Two drugs better than one for chronic pain: study, gabapentin with nortriptyline
 

This was on the CTV national news across Canada tonight.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...b=TopStoriesV2

No mention of CRPS or RSD, just Neuropathic pain. My dad called me tonight from the east coast all excited. I hated to have to tell him I can't take the meds.

Interesting results though, perhaps some options for those of you who aren't allergic like me and or haven't tried this combination.

Wish you all well.

MsL

dr.s have been prescribing anti-depressants and anti-seizure meds togther for at least 10 years that i know of. i also noticed that the combo only produces a 6% difference. (75% to 81%)
i am like you(too alergic to these meds). i will never be on either again but that doesnt mean it will not work on someone else.

I agree, it's what they call the drug cocktail that virtually all clinicians need to use it and tweak according to their patients individual responses. That's what makes treating our condition so hard for many doctors not familiar with this disease. There just isn't clear enough treatment protocols in place. I thought the study interesting for that fact, isn't it an attempt to draw a line so to speak for future treatment guidelines? I was also interested in it because I haven't heard about nortriptyline before nor it's use in combination with gabapentin.

I'm usually cautious about such hype in the media but I thought it warranted some comment for our group based on the fact that so many here already take one or the other drugs.

I'm curious is there anyone here who is already on this combination of meds?

No matter how much I've tried to explain to my father about this he just doesn't always get the realities of what I'm trying to describe, he's 80 now. When he saw them talk about the same (or similar) symptoms as mine on the national news it helped him to understand things a bit more but it's still a long stretch.

Hope you are all well tonight and resting peacefully.
MsL

Hi, I'm a new member and saw the post about Gabapentin/Nortriptylene combination. I have been doing this for 2 years now, and it does give good pain relief. The only problem is the side effects. Nortriptylene is similar to Amitriptylene but supposedly has a less sedating effect. I can't say I agree with that. I take 3600 mg Gabapentin/day and 150 mg Nortriptylene/day.

Hi Scottish Girl,

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry to hear you have RSD too. What are the side effects you experience from these two meds?

MsL

I'm on a combination of Neurontin and Elavil (Nortriptilylene's sister drug, for which i did try for a few weeks).

I've been on both for several years now, at varying dosages. Currently at 1200 mg of Neurontin and 40 mg of Elavil.

I was off Elavil for about a month because I wondered if it was really helping or not-- and found out it definitely was.

I think the combination is good for the allodynia (nerve pain) and stinging parts of RSD/CRPS, but doesn't do anything for the stabbing and throbbing. However, that was to be expected-- as both are geared towards Nerve pain.


Side effect wise, I experience some fatigue and sleepiness from both the meds. I also experience some cognitive effects from the Neurontin; and when I was first started on Elavil, I gained about 7 lbs.

:) L2L

Hi Mslday,

The side effects for me include drowsiness, general fatigue, memory loss, dry mouth, unable to think of right words, memory loss mid-sentence, huge weight gain, and for some reason I write words jumbled up, not like dyslexia, but just total rubbish. I'm at university, so you can see how that becomes a problem! I do notice a change in my personality too. Why do I bother? Because, I can't bear the pain without these drugs.

me tooooo...
 

Hi Scottish girl, that sounds exactly like my symptoms.. I was on Gabipentin and Amitriptyline and I had a problem speaking too giberish came out, wrong words, backward words, nothing there.. or something stupid that you would never say.

I was switched to trazadone insead of the amitriptilyne (thank goodness) and Topirimate (topomax) instead of the gabipentin (after I tried Lyrica), I had gained alot of weight on the ami but lost it again and my pain levels are the same now as with the Gab and Ami I think (was a while ago).

Some of those med related symptoms are gone but the gabipentin is what causes the mental confusion because it got worse as the dose was increased.. then was on the max dose and a walking zombie, but like you said it does help. I would sugest lyrica but beware of your moods like with gabipentin they both can cause suicidal depression, lyrica does not cause so much mental muck and topirimate.

Actualy all of the this class of antidepressant drugs have a new black box warning of possible sudden onset of suicidal depression recently put out by FDA so be aware and monitor yourself.
I do admire you for being in college with a gabrain too lol.. how are your eyes? mine were and are realy bad I think from the gab.

Sandra
:hug:

be well,
Sandra

Gabapentin/nortriptylene combination
 

Hi Sandra,

I'm glad (in a good way) that someone else has these symptoms and I'm not going mad. I can't believe the changes in myself, and I've decided now that enough's enough. I want to try something else for the sake of my sanity. I did know about the suicidal thoughts which can be brought on by Gabapentin etc and thankfully I've never been there. It makes me wonder, if these are the visible side effects of drugs like these, then what's going on in the inside that we don't know about?!!

Hope you're having a good day. Take care.:hug:

Nortriptyline and Gabapentin for ms pain(the hug)
 

Can one work alone or better to take both. I have been on gabapentin for over ten years and now Nortriptyline because of the neck shoulder pain. I was diag with ms in 1995. this neck pain started in 2007. I even had shoulder surgery(nov 2010) thinking that was my cause of pain. before that trigger pt, botox,chiropractor,PT,acupuncture,WAY too many drugs.
Thanks for any response.