Gabapentin and any stories if pain relief.

I take 100 mcg of fentenyl every two days, 15 mg oxycodone for breakthru and soma. I have been on the same dosage for 5 years. This is a reasonable dosage for my amount of pain but i still do not find complete relief.
I also see a chiropractor and find some relief there.
My new pain specialist recently started me on 300 mg of gabapentin/neurontin and am actually finding some relief from it. I was curious how high this dose can go and any stories of other methods others have used to control their pain.

Good morning Lasardo!

I was wondering what your pain is on a scale of 1-10 when you are on your pain med's?

It is rare, that a CP patient finds complete relief even when on pain med's. Everyone is different in what they find as an acceptable amount of pain relief when on these medications. As an example, for me personally, I find that anything over a 4 and reaching a 5 is interfering with my quality of life. When being treated for chronic pain, I believe one must be careful in their expectations, and not reach the point that a patient may over look other hidden health problems…..some of them may be life threatening and quite serious.

It's just food for thought and my opinion only. I'm not here to judge you, but only to suggest and make sure your expectations are within reason. My sister had taken the Neurontin, and did very well on it. However one of the side effects was gaining weight, and she gained it rather rapidly, so she had it removed from her arsenal of pain relievers. I believe she is now looking at Cymbalta, a med I had tried recently. For me, it worked rather well at first, but then quickly lost it's pain reducing qualities. Since it is a depression med as well, it was bothersome to me, and changes to my personality became unacceptable.

I do know a few CP members that take a combination of the two med's and do rather well on them. (Neurontin/Cymbalta)

I think my sister summed it up for me, in that it took the joy right out of my heart.

Good luck to you, and be-careful .

SE

Welcome Hopeful63!

I would like to invite you to start a new thread, by clicking on "Post a New Topic" button. There is a good reason for this, and that is,... that not all members read each and everyone of these post. You will be far better served by starting a new post and introducing yourself. This way you will reach out to a much larger population, and may receive far better support and answers to your questions.

I'm sorry for your health problems, but so very glad you found this site!

Again, "Welcome" and please consider starting a "New Post"

Thanks, and Take Care!

SE

I am on 200-300mg neurontin 3 times a day and 10-15mg oxycodone and 30mg amitriptyline at night and this gets pain down to about a 4-5 and is much better so working for me. To be honest any weight gain would be fantastic as have Crohn's and ileostomy and shortbowek syndrome so need to eat about 4000 calories a day to maintain weight at normal level and I'm finding that hard at the moment as the exhaustion from the Lupus is meaning I'm too tired to eat full amount of calories needed.

Hello, I have been taking Neurontin for 3 years along with my ms contin 60mg 3xday, 10 mg percocet as needed for bt pain and 300 to 600 mg of Neurontin.  This has worked well for me, I was going to try Cymbalta, but I have changed my mind.  None of what I take makes all the pain go away, nothing does and nothing ever will.

All I look for is a good quality of life with being disabled, and that is what I get, and I am grateful.  If you keep looking for something to make the pain go away and never come back, and you find it, please  let everyone know.

Good Luck to you and take care,

Kathy

I was taking 10/325 hydrocodone 4 times a day along with 300mg gabapentin 3 times a day. I asked the doc to take me off the gabapentin because it makes be so drowsy that I can't function.

Lasardo, Gabapentin had me so dopey I couldn't function and like you Cymbalta had serious mental side effects for me. I suffer from mild depression - with the cymbalta on board it became severe depression and borderline psychosis, to the point that I very nearly came to physical harm.

Instead I'm on Topamax and it certainly does help. The downside for me - and certainly would be for you too - is that it can cause weight loss. My gastroparesis is stable again at the moment, but I can lose 5kg (~10lb) in a week when I have a crash.

Laura

It is so hard to find complete relief Us chronic pain ppl have a difficult time getting pain relief.

When is your next appointment with your doctor to adjust meds?

Please keep us updated on your health.

soft Hugs
Betsey.

I have heard great things about both Neurotin and Lyrica. I've also heard there can be significant side effects as well. Considering that I'm already on two moderately potent medications, I decided to pass on talking to my doctor about adding Lyrica or Nuerotin to adjuvant pain control. However, about 80 percent of the time I achieve moderate to significant pain relief with my current regiment.

Then there's that 20 percent of the time when I'm not receiving proper pain relief. However, with both medications as I understand, they have to be taken daily for any substantial affect. Perhaps if my pain were unsatisfactorily treated about 40 percent of the time on my current regiment I'd consider it and its something to keep in mind IF that happens. :)