Alcohol And Gabapentin (Page 3) (Top voted first)

Does anyone drink beer or other alcohol while taking this? I start on it tonight, increasing every 5 days to 900 mg total a day. I'm curious as to how much alcohol can be tolerated and if there are any reasons to avoid it completely. I like my Budweiser. Thanks for any input.

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Picked up my adult son from the ER this morning after he was brought in by ambulance after drinking probably too much but not an excessive amount. He was found blacked out on the street and fought the EMTs, so he was put in soft testraints. He thought he was being kidnapped but other than that, he remember parking the car (thank God he didn't try to drive) and waking up in the hospital many hours later and nothing in between. I have noticed a kind of "invincibility" behavior with just a beer or two before. He takes 1800 mg gabapentin plus baclofen daily for RSD/CRPS. Has some sweling and bumps and bruises but nothing major ... yet. His friend had called it a night and assumed he had gone home hours earlier. ER report says only "alcohol intoxication" but it was much more. If you must drink while taking gabapentin, take it easy and make sure you have friends to help you stay safe. You may not be tolerating it as well as you think you are.

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Colleen NO! You are already on enough mood altering meds, know wonder your so dizzy. Drinking will just make your symptoms worse. Im on similar meds and have had to work very hard with my doc to avoid side effects. Finally on a good routine and well controlled. hope this helps.

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I have a India beer one that's all or you could try 2. While eating your India meal I think if you eat with one it's fine ,,hope it helps you ,

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Look into a site called The Road Back. I found it while looking into whether/how gabapentin helps addiction to alcohol (its prescribed off-label for alcoholism)..

The site thoroughly explains what a slew of various brain-changing drugs do and what nutrients are depleted by them. It explains how, rather than just weaning off, you need to refill what's depleted or you experience the full withdrawal which makes perfect sense.. Being short on these different nutrients tends to drive people back to the drug(s) too. It was a great find. The info is free. Gets a little scientific but makes sense and may help. For gabapentin: NAC, Glutamine, other aminos and some vitamins. All on Vitacost or local vitamin store.

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My husband takes this medicine and on occasion has had a beer or two. Sometimes when he is taking it he slurs his speech. Do you slur your speech when you are on only the medicine or does alcohol do that?

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Hello there, I think one doesn't hurt but I had about 3. Rum Coke and I woke up in the night with a very upset tummy and loose bowels. Not good. One is fine... Hope it helps.

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Yes this drug you have to watch what you drink I did drink on this and I got a very upset tummy ,,not good but one of my other friends would drink few on it but she's was okay but I would say no drinking ,,she's not on it now ,,as it made all mind blowing like myself it kills the pain but What it does to your head is another story makes you forget and just talk strange at times ,,I came off with in a week but I hadn't been on it months ... Don't like the drug in the states ,, they were trying to band it hope it helps there's other. Tonunstand about it ,,my mother is 87 she's now comeing off this drug slowlyb

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I just started taking 900mg a couple weeks ago. I had a horrible day a couple days ago where my head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure. My doctor cut the dose to 100 twice a day and 300 at night. Seems to help.

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I get violent to my wife whom I love very much, and don't remember it the next day, but I hear about it.

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Darren...like many other meds, it depends on the individual. I can drink wine, beer, whatever and feel OK...but a friend can't drink while taking Gabapentin because of severe headaches she gets.

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I'm a recovering alcoholic and 7 months ago before I got sober I was drinking 1/2-1 liters of vodka daily and taking 900 mg of gabapentin no problem. I was originally put on gabby to combat anxiety and nerve pain from alcoholism. To answer your question they are both depressants so when used together it could cause a synergistic effect (enhance one another). Since alcohol is the stronger drug you may feel more drunk. However over time you will develop a tolerance to gabapentin and the more times you mix the two you will have a better understanding of how the interaction affects you individually. In a nutshell I wouldn't recommend getting s*** faced. P.s. 900 mg isn't that much. Oh and please don't drive.

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You drank way too much and your true feelings surfaced.

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I made that mistake, one time. I learned my lesson. I take 1600 gabapentin every night. As well as 200mg Dilantin 3 times each day. I'll never forget it. I started sweating. Very heavily. My face and upper back\neck were tomato red and exceedingly hot feeling not only to myself but to the touch. After about an hour, give or take a few, when the hor\red\however ya wanna call that wore off, the cramps began. Stomach cramps/pains straight from hell. Unbearable to a point. The only reason i didnt seek medical attention was, what would i even say? Oh i took my meds but then decided to have me a double shot of whiskey? C'mon, really? Its a terrible idea and i would strongly advise you dont do it.

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You do have something to worry about. That medication can cause overdoses that lead to death with alcohol.

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The fact is that some people can drink a bit with some medicine, just be sensible. With cronic pain we sometimes get down and want to have a drink to relax. I am now also on Tramadol and have a glass of wine sometimes as I said before be sensible!!

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I took 900mg for first time last night. Had one 24 oz beer also. If anything it helped more with my anxiety than any other benzo I have ever taken. Was prescribed to me for nerve damage. Doesn't even help with the pain at all.

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I am an alcoholic. I hate AA and the 12 steps. I am taking naltrexone because I believe it will (and has) helped. My doctor who is giving me the naltrexone also wants me on 2 gabapentin each day ( I do not have dosage# handy)' It has really made no discernible difference and I wonder why so many people are taking it when nada has been proved conclusively and there seem to be so many side effects. I am taking it as a nod to my current Dr.
More than anything, I want people to look up the
SINCLAIR METHOD.
Good research there. A good alternative to AA garbage.

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I just started taking gabapentin and just upped my dose to 1200 a day. Waiting to see the outcome. That's mgs by the way, i,m also taking naproxen 500mg, twice a day, cocodamol 30/500 four times a day, 30mg lansoprazole. This is because i have scoliosis. I,m hoping they work cos sometimes the pain is horrible. I drink about 3 cans of cider a night. Is this safe

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definitely talk to your doctor first I'm sure you know but you just can't stop taking it.

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For the self confessed alike... I'm an alike too. I no longer get cravings because I no longer drink daily. I do binge and gabapentin has helped keep that to one day. My demon is vodka, that I'll squirrel. Wine I can drink at a somewhat normal pace and naltrexone helped. However I must eat first or puke like crazy and if it's PMS time, nal plus drinking then equals migraine next day. It wasn't helping that much and the side effects are worse for women. Gabapentin helped me be less grumpy from withdrawal, happier, less thought of stopping for vodka. I do get serious nasal congestion, stumbling and fogginess on a whole 600. And dizziness. 300 helps me be 120 percent instead of just kinda grumpy sober.

As for baclofen as B4A, wasn't crazy about the ridiculously high dosage. It's supposedly not addictive so I've used it intermittently with valium for anxiety. Look into it now, it's been largely criticized and shown to be addictive but not as bad as benzos

I'm atheist or for the faint of heart humanist, so two hurdles in AA for me. Trying to fool myself into having a higher power, turning my will over to something like Santa to me. It's hereditary, it's a chemical dependence. I'll take science thanks. I've had success stopping daily, no cravings since. I still drink so the "one drink and its the downward spiral" isn't true. It's true I don't stop til drunk in one session and don't know that could change.

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