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Can gabapentine cause leg weakness?
78 years old. Diabetic foot neuropathy with tingling feet is my problem. Gabapentine 3x300 mg/day helps bad tingling. Been on it for 2 months. My legs have progressively gotten weaker and my stair climbing is one at a time and my legs want to buckle at times. Is this a possible side effect of gabapentine? Does anyone else have this problem?
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@pablocito
Gabapentin makes me drowsy/dizzy so you need to be extra careful not to fall when taking it.
Neuropathy can cause many symptoms, including weakness, numbness, etc. It disrupts brain communications to your body and muscles/skin which can make movement more difficult. Diabetes affects your heart/circulation of blood and oxygen which can also make you weak.
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https://www.goodrx.com/gabapentin/gabapentin-side-effects
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https://www.drugs.com/sfx/gabapentin-side-effects.html
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1 ReactionThank you. I'm also looking for experiences by people who have weakening legs to compare with. I find on my house stairs that my going up and down is one stair at A time now. Six months ago no problem showed. It is not my heart condition
I exercise legs in particular daily and feel weaker on stairs. Thinking of moving to a ranch.
Don't want to blame aging for all things muscular I'm feeling. Hopefully no wheelchairs in near future!
@pablocito
I am in my mid50s and have difficulty going up and down my stairs to my basement. I do live in a ranch which helps limit steps.
My leg weakness is really due to cervical myelopathy (spinal cord compression injury), spinal stenosis /degenerative disc disease, small fiber neuropathy and bilateral gluteal tendinopathy and bilateral hamstring tears that won’t heal. It makes standing up and going up stairs really hard/painful. I can try hard to focus all energy to step up but I really struggle and need to be careful not to injure knees/hips/joints.
Have you ever had a MRI of your cervical and lumbar spine/hips, EMG/nerve conduction study of limbs and small fiber neuropathy skin punch biopsy by a neurologist? What types of doctors/specialists are you working with now?
Have you ever seen a vein/vascular specialist to check the veins/circulation in your legs to check for peripheral artery disease?
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1 ReactionMRI show two vertebrates in my spine without cushion. No doctor has commented on this. No pains except be nding over to many times. Is endurance pain. Work through it though. Not terribly bad.
Neurologist took me in early. O ly a day wait. Appointment is today and EMG is scheduled for June. A little late, I think.
Does EMG hurt much? Don't like needles...
Guess I'm at the beginning of my journey. Thank you for your answers. With empathy for your pain s
Pablocito
Dear @pablocito
My meds of gabapantic (sp?) is almost 3 times more than you. It’s help my anti-seizure as a TBI user from 2012 on… I had an accident from my bicycle ridding. It’s not pain usage only anti-seizure.
Do I need that med? Yes, oh, YES! It’s the only one from usage 9f that med! Ok, there’s another of anti-seizure med, twice per day. But using that for the last 4 years ado and it works great! Before that I use diff made and then hit my seizure until we started tjis med.
You need your usage of this or another med. I would go to another doctor that would help you.
Thx,
Greg D. @gregq9
Scotty - @greg1956
Dear Greg. My Doctor now says it's not that med costing me leg problems. I will continue using the med. He will perform EMG on me April 21st. I need to be patient. Thank you for your input.
Bruce at Pablo cito.