Gabapentin

I hate this stuff. I've tried it before and had no luck with it. I've also tried something similar, called Lyrica. Both make me dizzy, which makes me nauseous, I stumble, because it feels like the room is titled, short term memory is terrible, muddy thought process [ not bad thoughts, it just seemed to take twice as long to process thoughts/ideas or make decisions ] and I just didn't feel like me. I am under treatment for moderate to severe chronic pain and have been on narcotics for years, but this stuff does things the narcotics never did. I get all the side effects and none of the relief. Imagine going through your day, feeling like the whole world was just that little bit out of square. Cooking, driving, just everyday normal things that you don't even think of, now take intense concentration.
www.drugs.com...

Commonly reported side effects of gabapentin include fatigue, viral infection, ataxia, nystagmus, dizziness, drowsiness, sedation, and fever. Other side effects include tremor, blurred vision, diplopia, peripheral edema, xerostomia, amblyopia, and irritability.

If those are not bad enough, here's more : And this is just a small part of a Long list of adverse reactions.

Clumsiness or unsteadiness
continuous, uncontrolled, back-and-forth, or rolling eye movements
More common in children
Aggressive behavior or other behavior problems
anxiety
concentration problems and change in school performance
crying
depression
false sense of well-being
hyperactivity or increase in body movements
rapidly changing moods
reacting too quickly, too emotional, or overreacting
restlessness
suspiciousness or distrust

My Doctor wanted me to try something "new" they've come out with, named Gralise. It's nothing but time released Gabapentin. I agreed to try it, because I thought maybe the timed release would help negate the side effects, but, no luck. Once it built up, all the bad stuff started like always. I quit taking it and I'm just now getting back to the point I can type, without having to correct a good third of what I write. My speed was gone too, along with hand/eye co ordination, then throw in blurry vision, so a long reply to posts was too annoying to attempt or took so long, it wound up on page 3, when I was answering a post on page 1.
He gave me a 15 day starter pack and a prescription. I hadn't even finished the first week of pills, but I checked with the pharmacy, to see how much insurance would cover and what my co pay would be.
I hope you don't have coffee in your mouth.
$569.00 That's not a typo. I didn't mean to type $5.69. It was Five Hundred Sixty Nine Dollars and That's the co pay!. Even if it worked, I couldn't afford it!
At this point, let me beg you to please, Please!? not try to sell me on any natural cures, ok? I don't "smoke" and I've tried all the fruit juice, vitamin, natural, stand on your head and rub your belly pain relief "cures" out there. I'm sticking to morphine. It works, it's cheap and I can't afford that magic plant, found deep in the Amazon jungle, harvested by the local shaman
[ only after the appropriate dance and scouring of evil spirits ]
and the supplier just so happens to be the only one who can convince him to do it because they are the only ones with the spiritual purity/higher consciousness to connect with said shaman.
Ok? We good sport? [ I will bet folding money someone does anyway. ]
I'd rather have the pain than take this stuff. I'm used to the pain. I'm Not used to having my world tilted at 20 degrees, blurry vision and the co ordination of a 3 year old. Maybe it works for enough people that they keep it on the market or Doctors get enough to try it to make it profitable, but the first list was the common side effects!
Now....Has anyone tried this stuff and Not had those nasty side effects?

I take 2,000 mg of Gabapentin daily with no side effects and have for 5 years now. A friend of mine who took much higher doses used to get very, very sick when she ran out. I often forget to take mine and the biggest issue I get is burning pains.
Morphine is cheap and effective, no point in stopping something that still works.

Long term treatment of chronic pain is a real bugger. Your body builds up such a tolerance that you can take 3x your normal dose and still not get relief. What I discovered is that past a point taking more actually increases the pain. I think its your bodies way of feeding an addiction. I just recently got myself off oxycodone after 5 years on it. Much more difficult to stop than the morphine. I quit because I'm tired of the way they made me feel not like myself. I've noticed over the last year my writing has become poorer, often forgetting to type in a word.

I'd stay away from Gabapentin, it doesn't sound like it works for your chemistry. Stick to what you know works and does so cheaply. The first script I got for pain was running me $800/mo co pay. At a time when I was disabled and my wife lost her job. These doctors often forget the rest of us don't have endless bank accounts so you have to remind them it seems.

I hope you can get your issues under control and live pain free some day.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

I get surprisingly good results from adding a couple Tylenol or Advil to my daily dose of Morphine. It seems that, if I can get some of the inflammation down, the pain level goes down as well. I've been doing that for years now, but I guess my Dr was afraid of stomach problems, although I've always had the infamous "cast iron stomach". I'm glad you can take it and that it helps, but it's a definite No! for me.

