Gabapentin side effects?

Posted by Sundance(RB) @sundance6, Apr 13, 2019

I am a regular on the Mayo Board! I don't know what I would do without it! Our doctors don't want to discuss openly the things about illnesses and side effets of drugs and other things. Anyway, my question to all of you is Gabapentin and it's side effects. I have been on it now for 6 months. My doctor raised me from 100mg. to now I am on 400mg. three times a day.
The problem is my tiredness! I happen to be in a friends office yesterday and she was taking some medicine. She said she was taking Gabapentin. I asked why and she said she had, had shingles back when and it still helped with the pain. I know the drug is percribed for many things that is why I take it for my issues.
I told her I had been taking it for about 6 months. She asked if I had been tired all the time, just out of the Blue. OF COURSE I SAID YES! She said it took her a year before she got out of the tiredness.
Let me know if any of you have experienced the same thing. Also let me know at what dosage you may be on? I know this is all confidential!
Again Thanks to The Mayo Clinic and Everyone who is kind enough to be open with their lives!
Sundance!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Chronic Pain Support Group.

@lisakuehl

I'm not sure I understand what "nerve pain" is. ALL pain is rooted in the nerves that serve a particular part of the body.

Jump to this post

Pain can be caused by nerves which are impinged or damaged. It can also be caused by muscles that are damaged. All pain is transmitted by nerves but there are many many sources of pain.

REPLY
@lucky1038

I also had a terrible reaction to it. I told my (ex) doctor. She did not even reply.

Jump to this post

You must not have heard, pain is no longer a problem. It doesn't exist. They don't really have to do anything for you. It's the answer to the opioid crisis. They can't get ahold of the drug addicts and the dealers to deal with them so they're dealing with you. Congratulations you and I and people like us are what it's called low-hanging fruit.

REPLY
@russy

I take 300 mg of Gabepentin twice daily. It helps me with nerve pain.

Jump to this post

Me also. I agree that it’s not a pain med but it relaxes my muscles which reduces my pain. After surgery works great.

REPLY
@jo54

Me also. I agree that it’s not a pain med but it relaxes my muscles which reduces my pain. After surgery works great.

Jump to this post

I Take Baclofen to prevent near constant cramping. It is also a muscle relaxer. I take it at night so I don't know if it makes you sleepy.

REPLY
@lisakuehl

My husband was on Gabapentin and Lyrica for chronic and significant pain from cancer. Neither one worked, and as I understand how this works for pain, you must titrate up the dose and over time is when you can expect benefit. It is not for acute pain. His was both, and these products did nothing beneficial for him, and probably made him feel worse. I was very disappointed in these drug choices for this type of pain. That said, some folks DO get benefit. There is nothing that works well or the same for every patient. But trial and error can be harmful when trying to find relief from pain.

Jump to this post

I am appalled that he was given those drugs for cancer pain. I was given Lyrica for the tingling in my feet caused by large doses of chemo. I was in a very compromised situation when this happened, not thinking clearly and definitely experiencing "chemo brain". Lyrica is really expensive and they know damn well it doesn't do much for pain. Lyrica is no better than gabapentin but costs much more. What is really insidious about the scam is that if you take 25 mgs. per day and I take 1200 mgs. per day, which was my actual dose,m we both pay the same price. There is no relationship between how much you use and what you pay. You pay for the privilege of using the drug. Lyrica was instrumental in inspiring the now common term among honest Doctors and Pharmacists, "There are no new drugs, just new names. The thing with pain is that it can really vary in intensity from day to day based on your activity, your mood and the amount of stress you are experiencing due to Medical personnel treating you like a drug addict. It's one thing to pull this smoke and mirrors game on someone with a bad back but to do it to someone with cancer is absolutely unconscionable. Most things like off label uses for drugs that don't work for pain, CBD oil, stretching, meditation, back braces and all forms of electrical stimulation are mostly snake oil and lies that at best will trigger a placebo effect, which can be very helpful but there are better, more effective and cheaper ways to use the placebo effect to improve your health. I am treated for chronic and persistent pain resulting from cancer by one of this countries most respected authorities on pain treatment and deep brain stimulation. According to him, implanted stimulation works for some people with back pain, the rest of it is a bunch of b.s. I saw him yesterday to have my intrathecal pain pump refilled. A little ritual we repeat every 12 weeks. I get the miniscule dose of 3.5 mgs. per day of hydromorphone. It has the effect of about 1000 mgs. taken orally. It has the side effects of 3.5 mgs. or no side effects at all. No sleepiness, no constipation and certainly doesn't get me high. The patient is beyond the suspicion of half assed doctors and nurses who think anyone on pain meds is a drug abuser. That's the best part right there. The availability of these pumps is increasing and just about all insurance and medicare pay for them. I don't think the availability will continue to increase as the number of Medical students pursuing the field of pain management is dropping. When the truth is known about the opioid crisis it will be revealed that the manufacturers were selling these drugs out the back door to organized crime and that well meaning doctors were not the cause. That's what we learned about Quaaludes in the 1970's. If you don't use opioids to get high, you don't experience the euphoria they can create and you do not get addicted. Truth, Love and Blessings

REPLY
@lucky1038

I also had a terrible reaction to it. I told my (ex) doctor. She did not even reply.

Jump to this post

I told my Dr, I was told "keep taking it". I'll never take that stuff again.

