Gabapentin

[EmmyJN]

Hello, everyone! I am a 16-year-old girl and I take gabapentin for nerve pain (we think...) My neurologist gave me a perscription for 1800 mg per day.

The other day, I went to a Christmas party and left the gabapentin at home, so I missed a dose. I got a horrible stomach ache that night and was miserable. The next day, I took the medicine, and the stomach aches are gone. i also have gotten weird vision problems when I accidentally miss a dose.

The little packet that came with my medicine said there can be vision changes and GI problems if you stop taking the medicine completely without medical advice. But can missing one dose really make the side affects happen?

Thanks!

[deadmemory]

I was on gabapentin myself for nerve pain. It didn't help my nerve pain at all. It caused me to become very nervous and on edge. I told my neurologist about it and she wanted me to continue taking the med. Well another week goes by and I keep having these freak out episodes. Now I am in severe pain and I am freaking out. Nobody wanted to be around me cause they felt they needed to walk on eggshells. I called the neurologist again. She cut my dose to 100 mg. I was still edgy and felt like my heart was going to explode. I decided to take myself off the med. I had the stomach pain it seemed immediately when I was due for my dose. So yes, in my experience, it can cause those symptoms even just by missing one dose. I am no longer on my gabapentin and I am still in pain from Chiari malformation, a brain tumor and degenerative disc disease but at least I am not edgy on top of it. I feel "normal" after getting that stuff outta my body.

[caregiver222]

I was on gabapentin after spinal injury, and decided that I was better off without it. The medication didn't do much for pain, but had the side effects you talked about, plus it caused confusion. I did not feel safe driving while under this medication. Everything is a risk/benefit situation, and I suggest you have a long talk with the prescribing physician if you experience problems.

[selmaS]

  Hi, I too did not fair well with this med in fact it affected other medical issues so I had to stop taking it....we r all different as to how quickly we may be affected when stopping meds and for that reason it is best to do so under the aid of ur Dr....and to do so slowly....if this med helps u out side of the issues when u miss a dose, I say make sure u do not miss the dose.

  Good luck,

  "selma"

[Dr Sharma]

Dear Emmy, welcome to the medhelp forum. While you are taking gabapentin, you need to be careful about not stopping it suddenly and without your doctor’s advice.  This may cause nausea, pain, sweating, anxiety and lack of sleep. There may be increased severity of symptom treated with it. If you miss a dose, take the next dose on scheduled time. Certain side effects associated with the drug are dizziness, blurred or double vision, tremors, etc. consult your neurologist for the vision changes and gastrointestinal issues. He may prescribe you medicines to treat them. Vision needs to be assessed thoroughly and appropriate tapering and dose titration of the drug may be required. Hope this helps. Wish you all the best.

[lvfrogs]

Hi Emmy,
I am on Gabapentin, 300mg 3x a day so about 1/2 your dose. I am on it for my peripheral neuropathy and it works pretty well with that and with little side effects. I haven't noticed so much that it helps all that well with my pain but I don't take it for that. I have had almost no side effects. I hope everything will work out for you. As Dr. Sharma said, do not go off of it w/o help from your doctor.

[EmmyJN]

Thank you all so much for your help! I will keep in mind in the future not to miss my dosages. I'll write it on my hand or something so I do not forget.

Since I posted this, I have not missed a dose of the medication, but I have been shaking, as Dr. Sharma said could happen. Do you think this is something that I shoudl bring up to my neurologist? I see him in April.