Hi everyone about a few months ago my doc let me try neurontin at my insistance because the ibu 800mg 3x's qday and a low dose of norco was not touching the pain. I have 3 herniated cervical discs, including a titanium plate and cadaver disc from surgery last year on my c 5-6. The neurologist felt only one disc was bad enough to operate on and now the others are deteriorating. The neuontin was like a god-send at first and I didnt have any problems until the second week when I was to titrate up to 600 from 300 at bedtime. Anyhow shortly after falling asleep every night I would come flying up in bed gasping for breath. It started happening so often 25-50 X's a night. I had an overnight pulse/ox text and it conifmed that I would stop breathing. I am very familiar with neurontin and have never had any of my patients (some of whom take massive mega doses) in my 12 years of giving it to them have this kind of reation. Im only 30 years old and dont want to be on a breathing machine just because of a medication, but the neurontin has been the only thing that has allowed me to go for sometimes 8 whole hours without being in severe pain. Has anyone heard of this sort of reaction to neurontin? Or have any advice? Note: my primary is a pain pill nazi and treats anyone who needs even one norco every 8 hours like me as a drug addict, so I have to go in a non pain medication route to fix this. Any advice is appreciated, im at my wits end here.

That's an interesting point you make. I was on Neurontin for quite awhile and when I look back, it may have affected my sleep. My husband says I would quit breathing for 20 seconds or more......and I started snoring
I was going to go in for a sleep study - until I found out how much it cost.
Even tho insurance would cover it, my 20% copay would have been out the roof.
I guess I'll never know.

btw, I'd like to drop-kick your PCP into the sea of forgetfulness
Too many people suffer needlessly because of undertreated pain conditions.

I hope you can get this sorted out so you don't have to use the breathing machine.

Rae

Hi Kristi-

I took Neurontin for a couple of years total, with increasing doses beginning at 300mg 3x/day and ending with 3600mg 3x/day. The lowest beginning dose was ok as far as side effects went- the most I experienced then was a little 'airheaded-ness', and we referred to the medication as "Moron-tin" because it made me feel like "DOH!" most of the time. But that dose didn't help my pain at all.
(I'd been prescribed Neurontin for trigeminal neuralgia and chronic headaches)
So the P.A. I was seeing doubled the dose, so I was then taking 600mg 3x/day, and it was at this dose that the side effects really increased. I did have problems with sleep apnea, and incredibly vivid dreams and nightmares. The doc said it was just because it made me sleep so soundly, and she recommended sleeping with my head elevated a bit, at a 30-45 degree angle, instead of flat on my back, and to absolutely not sleep face down where my face could sink into the pillow.
The side effects evened out, and then so did the effectiveness, so we doubled the dose again. Same situation and each time the side effects worsened.
At the highest dose, I wound up with severe sleep apnea, suicidal thoughts and borderline psychotic feelings, with not nearly enough pain control to make it worthwhile so I quit taking it on my own. When I visited another doctor later who had tried prescribing Lyrica for my back pain now, I had similar severe reactions, and he said that it should have been put in my file that I was allergic to Neurontin because of the side effects, and not continually doubled, and if it had been, he'd not have ever tried the Lyrica on me because they are so similar.
Bottom line is- the sleep apnea does happen sometimes but it is NOT a normal side effect, so don't let them tell you that it is. Find another doc who will treat with something else.
Good luck!