Hmmph. Gabapentin doesn't seem to do much for me one way or the other. I hope you find a better alternative.

i was on it for a long time.
i didnt get any relief from it. nothing to speak of anyway.
doc switched me to lyrica.
crazy side effects with lyrica. hated it.
i got really, really sick when i came off of them.

this is not a popular opinion but i would stick with opiates.
as long as you get them on the level and you can gradually take yourself off if you need to you will be fine.
there are side effects like constipation but it is not a big deal. it does not happen to me unless i am taking a crazy high dose(which i am). it should be mentioned that i dont drink water. maybe a glass total in a week so that contributes to my problem. a little fiber powder in some juice here and there and i am fine.
i have been taking 120 milligrams of roxicodone a day for about 3 years now.
it keeps my pain in check. i have the side effects in check.
there is no acetomenophin in it so i am not worried about my liver.

the only down side to that is you can get very sick if you go cold turkey without.
in 3 years it has happened to me twice. my doc writes on the script(do not fill before this date) which is 1 day before i am due to run our. twice i have gone on the day and the pharmacy was out.
once i had to wait only an extra day and i was ok. i was cutting my pills up and taking pieces.
the other time it took a couple days and i was very sick.

again, i know it is not popular but it is what i do and it works for me.

gonna send you a private message now with some info about an all natural deal but the mods dont like it and no it is not pot

originally posted by: TinySickTears
this is not a popular opinion but i would stick with opiates.
as long as you get them on the level and you can gradually take yourself off if you need to you will be fine.
there are side effects like constipation but it is not a big deal. it does not happen to me unless i am taking a crazy high dose(which i am). it should be mentioned that i dont drink water. maybe a glass total in a week so that contributes to my problem. a little fiber powder in some juice here and there and i am fine.
i have been taking 120 milligrams of roxicodone a day for about 3 years now.
it keeps my pain in check. i have the side effects in check.
there is no acetomenophin in it so i am not worried about my liver.

I'd agree with that. But in order to do that, you have to have a legitimate pain problem that can be diagnosed and it has to be severe enough to even get them prescribed in the first place. I have scoliosis and it is quite painful, pinching of the back nerves etc. But if I were to go and ask for pain medication, they'd probably treat me like a drug seeker and wouldn't even give it to me, so it is a rare option to be able to have to begin with.

a reply to: r0xor

oh i agree. sounds like the op is legit though.
if his doc is giving him scripts for lyrica then he can get a script for an opiate. for sure.
not saying he could get on something high like i have.
my diagnosis is pretty serious but im sure his doc would hook him up with some vike/perc 10's.

im gonna send you a link to roxor. gonna copy my message i sent to the op.
might help you

a reply to: TinySickTears

I don't drink much water either, but I go through gallons of fruit juice and milk, so I've been fortunate not to have that problem. The water around here is nasty and I really don't want to spend all that money on bottled water that's no better, so I just go with the juices and I've always loved a cold glass of milk, just about any time of day. Especially witha big piece of cake.
mmmm cake.

a reply to: TinySickTears

I can always count on finding people who have had experiences similar to my own on ATS. Pharmacies now have this crazy rule about not filling any narcotic prescriptions before 30 days. If you take the recommended dose then you essentially have to run out before they will refill it. That allows no leeway for losing pills, getting shorted on your prescription (one time I was shorted by 7 pills - 2 days worth, this is why I always count them when I pick them up)

Had the pharmacy run out several times, been snowed in for several days and couldn't get out so I know how that couple of days without thing goes - which is why I just got myself off opiates. The withdrawl is too awful, it's the only thing that ever made me want to kill myself and nearly did. Glad to be off the chain and not dependent on doctors, pharmacies and all the crazy rules they have put in place to stop pill abuse. It seems to only screw up the legitimate pain patients.

a reply to: TinySickTears

not saying he could get on something high like i have.
my diagnosis is pretty serious but im sure his doc would hook him up with some vike/perc 10's.

I was on 80 of Oxycontin twice a day and wanted to get off of, so got switched to Methadone which is just as addictive. I finally went to a pain specialist who put me on 200 mg of extended release morphine per day, with up to 3 -15 mg instant release per day, in case the pain goes beyond what the 200 can handle.
I was crushed as a coal miner and spent 2 years getting reconstructive bone grafts to repair the damage.

