My husband has severe neuropathy...we are getting desperate..He is to the point where the meds hes on, gabapentin isnt working and is having to over medicate himself on it..1800mg is what he takes..and it wipes him out and is not able to live a normal life because of it...Does anyone have any kind of suggestion..anything at the point would be appreciated..His care is under VA hospital...and they just seem to want to figure this out...We are at a loss..and i feel for him..

Hello Sharon.... Welcome to NeuroTalk.

I am going to copy your post to our Introduction thread. It is sort of lost here on this forum.
Here is the link to it:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?t=105149

I feel for your husband. I have severe neuropathy too. My feet, legs, hands, arms, and sometimes my face. I am on so many medications but my doctor says they cannot take the pain totally away, but give me enough so I can cope with it. I am on a regimine of cymbalta, lamictal,morphine, nortriptyline, and oxycodone. I started out with gabapentin but the side affects were too much. I couldn't remember anything and thought I was loosing my mind. I still cannot lead a normal life, but I continue to work and sleep and pretty much do nothing on my days off. As my body adjusts to the medications I continue to adjust more medications. Keep the faith and bugging his doctors until they help give him some relief. I am still in pain, but some days are better than others and we can only be thankful when we have a good day.

Lyrica might be a better replacement med,
but there are over 75 different meds used to treat PN- so its a crap-shoot.
Gotta keep trying til you get it right - in the right combination.

Yes a combination of medicine may help your husband better. Sorry to hear he is in so much pain. It must be hard for you to see him in so much pain. We sometimes forget when a love one is in pain other family members suffer too.

I also take Lyrcia and a pain pill, it gives me some relief.

Trish

Reaction to gabapentin varies by person. And it certainly can take a bit to adjust to it. I started at 900 mg/day and slowly worked up to the 2400 mg/day I'm taking today. Even at 2400 mg/day, it doesn't take away the pain and burning completely, but it's dulls it enough to get through the day and, for periods of time, make me forget about it.

But, as another person said, there's a number of different drugs -- often used in combination -- that can be used to help with PN. You may have to try a few different ones to find what works for you.

Best of luck. I wish the best to all my fellow PN travelers.

I take the max of 3600mg and a mix of ibuprophen 800mg(2400mg total). It does seem to help take the edge off. It's just a suggestion.

Gabapentin did nothing for me (i was on 4000 mg!) Didn't even make me drowsy! Like taking a vitamin pill or something. Going to try Lyrica.

I switched to Lyrica when I was up to 4200mgs of gabapentin.
I now take 600mgs Lyrica & 400mgs Tramadol (Ultram) per day.