It takes a few days for the GABAPENTIN to work, in the meantime there is considerable pain until it catches. Talk to your NEUROLOGIST before you do anything else. I take GABA 2 times a day and one @ Night..Tramadol did NOT WORK FOR ME...EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT...FIND A NEUROLOGIST WHO KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT...Margaretob

This is my first post in Chronic Pain. I am posting for my husband who just had a terrible reaction with gabapentin last week. He was on a very small dose for two years (100mg a day). It wasn't doing anything for his pain so they had me move it up gradually over a few weeks. When we hit 900mg he became very aggressive and we pulled it back to 600mg and then he became someone he 'wasn't', very aggressive, violent, wanted to commit suicide, etc.....all the horrible things you can imagine. My husband has peripheral nerve damage pain (I guess) in his feet from an accident 50 years ago. He also has cancer and COPD. Generally he feels awful but he doesn't have nerve damage from cancer because they can't identify his cancer type (he has cancer of unknown primary). His cancer is not being treated and is not growing. It's a very difficult and frustrating situation because it's been almost impossible to treat.
I thought that his decline in health might be improved if the doctors could help him with the pain. We have the COPD in pretty good shape and we monitor the cancer activity on a regular basis, waiting for answers. Well..........gabapentin was a horror. Now they want him to use Cymbalta instead of the Celexa he's been using for anxiety and depression for many years without incident. And what about this Ketamine? Does anyone have any insight on that? I don't want to put my husband or our family through another 'gabapentin' incident and risk my husband taking his life. The doctors won't prescribe narcotics due to the COPD and keep offering these drugs that alter brain chemistry. That seems sketchy to me at best but????? If anyone can offer some support, I'd appreciate it. I am going back to the doctors today and hope to get some clarification but they aren't even taking responsibility for the gabapentin being a bad idea, so........I'm losing hope they can or will help. (p.s. I am unfortunately pretty saavy with medical nonsense as I've had breast cancer twice, my husband has been seriously ill for several years and I just had a horrible experience of sepsis this last fall.........but it's still hard to get any respect or support from our doctors. We're with Kaiser so our choices are limited with doctors, sigh).

I take Lyrica at might (not in the day because it makes me sleepy) and gabapentin during the day (it doesn't make me sleepy). My pain specialist doctor said that we have to take it for awhile before it is effective. He also said that they are anti-seizure medications - they only help people who have epilepsy or neuropathy. They calm down the nervous system so that it pauses sending out false pain messages (pain killers kill any pain anywhere in the body, anti-seizure meds don't do that). When I feel like I'm standing in a bonfire being burned alive while a swarm of wasps stings my arms but - there is no fire and no wasps anywhere - that's my nervous system sending false messages. It's supposed to tell me if I touch fire or a wasp stings me, it's not supposed to tell me that when it isn't. My nervous system is dying and misfiring. All old things and damaged things die and some of them misfire before they do. I hope researches find better meds for us, I do not not not want to take pain killers because they make me sleepy. PS: I wish politicians would quit practicing medicine without a license, my medications are getting harder and harder to get - pharmacists have interrogated me like I'm a criminal). Peggy

We have all become, "The Toxic Patient". (C) We are all cursed. I'm not taking this lying down. Watch for the coming essay under that title. I'm working on this. The worm has turned....

I will read with interest, Stephen. Do you have a plan of action? Peggy

I take 400mg 3 times a day for CRPS

Addicts are very different from you and me. When I wake up in the morning, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do today, who will be there, what I need to take with me, what I should wear, and my breakfast. When an addict wakes up he thinks about 'how much do I have left from last night?' I grew up in the music business in Hollywood, I've worked with a lot of them. Lovely people when they're clean, and most are very smart, but using, they can't be counted on for anything. Plus: I take medicine so that I can go on living my life. Addicts take drugs so that they can escape their life. Peggy

@pfbacon I read what you had to say and the first movie popped into my head was Judy how she was so abused in the music business.

In US there a types of gabapentin .Neuotin Gabapentin is a type of 300mg capsules. It is most frequently used 1) to heal nerves 2) antiseizures (not for restless leg syndrome. Horizon Gabapintin is a product for 600mg pills that ARE for restless leg syndrome. I take the Neurotine 300mg (2) at night along with 2 of Ropinole(for restless leg syndrome (actual physical jerk). There is another Gabapintin that is more for Shingles.(herpes zoster). I have servere L-S pain and have had L-3-4 and C3-4 fusions. I live with constant pain unless in a recliner. So the questions is, what are you taking gabipentine for? The least strong pain medication is tramadol 50mg. I take it 2-3 tmes daily. I steer clear of sleeping pills. I got off of stronger hydrocordone pain meds. The minimum of some meds in combination seem to work the best for me.and others. I avoid any increases that might lead to augmentation( increrased pain from over use) Does this help? I am a retired Physical Therapist of 90 years old. I need a walker because of L-S that no one can help. Good luck. Question your Physician. Be pro-active. google and think of yourself.

Good. But gabapintine is Gabapintine/ So as your Dr. for Horizon Gabapintine and see if he will authorize 2 of 600mg. If not, you are mis using the 300 mg (not meant for 4 a night)