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.

@sprinrosa64

I know everyone is different but for me a was on gabapentine 1600 mg daily not sure if it was doing anything so after 1 1/2 yrs I weened off it, went back on after 1 1/2 months and tried it for another 3 months. FOR ME I FOUND NO DIFFERENCE, I am done with it, if it was not working why be on it. The search continues. Just remember everyone is different

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If a drug does not help and makes no difference, then agree - no point in taking it!

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@pfbacon

It has never made me dizzy. I started with the smallest dose once a day, the pain of neuropathy was alleviated. As the neuropathy progressed and became more painful and broke through, the gaba was increased and I got relief again. Now I'm at 1200 mgs twice a day - still no dizzyness. I understand that it doesn't work so well for some people but please don't say that 'no one should take it' or 'we all have these side affects'. We can all try the least invasive medicines first, yoga, cold packs, tylenol, then ramp up and try others as needed. My doctor and I tried some things that didn't work, so we just went on to the next option. Peggy

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@pfbacon
Peggy, your plea is a just one. Everyone reacts differently to each drug. Unless someone experiences a side effect that has changed their life in a drastically worse way, they should simply stop taking it and move on. No need to start some crusade to remove it from the grasp of all those who do get benefit from it. Drugs that do permanent damage to some should clearly be removed from the open market. Those that cause unpleasant side effects that subside after stopping use should be eliminated for that particular person, but not for everybody else necessarily. Hank

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@jesfactsmon

@pfbacon
Peggy, your plea is a just one. Everyone reacts differently to each drug. Unless someone experiences a side effect that has changed their life in a drastically worse way, they should simply stop taking it and move on. No need to start some crusade to remove it from the grasp of all those who do get benefit from it. Drugs that do permanent damage to some should clearly be removed from the open market. Those that cause unpleasant side effects that subside after stopping use should be eliminated for that particular person, but not for everybody else necessarily. Hank

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I had very good results with gabapentin, for several years. I never took such high dosages, but did increase the dosage gradually as I needed additional relief, an additional capsule or higher dose gradually. It is a great drug for those who need it and can benefit. It helped me with neuropathy, restless leg syndrome, firbomyalgia pain, leg cramping, other nerve pain, but I began to need to adjust my medications for various side effects. I tapered off, gradually, under doctor's oversight, and now don't use gabapentin any more. It's not what I need to use at this time, maybe my age or whatever. But, my doctor has helped me find the best for me now.It's so important to discuss openly all our concerns and questions with our doctors. I've learned to be open and honest with all my docs. Otherwise, they don't know what's happening, side effects or good effects or fears.....Bless you in your journey

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@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>

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Another thing my doctor said a person needed to have it in their blood stream all the time. I've got 9 ruptured/herniated discs from getting hit by a tree fighting fires 23 years ago. Oh what I would give for pain relief. I had laser surgery on the four worst, but it didn't help. I've tried numerous things, and I'm having to deal with the harassment by Federal Workers Compensation. I've had a couple suggest being put into a ketamine coma, and hopefully the pain signals in my brain would reset. Has anyónehax this done.

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@katehenrichsen

Another thing my doctor said a person needed to have it in their blood stream all the time. I've got 9 ruptured/herniated discs from getting hit by a tree fighting fires 23 years ago. Oh what I would give for pain relief. I had laser surgery on the four worst, but it didn't help. I've tried numerous things, and I'm having to deal with the harassment by Federal Workers Compensation. I've had a couple suggest being put into a ketamine coma, and hopefully the pain signals in my brain would reset. Has anyónehax this done.

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No surgical fix possible? Sounds like a real big mess, literally, don’t mean that to sound offensive. My neck problem was work related and I had to fight it, got an attorney which finally did the trick. But dealing with the Feds is a whole other story. :<(
I have heard of the ketamine treatment. You might have to see someone who specializes in that, I don’t know? Is medical marijuana a possibility? Some folks swear by it.

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@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.

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Lisa why didn’t they give him morphing?

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@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.

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I have nerve pain in my back and part of my pain regiment I take every day is 4 pills (400mg) of gabapentin daily and 4 (50 mg ) of tramadol Tylenol and 1 muscle relaxer at night all of that helps but still I have pain

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@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.

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Yes, pain is transmitted by nerve pathway. Think about a badly sprained ankle or broken bone, or maybe orthopedic surgery. You have pain: throbbing, pulsating, likely aching and soreness. I had jaw problems which became severe. I’ve had sciatic nerve pain. Think of a hot, searing pain - like a knife slicing through you or being burned on a hot oven or scalding from a hot faucet. Does that help you picture the difference? It’s the best way I can describe it from having been the patient in those scenarios. In my jaw situation, when I woke up from having had my jaw joints surgically removed and new artificial joints placed which including sawing, drilling, etc. Once the local injected anesthetic wore off and I was out of the general anesthetic haze - I hurt, but it was a completely different type of hurting and I could tell the difference right away!

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@jfsherley

Lisa why didn’t they give him morphing?

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Eventually, he did, via an implanted intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump. But it helped him not. I was very disappointed in that outcome.

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@lisakuehl

Eventually, he did, via an implanted intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump. But it helped him not. I was very disappointed in that outcome.

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That would be very disheartening indeed. :<(

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