Neurontin

**lisabar36** · 01-07-2008, 02:16 AM

Hi, I was reading the thread on Lyrica, I am wondering now, does Neurontin help anyone? I am still stuck on 100 mg's 3 times a day, due to nausea, I am supposed to work my way up to 900 to 1200 mg's a day. My doc says its not a high enough dose right now to help, I would say it doesn't help at all yet so I am wondering who had luck with neurontin cause my doc highly reccomends it over Lyrica for some reason. I have not had increased appetite at all, I haven't noticed any side effects other then the nausea at first. That went away. I am the type of person that can look at a pill and have every side effect.

Just wondering if this helped anyone?

**Claredale** · 01-07-2008, 03:54 AM

I know that it has helped plenty of people, but I couldn't handle the side effects of any of the meds like Neurontin, Lyrica or Topamax. I seem to be more apt to side effects as well. Nausea wasn't my issue, but I couldn't deal with some of the other side effects.

Tracey

**OrlandoP** · 01-07-2008, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by lisabar36

Hi, I was reading the thread on Lyrica, I am wondering now, does Neurontin help anyone? I am still stuck on 100 mg's 3 times a day, due to nausea, I am supposed to work my way up to 900 to 1200 mg's a day. My doc says its not a high enough dose right now to help, I would say it doesn't help at all yet so I am wondering who had luck with neurontin cause my doc highly reccomends it over Lyrica for some reason. I have not had increased appetite at all, I haven't noticed any side effects other then the nausea at first. That went away. I am the type of person that can look at a pill and have every side effect.

Just wondering if this helped anyone?

As I've mentioned before, I'm not on Neurontin after watching my poor sister in law. It wasn't pretty. I don't understand why docs don't start with meds with fewer side effects rather than ones with more. Lyrica is now approved for fibro, so I don't know why your doc would say Neurontin is per se better. I don't know of any reports showing such. I would push, if you can, to try Lyrica or Topa. My sis in law did it, and is a world better with good pain relief.

**OrlandoP** · 01-07-2008, 05:39 AM

Originally Posted by Tracey83

I know that it has helped plenty of people, but I couldn't handle the side effects of any of the meds like Neurontin, Lyrica or Topamax. I seem to be more apt to side effects as well. Nausea wasn't my issue, but I couldn't deal with some of the other side effects.

Tracey

Tracey, what kinds of effects did you get, if you don't mind my asking?

**Claredale** · 01-07-2008, 08:15 AM

No, I don't mind you asking...On Neurontin...Mainly I couldn't concentrate (kind of hard working like that). I was VERY irritable, like constant PMS. Everyone said that I looked like I was drugged up and had no personality. I am normally a bubbly type person. I also didn't get any sleep while taking it because it caused me to have such bad dreams and night terrors. When I tried Lyrica, my concentration was about the same. My husband and I would go to rent a movie almost every weekend, and I swear I would probably of watched the same movie over and over again. As my grandmother said, I was like a goose and woke up in a new world every day! I didnt' take it very long after I realized I was in the same boat as Neurontin. With Topomax, I was scared all the time. I would even nod off, even at work, I would cut the corners in the hall to quick and bump into the wall...one time even when I was driving. I had left work early because I had such a bad headache, which I never have. My boss told me later that she almost made me stay because I looked so strange when I told her I needed to leave. I kept nodding off in my car while stopped at lights, etc. One time I even drifted until the curb on a busy street causing me to cut the sides of both of my tires on the right side of my Explorer. I kept telling myself I really needed to call someone, but I didn't have the "wisdom" to do that. I did pull over into a gas station parking lot and walked around my car to "wake myself up" and then drove the rest of the way home, still falling asleep. Once I got home, I went straight to bed and even my husband had to shake me awake several hours later. The next day, I kept having flashbacks of my drive home and couldn't stop crying because I knew I could have killed myself or someone else. I didn't tell my husband about my close call, but he saw my wheels (they were a week old) and asked me what happened. The other thing with Topomax is that my hands, face and feet were in a constant tingling sensation which is supposed to go away, but my husband had me call my doctor and he immediately took me off (which was the day after I almost ran off the road). I just have a bad reaction to those kind of meds.

This isn't meant to scare people, I personally know people that these meds have helped. I just happen to be over sensitive to them.

Tracey

**OrlandoP** · 01-07-2008, 08:25 AM

Wowie. Guess that's why my doc says Topamax isn't a "benign" drug. While we are on true confessions: I found that Vivactil and Valium cooked me up pretty nutty on a couple of driving occasions. I took a small dose one day before I left the house, and about 15 minutes out, I realized that I was in a time warp, and had to concentrate really hard not to zone out completely. And on Vivactil, I was really forgetful at home, and making a ton of mistakes. My husband simply isn't used to me being anything other than 100% mentally alert, so he was actually down on me as being irresponsible until we figured out what it was!

**GriffsMommy** · 01-07-2008, 10:10 AM

Thanks for asking this question Lisa. I have worked myself up to 1200 mg of neurontin because I wasn't seeing any relief at 900 mg. I have been at the 1200 mg for maybe a week and a half and haven't noticed a reduction in pain. I don't get most side effects and other than it making me tired at first I'm pretty much okay with it. I trust Dr. E so I'll stay on it later to see if it works but I might have to ask him about Lyrica or something else since it doesn't seem to be helping. It's frustrating to be on so many meds and not see much or any improvement in pain.

**Claredale** · 01-07-2008, 10:19 AM

Christine, has been being off work helped you at all? I hope you are getting some rest!

Hugs, Tracey

**GriffsMommy** · 01-07-2008, 10:24 AM

Being off worse has let me rest more and is less stressful. My dr was hoping for me to see more pain relief by this point than I am so we're changing my pain meds and he's hoping once I get my second Lupron injection that my pelvic pain will decrease alot. I hope he's right since each monthly injections costs me $120 plus the $25 office copay to get the injection done at the dr's office. Thanks for asking Tracey