Hi Snow,

Do you have many side effects from Neurontin? I tried it many years ago and not only did it not really help with my pain but it caused me to gain a ton of weight. My doctor prescribed Lyrica for me a few weeks ago. It has made me very, very sleepy, dizzy and bloated. I've also started to gain weight like crazy and be extremely emotional (I will cry at the drop of a hat!) I know Lyrica is a sister drug to Neurontin. Have you tried it??

Small back history for those who don't already know me:
I'm not diabetic. I do have other physical problems unrelated to my PN.

I have Sensory Axonal PN and it began way back at the end of 1993.
No known cause.

Long story made short.....
Mostly effected by my PN is my right leg and foot,
the left leg and foot is effected but not as bad with PN as the right.
The left arm sometmes gets creepy crawlies and other symptoms even though I take my pills but I've had no problem with the right arm yet.

My Neurontin dosage is gonna make you fall over in disbelief it's so low.
I get the Gabapentin (generic Neurontin) capsules prescribed in just 100 MG's.
Every morning I take 2
3 or 4 hours later I take another one

I don't have to watch the clock. My foot and leg tell me it's time for the med.

3 or 4 hours after that dose I take 1 more.
If it's long day my leg will tell me to take another one later in the evening.
Before bed I take 2

If I "up this" to 2 each time I take a dose I really get paranoid driving, and become sure the guy in back of me will drive into my back seat. That is the reason I decided the daytime doses to be lowered down to just 1 pill each time.

I am very aware that you must be careful with any pill like this so I am careful.
Most people on this med take 3 times as much as I do.
But there have been warnings about some unlucky people becoming extrememly depressed..and worse things.

I'm very lucky that this low dose takes care of burning electrical painful pains. Those were so horrid!
I don't mind a few creepy crawls. When the creepy crawlies become a hord running up and down my skin then it means take one more pill.

Actually I take a rather unbelievablely small doseage of Neurontin (mine is generic)

If I up the dosage even a tad, I get more paranoid about driving (Truthfuly I am a very nervous driver to start with)

True, it does keep me a bit tired but not sleepy, just a sort of lack of energy.
I switched to Neurontin from Carbamazepherine (However it's spelled) about year 2001 or there abouts because the Carbamazepherine (Which I had taken faithfully for 6 or 7 years with great pain relief) suddenly began keeping me really really drowsey. After a Sleep Apnea test (which I didn't have) the neuro decided it was an effect of the meds and changed me to Neurontin.

The Neuronton does not do as good a job for me at keeping the creepy crawlies at bay.
But it does a wonderful job for me of getting rid of the hot electrical burning painful interior shocks.

I find with Neurontin I also have more ability to feel under my feet. Not a comfortable feeling, rather "zingy yet marshmellowy" (for lack of a better description) but it is awareness and I need that to know what my foot is doing on gas petals and such.
I also find I began to be able move my toes very soon after I began Neurontin where as before they were numb and dead.
With Carbamazepherine my foot had much less awareness.

Really it was only a few days after changeing to Neurontin that I actually felt the carpet under my foot area and my foot knew it was carpet! I was really amazed. And the ability to move my toes up and down had me walking on the carpet all day long wiggleing my toes as I went. True, I could still not seperate 3 of them sideways but to regain up and down toe movement itself was thrilling.

BTW The 3 toes still like to normally stay glued together but I can now seperate all my 10 of my toes sideways If I put forth enough effort. Causes odd buffered "crackly burnt toast" kind of pain in the side of my foot to do it but that's OK..that's just the foot telling me something in there is still working.

Please excuse my weird descriptions of the PN feelings. They are hard to describe.

Sadly, I'm a fat 61 yr old lady anyway, but yes it did make me gain maybe ten pounds. Like I said I take very little of it.No, I've never tried Lyrica.

I don't even see a Neuro anymore. It got so I was just going and getting my perscriptions so we agreed that unless something changes I can just get the perscription from my PCP instead. So that's what I do.

Hello Peter,
I take 75mg Tramadol 3 times a day and Lyrica 150mg 3 times and this is the best dosage for my PN, also have BPH and tried methadone and it shut my bladder down due to Bph and after a month the catheter was removed Friday. Have been on Tramadol and Lyrica 3 plus years. I can't take a narcotic for pain. Good Luck to Ya

Hi

It works better than any antidepressant I've ever used and I've tried a lot of them. It's a blessing to me for my physical pain and mental depression.

