Update since my doses have increased

[jamlws]

I am now up to 1800mg of gabapentin a day, I am taking 600mg in the morning and the afternoon and the evening. The side effects have doubled! My mouth gets so dry now, I try to keep gum in my mouth at work I can't chew it to much cause of the pain but I try to keep it in my mouth but at some point I just have to take it out and my mouth gets so dry and we can't have any water and I can't just walk to get some, I am a cashier. When I am at home it is fine cause I can drink as much as I want. I really don't know if the increase is helping or not.
As for the Embeda I have been on it since Thursday. I think I am on the lowest dose 20-0.8mg 2 times a day. It has taking the edge off my pain but so has darvocet in the past. It says If you have been taking opiods (narcotics) for a period of time you will have to have a higher dose. Well I have been on them off and on since Jan of 2009. I first started taking vicodin then that stopped working then I started on percocet for 8 months then had the surgery and after that the dr would only give me darvocet and I have been on that a couple times since October. So I am wondering if I would need a higher dose? I am going to call the doctor on Monday. The good thing is I am feeling alittle better to the point I have been able to clean my house on Friday and today I finished it and I can tell that my feelings about things are getting better, We just moved into a new house in December and this is the first time since we have been here that I have really took pride in the house and wanting to keep it clean. I don't know if it is cause the edge of the pain is taking off or maybe just maybe I found a drug that might help. We just have to get the dose right. The other problem is that Emeda is not cheap, it was $50 for 60 of them. I can't get help from the state to help pay for them so I don't know what else to do.
When I have stopped any of the pills I have been on I have not had a problem stopping them. So I am not sure why the dr didn't want to go down that road. And when I was on the meds I had to be cause I was going to the dentist once and sometimes even 2 times a week to get the hole in my mouth packed and stitched up with about 15 stitches so it was a very painful 8 months he would even stitch my cheek to my gums so it was so painful. I thought after the surgern fixed the hole everything would be done and over with but I was so wrong. This story don't seem to end.
Thanks for everything.
Jamie

[sandee1818]

Try to keep some hard candies in your mouth to help with the dryness. I find that the butterscotch and the cinnamon hard candies work well. My mouth stays dry and I keep drinking and adding on the pounds when I do that so I have been keeping hard candy in
my mouth and it helps alot! I love the cinnamon and butterscotch as well as peppermints.
I would definitely call the doctor and let him know the medication seems to working but the dose is not strong enough.  
I would also do as MR suggested and check into pain management. As she says most doctors are leery of prescribing narcotics these days. With all the news about over doses causing death and the doctors being charged it is enough to scare doctors away from prescribing medications they know their patients need, there are great doctors out there though so don't give up:)

[Mollyrae]

Thanks for the update Jamie. Be careful with the Gabapentin. Higher doses can be hard on your liver. I have not heard of the pain med that you're currently taking. Is it a new one? I will have to look it up.

Some Doctors are just plain leary of pain meds. You have to find the one that's right for you. You may want to check into Pain Management. I don't know a lot about those either for the fact that in my state, our Primary Doctor is also our Pain Management Doctor.

I hope that you can straighten things out with your Doctor...my thoughts are with you.

Mollyrae