Gabapentin

[shelley]

Sean saw a pain specialist last week and he prescribed gabapentin. He's never been on it before.

The doctor warned it may make him really drowsy.

He took 100 mg 3x's a day for seven days, and today he went up to 400 mg 3x's. That is also suppose to be for 7 days and then up again to 800 mg 3x's a day.

The low dose seemed to help his pain a little, little bit, but it is making him feel very, very sick. He's not at all drowsy, but feels out of it, and sick to his stomach.

I guess my question is do you think these side effects are temporary. He wants to stop taking it, and I think he needs to give it a bit more time.

It's always a trade off, something may help, but always causes something else to go out of wack.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Shelley

[2jazzyjeff]

shelley, search for Neurontin here. I take it and never felt sick or drowsy, but everyone is different. A lot of ppl get those same side effects. I wouldn't have him go above 400mg until it passes. I take 800mg 4x/day and if I miss a time.... my hands burn like hell..:zombie:

[shelley]

I will search.

Are neurontin and gabapentin the same thing?

[2jazzyjeff]

Yes, Neurontin is the brand name and Gabapentin is the generic.

[Wise Young]

Shelley,

Neurontin (Gabapentin) is an drug that slows down the activity of certain neurons believe to contribute to neuropathic pain. In some people, it is initially effective at lower doses but the effect goes away and higher doses are necessary for the effect. The dose can be increased gradually to as much as 4800 mg per day. Because the causes of neuropathic pain are different in different people, the drug is not effective for everybody. The side-effects also differ considerably.

While it seems to reduce neuropathic pain, neurontin does not seem to be effective for noxious pain, i.e. pain that is related to actual neural signals coming in. For example, it is not effective for backpain. However, it appears to be effective in reducing spasms. Many people experience an increase in spasms when they go off the drug. it also can be associated with a rebound in neuropathic pain, when you are going off the drug.

Has Sean tried other drugs? For example, has he tried Elavil? Also called amytryptyline, this drug is an anti-depressant but appears to have some effect on some types of neuropathic pain at relatively low doses of 20 mg/day. Has he tried clonidine? This is an anti-spasticity drug that may also have some beneficial effects on neuropathic pain.

Wise.

Wise.

Sean saw a pain specialist last week and he prescribed gabapentin. He's never been on it before.

The doctor warned it may make him really drowsy.

He took 100 mg 3x's a day for seven days, and today he went up to 400 mg 3x's. That is also suppose to be for 7 days and then up again to 800 mg 3x's a day.

The low dose seemed to help his pain a little, little bit, but it is making him feel very, very sick. He's not at all drowsy, but feels out of it, and sick to his stomach.

I guess my question is do you think these side effects are temporary. He wants to stop taking it, and I think he needs to give it a bit more time.

It's always a trade off, something may help, but always causes something else to go out of wack.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Shelley

[David Berg]

Shelley,

Yes, for a number of people the worst of the side effects subside after the first couple of weeks.

[firesmurf]

like everyone else said,in many people those side effects do go away,but in some they don't.you will just have to monitor him and keep asking him how things are going.if he really just stays plain miserable on this stuff,he really should see his PM about possibly tapering off.i have had good and really horrid experiences with this class of meds,like alot of others here.anyones given response to these meds,as with alot of others,is very highly individual.there is just no reason,if any med makes someone really miserable and is not actually 'adding' anything to their function and is just not feeling good that you should stay on any type of med.

just an FYI here for you as i have personally been thru this myself.one good way to aviod feeling the effects of WDs from these types of meds is by tapering down on one while trying a new one by tapering ONTO it during this process(there are many other meds in this class that he could also try).it can just make that transistion a bit easier with less side effect.just see how things go.if things don't get better,it may be time to just go off.i also would speak with his doc about not adding anymore to his current dose til you see how how he will do on this.there is no sense in making things worse by going too fast.there just is not any good reason that someone just HAS TO be up to a certain level in record time,you know what i mean?take it all really slow.some people are just very highly sensitive to these meds and will just have more problems.i hope things get better for him.please keep us posted.marcia

