Hi guys....

How long did gabapentin take to work for you? What dosage did you start at? How quickly did u work your way up? At what dosage did you start to feel relief? How do you know how high to go? I feel like I will just want to keep going higher and higher until I don't feel the pain anymore...but I have a feeling that's not going to happen so how do I know when to stop?
What did/does it feel like? Does it make some pain completely go away or does it just make it die down? Does it help anybody with anxiety? I am hopefully starting this tomorrow and want to know what to expect.

thanks again...

I was told you need to work it up in your system.
My dosage plan is (mg, 3 times a day):
100/100/100
100/100/200
200/100/200
200/200/200
200/200/300
300/200/200 (where I am now)
300/200/300
300/300/300 (what my goal is- 900mg per day)

I felt a little relief right away. The deep stinging pain died down. The more I take it, the less pain. By this time, I still have pain, but not like before.

Side effects so far: drowsiness, blurred vision, confusion...but not much. I notice an increase of the side effects when I up the dose. But then it goes away I guess once my body gets used to the dose.

[QUOTE=twitchwitch;1137022]I was told you need to work it up in your system.
My dosage plan is (mg, 3 times a day):
100/100/100
100/100/200
200/100/200
200/200/200
200/200/300
300/200/200 (where I am now)
300/200/300
300/300/300 (what my goal is- 900mg per day)

How long did you spend at each dosage? thanks!

[QUOTE=canagirl;1137051]Sorry! I meant to say, per day. So upping the dose a little each day. So that's over 8 days. Then I'll stay at 900 per day (3 x 300) for awhile I guess. I hope it's enough.

Side effects so far: drowsiness, blurred vision, confusion...but not much. I notice an increase of the side effects when I up the dose.

Blurred vision all the time? certain times? is this one of the effects that goes away?

Does the drowsiness make you sleep all night? I wake up after about 2 hours of sleep in major pain and then usually can't fall back asleep. Does the drowsiness stay around or does that disappear too?

Apparently you've started taking it...and increased the dose, in one day, since you said "I notice an increase in side-effects when I up the dose".

You have to give it time to build up (but it doesn't take long to notice subtle changes) and for side-effects to go away...and yes, those are the ones that usually go away after a while (everyone is different, so I can't put a time on how long they take to go away---could be 2 days, could be 2 weeks).

If the pain is better, you may not wake up like you have been...wait and see.

I hope it works! and that you are right, I might not wake up like I have been.

and now when I read my response to en bloc my reply is stuck up in his quote...oh dear, I apologize guys. Still getting used to the forum I guess. Sorry for the confusion en bloc

Neurontin (gabapentin is generic) is one of the faster acting in that class in that you don't need a loading period. Hopefully you'll notice something in a matter of days. I took it for several months and found it helped quite a bit with shooting pain and brought the stinging down even though I only took 300 mg at bedtime. I quit taking it because I am one of those few people who gets depressed on it. Since you have daytime duties you might want to try the bedtime routine a couple of days just to see how you do or have them give you the 100mg caps so you can start low during the day and add on later. It should help with anxiety and mood swings. Neurontin works by down-regulating nerve signals, so the signals are not as strong and the system is more calm. It doesn't work by blocking pain receptors.

I hope you find relief soon

I notice an increase of side effect soon after taking the increased dose, but so far, it's tolerable and decreases over the day a bit (the blurred vision and drowsiness). Still adjusting to it, again, tolerable....I've been able to do everything I normally do (but I'm not driving right now). But I have been sleeping better and hardly wake in the night. I hope you have relief from it!