Gabapentin Issues, what next?
 

Well the gabapentin worked miracles for me the first 10 days I took it. I went to bed at 10pm woke up 7am and feet didn't even hurt when I woke up. Then like a switch it quit helping, literally, one night it quit.

I call doctor, she said take 3 pills instead of just two. So I have for the last week and still nothing, matter of fact it seems to be working less and less each night that goes by. I haven't bothered to call her yet, it's been 5 days since she said to up it to three.

Do I bother to call? I have an appointment like May 15. I have a feeling she will say up it to 4 pills, though I do not have enough left to do that.

Any ideas what her next step might me? Will she keep staying with gaba and upping it or want to switch??? Is it normal for gaba to work great then stop all together? I know it is normal to need to keep upping it but is this a normal pattern to quit so fast?

I have heard you can build up a tolerance to it and need to increase the dose but that does seem rather quick to build a tolerance. Is gabapentin the only medication you are on? My doctor has me on nortriptyline as well.

If it's really bothering you then you may want to call and see if she wants to up your dose or add another med as well.

I called and left message but she is out until Monday. I thought it was fast too. I am not on anything else. Thanks for your reply.

Are you still just taking it at night...instead of throughout the day?

I would consider trying it as prescribed. It's not designed to be taken just at night, so you may have been only reaping the benefits of the sleepiness side-effects and not the entire medicine.

It IS prescribed that way. I am taking it exactly as she told me to take it. I guess since my pain is not during the day it starts at 6pm like like work give or take an hour.

Her nurse just called in a scrip for cymbalta but I am to scared to take that.

Maybe she intended to keep you at once a day for the 3 weeks until your next appointment. I have only heard of a (literally) couple of people that only take it once a day. Most take it 3 times a day for PN. It can (and is recommended) to be slowly increased until an appropriate dose is achieved and you have good pain relief. This can take a couple months, not weeks.

It really sounds like the sedation side-effect is wearing off and the dose it not high enough for your pain relief. Increasing from 2 pills a day to 3 may only be significant if the pills are 300mg each. If they are 100mg each, then the increase may not be noticeable, now that the sedation has worn off.

Like I have said before, I don't know much about EM...but is neurontin something they use for treatment of this condition? If so, are you taking the typical dose for EM (compared to what others on the EM forum report)? I say this, because neurontin may not even work for you if this is, in fact, EM and the treatment is something else...or more neurontin than what you're getting.

Your follow up appt should be coming up soon, right? I'd continue to keep a journal of your dosage and pain to review with her so the decision can be made to try something else or increase the dose.

Sorry, I don't have better answers for you.

**After hearing about Hopeful's experience with Cymbalta,I'd be scared too. I could not take Cymbalta...from the start. Horrible experience...but others have found it to help. Everyone is different.

The pills are 300 mg so I am taking 900mg a night.

I may try to get her to do more gabe instead of cymbalta.

EM is much like PN, everyone is different with what works, and EM is more rare than PN so very few doctors even know what it is or how to diagnose it let alone treat it. Not much is known about EM, my doctor does not even know what it is, not that she will admit that. She glanced at the paper I handed her and said, no, you have PN. I think most EM sufferers are on trial and error even more than PN. Most drugs being used are the PN drugs since doctors dont know how to treat it. Some work some dont.

Thank you for at least offering up your opinion, I appreciate it.

I just called pharmacy, cymbalta is $300 no way am I doing that.

Stacy, I had a similar experience of it working and stopping after a short time, reaching these plateaus for a short time and having to go to the next. Eventually most folks reach a therapeutic plateau that works for them. For me it was 1800mg.

One thing to note about Gabapentin is it absorbs fast, brings your blood level up fast, but also drops off rapidly.

I tried 4 pills and still nothing. But I only did it for two days, since there was no improvement at all. Someone suggested I take it day and night but my doctor has not suggested that. She wanted me to get cymbalta but I wont switch to that.

I dunno what is next.

I was likewise thinking taking it just a night seemed a little unusual, but thought maybe it might work. I might suggest the same day and night schedule because that is how I took it.

Of course, I had pain day and night so it made sense in my case.

I would say needle your doc about whats next. If they are only going to bump you up, there should be no reason to wait for an appointment like that.