neurontin

[bberr]

I have developed a serious problem with neurontin. It works when i take about 2400 mg.pr.day (in combination with 75 mg. baclofen). On the other side i become confused, grabby and the main thing not enough aware when i drive car. I could almost crash sometimes.
I have tried to quit taking neuro.several times but then i get so much pain that i have to sit down and not do the things i use to do. I consultated my doc. and asked her if i could change medication but she didn't want to help me do that. She thinks that neurontin is the best medicin right now on marked with few sideeffects (and my doc.on rehab agreed with her).
I told her that i had experienced the opposed but it didn't help. I ´ll change doc. and hope that i have to meet one who understand my problems. I need advice from you who use neurontin and eventually dr. Wise. What kind of precautions can i take to avoid confusness from neurontin?
I have come to the point that i´ll rather prefer to have some pain all the time than going around and being stoned.

[metronycguy]

sleipner do u take it 3x a day or 4 x a day,
i found i received better pain relief taking it 4 x a day, you might be able to take 4 x600 rather than 3 x 800, and have less confusion?
also try to eat a small piece of high protein food when taking it, that is supposed to help with some of the side effects..

[Kaprikorn1]

I do the 600 @ 4x/day too...i rarely ever get side effects from it unless i take on an empty stomach.

Couldn't make it through the day w/out neurontin.

Kap

"It's not easy being green"

[Wise Young]

Sleipner,

I think that metronycguy's suggestion is in the right direction, i.e. adjust the dose and dosing schedule to minimize the side effects. As you point out, you need to balance the beneficial effects and side-effects.

If you are willing to tolerate the pain during the day, another possibility is to lower the dose during the day. Are the side-effects the greatest shortly after you take a dose and how long does it last?

A third possibility is to take a low dose of elavil (e.g. 20 mg per day amitryptyline) to see if this has synergistic effects of the neurontin and see if this will allow you to lower the neurontin dose.

Finally, what other medication are you taking? The symptoms that you describe are not the usual ones (at least that I have heard) that are associated with neurontin. I am wondering if you are taking something else (i.e. baclofen, valium, etc.) that is interacting with or aggravating the neurontin side effects.

Wise.

[woman from Europe]

Ikke for å pese men jeg bruker Rivotril isteden for Neurontin. Jeg var på Smerteklinikken og legen der sa at det eneste han kunne tilby meg var Neurontin eller Rivitril.

Jeg synes Rivotril er å foretrekke da man ikke blir noe sløv. Jeg bruker 1,5 mg om kvelden og det holder mine smerter borte og jeg har ligget i senga i flere år, utslått av smerter.

OK, så har man faren ved avhengighet men faktisk så blåser jeg i det. Jeg er mer interessert i å leve et normalt liv. Jeg har spist dem i 4 år nå og tror ikke jeg har opplevd en eneste bivirkning. Ikke trenger jeg Baclofen heller når jeg spiser dem.

Du kan få dem på blå resept hvis legen skriver at du har spenningshodepine.

Jeg har ikke tid til mer nå, jeg reiser på Beitostølen om 10 minutter. Lykke til

TH 12 incomplete 12-12-69. I am still a walker but I do not know for how long time.

[may916us]

Can Neurontine cure the neuropathic problem or just relieve the pain symptom? I am a new user of Nuerontine with 300mg 3 times a day for a trigeminal nerve injury. I don't have that unresist pain yet. I am just afraid the neuropathic problem will spread to my whole body or imperil my health. If Neurontine is not for the nerve treatment/cure, I can have over the counter drugs of advil or tylenol.

[This message was edited by maylin on 05-26-04 at 07:52 AM.]

[David Berg]

Originally posted by maylin:

Can Neurontine cure the neuropathic problem or just relieve the pain symptom?
Neurontin is a treatment for the symptoms, not a cure. If you are able to get relief from your pain from advil and tylenol, then my uneducated thought would be to stick with those, as they're much cheaper and have many fewer and less severe side effects. OTOH, if tylenol and advil just aren't doing it for you, then it might be worth discussing Neurontin with your doc to decide if that's a reasonable thing to try out.

[craig]

I take 3000mg of Neurontin (amoung other meds.) a day and I have tried to back off three times. Evan a minimal reduction is noticed both with my chronic back pain and the endless burning skin.

Dr. Young, or David, if you happen to read this again I take valium but never had a bad side affect like Sleipner described however I am more clumsy and very sleepy. I have tried everything for spasms and only valium works so far.
Also, http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif a doctor is suggesting using two Neuro-Stimulators, one for pain from a degenerative disk and another for the central pain, which is lower down from my back pain. What is your opinion ?

Thank you in advance
Craig

[may916us]

[/QUOTE]
Neurontin is a treatment for the symptoms, not a cure. If you are able to get relief from your pain from advil and tylenol, then my uneducated thought would be to stick with those, as they're _much_ cheaper and have many fewer and less severe side effects. OTOH, if tylenol and advil just aren't doing it for you, then it might be worth discussing Neurontin with your doc to decide if that's a reasonable thing to try out.[/QUOTE]

David, I spoke with my doctor after stopping Neurontine. He thinks Neurontine can eventually calm the nerve and stop the pain. In addition to the relief of the pain symptoms, Neurontine also does nerve treatment. He insists that I have Neurontine instead of Advil for a period of time to see if I can free of the pain without any pain relief medication.
Of course I don't want to imperil my health with potential severe side effects of Neurontine. Is it worth trying out Neurontine?
Maylin

[David Berg]

Maylin,

Your doc is actually saying he thinks Neurontin will help cure CP??? I can't go along with that at all. There's no evidence of that anywhere in the literature or from the people I've heard from. In fact, many people think that maybe the Neurontin isn't helping all that much after being on it for awhile, often a long while. Problem is, when they try to go off, the pain moves back in quickly enough to leve no doubt in their mind that the Neurontin really was helping, even if it didn't get rid of all of the pain.

Yes, if you have neuropathic pain and your doc thinks it's appropriate, I'd say it's well worth it to you to try Neurontin. People have different responses, so I wish you the best of luck.

[Broknwing]

maylin-
I am taking Neurontin and for me it has helped tremendously. I can tell when it's time to take it, as the pain gets tremendously more severe. It doesn't get rid of all of my pain, but it does make a grand difference. It would be incredibly difficult to function if my pain was consistantly as it can get & was before taking Neurontin. I still am trying to get my dosage appropriate. At night after my last dose of the "day" has worn off, my pain has a tendancey to get pretty intense & hard to deal with. I'm planning on talking to my Dr. about the possibility of taking it a 4th time & seeing if that will level out the highs & lows of the pain.

It was my understanding that Neurontin didn't have the serious side effects that a lot of other pain medicines can have. It's not supposed to be addicitive & I didn't think that it had any problems with Liver function. If I am wrong about this, please let me know. If you could send any documentation that I could read, I would appreciate it greatly.

I hope that I have been of some sort of help. Feel free to ask any more questions you have & I will answer them to the best of my ability.

'Chelle