twice I have taken 600mg of it and the next day I get big pain in my right ankle like a broken bone plus knee pain and swelling of knees and right foot. same symptoms on 2 attempts why? it did help the burning just from one tablet though but had to stop due to swelling and joint pain

Swelling means some kind of inflammation. Were you more active on the neurontin? I don't know what else it could be.

Neurontin and Lyrica cause edema (swelling) in the feet, legs and hands in some people. When this happens, nerves can get further compressed, and MORE pain may result.

If you check this site, and scroll to the bottom, you will see that "swelling of the legs, ankles or face due to excess fluid retention" is one of the common side effects.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100001829.html

Question for you: Are you taking brand name Neurontin or generic Gabapentin?

The reason I ask is because different generics can actually have different side effects for different people. For several years I had taken the Apotex generic Gabapentin. But, when my pharmacy switched to Greenstone generic Gabapentin, I started having horrible side effects. I emailed my doctor about it, and here was his response.

I was fortunate because my pharmacy started ordering the Apotex special for me, or I would have had to pay $300/month out of pocket for brand name.

So, your side effects may only be related to the generic you are using, and a different brand generic may not give you those side effects.

Greenstone brand is actually owned by Pfizer, who holds the original patent on Neurontin and Lyrica.

In fact people who received generic Xanax (also a Pfizer drug) would demand the Greenstone brand of that!

Some companies vary in the fillers used, etc. But just so you know Apotex has been having manufacturing problems and is not supplying some drugs reliably today. (FDA citations etc).

Here are some discussions about Apotex:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post627829-92.html

This link gives a list of recent recalls at Apotex:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compl...c_2009-eng.php

It is a pretty long list of "problems" but gabapentin is not listed on this one.

I knew Greenstone was Pfizer, but I had no idea about the problems with Apotex. Makes me wonder if that is why my pharmacy switched to Greenstone.

I know I can't tolerate Greenstone, are you aware of other companies that carry Gabapentin? I might ask my pharmacy to order a different brand, so I can see how I tolerate it.

Listed in the Orange Book....FDA...

Teva
Sandoz
Watson
Actavis
Ranbaxy

Not all of them make the 800mg.

Here is how to look up a drug and see who else makes it:

Go to www.fda.gov
Type in the search "orange book"
Select the first entry that comes up
Search by active ingredient: in this case gabapentin
(generic searching is best).

And it will list all the FDA approved generics.

(Searches have some generic address which does not work for linking to others)

Thanks for the reply guys, its the neurontin brand name. It also makes me very shaky (tremors) and get loss of balance but the swelling and joint pain is unbearable. I had to take steroids to bring the swelling down. Will lyrica cause the same problems? have tried nortripolyne with success but its yuky but .may have to go back.

p.s I did try nerontin small dose 300g 3x per day a while back with much less problem but gave up because I dont like drugs but the burning getting worse. maybe as Im sensitive to drugs I shouldn't have taken the 600mg in one hit ( plan was 1200mg per day)

back to the drawing board

yes most drugs this kind, you build up though to amount... good luck, sarah