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Yes, I have the same experience with it, in addition to the mental fog and speech impairment. That's why I stopped it too. But the nerve pain started again. Maybe I'm at the wrong dosage. Will explore that with the neurologist. But that fabulous sleep! That is golden! If I didn't have to be so on the ball mentally at work, the mental fog wouldn't be as bothersome - like if I were already retired. Feeling off balance when walking is also a problem.
Lucky - did you find another acceptable solution to your nerve pain after stopping the Gaba?
Yes I did, but it took some time. I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and when the Gaba didn't work I took Vicodin while searching for other remedies. I have the best neurologist who kept trying.
I now take amitriptyline at night and Cymbalta in the morning. The combination of the two has completely alleviated my pain.
I have increasing shoulder arm pain for about a year. I switched doctors because the office I was going to was just incompetent. Plus two of the only good doctors had left that practice and I followed them. I was put on Gabapentin and it helped so much. I do not really see any bad side effects. I did get a nerve test and was told I had severe carpel tunnel syndrome. They scheduled me for surgery on Jan. 14. I still have horrible pain in my upper shoulder that shoots down my entire arm at times. This arm is weak and I have no reflexes in that arm. The insurance has finally agreed to an MRI. Hopefully we can find out what's wrong and fix it.
I've been taking gabapentin for about 2 months now for pain, so far I haven't had any negative results. But I don't see any difference in results than from taking a double dose of aspirin.
I take 900 mgs a day, one tablet three times. I do see some bad side effects including dizziness, mental fog, memory loss and slurred speech. Burt it helps with nerve pain in my let foot and right amp. The pain is really bad without it. Gabby does not take all the pain away but does make it more manageable. I plan on asking my doc what she thinks about a dosage increase.
I was given gabapentin during recovery for a knee replacement. After taking a dose of 300 mg twice a day (600mg total), for several months I noticed some good side effects, like improved sleep quality, cessation of other neurological nerve pain besides the knee. But it also has some negative but tolerable side effects like slight feeling of being off-balance and some slight cognitive impairment, like sometimes trouble concentrating at work. The most troubling side effect was sometimes having trouble with speech. That one was the weirdest side effect.
I stopped taking it a month ago and the negative side effects quickly ceased, but the nerve pain resumed in the knee which was there before the TKR and is due to another unrelated prior nerve condition, and also started to have some general tooth sensitivity. Yesterday I resumed the gaba to stop the nerve pain in the knee and experienced the best night of sleep that I've had since stopping the gaba a month ago.
For people here who take/have taken gabatentin - what condition do you take it for, dosage, and what your experience has been with this drug? It seems to be a kind of wonder drug for any kind of neurological condition, but does have some annoying side effects for me. These side effects reduced the longer I took it. Probably took it intermittently for about 8 months.
So, what are your thoughts and/or experience with gabapentin?
I was prescribed this for severe sciatica pain but it didn’t do anything for me.
I took 2700 mgs a day for a couple of months after I broke my arm and shattered my wrist ice skating in 2018. I started with one 300mg pill that made me short of breath. It took a couple of weeks to get up to that high of a dose. It was the only way I got through a very grueling and painful 5 month rehab.
My wrist was frozen and my fingers were in a claw like position for months. I took 120 hydrocodone in 3 months for pain and it wasn't helping. I was diagnosed with CRPS. It is not curable but can be put into remission if found early. I was one of the lucky ones, and the Gabapentin was a life saver.
It was rough taking that high of a dose. It shuts down everything and I would start a conversation. Stop mid stream, repeat it, and finally get the sentence out. My husband and I were driving down a road that I had been on hundreds of times, and I insisted I had never been on it before and we were lost. It was disturbing living in a fog like that, but you do what you have to do to recover.
I have a friend that is on it for life and has a nerve stimulator in her back. The poor thing. She's a mess. She can't drive now and is disabled.
CRPS is a weird condition that effects fewer than 200,000 people a year. Just taking a shower felt like little daggers hitting my arm. It also creates a feeling that your swelling is ten times bigger than it is. If you take a towel and rub it vigorously on the arm and wrist, it goes away for a little while.
Am I 100% nearly two years out? No, but without the Gabapentin? I don't want to think about it. At one time my therapist was talking about a nerve stimulator for me. I said not an option. I can't tell you how many times I just sat there and cried through the therapy. Part of it was the chemically induced depression from the hydrocodone, part of it was the pain, and part of it was the recent loss of my dog Howie. But I survived it all, and I still ice skate and roller skate Thank you Gabapentin.
I take 900 mgs a day, one tablet three times. I do see some bad side effects including dizziness, mental fog, memory loss and slurred speech. Burt it helps with nerve pain in my let foot and right amp.
LOL! It even makes you type with slurred speech.
I was prescribed Gabapentin for pain in my feet but noticed the same side effects you all are mentioning and decided to continue to treat myself with behavioral and mental changes for a while longer. I also couldn't tell if it was helping and I was napping all the time.
Something that helps for me is keeping a radio on in the background. Seems to distract me from noticing my feet. It's when I do a lot of walking or sit in silence that my attention is drawn to them.
Currently I exercise in water and that has made a huge difference in being able to get my exercise without abusing my feet.
The slurred or interrupted speech became the worst thing for me. At work, talking to my Manager or trying to lead a meeting, this very weird thing started happening that is hard to describe. It's like I'd be talking then suddenly I would stop mid-sentence and just couldn't get the words out for a couple of seconds. It felt like my throat closed up for a couple of seconds, trapping the words in my brain! Maybe a little slurred speech occasionally, but mainly it was that interruption (for lack of a better word) in my speech that became problematic and embarrassing. Now I know how a stroke victim must feel - trying to talk but the words just don't come out right, or at all. Anyway, the minute I stopped the Gaba, my speech became normal again. Shows this drug has a major effect on the brain, wherever speech, cognition, and coordination originate. That's kinda scary to me!
Haha. I'm actually going to use that as an excuse from now on! The fog was really bad this morning. I noticed it right when I woke up. I had to remind myself to take it slow. I was real dizzy also. When I remember to look for it and account for it, I can usually manage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar
Currently I exercise in water and that has made a huge difference in being able to get my exercise without abusing my feet.
I should do that. I worry about my remaining foot now. Since my right leg below knee amputation four years ago, the most I have walked in a single day is one and a half miles. I used to scoff at one and a half miles. Now it's way more than I typically walk
G/f took it (Neurontin) in mid 90s for Bipolar. Never did anything. Went to Lithium & then Depakote. Also had benzos scribed back then, as in Ativan & Klonopin. Those were for panic attacks, etc. I'd avoid it if I were you.
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Thank you Gabapentin.
