Hey everyone and thanks for taking the time to read my thread

My short version: I've been on gaba since this started last May. Got up to 2700mg but couldn't take the mental issues so he lowered me back down to 1800 mg. He added Cymbalta in Jan (I think) and the 60 mg seemed to clear my head up a little from the gaba but didn't help with the pain at all. He then increased to 90 mg Cymbalta and I only made it 5 weeks before lowering myself back down to 60 mg due to side effects. I saw my neuro last Monday and he said for me to not take the gaba that night and instead take a 75 mg lyrica. So now I'm on 75 mg of lyrica 2 x's a day and 60 mg of Cymbalta at night. This is in addition to my metformin, glimerpiride, paxil, and tinormin that I take for migraines and not BP issues. Vicodin and Xanax as needed.

This has not been a good week......I've been in lala land, doing a lot of sleeping, the pain is almost back to what it was when I started this journey and I've been taking 1/2 a vicodin every 2 hours, sometimes 1 hour apart depending on the pain level. I can't stay up more than 30 minutes before I'm looking for somewhere to lay down.....after about an hour I can get back up for a little while. I know it will probably take 2 weeks for this to level out in my system and the neuro wants to see me back in 3 weeks to see how this med is doing.

I'm guessing plenty of you have been through this changing of meds and how it effects everyone differently. Neuro said he didn't have many options left to treat me with. As I've said before....all I want is to be able to clean my house, grocery shop once a week and cook dinner. And I'm nowhere close to being able to do that. Makes me sad, angry and a whole lot of other feelings come and go.

I did get some good news.....I had a CT scan last week as part of my third 3 month post cancer visit and it was all clear. That was from my gyn.....will see my oncologist next week for blood tests. That chemo is some mean stuff

Debi from Georgia

Gosh I am so sorry. I just do not know enough about the drugs side of this and it seems all I read is that the drugs are useless and cause more problems.

I hope you come up with something that gives you some relief.

From what I've read and heard it's just a long drawn out process to find something that works for the individual. But I try to have faith that if I keep at it I'll find something that works for me.

Then again I wonder what would happen if I went off the lyrica and Cymbalta ? Would the vicodin be enough to get me through.....it wasn't before so who knows ?

Hope you have a good day Stacy....we're looking for rain here in West GA.

Debi from Georgia

Please be careful with that stuff. Vicodin contains acetaminophen (Tylenol). Taking more than 1000 mg of acetaminophen within any 6 hour period, or more than 3000-4000 with any 24 hour period (2600 mg/day if taken for more than 2 weeks), can cause liver damage.

If you need to take anywhere near those levels on a regular basis, I'd suggest taking some NAC (N-Acetyl-Cysteine) with it to help protect your liver.

Doc

The vicodin/narco I'm on is 7.5/325 so my 1/2 a pill has approx. 162 mg of Tylenol in each dose I take. At 8 doses throughout the day (for example) it totals appro 1300 mg.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to take the NAC anyway....I'm going to the oncologist next week and he'll be running a liver panel along with all the other stuff and I always get a copy of my results. I'll look at it and let you know the results. Just for conversation

Thanks again.

Debi from Georgia

Then you might want to run it by your oncologist first. It's one of those cases where the articles/claims run both ways... nac cancer

Doc

I've tried gabapentin and was on 3600/day for a while -- I can tolerate it. Lyrica was okay but not as good as gaba, and I started gaining weight so I went back to gaba. I'm now on Gralise, a new time-release version of gabapentin. It might be interesting for you with regards to grogginess since it's taken at night with the evening meal and a big part of it is absorbed while you sleep.

For me, it seems basically as effective as the three-times-a-day gabapentin, but I don't feel any edginess as my dose wears off (or if I forget a dose). The max dosage is less (1800/day) so I can still add a little extra gaba during the day if I feel I need it.

Unfortunately, it's a new drug, still under patent and expensive. I'm surprised my insurance hasn't put it on the highest tier of their formulary, but it's on the second tier so it's affordable for me. So your insurance may not have the same generosity.

@Debi.... You just posted that you take Paxil with your other meds?

You need to check on that because it is
not safe to use Cymbalta with Paxil as both
have serotonin actions. This is very important
so do be careful .

Hi St George!!!. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well and can't do the things you want to do. Didn't your Dr. wean you off of the GABA? I too am on LYRICA from GABA but was weaned off of the GABA probably because of the withdrawel system.

I feel the Lyrica is helping me more than the other. It did make make me tired the 1st week but after that I was fine. I work 6 to 8 hours a day and have no issues with it.

What I do have issues with is sitting in front of a computer for that length of time working although I do get up several times.

Yesterday I had a time of it with numbness and deep aches in my legs by night time I took a Xanax and Oxycodone and finally went to sleep.

A couple days before I was fine very little discomfort from the monster neuropathy then I had some whole grain pasta with vegetables and my sugar went up and I feel this is what triggered that episode.

You have other health problems as I do too but my other one seems under control at this time.

Finally after waiting for 3 months I have an appointment with a Neurologist this Friday.

I already had the EMG and have Severe Poly Neuropathy with severe axonal damage.

You will get over this hump soon. I understand and yesterday I had tears all day over this but today was a new day and the symptoms a little burning are there but nothing like the day before.

Awesome on your Cat scan that's something to celebrate.

Good grannies......you would think the neuro or pharmacy would take note of my meds.......isn't that what pharmacies are suppose to do ?

I'm going to have to see my PCP next month before going to FL and I may see if we can lower the Paxil back down to 20 mg from the 40 I'm on. I went up to the 40 last May when all this started and I was a wreck.

I've been on the lyrica for a week now and I think I'm a little better mentally. Have been up and around in the house. But I hurt all over....just achy...dizzy as usual and the neuro pain in my hands and feet are the worst. I've had 3 headaches this past week which is very unusual for me. I've also had some little spasm thingys going on in my bottom lip. Have gone back to taking the vicodin every 3 hours vs 1 or 2 hours. My left leg and foot have always bothered me the most but I'm having trouble with my right leg now. From the toes to the thigh. This happened after I had slept and didn't take my pain med until 5 hours later. All of this is so hard to explain to where I feel like I'm making sense.

And in the bad of my mind is always my issues with heart PVC's. Had to have 11 places burned on my heart during ablation surgery a few years ago at Emory in Atl......was have 33,000 within a 24 hour period......after ablation they were back to approx. 672 per 24 hours....after chemo they were up to 7,000. Heart dr says chemo will do that. Wonder if any of these drugs will cause my PVC's to increase....I sure do not want to do that surgery again....you're awake during it which was weird and hurt toward the end of the 11 burnings.

Seems like we all have a mixed bag of stuff wrong with us. To me it's easy to forget what I'm dealing with when my mind is occupied by the neuropathy all the time.

I go back to my neuro the end of next week so we'll see how it's going then.

I know I've only been at this for a year but I swear....I'm so tired.....so tired

I looked up taking the combo of paxil and Cymbalta and I have had some of those symptoms all along.
MrsD......are there certain symptoms that I should be looking for ?

Thanks and more comments associated with this post will be greatly appreciated.

Debi from Georgia