Gabapentin and duloxetine

Posted by dunkinmacdougall @dunkinmacdougall, Sep 17, 2023

My doctor has recently prescribed 30mg of duloxetine daily and I am also taking 800 mg of gabapentin daily. I have been on this combination for a week and would like to hear of others with side effects. Part of the reason for the duloxetine is also a SAD diagnosis. The dry mouth is no problem, but I find I am restless and nervous and grinding my teeth. I have been told the side effects will wear off in a month, but I am not sure I can wait. I am also taking naproxen and acetaminophen. Perhaps someone has had similar side effects.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Chronic Pain Support Group.

Seem like I could easily become a MD,just prescribe Gabapentin and duloxitine and be like everybody else . I am on both.

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@dunkinmacdougall Are you getting any relief along with your side effects? That is the only reason to wait for these side effects to go away…. significant relief. Best of luck to you.

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Are you taking gabapentin for Fibromyalgia? I am trying to decide which medication, if any, I should try for fibro pain. I've read so many negative reviews of all of them, I don't know where to start.

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@ripley

Are you taking gabapentin for Fibromyalgia? I am trying to decide which medication, if any, I should try for fibro pain. I've read so many negative reviews of all of them, I don't know where to start.

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I don't know what advice to give... it seems the nature of the pain beast is that it's not well understood, there are many causes/reasons for it, what treatments there are have undesirable side effects (sometimes serious ones) and what works for some doesn't work for others.

There are treatments from acupressure/acupuncture through yoga and Zumba and none work for everyone - most work for only a minority of pain patients.

The impression I get is that it all is trial and error until you find something that works - without causing other problems. Then you hope that stays working.

The only thing I've found helpful is to pay attention to things that trigger FM pain flares and then avoid them. Mine is consistently between 2-3 on a 10 point pain scale, but flare-ups can bump up to 9 and last a week or longer. Pain relievers do nothing during a flare-up. Those flare-ups cause pain literally everywhere, which is why I think the nervous system is wacky.

My biggest trigger is excessive bending like doing fall yard cleanup. I don't know how much is too much though until 4-6 hours afterwards.

I don't think my note here was very helpful other than to say to go ahead and carefully experiment. Some people swear by gabapentin or duloxetine, others swear at it. Keep in mind that dosage is also a trial and error situation.

All the best. Good luck.

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