[Kendell]

like everyone else said,in many people those side effects do go away,but in some they don't.you will just have to monitor him and keep asking him how things are going.if he really just stays plain miserable on this stuff,he really should see his PM about possibly tapering off.i have had good and really horrid experiences with this class of meds,like alot of others here.anyones given response to these meds,as with alot of others,is very highly individual.there is just no reason,if any med makes someone really miserable and is not actually 'adding' anything to their function and is just not feeling good that you should stay on any type of med.

just an FYI here for you as i have personally been thru this myself.one good way to aviod feeling the effects of WDs from these types of meds is by tapering down on one while trying a new one by tapering ONTO it during this process(there are many other meds in this class that he could also try).it can just make that transistion a bit easier with less side effect.just see how things go.if things don't get better,it may be time to just go off.i also would speak with his doc about not adding anymore to his current dose til you see how how he will do on this.there is no sense in making things worse by going too fast.there just is not any good reason that someone just HAS TO be up to a certain level in record time,you know what i mean?take it all really slow.some people are just very highly sensitive to these meds and will just have more problems.i hope things get better for him.please keep us posted.marcia

Is it possible to start a new drug before getting off Neurontin entirely? Debbie would like to try Lyrica. Neurontin is not helping as much as it used to, and she is as high on dosage as she can go. She tried to wean off Neurontin, but the phantom pain started kicking her butt so much she couldn't handle it, but the docs say she has to be totally off Neurontin before she could try Lyrica. I keep thinking that they could start her on a very low dose of Lyrica while decreasing Neurontin a bit, and continue upping Lyrica while reducing Neurontin. So are they right that this wouldn't be safe or what?

[razzle51]

This is a excellant site for telling all about Neurontin. I quite taking it because of weight gain and cavities .

http://pharma-help.com/neurontin/neurontin-side-effects

[quad79]

For awhile I took Provigil w/ Lyrica to counter-act the drowsiness. It didn't(the drowsiness) last long.

I'd say w/ any meds, nausea is likely to occur and give it time to adjust to it.

I'm on it and going to try to taper off due to massive weight gain. The stuff is addictive and causes horrible withdrawels coming off of it.I'm going to try Cymbalta instead.

Good luck to your son.

[mike]

Is it possible to start a new drug before getting off Neurontin entirely? Debbie would like to try Lyrica. Neurontin is not helping as much as it used to, and she is as high on dosage as she can go. She tried to wean off Neurontin, but the phantom pain started kicking her butt so much she couldn't handle it, but the docs say she has to be totally off Neurontin before she could try Lyrica. I keep thinking that they could start her on a very low dose of Lyrica while decreasing Neurontin a bit, and continue upping Lyrica while reducing Neurontin. So are they right that this wouldn't be safe or what?
I tried Lyrica for a while. My doctor had me gradually reduce my dose of Gabapentin while increasing my dose of Lyrica over several days. Did not find the Lyrica very effective so I am back on Gabapentin.

[rollin64]

has anybody else had problems with cavities after taking neurontin a long time? my teeth have been going bad the past few years. i've always brushed 2 sometimes 3x a day.

[SoFla]

has anybody else had problems with cavities after taking neurontin a long time? my teeth have been going bad the past few years. i've always brushed 2 sometimes 3x a day.

I've been taking it for 4 years. No problem with my teeth. Could it be a natural part of aging doing damage to your teeth? They do wear out over time. Many of mine are crowned.

I take 300mg, 2 or 3x a day. I once took much more, but did not like the dead-head that went along with the high dose, and ramped down.

[shelley]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Dr. Young, Sean was taking amytryptyline while he was in rehab. It didn’t really seem to be too effective for him. He has never tried clonidine. It’s interesting to me that you said that gabapentin is effective in reducing spasms. Sean’s seem to be stronger since starting this medication.

David, I hope this is the case with Sean, and the symptoms subside quickly.

