Alcohol And Gabapentin (Page 2) (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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hi iam taking gabapentin 3oo mg i have been taking them since 1993 and have been fine however the last 3 years i have become dizzy and feel pressure on my head do you think it is the tablets

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Yes.. No more than a twelve oz beer if you must. All kinds of crazy stuff can happen with this and alcohol. Today after work I did my usual Friday three IPA's. I weigh 280 lbs and can handle my liquor so no big deal usually.
I've been on a schedule increaseing my dose every four days. I'm now at 1200mg a day, and my alcohol tolerance took a severe decline. I was vomiting followed by diarrhea, and more vomiting. My wife is disgusted and sleeping on the couch. I felt like I drank a half a bottle of hard liquor. I thought I was going to OD and die.

I'm gonna stop all alcohol as long as I'm taking Gabapentin.

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I started gabapentin 300mg 3x daily 2 months ago for neuropothy. Had to stop for a week because of other issues. I would have shot myself if I had a gun! This med is a lifesaver for me. I willingly gave up any alcohol per docs orders. I would give up almost anything for the relief thos has given me!!!

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I was on 300 mg gabapentin 3 times a day, wasn't doing me much good so he gradually increased it to 600 3 times a day, still no relief but I found it made me suicidal, I felt absolutely horrible, had to decrease it back to the original dosage. The info that came with it states that it can make you have bad thoughts, didn't say suicidal but I'd say that's a bad thought. I don't get much pain relief but I'm restricted to what I can take because I'm on warfarin . I'm taking pain relief for a crushed vertebrae.

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I just had the worst experience with this. I embarrassed myself to death. I got extremely dizzy nauseous the sweats everything was spinning . awful . never again will I mix the two.

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I have been on 900mg a day for 9 months, and when I drink beer, I have swelling side affects. I am thinking of cutting out alcohol til I have surgery to correct the problem of neck/nerve pain. I really feel different while drinking and the next day seems worst than before.

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I used to be able to drink all night. Then my gabapentin dose increased to 900 mg three times a day, and I now black out halfway through my 2nd drink! I hate it. My IQ also goes down to nothing if I drink while on the Gabapentin.

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Also, I notice more affects from drinking on my meds the day after... Hang overs feel like withdrawal and death... twitching, dizziness, restlessness, shaking, pure misery. Anyone else notice this ?

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massive headache! MIGRAINE ! I drank on gabapentin and BOOOOOOM!! Strange how it does not affect some people though.

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My doctor said 300 mg a day is about the amount he would give a cat!

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Your brain is basically one big nerve. Gabapentin targets nerves. It is very likely that the drug is causing what you describe. It can cause depression so be aware and consult your doctor if you continue to feel this way.

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Thank you for this post. It's most helpful to me. My dosage is also 2700 mg though I could never take that dose, on 1200-1800 mg a day my brain is so fuzzy (amongst other severe symptoms) I thought I was going bonkers!

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Don't drink while taking this, if you are an alcoholic have your heart checked. I lost my 53 year old husband to cardiomyopathy caused by alcoholism. No doctor ever checked his heart and his death was sudden, don't not drink while taking any kind of meds.

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I take 900mg a day and if I have more than three alcoholic drinks I start having problems with memory/speech but it's not too bad but what is... my balance is off but I don't notice until I fall. It's happened twice and it's scary because you don't think you have a problem walking and then all of a sudden you miss a step or your leg doesn't move as fast. Also, after drinking I can't sleep well it's like you can't turn off your thinking. Your brain won't sleep. I only drink socially so I'm going to limit myself to one drink.

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The best thing finally happened to me. I weaned myself off of 2400mg. of Gabapentin a day, and I'm now completely off that drug. I threw out 10 full bottles of 800mg pills. I feel so much better without that crap in my system, it was poisonous. This time I bucked against my doctors orders and did something that was good for me.

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Thanks Matt, glad to know I'm not the only one who enjoys beer thirty!!

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That head pressure and dizziness will stop as you adjust to the drug! This is an awesome drug relieves RLS and shingles in me! It will cause nausea while drinking alcohol for me especially if have not eaten! I drink wine and do fine on it.

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I'm taking 300mg of gabapentin 3 times a day and after asking the doctor if it was okay to drink on it I have drunk and I was fine however I did get drunk slightly quicker than usual and get very emotional on the multiple occasions that I have drunk

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Hey all,
I wanted to know what peoples reactions were to gabapentin and alcohol as well. I take 900 mg each dose, 3 or 4 x daily,it depends on my activity level for about 1 1/2 yrs. My cocktail is my gaba and 24mg acetaminophen with codeine each dose, my doctor doesn't like me taking more than 72mg of the codeine daily, but once again it depends on what has to get done. I have the stupidest knee injury, I am perfect except for this relentless horrifying nerve pain from my knee, that has about 4 different pain threads( my own description).
I was on the 100 mg fentanol patch for 5 yrs and jumped cold turkey from the fentanol to gaba and codeine. Three days of he'll, but overall not too bad.

I can't walk a bumpy or hilly road ,climb stairs, swim, dance, stand for a lengthy time. and no libido, and honestly, it exhausts me days afterwards. My life has been turned upside down, and I am the most intensely boring person now. And I can't drink. I have tried a few times, it's very scary, extreme dizziness and I get a headache that feels like a medieval wired cage that gets turned tighter. My head feels like the weight of a bowling ball, I have to lie my head down horizontal, I dont feel drunk, just pain that feels better once I lie my head down, I can carry on a very lucid conversation, but my head is pinned down, and there I'm stuck. So since I can't read anymore, ( I'm told my eyesight has rapidly decreased because of my age, I'm 42. But I'm not convinced that's all it is.) It's not just the vision it's deeper than that, I can't describe it. It also took me 4 yrs to listen to music, I couldn't withstand the vibrations.

Now, I think there is a huge difference between drinking liquor and beer, my guy drinks beer and once in a while I get him to give me a half glass of beer that turns into a few, and I really enjoy it. I am literally too afraid to try wine. I think if u do want to enjoy a drink, turn your wine into a spritzer, only 1 oz of liquor with a lot of mix and ice, these two are both way stronger than beer, so I'm getting the feeling the alcohol content is extrmely relevant.. I am a cannabis supporter, and really enjoy my joint or two a day. I am extremely thin naturally and my teeth were wrecked from lack of dental care and fentanol dry mouth, so it prompts me to eat and the world doesn't seem so harsh. But that wired cage inside my head happened today, and bowling ball syndrome too. Now I've been taking lyrica for the last two days, I ran out my Dr is three towns away, and a friend had leftover lyrica, she stopped beacause of weight gain, so that would be a plus for me.maybe it's just the lyrica, but I have noticed over the last few months a few niggling differences. And today whammo.
Now cigarettes, well for someone who rarely smoked before, I seem to do just fine with them.

I apologize for not sticking to point of topic, and I now it's a really old post, but maybe if somebody reads this, it might be helpful in some way. I'll tell u tho, I've had issues with this weird headache whenever I'm running late or low on meds, my friends have said the headache is from the codeine withdrawal, possibly, but its a really weird headache, and I've gone thru withdrawals a few times in my life and this is different, it's not the body it's the brain. Anyway, my pain my life and my depression has been stabalized, thanks to the gaba, and if drinking is the cost, I'm glad to pay it.

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Waking up to edema in my legs and increase in the minor side effects. I just looked up this thread because last night I had 1 beer and a tiny bit of vodka which I knew I should not. For about a month I've been on gab 300 mg for some neuropathy left over from chemo treatments. Based on this I think people should abstain from drinking if you have any question about it.

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