Gabapentin side effects?
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.
You are so right. It stinks, this new take on severe continuous pain. I deal with it every day since breaking my back. My reporting of unrelenting pain falls on deaf ears.
You spoke the truth. Thank you!
We cannot back down in the face of this. If you have someone prescribing pain meds and they decide they don't want to do that anymore they are legally responsible to find another prescriber. We need to stand fast and sue if that is what it takes. We are not the opioid problem and our doctors didn't cause it. When they quote you the body count know that over half of it is from Heroin, Meth and other street drugs. Also most of the opioid overdoses are caused by counterfeit pills being sold by drug gangs from around the world. They mix them with fentanyl which is impossibly hard to titrate into the doses they are going for. The government cant get at these dealers or in some cases are being paid off by these dealers so they come for us and our Doctors. Wr are the low hanging fruit. Repost: WE ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Paint in on the pharmacy walls: WE ARE NOT THE PROBLEM!!!
@lisakeuhl - If you don't know what 'nerve pain' is, consider yourself lucky. I have Small Fibre Neuropathy, and when it is not under control the pain is all-consuming. I experience burning pain in my feet (Burning Foot Syndrome) with occasional stabbing pain that feels like someone is jabbing a skewer into my feet. I have been on Gabapentin for about 4 months - and it DOES work to calm the nerve pain. It does not cure the underlying nerve damage, but it reduces the pain. I can now walk without wanting to cry. I can keep my feet still while I sit. I can sleep without waking up due to the pain, and I no longer keep pain meds on my night stand.
The drug is far from perfect. I have been playing with the dosage, and for the time being I am holding at 200 mg/day - which is extremely low. I supplement with OTC pain meds. My dosage is low because in higher amounts, it has caused night time anxiety - but that did not start to happen until my brother died 2 months ago, so perhaps that is what is causing the anxiety. Time will tell, as I will likely increase the dosage at some point so I can hopefully reduce the amount of OTC drugs I am taking every day.
I too have nerve pain. It comes and goes. Sometimes it's unbearable, sometimes it is absent. I took lyrica, up to 1200 mgs. per day for 3 years. When I stopped, I noticed no difference. I still have the pain, no more no less than when on lyrica. I had a similar experience with Neurontin, a very similar forerunner to lyrica. The really hard thing about pain and knowing what does and doesn't work is the way it can come and go. It's absence often leads us to believe something we did worked. Often that is th3e case but you can never be sure without carefully analyzing the frequency of pain and what contributing factors affect you. Anxiety, depression, stress, exercise, diet and other health issues are only a few factors that go into the equation. Never forget what the medical community refers to and often dismisses is the "placebo effect". I have practiced Qigong for many years and I know the body has some ability to heal itself given the right mindset. I also believe that the "placebo effect " is really a reflection of that ability. Don't sell it short. Your belief that what you are doing will help you is of the utmost importance no matter what you do or take.
You have spoken very powerful words. Thank you for presenting them with such truth and honesty. I'm always pleased when someone else articulates my thoughts!
Hope you are well today.
~Rachel
I take 2300 mg of gabapentin daily for nerve pain and no relief I’m about to throw it away
Yikes!!! I am curious to know how long you have been on Gabapentin. And do you have any side effects from taking that amount?
I made an error it’s 2400 and I guess about a year I don’t see any improvements but doc says to keep taking it I’m Still in excruciating pain while taking it so what’s the point side effects I believe are I feel like my joints are getting weaker
Hello. I feel awful for you and understand completely your frustration of not receiving adequate pain relief. I suffer from Small Fiber Polyneuropathy and back when it all started, my pain was unmanageable. My PCP is who agreed to 5mg of hydrocodone. For me, it took alot of game playing between Gaba and Lyrica. I finally landed on Lyrica which I now tolerate well. The thing is...one medication does not always do enough. Do you have a PCP? Can you pull them into your pain management plan? It sounds as if you really need additional help. Opiods are a huge challenge as you may know and Drs do not want to push them now a days. Maybe there is another course if action that can help you. Medical marijuana perhaps, off label medications. Don't back down. If your pain is that severe, go to Urgent Care. All my best wishes for you to find the relief you need soon.
Rachel