The odd thing for me was, I went through so many half week to one week withdrawals from opiates when I was on them that I got used to the sickness, so when I quit I just toughed it out. The worst part is mostly over after two weeks or so (unless you're talking about methadone or buprenorphine, the longer acting ones take longer). Benzodiazepine withdrawal however can last for months, in fact, years if you were on a longer acting one for long enough. I know that sounds crazy but it's true. It was hell on earth for me. I couldn't believe I was still symptomatic (they'd come and go) after a year! It's been three or so years now, and if I were to even take a crumb of the stuff for a few days in a row, I'd feel anxious, weird, spacey, twitchy, and unable to sleep. Now THAT is a terrible drug.

Opiate withdrawal does cause a helluva depression though.

a reply to: r0xor

Some of those meds get stored in body fat, so as you burn fat for calories, you keep getting small doses. Not enough to effect you, just enough to make withdraw a living hell.

a reply to: DAVID64

Right. Benzodiazepines are lipid soluble, as is marijuana.

When I quit that one a couple of months ago.. whoa nelly, had some wild dreams. I still do. lol

a reply to: Asktheanimals

yeah the laws are pretty tight these days.
back in the day i could get scripts for opiates called in. faxed in. i could get a partial fill if they didnt have the entire amount or if i did not have enough to pay for all of it.
not anymore.
you have to have a new, paper script every time. no partial fills. no early fills.
well technically that is not true. they will fill it 1 day early but no sooner.
good and bad i guess.
good for the people that want to double and triple up to get a buzz and run out early.
bad for people like us that need them and can get very sick if any variable pops up like weather or how much stock.

i dont think the rules should be so cut and dry across the board.

i get not letting refills be called in and no early fills. i get it for people that are new to a doc or a parmacy.
i have been getting the same script from the same doc and filling it at the same pharmacy for 3 years.
i think i should be able to get a pass and get them filled a few days early at least.
i mean #. i live in ohio and winters are brutal.
we are lucking out now with the weather but you never know how it is gonna be.
sometimes it is impossible to get to the pharmacy

why should i be made to get sick because a pharmacy cant keep their # stocked?
know what i mean

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: TinySickTears

not saying he could get on something high like i have.
my diagnosis is pretty serious but im sure his doc would hook him up with some vike/perc 10's.

I was on 80 of Oxycontin twice a day and wanted to get off of, so got switched to Methadone which is just as addictive. I finally went to a pain specialist who put me on 200 mg of extended release morphine per day, with up to 3 -15 mg instant release per day, in case the pain goes beyond what the 200 can handle.
I was crushed as a coal miner and spent 2 years getting reconstructive bone grafts to repair the damage.

no way i would be taking twice a day extended release pills.
for me, that is where the bathroom problems start.
when i first got hurt i had morphine er 60's twice a day plus the lyrica plus the roxi.
first i got off the lyrica then the er's.
all i take is the 4 a day and while i am not pain free i am maintaining very well.

everyone is different man. you have to do what works for you

Like many drugs that are marketed for low mood, (not saying that is why you are taking it, previous posters, just that, in UK it is thought of as an anti-D) Gabapentin has other uses...I was prescribed it for shingles and insomnia and it gave me night terrors worse than any ATS member's story (which is why I so often question what else is going on when people report abductions etc...it's not cynicism, just an understanding that other factors play their part),

Recently, it seemed the drug of choice for my brain injury clients, but I've noticed far fewer prescriptions. I consider a heavy choice and would always ask to try an alternative. Of course, I'm in the UK, so, as I work, it only costs about £8 per prescription, so sometimes it's worth giving it a punt.

a reply to: DAVID64

Don't forget dioarhea, I'm on them right now and my bumbum is winking and it comes out of me like water sometimes when I take them! I'm on them for severe nerve damage in my wrist.

a reply to: DAVID64

You hit the nail with those side affects. Burned my hand twice because I kept grabbing my iron skillet without a pot holder. I'm on Lyrica now 150mg. Gabapentin the cheaper of the two, I had a violent reaction to. But that happened 3 weeks after I started. Bad time to learn you're allergic to it. Doctor switched me to 75 mg 3 times a day. Took a week to get in my system. Made me jittery and over reactive while driving skills. Such as turning the wheel or slam the breaks. Then one side affect not on the papers. Is it may shut down your brains ability to turn off hunger.

( OMG! I had no idea I could eat 4 mega burritos in one sitting. Only to still be hungry. )

Took a bit to adjust the dose. But years later I'm almost pain free. 150mg 3 per day.

Quick note. Lyrica will remain very expensive because it's not allowed to be in a synthetic form yet.