Do you get more side effects when you increase the dosage of the gabepentin medication though.

Gabapentin just makes me a little tired. I've got no other complaints.

Have to remember this class of drugs were designed to teat seizures and as such to globally shut down all brain transmissions

There was not a huge market for seizure drugs so they got it approved for fibro and other off brand neurological conditions

Hi asiangal555. I am sorry for the temporary hijacking of your thread. I can move this to its own thread if you prefer, just let me know.

Andre I am just pulling from the very first two studies that pop up on a google search of gabapentin in the brain.
[This was a mouse study so the doses don't apply to humans]
Gabapentin significantly decreased acute seizures at 200 mg/kg and reduced brain atrophy at doses of 150 and 200 mg/kg but not at lower doses. These results suggest that gabapentin effectively reduces acute seizures and injury after ischemia in the immature brain. When analyzed by animal sex, the data suggest that gabapentin may more effectively reduce acute seizures and injury in male pups vs. female pups.

This is a more interesting study than the other that I originally posted.
www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/631756/

Post Edited (wayup) : 2/22/2016 7:12:14 PM (GMT-7)

Gabapentin caused lots of gastro problems for me. Plus not much help with pain.

Of course we are all different with our reactions to meds.

Gabentin makes me tired, which is what it is supposed to do. I only take it at night usually. It helps with the nerve pain I have, but not the muscular pain.

I have not tried Lyrica, but I have a friend who loves it.

I think we all react differently to medicine, so what works for one of us will not work for another. I have a great example of that in my own household. My mom was recently put on Tramadol for back pain. It caused her to have horrible hallucinations and I had to take her the ER because we thought something more was wrong with her. I was taking Tramadol at the same time for my knee and had no problems what so ever with the medication.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

Hi asiangal555
I have taken both Lyrica and Gabbapentin for my Fibro. I also suffer from severe anxiety. The maximum dose for lyrica was 600 mg a day and that is what I had to take for relief. It was very expensive even with insurance my co-pay was 50 dollars a month. It seemed to work really well but then stopped working for some reason so I switched back to gabbapentin. I am now taking 2400 mg a day and am just beginning to have break through pain so I am feeling like I may need the doctor to up my dose before my next refill. The Gabbapentin works really well for me. Especially for my anxiety. I have gained 50 pounds in the last year though. I really cant say it is from the Gabbapentin because my weight has stayed stable since November when I stopped the lyrica and started the Gabbapentin. I believe I started gaining when I started the higher dose of Lyrica. I dint gain when I ws on the lower dose of 300 a day. I haven't really done anything proactive to try and get the weight off because at this point as long as I am not gaining any more the benefits of feeling so much better out way the rest of it. You can take up to 3800mg of gabbapentin a day I believe and my Dr. told me the starting therapeutic dose is 1800 mg. so maybe you are on to low of a dose.

I want to know does the lyrica medication cause you to gain weight cuz you want to eat more though. Or does it just cause you to gain weight as a side effect though. Thanks.

You gain weight on Lyrica because it makes you crave carbs, at least that is my experience. I've gained 25 pounds over three years taking it. It helps me mostly with fatigue, and a bit of pain relief. I take the max dose for fibro of 450mg/day.

Post Edited (TomBSCS) : 3/8/2016 6:17:20 PM (GMT-7)