I just got Gabapentin- Any feedback would be great

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PythonPlay3

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Joined
Sep 16, 2014
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59
Reason
DX FIBRO
Diagnosis
06/2005
Country
CA
State
AB
Hello,
I have been using a 24hr release medication for pain and then other meds for the breakthrough pain. But I have still been having "sharp" stinging pains, like electrical and so my doctor just put me on Gabapentin. I am wondering if anyone else has used this medication. I see it is an epilepsy medication, so I am a little confused. :roll:
 
ive been on two of them for almost over 1 year now. gabby as i call it is for the nerve pain you have. its a blocker to the brain. it is also used for other things. i also have been on gralease its a time release gabby. i was taking 3600 mg a day.1800 of gabby and 1800 gralease. after months of taking both
i find out the law says you are not aloud to take both. so i weened of gabby with very bad withdrawals. im taking only gralease now 3000 mg a day.
script is through my neurologist.he tells me take 2 in am 1 at noon and 2 at 5pm. just got back an hour ago from pain mgt doctor.she said you cant take 3000mg of the gralease in seperate doses. its a once a day thing. i asked her so i take all 5 pills at night? she said no. 3000 mg is too much. i told her
we are weening me off it and 2700mg is max. she said no too much. so now here i am again with two doctors having a pissing contest. pain mgt could care less about getting withdrawals. this med seems to keep me at a level 3/4. if it works for you please post. try it. just dont get caught up in a pissing contest over it. its not worth the withdrawals.
 
Pythonplay3 this is a cut and paste from another post I responded to. Figured the info could help..

Good luck with the Gabopentin for fibro...Stats that I can find for the drug states only 10% report relief for fibro taking this med. If it works great, if not, find something that does...

this is from pubmed health.
Gabapentin is helpful for some people with chronic neuropathic pain or fibromyalgia. It is not possible to know beforehand who will benefit and who will not. Current knowledge suggests that a short trial is the best way of telling.

Basic trial & error to see if it works for you or not. New meds are tricky like that. Keep us posted with your experience.
 
Yes, trial and error. If it works, use it. If not, move on.

For me, gabapentin is a total lifesaver. It is the only thing that blocks my incapacitating headaches. On it, my head feels fine. If I'm late for a dose or miss one, the skull crushing pain rages back. I haven't had any side effects, either, so I love it. However, it doesn't seem to do anything for the fibro pain anywhere else in my body, just the headache.
 
I was on gabby for 6 months because of nerve damage from a back injury. This was before I was officially diagnosed with fibro. It helped my nerve damage pain but not the other pain I was having that I now know is fibro.

It seems like trial and error is the way to go since what works for one of us may not work for others.

Hoping everyone finds what works best for them!
 
My doc put me on gabapentin a while back. I only got up to 900mg a day and it was the worst thing ever personally! I had horrible nightmares, burning stinging pain down my face. Ugh, will never go there again. I am glad it is working for some people. I just hope nobody experienced what I did for 2 weeks before I just stopped cold turkey and everything went away. It was the only med I was taking at the time too. Oh well, trial and error.
 
well i went to pain mgt yesterday and her and my neurologist are now is a pissing contest over the doseage and the way im taking it.
as i said above, im on 3600 mg. way over the legal dose. im still having the knife pains(nerves). i told her i stopped counting in the morning
as i was up to no kidding 287 times. pain mgt thinks 3000 is too much and i should go down to much less. no weening. neuro sees withdrawal and is weening me down. take two in am 1 at noon and 2 at 5pm. pain mgt says you cant take gralise/gabby like that only once a day. some doctors dont care about withdrawals and some do.

i dont think its helping me as i see you folks are on 300 mg and its not helping you either.
if it helps you, find your dose and continue if not ween off of it.
thanks for reading.
 
I take the minimum 300-600mg, although I have had to take up to 900 mg when the pain is real bad and repeat at night. I am sorry your pain is so much greater than mine. Take them in intervals, twice a day. I am also on other medication, Cymbalta for fibro. I have other meds I take for other reason. Clonazepam works for the anxiety and to calm you down, because pain causes you to get anxious and have more of it. Good luck!
 
Gab. is generic for Lyrica. Lyrica works for me, along with Cymbalta. THE LYRICA WORK FOR ANXIETY TOO.
MY LAST DR APP., I was pleased to be put on pain meds, will follow through and change to a patch for 6 months..,
, was told it tricks the brain into thinking it's a new drug. I'm so thankful I have a caring Dr. I SHould TELL YA ALL THOUGH, I WAS TOLD I HAVE SOMETHING like FIBRO BUT can be debilitating in the long run. So....that's depressing.
 
I was also on the clonopam 4mg. It made me not there so to speak. Head down eyes barley open. My wife told me I'm a different person on it. She told me to get off of it or I will leave you.
Scary! So like a fool I just stopped it! Went through really bad withdrawal.
Once I was off of it,I went to neurologist. I've gone to him to get every organ check.
So a lot of visits. He said to me its nice to finally meet you. I've never met you before.
I soon glad if off of it. My pain mgt wants me back on it at a lower dose. Neurologist wants
Me never to take it again. Feels I had a type of allergic reaction to it. More pissing contests!

Take what works for you and your family.
It really is quality of life. We can all live with the pain.
Make informed decisions folks.
 
I have taken gabapentin. I had to take 500mg before it helped with the pain and it took a few weeks to work. I only took it at bedtime. It was awesome to wake up and have energy and be relatively pain-free! However, I was allergic to it and had to stop taking it. Because I wasn't on it more than a few weeks, there was no withdrawal symptoms. I was so unhappy because it worked. I have tried a lot of things via the pain clinic and none of them worked but the gabapentin. I agree with others that if it works go for it and if it doesn't then don't. When I have to make that decision as to if to take it or not, I have to decide if the side effects are worth the pain relief. If I wasn't allergic I would take it again. That is how much it helped me. Hugs to you on your journey.
 
Well, after 5 days on it, I woke up one morning with no muscle sharp pains. I have severe arthritis in my back in multiple locations. I have been having pain that was nerve pain and of course the Fibro made it worse. That pain, is gone. I can move my shoulders and back completely with no pain. I do still have the pain points and joint pain, but even those are less pain. So far so good for me. I will keep you updated.

I am taking 100mg in the am and 400mg at bedtime. I have not noticed any side affects other than the dry mouth is worse than it was. That is a side affect of a couple of my meds, so now it is a bit more.
 
PythonPlay3 im glad your beginning to recover. your muscles and the muscles that hold the joints in place will take weeks to heal.

the reduction in the knife/sharp pains is due to the gabby. the firbo pain is nerve pain/sharp pain.

i rooting for you, hang in there! meds are also going to take weeks to work even better. at 3600 mg, you can see im really trying to make the gabby work.
 
WOW that is a really high amount cmetryme! I am only on 500mg total for now. I am keeping my fingers crossed, my toes crossed and my eyes crossed that this works!
 
ues its over the limits. im now cut down to 3000mg a day i also take morphine @ 60mg and a cancer pain med at 400mcg a day.
im still crying and my average daily pain level is a 6/7. thats why its important for me to come here,tell folks what i have learned.
why i tell them hang in there and all my doctor experiences.
 
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