I think we’ll give it a little time. The problem is that his next appointment with the pain specialist is December 5th. We have enough of the 400 mg pills for 7 days, and then we have the huge size 800 mg pills that he’s suppose to take after that. I think maybe he should stay on the 400 mg for a while to see if he adjusts.

Some of the side effects on that web site are quite scary.

Anyway, thanks again. Here’s hoping it helps his pain and the side effects are minimal.

[firesmurf]

my pain doc allowed me to do the opposite,taper off the lyrica while tapering onto neurontin.as long as you are getting way down on dosage,it realiatically shouldn't be a huge issue.all docs kind of do things in their own way.i would actually speak with your regular pharmacist and ask him or her what they think about it,then go to your doc with the info.i know alot of people who taper off one while tapering onto another anti S med.its a pretty common thing,and like i said before,it does make the transistion a bit easier.if your pharmacist doesn't see a problem with it,i would think your doc would agree to do it this way too.the only issue i had was a bit of increase in drowsiness/spaciness when i was on the, i think it was two days?while i was on both.just speak to your pharm and go with what he says to your doc if it is different.this is just done this way with alot of docs all the time.hopefully the doc will change his mind.it is a bit easier.please let me know what you find out,K?Marcia

[Kendell]

my pain doc allowed me to do the opposite,taper off the lyrica while tapering onto neurontin.as long as you are getting way down on dosage,it realiatically shouldn't be a huge issue.all docs kind of do things in their own way.i would actually speak with your regular pharmacist and ask him or her what they think about it,then go to your doc with the info.i know alot of people who taper off one while tapering onto another anti S med.its a pretty common thing,and like i said before,it does make the transistion a bit easier.if your pharmacist doesn't see a problem with it,i would think your doc would agree to do it this way too.the only issue i had was a bit of increase in drowsiness/spaciness when i was on the, i think it was two days?while i was on both.just speak to your pharm and go with what he says to your doc if it is different.this is just done this way with alot of docs all the time.hopefully the doc will change his mind.it is a bit easier.please let me know what you find out,K?Marcia

I appreciate the suggestions, Marcia. :) I don't know if this doc will listen (he is notorious for not doing so), but I think it's worth another try using this approach. She goes in again in a few days so we'll see what happens!

[alan]

I've tried elavil and other tricyclics, with the same lack of success as everything else.

[alan]

Dr. Young,

The only thing we haven't tried is clonidine, as my doctor worries about it lowering my already low blood pressure when sitting, and causing problems with lightheadedness, et al. What do you think? If I do take it, how long would it be before I notice any relief, if relief is to be had?

We're trying low dose Baclofen plus Zanaflex for spasms. I mainly need spasm relief at night, so moving under the covers doesn't set off my legs and abdomen, and before range, so my aide doesn't have to fight through spasms (and I don't have to deal with the aggravation of the abdominal pain the spasms cause.)

Sleep remains a problem, though I did end my string of three sleepless nights with about 4.5 hours last night.

Thanks,

[mike]

Alan, my wife takes Clonidine for high blood pressure and has problems with her pressure dropping significantly only to bound back higher then it was before. If you already have low blood pressure, you had better watch it very carefully as Clonidine can cause some big fluctuations.

[alan]

Thanks, Mike. Guess that's out.

[thylacine]

[quote=Kendell]Is it possible to start a new drug (Lyrica) before getting off Neurontin entirely?

Obviously doctors have different opinions but I was taking Neurontine and was advised all that changing to Lyrica required was to divide the Neurontine dose by 3 and swap to Lyrica.
So I replaced the 600 mg Neurontine with 200 mg Lyrica as it is a very similar drug. But do ask your doctor or another one for their opinion.

Checking in Google reveals that Lyrica only was able to achieve pain relief in 50% of cases in double blind tests and even then with no indication of by how much. Judging by all the negative comments about it on this forum it is a poor gamble on any success. It certainly didn't work for me.

I was under an impression that Lyrica was Neurontine with just a tweak to enable Pfizer to retain their patent for another 7 years. Neurontine is now available as a generic drug and therefore much cheaper. American capitalism alive and well.