I would not be taking it if there weren't some benefits. I am on a low dosage; the biggest benefit to me is that I no longer have to get up and take pain medication in the middle of the night. Daytime pain is reduced, but not gone so I still supplement with OTC pain meds.

I was at 300 mg/day when my brother died in November; the pain in my feet EXPLODED at that point. I had no meaningful side effects at 300 mg - but when I increased to 400 mg/day, I began to notice my sleep was interrupted with intense feelings of doom. Not anxiety. Not depression. Doom. I wasn't sure if the increase in Gabapentin was responsible - or if it was grief combined with a sudden awareness of my own mortality. It's worth noting that the increase of Gabapentin did not touch the daytime pain in my feet so I did not see any benefit in staying at that dosage and I was afraid to go higher in case it was the meds causing the problem. I decided to reduce the Gabapentin to see if my sleep improved. I went down to 200/mg day and stayed there for several weeks - but I also increased my exercise to address unseen stress, and I made a concerted attempt to deal with my grief.

I just increased the Gabapentin back up to 300 mg/day a few days ago. Despite that, I've had two nights of relatively sound sleep with no feelings of doom, so I have some degree of confidence that I'll be OK at this level. I am, however, cautiously optimistic. If things go sideways again I will ask my doctor if I can try Nortriptyline instead.