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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 took gabapentin briefly for some arthritis pain in my neck, and while I had the best nights' sleep I'd ever had, I also continued to sleep away most of the day. So I stopped taking it.
I took it for about 6-8 months due to nerve pain from a disc herniation. I was taking 600 mg a day, one capsule in the am and one in the pm, a dose I rarely exceeded. It helped a bit and the evening dose in particular, did help me sleep (I noticed very little affect in the am). I didn't experience any side effects, though I know some people do. I ceased taking it after I had surgery to correct my issue and no longer had any pain.
I don't know if you've done a search, but there have been a few threads about Gabapentin that you might find helpful, including this one.
TXAG93 - Oh no, I hadn't done a search on gaba here. Thanks for the link, I'll read through it! (btw, I'm an Ag too, assuming your'e referring to TAMU!).
I know of someone who has taken Gaba for years for some kind of neuro pain, and at a much higher dose and he says he has no negative issues with it. I was hoping that after 8 months on it, that the nerve pain may have somehow resolved on it's own during that time. It didin't. So I think I will take the rest of the Gaba that was given to me after the TKR by the Ortho surgeon, then see a neurologist to explore the issue of unrelated TKR nerve pain above my knee. I suspect it to be Meralgia Paresthetica, as my experience of symptoms match exactly with this condition. I mentioned the issue with my doctor at the time it started - several years ago. He just shrugged and said nothing. Then several years later, along with the numb patch above my knee, I began having nerve pain as well about a year before the TKR. I can tolerate the numb patch on my thigh, but not the accompanying nerve pain that recently started. Ugh! But the Gaba puts a stop to the nerve pain. But the numb patch remains.
Last edited by BijouBaby; 02-15-2020 at 12:23 PM..
I tried to tale gabapentin for nerve pain. While it helped with the pain I was always dizzy - so much so I had to stop taking it. I was taking it at night in order to lessen the side effects, but they were too much to continue taking it.
TXAG93 - Oh no, I hadn't done a search on gaba here. Thanks for the link, I'll read through it! (btw, I'm an Ag too, assuming your'e referring to TAMU!).
I tried to tale gabapentin for nerve pain. While it helped with the pain I was always dizzy - so much so I had to stop taking it. I was taking it at night in order to lessen the side effects, but they were too much to continue taking it.
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?
I've been on 100mg gabapentin for about three years for peripheral neuropathy. I'm prescribed 4x a day, but I usually keep it down to 2x a day unless I have flare-ups of the pain.
Within the last six months, I've noticed quite a bit of tooth sensitivity, which I've never had before. The dentist says there's nothing wrong with my teeth. I'm definitely going to look into the gabapentin/tooth sensitivity tie-in.
Other than that, I've had no side effects; no fogginess or speech impairment.....at least no more than is natural (I'm older than dirt).
I've heard that you shouldn't stop gabapentin cold turkey. True? I might ease off for a while and see what happens with my teeth.
I've heard that you shouldn't stop gabapentin cold turkey. True? I might ease off for a while and see what happens with my teeth.
That's my understanding too. I took 1200 mg per day for for a couple of years for what was originally thought to be fibromyalgia. It turned out to be a cervical vertebrae and pinched disk pressing on a nerve. I never noticed any beneficial effect from gabapentin (Neurontin). When I stopped, I did so gradually over the course of about 6 weeks. Abruptly stopping can have some unpleasant withdrawal effects, including seizures in some people. I experienced no ill effects, however, as said, I gradually reduced the amount.
I posted on the other threads but I sometimes take 600 mg for insomnia. It takes hours to work and before it puts me to sleep, it makes me really energetic and almost "high." Then it knocks me out for 8-9 hours. If you are an older person you should be really careful with it, as we found out with my cousin who now has Alzheimers. She totally lost her memory for several days until one of her doctors realized that she was on a high dose of Gabapentin and took her off it. She returned to normal very quickly, in a day maybe. But I think permanent damage was done.
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