REPLY
@wsh66

I am appalled that he was given those drugs for cancer pain. I was given Lyrica for the tingling in my feet caused by large doses of chemo. I was in a very compromised situation when this happened, not thinking clearly and definitely experiencing "chemo brain". Lyrica is really expensive and they know damn well it doesn't do much for pain. Lyrica is no better than gabapentin but costs much more. What is really insidious about the scam is that if you take 25 mgs. per day and I take 1200 mgs. per day, which was my actual dose,m we both pay the same price. There is no relationship between how much you use and what you pay. You pay for the privilege of using the drug. Lyrica was instrumental in inspiring the now common term among honest Doctors and Pharmacists, "There are no new drugs, just new names. The thing with pain is that it can really vary in intensity from day to day based on your activity, your mood and the amount of stress you are experiencing due to Medical personnel treating you like a drug addict. It's one thing to pull this smoke and mirrors game on someone with a bad back but to do it to someone with cancer is absolutely unconscionable. Most things like off label uses for drugs that don't work for pain, CBD oil, stretching, meditation, back braces and all forms of electrical stimulation are mostly snake oil and lies that at best will trigger a placebo effect, which can be very helpful but there are better, more effective and cheaper ways to use the placebo effect to improve your health. I am treated for chronic and persistent pain resulting from cancer by one of this countries most respected authorities on pain treatment and deep brain stimulation. According to him, implanted stimulation works for some people with back pain, the rest of it is a bunch of b.s. I saw him yesterday to have my intrathecal pain pump refilled. A little ritual we repeat every 12 weeks. I get the miniscule dose of 3.5 mgs. per day of hydromorphone. It has the effect of about 1000 mgs. taken orally. It has the side effects of 3.5 mgs. or no side effects at all. No sleepiness, no constipation and certainly doesn't get me high. The patient is beyond the suspicion of half assed doctors and nurses who think anyone on pain meds is a drug abuser. That's the best part right there. The availability of these pumps is increasing and just about all insurance and medicare pay for them. I don't think the availability will continue to increase as the number of Medical students pursuing the field of pain management is dropping. When the truth is known about the opioid crisis it will be revealed that the manufacturers were selling these drugs out the back door to organized crime and that well meaning doctors were not the cause. That's what we learned about Quaaludes in the 1970's. If you don't use opioids to get high, you don't experience the euphoria they can create and you do not get addicted. Truth, Love and Blessings

Jump to this post

My husband also had an intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump implanted, with morphine as the medicine of choice. That also failed to give him relief from his cancer pain. We were told how helpful it would be, with lower side effects from less medicine and maximum benefit. Nothing worked. The surgery to implant the pump left him even worse off and he never really recovered from what was an outpatient procedure. His last two months following the pain pump surgery were not worth living. It was as bad of an outcome as could have been scripted. I am deeply regretful of the entire experience, and we went to two of the country's top experts in his form of cancer.

REPLY
@lisakuehl

My husband also had an intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump implanted, with morphine as the medicine of choice. That also failed to give him relief from his cancer pain. We were told how helpful it would be, with lower side effects from less medicine and maximum benefit. Nothing worked. The surgery to implant the pump left him even worse off and he never really recovered from what was an outpatient procedure. His last two months following the pain pump surgery were not worth living. It was as bad of an outcome as could have been scripted. I am deeply regretful of the entire experience, and we went to two of the country's top experts in his form of cancer.

Jump to this post

You did what you could. Sometimes pain is so intense nothing can help. My husband had cancer metastatic on his vertebrae and nothing helped. I am sorry about the process you had to go through but at a time like that you grab any hope possible. Pray someday there will be an answer. God bless you.

REPLY
@lisakuehl

My husband also had an intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump implanted, with morphine as the medicine of choice. That also failed to give him relief from his cancer pain. We were told how helpful it would be, with lower side effects from less medicine and maximum benefit. Nothing worked. The surgery to implant the pump left him even worse off and he never really recovered from what was an outpatient procedure. His last two months following the pain pump surgery were not worth living. It was as bad of an outcome as could have been scripted. I am deeply regretful of the entire experience, and we went to two of the country's top experts in his form of cancer.

Jump to this post

That's a shame. I hope they knew that morphine was a drug that had worked for him in the past. They knew it didn't work for me. I had it several times orally and got no relief from it., I've also heard of people who have a lot of stomach upset with morphine. Because of the seriousness of the surgery to implant the pump, my Doctor wanted to make sure he was using a drug that worked for me. I got good relief from Dilaudid, (which is much more powerful), so they used that. They also tried me on Fentanyl but that also didn't give good relief.

I've since had Gene Sight testing, ("Gene Sight), is a brand name). It predicts which drugs you will metabolize well. They can test for Mood drugs, Psychotropic meds and pain meds. I learned I was getting the right pain med but a less effective med for depression and I switched with good response. Ending the crap shoot of trying to find which drugs will work for serious mental illness is the greatest thing that this gene survey accomplishes. I have a son who needs those drugs and people can spend years trying different thing that dont work or make them sick which is horrible when their needs are so acute. Turns out that it's not that certain drugs only work on some people and hit or miss is the only approach. Whether certain drugs work or not depends more on the bodies ability to metabolize them. Mayo now is offering a similar service but it is much more expensive than Gene Sight, which as far as I know was the first test of its kind. Any Doctor can obtain it for a patient. They have to register with the Gene Sight company, a process which is free and takes them about 15 minutes. Still most doctors are resisting doing this. I think it offends their egos to have a test tell them which med they should prescribe. I wish your husband had access to it when it might have helped him. Love and Blessings

REPLY
@spondi64

<p>My Dr prescribed Gabapentin 300mg caps last Friday. I took one at bedtime & woke up at 3:30a.m. in horrible pain. Has anyone else experenced anything like this?</p>

Jump to this post

Yes in 2007 I was prescribed Gapapentin for fibromyalgia and I was bedridden due to excruciating pain of my knee.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.