Gabapentin

This thread breaks my heart AND scares me. I don't have chronic pain but...there by the grace of God go any of us.

My MIL has it though and it has impacted all of us including putting my child at risk due to her abusing prescription drugs. I've done a bit of research to help her, because she is so desperate and I adore her.

I can only humbly suggest ZERO artificial sweetners, partiularly aspartame. A safe omega 3 supplement that has been third party tested. Zyflamend whole body, or some sort of turmeric, which is expensive but worth it. Lots of water. A steady work/sleep schedule.

And..the worst part....physical activity. My MIL never bought into this either but, combined with a steady schedule, impacts your hormones, which impacts your coping abilities. She has since moved into senior living and takes yoga and water aerobics which have helped her immensely.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Nice
www.drweil.com...

I have taken gabapentin for fibromyalgia and small fiber polyneuropathy for over 10 years.

I have never had any major side effects from gabapentin.

I had major side affects from the antidepressant they tried first and now refuse to take any antidepressants for pain.

I can agree with staying away from aspartame or the fake name they use to hide it aminosweet.
It makes my fibromyalgia and small fiber polyneuropathy a lot worse.

a reply to: HoldMyBeer


Aspartame gave me terrible headaches.I since switched to Zevia and the headaches are gone.

I have gabapentin I take for nerve damage pain and only take it when I have burning shooting pain and too much numbness in my leg. I take meloxicam for spinal stenosis and arthritis. Chronic pain is horrible and there are times I would like something stronger, but I figure this could get a lot worse over the years. My pain meds usually work pretty good if I take them every day and they are in my system. If I'm having a bad day I'll add Tylenol. I'm also very careful not to push myself to do too much on days where I feel pretty good or man am I sorry after! OW! LOL

What works for one, may not work for another. It is all trial and error. Hopefully you will find what works best for you with the least amount of side affects.

I have suffered with fibromyalgia for most of my life, but didn't know what it was until about 4 years ago. I took Lyrica, but it became way too expensive, even with insurance. I was then switched to 400mg gabapentin, 3x a day. While it worked, wonderfully for the pain and nerve damage issues, it made me high as a kite do I couldn't take it during the day. I spoke to my doctor about it and she has now switched me to an extended release form of gabapentin called Horizant. This medication is also expensive, but I was able to get a $0 copay card from her and I pay nothing. It has worked thus far, but I also know that there is only so much that can be done. I also was put on 90mg daily of Cymbalta for pain, and it does help too. I also take meds for major depressive disorder, which are wellbutrin and celexa. I have never been on narcotics for the pain because my liver apparently processes it too fast to be of any real use in stopping the pain. I wish none of us had to deal with this kind of pain... 😦

I wouldn't normally post about stuff like this, but I have a severe dislike for gabapentin...
My mother, who has many problems including chronic pain, took some a few months ago for spastic legs or something...
I live with her, and within a day of starting the stuff, I told her she was "more loopy" than her meds normally made her.
She took the first dose before bedtime, then once more at 10 in the morning. Throughout the day, she SLOWLY got worse with slurred speech and as we tried watching "The Walking Dead," she kept asking the same questions over and over... I kept telling her I didn't like what seemed to be happening to her. She also started stuttering...
By 4pm, my cousin, (who had tried the stuff, only to find she had bad reactions to it) texted me it was bad, making me a bit more aware of the "badness" of it. I started getting concerned, so I called her doctor's office to express my concerns and ask for advice.
While on the phone with her nurse/case worker, I handed the phone to Mom, so the nurse could HEAR what I was talking about, and my mom could t even finish her sentence/thought, so I took the phone back from her. The nurse put me on hold to go get the doctor. (Because she was seriously concerned, too.)
Before the nurse got back, my mom hit a new low, and realized it herself, so she tried to tell me to call 911, but she couldn't make a sentence, and kept saying, "Nine, nine, nine, (etc)" so I hung up on the doctor's office and called 911, and they came and took her to the hospital, but not before Mom fell in and out of consciousness, unable to stay awake...
She was at the hospital for a few hours, not in good condition, but apparently good enough to transfer to a Native hospital for preference and economics...
(She was stuttering super bad by this time, but was able to answer questions, KINDA.)
The other hospital is less than an hour away, by ambulance, but by the time she got there, her vitals took a turn for the worse and they had to put her on (breathing) life support, either before or when she got there...
(Longer story shorter In a few days, she improved a bit. Mom was still having spastic legs, and even though she was still exhibiting bad symptoms, the doctor gave her another dose of GABAPENTIN, even though I explicitly expressed my concern for it, but he talked my (sedated) mom into a smaller dose...
Wouldn't you know, in the morning: Life support AGAIN...
For at least the next two weeks, I thought Mom wasn't gonna make it... And THEN I thought she'd never talk normal again...
Mom has bad kidneys, and her GFR went from 33 down to 4... (Thankfully, it above 20 again)
Scary times.
She's recovering, still, and better than I thought she would, so thank God... (I'm agnostic, but I prayed agnosticly MANY times over the few weeks, and I'd be remiss/ungrateful if I didn't even TRY to give thanks, since Mom is still with me, doing better) I'm so happy her speech returned back to normal... A couple weeks of stuttering made me think she'd never be the same, and although she's close, I don't know if she ever will be...
I'm sure I'm leaving out info, but tried including pertinent stuff...
F*** gabapentin, as far as I'm concerned.
Just to reiterate:
F*** GABAPENTIN
(For anybody who it helps, please disregard, and I hope you the best, but I can only react to what I've experienced or witnessed, personally)

