Gralise vs Gabapentin
 

I'm a first time poster that has had PN for a little over 3 years. Mine has been diagnosed as Critical Care Peripheral Nueropathy.

About 6 or 7 months ago my Dr. had me try Gralise and up until a month ago it seemed like I was having better results. Now it seems like I'm back to where I was before. I take 1,200mg 1X versus the 400mg 3X a day on the Gabapentin.

Just curious if anyone else has tried Gralise & their results.

Thanks

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

Gabapentin is well known for tolerance issues. Many patients find it wears off, after several weeks, and needs dosage increases.
In the end, it may stop working altogether. Studies show it only works for some about 30% of the time.

Gralise is just another dosage form of gabapentin, only it releases the drug over a longer period of time.

So discussion with your doctor may help you decide what to do.

Hi Mike,

I was taking 1,200 mg of Gabapentin 3X a day and am now taking 1,800 mg of Gralise 1X a day. Both of those dosages are the max of what's approved by the FDA for those meds. I've been on the Gralise for about 3.5 months, and, prior to that, Gabapentin for several years.

Speaking from my experience, I've found a similar level of pain relief. Maybe a bit less with Gralise than with the higher dosage of Gabapentin, but my nerves feel more leveled out with Gralise, once a day, than with Gabapentin three times a day. If I was late with that afternoon dose of Gabapentin, for instance, my feet might start to feel prickly, or my energy would feel prickly or jumpy. (And then I'd know I was late with my afternoon dose.)

It's hard for me to tell, though, whether I feel the same amount of pain relief. And I have to ask myself, even if an insurance company is paying for it, if it's really worth the significantly higher cost of Gralise (which is still under patent). It's been only a few months for me, though, so I'm sticking with it and I do appreciate that it is a once-a-day dose rather than multiple times a day.

When I read the Gralise package insert, I saw that Gabapentin and Gralise are better absorbed when there's fat in the stomach as well. I do notice Gralise works better when I'm taking a full meal rather than a partial one. My dinner can happen anywhere from 5pm to 11pm, but I find it still better to take with that meal.

I do have some gabapentin to take if I feel 'jittery' or have some extra nerve pain to stave off. Don't be afraid to experiment (within whatever parameters you discuss with your doctor), or ask your doctor to increase your dose to see if it will help.

I have started gralise and it seems to be working. I never could tell if gabapentin was doing any good as I still burned with a total of 600 MG per day. I am taking 600MG of gralise once a day and 300MG once a day. It's been a few days since I started and I am feeling better. The burning when I get it is tolerable. I have to decide whether to take the 600 at night or in the a.m. As the 600 in the a.m. Is making me very tired and groggy.

I recently started 600 MG of gralise and was having some good days. Asked my neuro to up it by giving me 300MG. She said to take one in a.m. The other in p.m. I was miserable with twitches and buzzing feeling all day until it went out of my system. She told me to go back to gabapentin 300 x2. The feeling from gralise was horrible. Those of you with neuropathy can understand the feeling of electricity going thru the body. Difficult to explain to non sufferers

I guess I'm curious why you have to take a 24 hour time release medication twice a day, but I'm not a doctor.

I guess I'm fortunate that I'm able to take it (1,200mg) before I go to bed, so I basically sleep through the side effects. When I took nuerotin 3X a day I had those "foggy" periods after taking it. On a "bad" day I've taken a 300mg nuerotin during the day and I can say I do not miss that foggy feeling.

Also like nuerotin the only time I notice what the gralise does for pain is around the 23rd hour or so then I notice an increase in pain. I've never noticed anything like immediate relief from taking it.

Good luck hope you find relief

Neither am I, but a couple of possibilities are individual metabolism (some metabolize a medication faster than others) and tolerance. Tolerance can increase frequency as well as dosage amount.

Doc