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← Return to Gabapentin side effects?
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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.
Replies to "I would not be taking it if there weren't some benefits. I am on a low..."
Good morning @iceblue Haven't seen a post from you for a while. Perhaps it is spring and we are all doing a spring cleaning on our medications and support systems. Gabapentin has been a reliable go-to for me since my first diagnosis of Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome several years ago. Initially, I was taking 600 mg in the morning and 300 mg at night. That dosage and time was a bit of a mess with fuzzy-wuzzy side effects. My neurologist cut the moring dose, moved it to combine with the nighttime dose and substituted Nortryptyline which I phased into a maximum of 60 mg at night.
Nortriptyline really worked well for my depression, suicidal ideation and pain all the way through the night and even into the next day. The problem was uncontrollable constipation and then diarrhea. Even if the pain was somewhat controlled, I couldn't go out because the digestive issues were cramping my style big time. My PCP and I worked out the addition of another dose of 2:1 CBD/THC cannabis for nighttime and a 1:1 CBD/THC dose for pain in the morning. We added a 300 mg Gabapentin capsule for nighttime good sleep, making my total 1200 mg. And we discussed other ways to eliminate the depression which so far has been frustrating but doable. I will be attending a special 3 day retreat this weekend to work on my mindful meditation and restorative yoga.
So.....with the help of Connect members, I am now done with the Nortriptyline taper which took about 3 months. I miss it because it worked. I haven't yet balanced out the cannabis and Rx medication as well as I think I can. I am doing some mixing of a 1:3 CBD/THC and a 3:1 CBD/THC topical for the pins and tingles.
Here is the next challenge......to taper off duloxetine (Cymbalta) which I have been using for severe anxiety for about a year My PCP and I will be talking about that taper in April. I am not as comfortable launching this one so I will gratefully accept any ideas or substitutions you have found valuable. My goal was to pass my MN driver's test and be able to travel to visit grandchildren. I did both in the last month without panicking and with help from duloxetine. I just got home from Texas and am crashing big time today. I need to be aware and alert for the retreat which begins tomorrow evening.
Have any of you said goodbye to duloxetine? What happened? To Nortriptyline? What happened? Gabapentin? What happened? What substitutions have you found?
Are any of you combining cannabis with Rx medications? What symptom would you most like help with? Pain, fatigue, digestive issues? Others?
May you all be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I appreciate being on this Connect team. There is just nothing like it in the scope of online communities. Chris
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You know, I took 2700 mg a day and had no problems with it (other than it didn’t work) It’s amazing how affects different people.