Pam

I have been having unknown issues due to my back, sciatica and I think its called maybe a digenerated disc. I havnt been for my results yet but will know this thursday. However I have a history of abuse esp to opiates and just kicked a 3 year lortab addiction and told the doc I couldnt take narcotics. I couldnt even walk at the time so he gave me Ultram because they call it non narcotic. But the second I put it in my body I distinctly felt the opiate buzz. Well Ive taken it for only ten days and do not plan to ever take it again because for me I dont care what they call it my body liked it a little too much! And it did work for the pain unbelievably! WEll I cant believe it but I think I am starting to feel what I think is withdrawl and I only took it for ten days!. Is it possible for me to have gotten addicted that quick ? I thought the rule of thumb (from Dr Drue Pinsky in one of his books) is that it takes about 14- 15 days to start addiction.And i did not abuse it. Anyone have any insite on this? I just cant believe if it is that doctor started hell for me all over again, I just got off narcotics a year ago and it is so ironic! Thanks for any help, Im just frustrated! Dont know how they dont know its addictive, its pretty easy to see it is!

Hi Addyson, I'm interested in withdrawal symptoms with tramadol.
Can you say how long it took for them to appear, how long they lasted, and just what the problems were?

Tramadol, this is stuff that kinda fills me with loathing.

I was in 200mg (my doctor said this was the highest dose for someone my weight, 112 lb) a day several years ago, for a chronic pain issue (since resolved).

I found it didn't help much with the pain but it did have some striking side effects - frequent hallucinations of "shadow people", severe postural hypotension, and intense fatigue were the worst.

After several months I decided I couldn't put up with the side effects, so (very, very, very stupidly) I just stopped taking it cold turkey. The result was pretty much like heroin withdrawal, every bit as bad as TV eand movies say, heh. I think the really acute withdrawal period lasted about a month (made worse because every now and again I would freak out, be unable to deal with the horrible, horrible insomnia, and pop 400-600mg) and there were some residual symptoms for considerably longer.

Anyway, fast forward to now . . .

I have very bad occipital headaches and some nerve pain, apparently due to cerebellitis. I'm on neurontin for the nerve pain (3x300mg a day), and it works quite well. My doctor also gave me 50mg tramadol pills, with instructions to take 1 or 2 if necessary, and no more than 8 a day. I try not to take more than 1 at a time and 2 or 3 a day, I think once only I have taken 4. They are very slightly effective for my headaches - they "take the edge off" but nothing more. When a headache is bad they certainly don't take pain down to a manageable level, or reduce it enough that I can think properly - they just turn down the dial a lot.

A higher dose might help more, but meh, I am just really concerned about possible dependance and withdrawal. I know if I handle it properly it shouldn't be a problem, but withdrawal the first time round was the single most unpleasant experience of my entire life and I really do not want to risk repeating it.

Mac33, looks like you are one of the unlucky ones. My wife had a similar experience with just 50mg, and as a nurse she says that a lot of oldies go loopy on it, so it is one to try carefully.
Have you tried codeine pain meds, and muscle relaxants? I find also that for the really bad occipital pains (the bear trap) Tramadol doesn't do it, and I need codeine as well as a muscle relaxant. Mersyndol for example.
Even so, they can still last for 12 hours or so. The secret for me is to hit hard and early. I can recognise the early signs now, so I dose up before it takes hold.
I get it bad usually once a week.
I buy the muscle relaxants as well, then cut them up, as it's a bit cheaper.

Hi Peter,

The issue with my former chronic pain is totally cleared up now, so I'm not worried about that.

My own personal experience is that codeine has almost no effect on me (other than increasing drowsiness), it certainly isn't useful in fighting pain unless taken in very large doses.

Since my "tramadol incident" a few years ago I don't like to take *any* opiates, codeine included, unless absolutely necessary - I think the only time I've taken any medication including codeine since was when I herniated several discs last summer and was in total agony.

Certainly right now, as tramadol is much more effective for me than codeine, it's a case of taking as little tramadol as possible and still be effective, heh.