a reply to: Night Star

surprised it works for you.
gabapentin is a med that needs to be constantly in your system.

if the levels are not built up then it does not work.
in theory anyway

a reply to: japhrimu

WOW!!! Well after all Your Mom went through, I'm Glad to see She is now doing ok!? I Wish Her and You the Best of Good Luck! Syx...

originally posted by: TinySickTears
a reply to: Night Star

surprised it works for you.
gabapentin is a med that needs to be constantly in your system.

if the levels are not built up then it does not work.
in theory anyway

I'm surprised too. The other pain med I'm on, I tried to skip days and I was in misery. Once I took it every day and it stayed in my system it helped tremendously. I don't understand it, but the gabapentin, even though I don't take it every day, helped the shooting burning pain and bad numbness. The thing is, it comes and goes. Usually I just have numbness which after so many years of having it, I tolerated it, but now and then I'll get that unbearable burning and shooting pain and the numbness is worse. Then I'll take the meds for a couple of days or so and I'm back to just the regular numbness. Maybe I'm an alien. LOL

a reply to: japhrimu

That is just terrifying! It is very scary to see what some meds can do to people. Everyone's bodies respond differently and you never know. That is why it is important to take the lowest dosage possible when starting a new prescription. There are certain meds I can't take at all, like any cholesterol pill which many people don't seem to have a problem with at all.

Five years ago, I was taking 900mg a day of gabapentin. I felt the same way OP did- just not myself. Something always felt missing.
I dealt with that for almost a yr but had to stop taking it.
I smoke marijuana nightly which works great. I usually only suffered from trigeminal neuralgia in bed, so I don't really have a need to smoke any other time of the day.
I also practice yoga and meditation. Being and peace and happier has also been a form of medicine. Stress is such a huge factor for pain...Live happy and healthy!

My sincerest sympathies (and respect) for what you're enduring, OP.

Hey... if it's legitimately what works for you, and you can handle it... nothing wrong with morphine. Yes it's narcotic, yes it has high addictive potential... but I have known people for whom it is the difference between living hell and life being at least moderately bearable. If it's what you need, I say take it. And yes, it's definitely more affordable than some alternatives.

As for not mentioning natural remedies... I respect your situation and predicament and if they don't help you, they don't help you. But I'd still be remiss if I didn't at least raise at least momentarily that controversial and increasingly legal plant many chronic pain patients have benefited from, myself included. No need to name it. You know of what I speak. And you probably also have either already tried it or can't afford it, or don't want to use it, or some combination thereof. So I won't harp on it. Just had to throw it out there. Now I will speak no more of it.

I sincerely wish you the best OP. I'm sure that's precious little comfort but I do. If morphine is what it takes, bias and stigma be damned, that's what it takes.

Best wishes.

