief.

I've been on it for 8 years and am still wondering the same thing. It doesn't help and is almost impossible to get off.

You might also wish to see this related discussion about Gabapentin use for neuropathy https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gabapentin-use-for-neuropathy/

@confused1955 - just curious - if gabapentin doesn't help - why is it so difficult to get off of? Are there symptoms to watch for?

thank you!!

@maria7521 I recently watched an interesting video by Stanford's Dr. Ian Carroll on Nerve Pain. One segment specifically addresses gabapentin. Per his explanation you have to start with a low dose that basically doesn't do anything or very little and then slowly increase the dosage. Watch the talk here:

After quitting Effexor I got regular "brain zaps" for over a year, as my neurologist called them. They were like a severe but only seconds-long headache. The zaps never caused blackouts but were annoying and distracting, occurring whenever I moved my head in certain ways. The neurologist recommended Gabapentin (which I gathered she thought was a last resort, unlikely to work), but the Gaba greatly reduced the zaps. Now I take a Gaba as needed (not often).

I use & need Gabapentin 3-times a day for my anti-seizure that happened my bike accident 12 years ago, causing TBI (brain-injury). Was the pain helps me on that med? No. Anti-seizure by itself and no help my nerve-pain that was killing me from my back-ends to the bottom of my feet.

Now, how about my nerve pain? That happened to me 2 years ago. Today, the pain from my rear-ends down to my feet is GONE,, thankfully. Why? One of my doctor (I have many doctors from my accident, 12 years ago) fixes inside my nerves (a large one) and took him a 4-6 hour day, that was 4 weeks ago.

Getting rid of pain is only a part of what I need. My balance doesn’t work when walking & my feeling from my right-side there’s little feeling. That was 2 years ago from falling down in my garage. So, now, the pain is gone, but daily in need to exercise my body from my back-ends to my feet. Stretching, moving down I. My body.