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Can Gabapentin make neuropathy pain worse?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Apr 15 7:27pm | Replies (312)Comment receiving replies
I to believe that gabapentin is making my PN worse. What I've experienced in the 1 month since i started Gabapentin was that the PN pain - my feet are hot and feel like the skin has shrunk. Thay also feel heavy. My doctor has been increasing the dose from 100/300/300 morning/noon/bedtime to 600/600/600. On all these dosages, the pain begins around noon and continues until to fall asleep with it. When I awake 8 hrs later there is not pain! This pattern has continued since I started on Gaba. To me that says Gaba is causing the pain. My doctor started me on Gaba because I has an impacted nerve at L5/S1. I was fortunate to have surgery on March 30, 2020 that solved that problem. However because the impacted nerver will take at least another month to heal I was told to stay on the Gapabentin for the pain. Prior to the surgery I had a nerve conduction velocity test that showed I had mild PN in both legs and feet. But the pain I feel is anything but mild. Does anyone else who takes Gabapentin have symptoms like mine? Does PN pain disappear during sleep and come back during the day?
Replies to "I to believe that gabapentin is making my PN worse. What I've experienced in the 1..."
I believe in the theory of acupuncture because it was explained to me well and I have had a couple of friends who benefited from the treatment as well. It seems to block pain conduction in vital areas for a while, but it is no cure. bviously gabapentin is not helping and higher doses is not a good answer, but it is not clear to me that it makes the pain worse. if the medicine wears off overnight and you aren't moving, that is helping the pain conduction. Are you exercising? Do you find any stretching or exercise that helps the pain?
With my mild neuropathy, I find that exercise makes it go away. Massage makes a person feel better when nothing else helps, but it can be an expensive regimen. It sounds like you need a different opinion, a different therapy, and a different approach to try. Dorisena
I have small fibers neuropathy, it doesn't show up on nerve conduction study. Big motor nerves do. I guess it's different type of nerves and pain you talk about, you should speak to your dr. to clarify
@jamesinsonoma
Hello James,
I have been on various dosages up to the maximum dose of Neurontin/Gabapentin & Lyrica/pregabalin and neither worked for me. My brother is on 3,600mg (max dose but I knew someone on 7,000mg) and it helps them however researchers claim the maximum dose for Neuropathy pain is 1,800mg and is no more effective in higher doses although I have know people on higher doses who showed improvement on higher doses.
I can’t speak to whether or not gabapentin can actually make your neuropathy worse since it never affected me that way.
Nearly all if not all anticonvulsants cause memory, tiredness as well as cognitive issues.
Best of luck to you,
Jake
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Hi James, I was originally prescribed a low dose to be taken 3xday which left me unable to remember anything so after a few days I tried taking only 200 mg. at bedtime. It has worked fine for me for 2 yrs. increasing recently to 300 mg. Strangely, I tried upping to 400 mg. at bedtime when I was having a bad day and found it didn’t really work any better so I went back to the 300 mg. During the day I found that NSAIDS or CBD salve help if needed. It seems that doctors think more is better, I read somewhere that often a lower dose of gabapentin works better for some. Helen