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Posted 5/19/2010 2:27 PM (GMT 0)

I am taking 300 mg of Gabapentin in the morning and noon and 600 mg at night. 

I'm not sure it's doing anything.  Maybe I'm just in a flare.

What kind of results have you had from Gabapentin?

Posted 5/19/2010 3:26 PM (GMT 0)
I take 300 in morning, 300 at 8PM, 300 just before bed. I take tramadol morning and noon, sometimes afternoon.
Gabapentin makes me a little sleepy; tramadol wakes me up and makes me happy.
The evening dose gets me ready to sleep in 2 1/2 hours, and the bedtime dose lets me sleep through the night most nights.

Try tramadol for the flare! It doesn't seem to need more and more. I've taken the same dose for a couple of years. It does hit the same recrptors as narcotics, so it's good for pain that isn't horrible. It doesn't seem to hit bone pain much - my arthritis in my spine, but it does take away most muscle pain.

In addition I've found that getting my vitamin D level up helps a LOT with fibro pain. I was at only 18 in early spring. You need 100 units of D3 for every 1ng you are low. That meant I needed 4,000 units of D3. I take a 2,000 in the morning and another in the evening - if I haven't been out in the sun. 2,000 a day won't hurt anybody. The toxic level is 10,000 a day for a long time. I got my husband to start taking it. He has always had brown spots on his legs from bumping into things in the greenhouse. They are almost gone and his skin heals much, much faster now.
Posted 5/19/2010 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I took gaba for about 6 months and at first it worked very well for helping control pain BUT all of a sudden it started making me loopy, like drunk or high and I wasn't. I was on 900mgs per day. I haven't taken any for a while
Posted 5/19/2010 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
just wondering if anyone lost weight after the whole gabapentin thing...as I gained 50 pounds...and I used to be a trainer!I just couldnt move anymore,mind screwed up.Now they discovered I have lupus and its not fibro,,,or maybe both. Anyway they are weaning me off of it.down from1200 a day to 300 presently.But this whole weight thing is a real problem.
Posted 5/20/2010 10:34 PM (GMT 0)
I'm currently on it, along with Lyrica. I had tremendous nerve pain after a lumbar puncture, and I was already on lyrica, so they added Neurontin (Gabapentin) as well. It was a huge relief for me, made the pain so much better. At first, it even seemed to help me sleep better, but I'm not noticing that as much anymore. No idea why that would change.

As for the weight issue, I have definitely gained some wait as well, but I'm not entirely sure which medications caused it, as I'm on so many.

-Sarah
Posted 5/20/2010 11:13 PM (GMT 0)
*weight
Posted 7/11/2010 4:03 AM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone~! I am new here and hope to find some answers here to my problem....first of all I am in a wheelchair and find it so hard to loose weight ...I had started loosing till I started taking Gabapentin now I'm afraid to see myself in the mirrows as I wheel by at the stores.....my neck is so messed up and now I'm going through post polio syndrome meaning I am loosing muscle and getting weak, but I am trying to do what I can to make sure I dont go down so fast...I am taking protein shakes, staying away from fatty foods, no bread, no pizza, no spagetti...no cokes or sweet tea...all the good tasty foods ...I found a powder drink which you add to a water bottle shake it and your ready ...and I really enjoy the taste...no sugars in it and its only 5calories.....anyway I am looking for something else to take beside the gabapentin.. I take it twice a day if I dont take it I start getting a very achy warm feeling on my side and I am miserable unless I take it than during the day I feel like a zombie, it does help me sleep better at night if the cats or the dog wouldnt wake me up....but thats another story...I did finally get off ambian after two years of taking it and it was very hard to do but I did it...all by myself...anyone out there with polio?
Posted 7/11/2010 1:54 PM (GMT 0)
gabapentin made me dizzy for the first week, then fine after that. it doesn't take away ALL the pain, but it puts a damper on it.
Posted 7/11/2010 3:05 PM (GMT 0)

Maggie9917 said...
I found a powder drink which you add to a water bottle shake it and your ready ...and I really enjoy the taste...no sugars in it and its only 5calories.....?

Welcome Maggie, I don't have answers to all your questions, but I just wanted to mention this. If that drink only has 5 calories, check to see if it is using any artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners can cause a person to have fibromyalgia or MS type symptoms. I personally can not have any of them at all, or my health takes a major dive. Maybe it affects you the same way.
Posted 7/11/2010 8:39 PM (GMT 0)
gabapentin is a nerve pain killer. I take it, but don't notice it "working" and usually have to grab one of my percocet or morphine to help me along with it. Gabapentin also blows me up wait, I mean the skin errr my legs become like triple the size. I'm so ready for a nap sorry.
Posted 7/11/2010 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
Oh the blowing up part, I got to take a water pill for it. Ok Karen, if you can com eup with the word I'm lookin for LOL
Posted 7/11/2010 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
I use to take Gabapentin and it did help the nerve pain I have, lower back/sciatica, and helped me sleep, but also caused a significant weight gain, so I stopped it. It's a shame, because I really felt it helped with the nerve pain and sleep
Miriam
Posted 7/12/2010 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
I recently had to stop gabapentin (300mg AM, 300 8PM, 300 bedtime), even though it worked well for fibro pain.  The problem was probably more due to taking tramadol in the same day, as I know it causes me to have the precursors to serotonin syndrome, muscle spasms, when I take too much (4 a day) or with many other meds.

I was starting to have muscle spasms overnight.  One day as I was waking up the muscle spasms started in the left leg, ran up to my abdomen and after a minute or two, paralyzed my diaphragm, making it impossible for me to breathe - fortunately only for a half a minute or so, but it happened two more times!  My husband told me I had been having spastic motions of my arms and hands, and my eyes had been going back and forth while I was sleeping.  Of course I stopped the gabapentin immediately!  Withdrawal cold turkey was horrible, but I was more afraid of not being able to breathe than the pain.

I feel better now off the gabapentin.  Can't sleep, though.  Looking for something else for that.  Wish my only pain reliever that works, tramadol, would last a little longer.

Apnea and muscle spasms are known side effects.

Posted 7/12/2010 5:44 AM (GMT 0)
I tried the anticonvulsant gabapentin. I started off with Lyrica which I thought/think makes me dizzy

My Rheum. switched me back to the Lyrica 75 cause it seemed to work better for the pain. Although neither clears up the pain ENTIRELY. IMO, there just seems to be a slight edge with the Lyrica despite the dizziness. I guess it's like one of those you can't have your cake and eat it too situations. I take it a night before bed to minimize my discomfort.

Though they are pretty much the same as far as type of drugs. I think Lyrica is just gabapentin's big bad brother imo. To each his/her own.
Posted 7/12/2010 7:53 AM (GMT 0)
When I first tried gabapentin it helped but then it stopped for some reason so I stopped taking it.
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