Gabapentin side effects?

I was up to 1200mg Gabapentin daily, and it didn’t help me so it was discontinued by my neurologist.
I kept asking what was it supposed to do?
They said reduce the pins and needles in my feet and legs.
I didn’t think it did anything really.

Thank you

Vertigo and tinnitus over longterm use

Hello.
Are you having any other symptoms? Cough, occasional swelling? If you take an extra dose accidentally does that cause any ankle swelling? I’m curious if tiredness isnt an indication that Gabapentin is affecting the heart. There has to be a reason for a side effect to occur.
I have trouble with Gabapentin. Thanks.

I was convinced after much pressure and bribing (ie: if you don’t take this we won’t treat you) to take gabapentin, and after just three per script doses at the lowest starting dose, I was having lots of swelling, stopped producing urine (no urine being released by kidneys into in bladder for two days), was so dizzy I couldn’t stand up without falling straight down like I had just been pushed over, and had extreme awake hallucinations like I was tripping on ‘shrooms. I immediately stopped (received no follow up from the pain management doc who coerced me to take it despite my reservations), and never had any of the too-good-to-be-true effects that were overconfidently promised (like, elimination of neural symptoms, and elimination of loss of balance due to brain injury). I was then syggested an anti epilepsy drug, I think it was called lyrica, however due to already having higher risk of falls (exists to this day) due to brain injury, I said it made no logical sense to be taking lyrica with the side effect risk profile, and so I was told to leave the pain clinic. Ha!
After the 3 gabapentin tablets, it took around 4 months before I felt ok again (the pain clinic really set me back in my recovery by insisting I experiment with drugs that were not logically clinically indicated for my condition).

I have been on Gabapentin for 1 1/2 years slowly increasing to 3300 mg a day till I got relief from cranial pain middle left on the scalp. It took me a long time to get used to, felt tired and dizzy and very bad in the late afternoon. No swelling or urinary problems. I also take an anti depressant for the same condition. Still have pain but is more controlled. Everyone is different . You have to experiment with many drugs its unfortunate but life is worth living.

I took a low dose of gabapentin for back spasms in June of this year. After one week and a half I started to experience funny feeling, weak legs, aching knees, and leg cramps at night. I decided to not stay on it but am still having aching knees. The leg cramps have stopped. I

I have been on low dose Gabapentin 100mg daily since knee replacement in 2012. No problem and it reduced pain. PCP increased dosage to 400mg daily Jan 2023, then 900mg daily March 2023, 2400mg daily July 2023,
August 2023, VIOLENT DIARRHEA, unable to attend Physical Therapy! August 2023 self prescribed reduced Gabapentin to 600mg daily & Walgreens Anti-Diarrheal Loperamide/ Diarrhea stopped. PCP increased dosage to 900mg daily. Two days later Violent Diarrhea returned.
I saw PCP yesterday Sept 12, reduced to 600mg daily. We will see???

@oldflathead
Good morning,
If the increased doses gave you better pain relief you might want to discuss increasing your dose in increments of
100 mg instead of 300 mg over
a longer period of time. Perhaps every week or two or longer giving your body more of a chance to get used to it.
Jake

I can only imagine how much GI upset you have, and maybe even an imbalance in your flora in your GI tract. Do you feel your PCP is increasing your dosage slow enough over a period of time so that your body has time to adjust to the higher dose of Gabapentin? If so, you may want to try to add Greek yogurt into your daily diet, unless you react negatively to dairy.

I am currently on Gabapentin, 900 mg per day, and was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago with Polymylasia Rheumatica (PMR) which racks your body with pain; been sick for 3 years and the last 14 months I was incapacitated. I am also currently on 60mg of Prednisone which causes horrific GI upset (nausea, reflux, burning, abdominal pain, diarrhea, etc.). I am now in the weaning process, reducing my Prednisone dose by 10 mg per week, until I get down to 20 mg (takes about 4 weeks) and then I have a follow-up appointment with my Rheumatologist.

I mention this, because my GI issues (GERD flare-up) were unbearable after a while. Someone mentioned to me from this wonderful support group, just eat 1 small container of Greek Yogurt (I used Danon Light & Fit Vanilla, love vanilla). I thought that is way too easy of a fix. So I started doing that daily (and will continue until my dose is lowered on the Prednisone). I could not believe how I could feel it working with the very first spoon full I ate (my Omeprazole dosage that was increased to 2 pills a day, 1 in the morning and 1 at night, didn't even touch the issues I had. As I was eating the yogurt I could feel it coating and soothing my entire GI tract as it went from my mouth, through my esophagus. It repaired everything from top to bottom (literally put out the fire). I know everything doesn't work for everybody, but at this point it probably can hurt. Let me know how you make out.