My doctor warned me to only use for breakthrough symptoms and only if it became unbearable. Pproblem is that it is the only thing I have taken that works for me. It calms my stomach so I can eat, my gastritis and stomach spasms/ seizures are calmed and my nerve pain is less. I can also sleep a little better. Is there anything I could take that isn't so bad? I am not sure its bad, just going off of what my docotr told me. My pharmacist said its ok for me to take.

I have tried gaba, worked good but my heart started doing funny things( not sure if it was it or not).

Amitriptilyne- Made me very violent
Cymbalta- made my nerves 1000 times worse, probably cause it didn't agree with my stomach.

Thought about Wellbutrin?

Hi Lewie,

I would take your doctor's advice over your pharmacist's. Your pharmacist may have been speaking about interactions with other medications that he knows of that you take (if any), but he's not (as) familiar with your medical conditions, history, other medical information/contra-indications, etc. as your doctor.

Xanax (alprazolam) is in the benzodiazapine class of medications. As such it needs to be respected, as it has potential for dependence, tolerance, and abuse/addiction.

Above, did you mean GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) or gabapentin (Neurontin)? I have heard/read about gabapentin possibly causing cardiac dysrhythmia (arrhythmia/irregular heartbeat), but fairly rarely. OTOH, arrhythmias seem more common with GABA taken as a supplement for PN.

A List of GABA Supplement Side Effects
(list may not be complete/comprehensive)

Either way, if something worked that well, I would want to be sure it was the cause of my heart doing funny things before abandoning it—and to find out if there is another problem with my heart that I should be aware of.

Hmmm... ALL medications (and supplements) have side effects and risks, and everyone is different in responding to the effects—good and/or bad—of different meds.

Most—if not all—medications and supplements for PN are discussed pretty well in the PN Tips, Resources, Supplements & Other Treatments subforum—mostly in these two threads:

~~SUPPLEMENTS~~~ for Peripheral Neuropathy:

DRUGS (RX) ~~ Used for Treating Peripheral Neuropathy:

along with articles in medications for peripheral neuropathy

I would (and have) follow(ed) up on that information with my own reading/research, and then be able to discuss options with my doctor in a more informed way. I would tell him exactly what you said above about how the gaba/pentin (whichever it was) worked well, but you have concerns about possible irregular heartbeat, and how well the alprazolam works for you (with the same detail as above).

Our doctors need us to help them help us, and the best way we can do that is by giving them candid feedback about what works (and why) and what doesn't (and why). In the chronic pain forum, I often suggest articles/reading on how to talk to your doctor about chronic pain. The same advice (in the articles) can be adapted to talking to them about PN.

Doc

Thanks! I did mean gabapentin. I was also on a vitamin mix that had some stuff in it that might have also caused the heart issue ( 7200% of your daily B6 needs definelty wasn't helping). It was an intense scary night. My heart was racing but hardly pumping any blood. I probably should have gone to the emergency room but didn't want to inconveince my wife. Now it seems silly but at the time thats what I thought. I had an ekg which turned out mostly normal (normal from what it showed 9 years ago anyways). I also wore a holter montior for 2 weeks to capture some episodes I was having ( which was coming from taking zinc carnosine, a stomach supplement) but still haven't gotten the results back. I see my doctor this week, I just wanted to be prepared cause he is pretty lost in trying to treat me just like all the doctors I have seen.

Dude. I mean.... DUDE! How inconvenienced will she be if.... ya know....

'Nuff said.

Yeah, I've been there. I think most of us have. I do think telling him what you told us is the way to go, from years of personal experience trying to get help for this... 'thing' we've got. Unfortunately, there isn't much they can do for most of us except treat our symptoms, and that scares them.

http://more-distractible.org/musings...hronic-disease

Doc

Just asking....do you mean Xanax the tranquilizer, or Zantac, the acid blocker?
These two names often get mixed up by doctors and patients when orders are made orally over the phone, or discussions happen.

So I am assuming you mean Xanax, the benzodiazepine. Now this drug has some anticonvulsant activity. So that brings up the thought that your stomach/abdomen issues might be seizure related? Here is a Wiki on abdominal seizures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_epilepsy

These are not common, but diagnostically when anticonvulsants work on the symptoms, it is diagnosed that way.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856820/

Using Xanax in the short run will give you some relief. But as time passes, you will quickly become tolerant to it. Most doctors will not give it therefore, for long periods of time.

It is possible that your symptoms have been conditioned in your brain, like chronic pain patients have. If you block those symptoms you may enable the pain loop forgetting it all. So it is worth a try to see what happens. When patients respond to Benzo drugs the doctors often diagnose them with psychiatric labels. Prepare for that. But it is possible that an anticonvulsant drug with less habituating traits might work for you too.

Xanax is a gaba receptor agonist. It works by enabling the inhibitory neurons, to work better. The nervous system has many inhibiting tracts, which keep us in balance from overstimulation.

Gabapentin, the drug often used in PN is not related to GABA, and works differently to modulate nerve transmission involving calcium ions.

So while this condition of abdominal seizures is rare, you might read up on it and discuss it with your doctor. It might be related to your previous medical history.

Then someone needs to tell Wiki.

Doc

Hello. I quit Xanax cold turkey one month ago after 14 years of usage. I took anywhere from 3 mg a day for years to just 1mg daily the last 7 years. I decided to quit because one day driving to work I realised I forgot to take the Xanax. I was feeling just fine until it dawn on me I had forgotten to take it and immediately your mind starts freaking out. This really angered me and so I decided enough was enough. I was tired of Xanax dictating my life and wanted to quit for good. One thing I must convey is that too many Xanax users have too much respect for the drug and this is why it is hard for them to quit. You must shift your mind set into respecting the power of ones mind over the drug. The first few days after quitting I experience an over all "flushed" feeling where as I just felt totatlly useless. Brain fog, depression, muscle spasms, agitation and insomia all appear. For three weeks these symptoms shift back and forth and you start to worry you will never be sane again. After three week, I started coming out of the hole and things really started looking good. Its been one month now and my mind is clearer than it has been in 15 years. I am much happier and have absolutely no problem associating with peers and being pro active. Having said this, I am how ever still experiencing severe upper leg ( thigh ) muscle spasms. They are unrelenting and have been active for days with out letting up. Cant sleep because of this and really driving me nuts,