1. < Chronic Pain

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.

ruthblaze | @ruthblaze | Nov 1, 2023

For me it is a wonderful drug I’ve been on it for over a year with no significant side effects I take 600 mg twice daily for pain in knee following knee replacement I’m thinking about ablation. I do take supplemts and exercise daily I have No fatigue

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Mentor
Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | Nov 1, 2023
In reply to @davidgkoester "Chris, thank you for this. I livee we near a dispensary in Des Moines and the..." + (show)
@davidgkoester

Chris, thank you for this. I livee we near a dispensary in Des Moines and the staff is helpful but not experienced in specific pain or it’s best relief path. I’m going to try your suggestions and hope to reduce ibuprofen use during the day and sleep better at night. Thx again

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Good luck. I hope it works for you. Just remember that I have been using medical cannabis for 10 years. Your body adjusts to it over time and then you can change the dosage or the "'recipe".
May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

Chris

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cax75 | @cax75 | Nov 2, 2023
In reply to @destinnana "I too was prescribed Gabapentin. After doing a little reading, I decided against taking. The side..." + (show)
@destinnana

I too was prescribed Gabapentin. After doing a little reading, I decided against taking. The side effect scared me away. I’ll try anything to not be on so many prescription drugs. I don’t wanta feel tired and lethargic.

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I had anaphalaxis because of gabapentin.(swollen mouth throat trouble breathing. My doctor's response was to take less. Goodbye Dr and goodbye lyrica and gabapentin.
Good luck finding a good doctor.

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kasie | @kasie | Nov 2, 2023

I have been taking it for 21 years and I take 600 mg 4 times a day. I was tired at first but it went away after time. The relief was well worth the tiredness. You will adjust eventually. Hang in there!

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buddabu | @buddabu | Nov 4, 2023
In reply to @pwgrimes "I am taking it for rectal pain and dysfunction caused by a surgery that went bad...." + (show)
@pwgrimes

I am taking it for rectal pain and dysfunction caused by a surgery that went bad. The surgeon never addressed my now 24 hour pain and frozen sphincter in ani. I can only drink food, no solids or stool cannot slip out.
I have been taking gabapentin for 4 months, got to 1800 a day. I then was told to go up to 2700, since pain was breaking through. I am basically home and bed bound. I slowly moved up to the first day of 2700. Horrible feelings in addition to my other side effects. I thought I may have serotonin syndrome .I had it previously from a medicine change. I looked up if gabapentin could cause SS. Yes it is an neurotransmitter. Add that to my antidepressants and yes, SS. The twitching of muscles, the speaking effect, no memory, the shaky feelings inside, the stiff walking, dizziness, difficulty thinking in a linear way, more depression. . I had more nerve pain in my neuropathy and now in my shoulder and arm. It can also effect your gastrointestinal system. Who knows that if you are on antidepressants and take gabapentin you will have this potentially life threatening medicine reaction.
I cant say I had tiredness, because I lost 35 lb in 1 month and lost all my bodybuilding muscles. I am weak. I can’t stop taking the gabapentin, but will stay at 1800, the pain is worse that the SS.
Most doctors are not going to catch this reaction some may give more antidepressants. Look at your meds and do some serotonin research. That may be your problem with the gabapentin.

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Have you considered Pregabalin for the pain? I cannot take Gabapentin (makes me a zombie). Lyrica was good but so expensive! Now comes Pregabalin. I am doing ok on it.

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Mentor
Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | Nov 19, 2023
In reply to @ripley "Can you please answer some questions about the cannabis? How often do you take this throughout..." + (show)
@ripley

Can you please answer some questions about the cannabis? How often do you take this throughout the day? How much CBD/THC do you take for effective pain relief? I'm taking one 20mg CBD capsules a day and it's not helping. I take sleep gummies most nights, which help a little bit but wear off about 4-5AM and then I have trouble going back to sleep. Thanks.

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Good afternoon @ripley. In answer to your question, I can share where I am today with medical Cannabis. You have to remember that I have been using it since 2013 and have changed my timing and dosage quantities many times. I also have had significant increases in the evidence of SFN and increasing pain.
To see older posts you just put my name and cannabis in the search field at the top of the screen. All of those posts will appear.

So.....here is where I am now. I take medical cannabis 2-3 times a day. In the morning, my wake-up and get-going dose is a 1:1 CBD/THC about 25 ML. I may repeat that in the afternoon if needed. At bedtime, my dose is a 2:1 CBD/THC which is about 50 ML.

I have not used gummies for years because I did not find consistency. To me, they are like the old "brownies". For me, tinctures are better because you can hold them in front of and underneath your tongue while they are absorbed directly into your brain. Otherwise, the medication has to go through your digestive system which can take longer.

I try to keep this process simple and valuable. I hope you can do the same.

May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Chris

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dmmeyers62 | @dmmeyers62 | Nov 20, 2023

I was taking 2800 went off had swelling in legs and feet. Also gained 80 lbs and Doctor just kept upping my dosage. Mayo had me on low dosage but when I went back to Wisconsin they just kept giving me other drugs for the side effects. I changed doctors and took me off all the medications. Best thing I ever did!

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yvie | @yvie | Nov 20, 2023

Dear Sundance: I understand your concern about side effects because sometimes you can’t tell whether your symptoms are coming from the illness or the medication the doctor put you on.
I had spinal surgery in an attempt to eliminate the pain I was having in my right leg and sometimes my back. After the surgery, the doctor put me on Gabapentin. That all happened three years ago. I regret that I ever had the surgery because now I have peripheral neuropathy and the pain I have in my toes is worse that I had before the surgery. In any event, getting back to your question. The doctor prescribed 200 mg. @ bedtime and it does help me to sleep through the night but the next day, I am so off balance that I can only walk if I use my rollator and I get so sleepy around 3:00 that I need to take a nap and when I do take a nap, I can’t fall asleep at night without the Gabapentin. This is probably not helping you but maybe it will alert you to the fact that many of the people that write in have “sleepy” times but too much sleeping is not good. I don’t know what the answer is but what I do know is that not being able to sleep without taking some kind of medication is near impossible.

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steven120566 | @steven120566 | Nov 21, 2023

I can't even remember if I commented in this thread before, because I take 1200mg Gabby for severe neuropathy (entire 1200 overnight, 600 8pm and 600 more about 1pm when I get up to pee). I am not sure if it even helps, and I do not like Gabapentin's effects. They are trying to convince us it works on severe pain because of anti-opioid hysteria! In many cases, opioid pain medications work definitively on neuropathy, and the vast majority CAN ACTUALLY use as prescribed.

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ginger123 | @ginger123 | Nov 21, 2023

I read all the updates and comments regarding gabapentin with interest. They are helpful. Question: I’m on 300 mg of gab at night with .25 lorazapam for severe RLS and shin/ankle burning. It seems to help. Is is ok to add a low dose CBD/THC gummie during the day?
My system is a”less is more” type. Hence low dosages.

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