Originally Posted by jezbel

Hey you guys..... I stop by this site every once in a while and read-in and I noticed your post about Gabapentin. I've got degenerative disk problems and have had a couple of big surgeries over the past 10 years or so. Although they were successful there have been some unintended side effects - one was that I need a bone graft for my spine so they used some from my hip area. While doing that they damaged a large nerve in the area (lateral femeral cutaneous nerve). As a result I had horrendous pain (sort of like phantom pain) for years. I tried all kinds of meds i.e. the lidocaine patch (useless for me), fentanyl patch (made me ditzy) all the opioids and injections of just about everything from B-12 to steroids, etc. I wound up on about 3000 mg of Neurontin. I titrated up slowly, 100 mg at a time. I had to get used to the fact that it made me sleepy at first. But if I took too big a dose I also got "twitchy" and had nightmares. Slowly I got there, but gained nearly 10 pounds in 6 - 8 months. I took it for 3 years. One day I got a stomach bug and had the notion that I was taking too much medicine that might be making it worse. I also took an anti-depressant, a couple vitamins and sleeping pills.
SO....... I thought I was doing a reasonable job of reducing the dosage of Neurontin and basically stopped taking all of it in about 10 days. Big mistake. I had my first and (hopefully) only anxiety attack. But it was huge attack. I couldn't catch my breath, my heart was racing, I couldn't be alone, I felt frightened for no reason. It was the ultimate "fight or flight" feeling and I couldn't make it stop. It started too late in the day to get to the doctor's office and I didn't associate it with the Neurontin. It was the worst feeling of helplessness and panic ever. I'm thankful that my husband understood what I was telling him, I knew it was panic. (I'm from a family of shrinks but don't live near them). I barely got through the night and saw the doc the next day who gave me a script for Ativan which was a lifesaver. And then I found a good psychiatrist who talked me through the next 2 weeks... which is how long it took for all the symptoms to fade. But she also looked up the medication and told me that because it is really an anti-seizure medication that by stopped too quickly it can cause almost seizure-like brain activity, including panic attacks. I had to go back on it and then very slowly, over the next 3 months cut back on the dose. I also lost the ten pounds without even trying. I tried taking Gabatril after that for about a year. That's also a drug that was meant for seizures, so same procedure slow to go up and slow to go down. It didn't help much. And ultimately I realized that I was so desperate for anything that helped that I had used the Neurontin as a last ditch crutch. Eventually (after about 5 years) I either got used to the pain or it improved.
I am prone to neuropathies, I've found. I have a "small fiber neuropathy now in my right hand, maybe related to the c-spine surgery a decade ago. I will never take neurontin or gabitril again. I tried Lyrica, the relief was minimal and I gained 6 pounds in 10 days. It wasn't worth it. I just had 2 epidurals and will try one more. After that, I'll just have to live with a combo of pain, pins & needles and numbness. And hope that it will eventually fade too. If you're going to take those kinds of meds, understand that there are some side effects, especially about stopping them suddenly. Weigh your options, look for good neurologists and good shrinks, talk to others and hope for the best.