Peace.

Good words, I was debating to add something or not to and well here I am. Pain does suck, and once you experience it we just want it to go away...just like you said natural remedies, I been involved in the bigpharm business and I had to leave it because we all know what they do, and it isn't helping.
There is other alternatives but only works if you are willing to try em. But if you have made up your mind that it will not work then it wont. But no need to put it out there like it doesn't work just because it didn't for you.

I hope you do recover, one way or another, with something or nothing...you know your body better than anyone else but just like morphine, there are other alternatives, one just has to be open to them, even if it is a silly shamanic dance...


a reply to: AceWombat04

I took gabapentin for 3 years to help alleviate 'electrical shock' sensations running down my spine, chronic muscle spasms, numbness (possible MS). It worked to alleviate most symptoms, but it made life very "gray". I was never too up or too down, if that makes sense. I also experienced a complete loss of empathy, accompanied by an increase in apathy. Colors (especially nature) seemed to have a filter on them that kept the brighter hues from reaching my brain. It seemed like I was not actually living my life, but watching myself live from an outer perspective while just going through the motions (voyeuristic viewpoint).

It took me 3 months to slowly ween off of gabapentin. I made the decision that the pain was a more palatable lifestyle than the lack of pain. I still deal with incredible pain daily, but at least I feel alive. Gabapentin made me feel like a ghost in my own body.

a reply to: DAVID64

I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to gabapentin. The only disorder it's actually approved for is to treat seizures from epilepsy. I wonder how that ever translated to treating chronic pain ? It certainly was useless for mine.

Gabapentin is a neuropathic analgesic. It is for nerve related pain. It is rubbish for muscular/bony/soft tissue pain relief. It's not designed for that type of pain. If opiates work for you and Gabapentin or pregabalin don't, then chances are it's not neuralgic pain and it has been inappropriately prescribed.

Opiates, opioids, simple analgesics and NSAIDS perform poorly on nerve related pain. People with amputations and injuries resulting in peripheral neuro or spinal cord injuries tend to respond better to neuropathic analgesics. If used appropriately in combination with appropriate other analgesics you can have a virtually pain free life with even severe injuries or illnesses. The side effects just need to be managed.

As a side note, the neurological aspect if their action means that they are often licensed for brain-related conditions such as generalised anxiety disorders or epilepsy.

Pain is a complex subject. Unfortunately many quacks will just try throwing different meds at a problem to see if it works or because they get a better handout from certain manufacturers.

(ETA I don't take credit for this. Most of it comes from my girlfriend who has a MSc in pain management!).

Gabapentin did wonders for some nerve damage pain I had, that nothing else touched, but it wasn't without its side effects. I experienced many of the same effects as you OP.

I was told that to keep the nerve pain at bay, I would need to take it for the rest of my life.. However, once the pain became less and less over months, I decided to stop taking it. The nerve pain has never returned, thankfully, since there are plenty of other sources of pain!

Now, it seems to be all about prescribing anti depressants regardless of not having depression. Anyone else get pushed the same stuff for severe, chronic pain?

I take 600mg of Gabapentin for a psychological and neurological condition.

For me, it's been pretty much a godsend in helping to stave off anxiety attacks and help mediate some of the more discomforting aspects of daily mental management. There was, however, a brief week where I was unable to fill my prescription due to a clerical oversight, and the withdrawal symptoms were exceedingly distressing. So, as long as I am not subject to a sudden lack of medication, I do fairly well on it.

My psychiatrist was pleased it was effective in helping calm some of the more aggressive aspects I deal with....it's definitely not a cure all, but it takes the edge off dramatically. We had been pretty much all over the traditional formats for managing my condition, and Gabapentin was a "lets just try this" that ended up working minor miracles.

I had no idea this medication was used to treat pain...I've never experienced anything that I would ascribe to pain mediation from it....up until this thread I was under the impression it was for psychiatric use almost exclusively. As they say, learn something new every day.

originally posted by: PaddyInf
People with amputations and injuries resulting in peripheral neuro or spinal cord injuries tend to respond better to neuropathic analgesics.

sure.
i had an amputation and gabapentin didnt work for me
i respond very well to the roxicodone