Gabapentin
 

Hey Gang,

This morning I started my first "therapeutic" does of Gabapentin (I've been ramping up slowly).

Anyway, I've been having horrible headaches all day. In addition I feel a little dizzy. Are these normal things to feel when first ramping up? Will they go away?

Thanks.

Toepain,

Both headaches and dizziness are very common side effects of gabapentin. I had dizziness and mild headaches when I started gabapentin.

I urge you to give this drug a chance as it often takes about 3 weeks for the body to adjust to this drug.

What dosage are you at? It's important to start with a small dosage and ramp up slowly until you reach a "therapeutic dosage".

I take 1800 mg daily. 600 mg 3X a day.

But know that this drug, like others, is not for everyone. If you absolutely can't tolerate the side effects, contact your doctor.

Good luck to you!

Yep, that is the side effects

I'm only at 600 mg per day right now -- every 3 days my doc has me increasing my 300 mg.

Glad to hear it can take up to 3 weeks. I'll tough it out. Let's hope it takes the edge off the pain -- I'll do anything for that!

I sure hope it works for you! :)

It does take a little while for your body to adjust to the doses. I found it helped me a lot, but because of an inner ear disease the Gabapentin had me spinning. I was really sad to have to come off of it because it was actually the only thing that had any effect on the RSD that I had tried.

I have a compound cream my doctor had made up for me with Gabapentin, ketamine, and some other ingredients.....I apply it into the scar and it really helps with the pain a lot. It does take a little bit for it to soak in, but is wonderful once it gets in there.

Hey toepain :)
 

St George,

Did you stop taking the Gabapentin because eventually your symptoms subsided?

Today I'm crazy dizzy! I nearly stumbled in the shower. I'm trying to see the bright side though -- it's almost like a video game. See if I can maintain balance...

Thanks!

Thats how I felt at first but when I got above 1000mg the dizziness stopped, I am still working up to a therapeutic dose for pain.

600-800mg gaba is for depression for rsd it is 1800-3200mg for a therapeutic dose.

I've had no side effects from taking Gabapentin. But from what I've read many people do have side effects from it.

Hi there!

I take 1200 3x p/day. I was told this is the max dose.. I also have vertigo, so with that and the gaba I am bouncing around all over the place. No sense of balance. I look drunk from time to time if you didn't know better. :rolleyes: But for the neuropathic, shock type pain, I am not sure what I would have done without this drug. I am at a pretty high dose now and would like to back down a bit as my stomach would appreciate this, so my team has added a new drug called Zonisamide. It in combo w/ the gaba is working well. Now if we can just start to back off the gaba a little bit, that would be fantastic! We'll see.

Hang in there w/ the gaba and give it a fair shot to see what happens. Hopefully it will work well for you.

Yes those side effects are normal ,take times for your body to get used to,what I do instructed by my dr is titrate in other works adjust the dosage as tolerated increasing day by day,maybe half dosage the first week and then increasing or increase or decrease depending on how the dr recommended to you,need to ask first on how to start from the lower dosage then increased depending on how your body tolerated,ask your neurosurgeon about how to increase and decrease and soon your body will get adjusted takes time but soon you will able to handle it,good luck and hope you are ok soon,your friend Jesika

For me I didn't notice any positive effects at the lower ranges. The ramp up period also seems to be quite variable between doctors (mirroring the general unpredictability of any individual's reaction to drug stimulus). I never got to the higher ranges, since I stopped use as soon as I recognized that gabapentin was a direct cause of insomnia for me. Who would've thought.

I have taken Gabapentin for quite some time. I was up to 3600 a day and am back down to 1800. The additional dose did absolutely nothing for the pain level and I was fortunate to not have any adverse reactions to Gabapentin as I know many people do. I asked my Dr about a new one on the market that is non-narcotic. It is called [ the VA"s name for it ] VENLAFAXINE. I currently take 150mg a day.

How you doing toepain ?
 

The gaba is definitely taking the edge off, so that's positive.

I will say, however, it's giving me two things: 1) headaches / drowsiness for a short while after taking it and 2) my stomach seems continuously upset / crampy.

I'm 1 week into the "regular" dose I'll be taking (1800 mg / day), let's hope things calm down over time.

I wish I could use it. It worked for me too. Hope you get long term relief!

Did the headaches / dizzy / "fuzzy" feeling go away for you guys?

It's ~ 2 weeks or so now and I'm still getting them (and struggling with them).

Let me know if you think they'll go away, or if I should push my doc to try Lyrica?