Hello all,

Just curious what side effects any of you have experienced with gabapentin? I may be switching from carbamazepine to gabapentin shortly.

Thanks,
Annie

Hi Annie,

AFAIK, I'm one of the few here who gets on fine with gabapentin, but I take very small doses. Many people were on it a while back, and then switched to topomax. Then side-effects from the topo (hair-loss, bad taste in mouth, whatall) seems to have caused some to come off that.

So I don't know what the "drug de jour" is right now.

I was put on Neurontin right away, 900mgs pd in 3x300mg doses. One thing I've noticed (I'm a Brit living in Hong Kong where the med system follows the UK) is that UK prescribed doses of all meds are much smaller than US. I'd already joined BT1 so I knew what others were taking and thought hey, why've I got such mini amounts?

Well, I took the first lot...and seriously felt like I'd dropped a bit of acid. Sparkly lights, the works! Couldn't remember a damn thing and felt like I lived in a cloud. I seem to be very sensitive to it. So, not being able to cope like that, I reduced it and now, on 500 - 600 mgs pd, it works fine. I've tried coming right off it, but find I do need it. It doesn't remove the pain, but it calms the zaps and pushes it all into the background.

Main things that have been reported are: intense brain fog, raging appetite, weight gain and memory loss.

Memory loss for me is the most serious - mine ain't what it used to be, sometimes worryingly so, but then I *am* getting older.

So...I know Neurontin is the older form of gabapentin, newer forms are pregabalin (UK) and Lyrica - there are certainly people here taking the latter, and some newer forms are around too, in Europe at least.

I'm very interested myself to find out what the state of play is on this - hope you get good feedback on this one,
all the best.

Neu"rotten"....not for me. I called it my Zombie pill. I gained too much weight and I just well, felt like a zombie. But, everyone is different. I was on high dose.

I'm on Topomax. And like it much better. I've been on this for well over 3 years, I think. So far so good. Some people have had problems on Topomax as well.

Hey, Artist...I didn't know that Topomax caused hairloss? I'm losing lots of hair. Maybe this is the cause. ....hmm.

Hi Dana - yeah, apparently it can be a side-effect - Debbi36wotsit had that happen I think, sure she'll tell you all about it!
atb

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback. I was on Neurontin briefly last summer, and had the same sort of side effects you are talking about, but may have increased the dosage too fast. My pain & symptom control with 1200 mg/day was fantastic. I'm on Tegretol now, and (1) have some of those same symptoms, albeit less severe, and (2) am worried about long-term side effects, like liver problems & osteoporosis.

Sounds like I need to discuss other alternatives with my doc.

Annie

gained about 15 pounds on it, and could NOT stand it. Did nothing for me except made me gain weight. Tried lyrica, same thing. Carba...is that flexerill? I believe it is. Only thing that helps me with is the restless legs/body that I get. However, taken at night that does work VERY well for me for that.

Topamax, seems to work well, but I actually have to VACUUM my bathroom linoleum floor, counter and tub before I can clean cuz there is so much hair everywhere. I'm shedding pretty badly lately from it...however, it seems to be slowing down. I take 100 mg's per day of the topamax, and it seems that once I reached that dose, and stayed at it for a few weeks, that side effect did tame down a bit.

From what I've "heard" of the gabapentin/neurontin, a lot of ppl have been helped by it...but many went off because of the side effects. It's up to you - if it's helping and you can handle the side effects (if you get them, many people handle different meds differently) then go for it.

Hugs
LisaM

Ihave to agree with everyone about the weight gain, although I am on a plethera of meds so can not say good od bad about it other tha the wieght gain and also a dry mouth and I am on 2400mg at this point as allmeds sure this will be increased also!!!! I also have TOS so life is just a mixture of fun


My best to all>>>>>> Mark-n-Goober