When I was first diagnosed 6 months ago the Rheumy mentioned gabapentin, lyrica, and Cymbalta but at that time the pain was so intermittent that I didn't want pills. I'm petrified of addiction, it runs in my family and I have seen specks of it in myself so I avoid pills as much as possible, esp narcs. I am, however, on lamictal for epilepsy, Vit D, Vit B12, and now gabapentin.
4 months ago I started having seizure like episodes (blanking out for a split second, just enough to feel like I'm falling), so my neurologist added gabapentin to my "anticonvulsant regime", stating that it would likely help the nerve pain as well. When I told him I was recently diagnosed with fibro he gave that disbelieving "uh huh" so I asked what he suspected the pain was (he was my 2nd neuro consult) and he said "Well, that I don't know, but tests have ruled out anything 'bad' so it must be benign, see how the Neurontin/gabapentin works"
I started at the baby dose intending to wean up but at 300mg twice a day, 99% of my pains were gone. I got the sharp, shooting pains so intense my limb would spasm, bee stinging sensation, and pricklies I call them, the pins and needles that are different from the regular pins and needles people feel. I also had low back achiness that I attribute to bad posture and overuse, and chronic tension/discomfort in my (r) trap (between the shoulder blades up to the neck) that I attribute to stress posturing. Just the other day my right "shoulder" (trapezius muscle) was aching/tense all day, I took muscle relaxers then ibuprofen then more muscle relaxers with frequent heating & stretching before asking my mom for a massage. I asked if the muscle felt tense compared to the other side and she said it was just the opposite, the right felt soft compared to the left. So wondering if it wasn't ACTUALLY muscle pain I took 600mg gabapentin. Pain GONE! So I'm learning that my muscle pain is actually mixed signals so I'll happily reach for gaba instead of muscle relaxers and NSAIDS!
In the past month, I've been waking up early morning 3-4am in pain, first it was just my hips feeling numb (even on tempurpedic!), now it's progressed to everything aching. I actually came on today to talk about this increasing morning discomfort. But this is my experience with gabapentin-
My neuro and NP cousin say doctors LOVE gaba because it's non-habit forming, doesn't interact with anything, doesn't do any damage to organs, and doesn't need blood checks. Cons- half of their patients state no relief. I, however, have had incredible relief until recently, but this recent discomfort is different (changing fibro symptoms?). I started at 300mg twice a day then this past month increased to 600mg twice-three times/day. And I'm still getting this frustrating body ache.
Bottom line, as all have said, its trial and error for every individual. For me gabapentin has taken away 99% of the sharp shooting and bee sting pains. That is one med that is very safe and a great place to start.