Gabapentin Makes Me Impaired And Not In A Good Way

I was given gabapentin after a spinal injury that resulted in severe radiating pain down my legs. Thanks to a great physical therapist, and a lot of hard work, things are better now. Not perfect. But a lot better. I took the gabapentin for two days. The first day I felt fine (all things considered)... but the gabapentin didn't seem to have any real side effects. The second day, I honestly felt like I was on narcotics or something. I could barely move off the couch and, though I have never used heroin, I am very, very familiar with prescription opioids. I have never been that impaired in my life. It honestly scared me. No one else I know who has ever taken this medication has ever experienced anything like this. What gives?

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Hi Stephanie, sorry to hear about your experience with Gabapentin. Based on the list of possible side effects I'm seeing through NIH, it may help answer some questions as to why you were feeling a certain way... (and this is only some of the potential symptoms listed):

Coma
Confusion
Delusions
Dementia
Weakness or loss of strength
Incoordination
Impaired vision
Feeling faint, dizzy, or lightheadedness
Concentration problems
False sense of well-being
Rapidly changing moods
Reacting too quickly, too emotional, or overreacting
Restlessness
Suspiciousness or distrust

Ref: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0045606/#DDIC600709.side_effects_section

Perhaps it just took some time for enough Gabapentin to build up in your system to where it could cause such side effects, whereas if it were just a single dose your body could fend it off? Either way, I hope you feel better soon! Side effect lists such as what's noted above make me question the validity of most pharmaceutical preparations and whether it's actually poison vs medication...Things that make me go Hmmmmm...

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I've never had any bad side effects my dose is 300mg at hs (night) for peripheral neuropathy I have been on it for 6 months and feel I need it 2 x's a day it may have bad effects on me taking it twice a day but has so far been really great until recently for my disorder I sleep very sound at night and blame it on gabapentin but now when I get up in the morning I've noticed that i have symptoms in my feet but no longer in my hands you may talk to your Dr about decrease in mg its been a wonder drug for me

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Tolerance rises quickly. I recommend taking it only when necessary. Your dose is probably way too high.

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Re: David (# 1)

I just couldn't tolerate Gabapentin. The drug made me comatose. Finally seeing a Doctor in Oct for my back pain who specialize in spine problems. He is very busy, must be very common "Back injuries". My injury happened back in March 2018 removing clothes out of the dryer.L-4 and L-5. It has been a very long road trying every thing to get better.

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Might try a Quell unit, you can buy at Amazon for $250 but can return up to 60 days full refund. It only works on 81% of people but it has gotten my wife off of hydrocodone and gabapentin after 9 yrs of pain and meds. Look it up for yourself. I am not hooked up with them. Got info from a Duke prof.

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I hated Gabapentin but it really helped with my nerve pain in my arm from a C spine injury. At one point my PCP suggested I take 100 mg a couple times during the day for pain. I was taking 600 mg at night, and had been, but recently I had really started having some daytime fatigue that was unbearable. Anyway, I tried her 100s for a couple days. I slept non stop pretty much. She told me the side effects would stop, but I couldn’t keep trying. Even after only two days I was wasted for 4. It was awful. When I stopped taking the night time gabapentin a year or so later I slowly weaned off it, per their instructions. I felt like crap. Some doctors say there aren’t gabapentin withdraws. They’re wrong. This year my new PCP thought Lyrica might be better because it is supposed to have less side effects. I tried 25 mg at night once on a Monday and I was in a cloud until I woke up Thursday. I went out and did stuff Wednesday, but I felt so stupid and foggy it was almost painful. Btw- the daytime fatigue was a lot better off the gabapentin, even though my PCP kept insisting it wouldn’t do that. Except that it says that it could in the pharmacy print out. Read everything.

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I have the 800 mg of Gabapentin. I normally take half at a time. They are really good but becareful with them. To me they are just like opioids,

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Forgot to mention, Gabapentin is on its way to being placed under controlled substance by the FDA. They are working on it as we speak. They also have a street name for the pills. They are called “Johnnies”

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I have a friend that gabapentin has the same effect on her!! I also take gabapentins and I don’t notice anything different, except that the neuropathy in my feet and legs feel almost normal!! But my friend can take just one or two and then she MUST go to bed because she is SOOO ‘drunk’!!! So, you’re not alone, but its rare i think? Good luck.

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Re: Jimbo (# 5)

Quell unit was a waste of money. I have chronic head and neck pain,along with lower back moderate pain. GABA made me feel like that,but after 2-3 weeks didn’t effect me.No side effects,accept drowsiness.

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My horse was put on Gabapentin. I went to visit her one day at the equine hospital and was informed she had suffered a grand mal seizure. I am certain the cause was from the medication. I told them I wanted her off of it immediately. It had to be tapered off, but never again. My own doctor had mentioned it as something that could help the strange burning sensations I was having in my leg, but no way did I want to try it. I saw what it did to my horse.

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I was given gaba for seizures and it did nothing to stop them. Just left me with what felt like an all day hangover and I gained 40lbs before they finally switched me to another med. I will never take that nasty crap again.

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Re: David (# 1)

I am a double leg amputee with nephropathy. I have been taking gabapentin-300mg, 4 times daily for the nephropathy pain in limbs and hands for 5 years. Works great for me, not perfect, with no side effects that I notice. I am looking forward to trying CPD .

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I absolutely love Gabapentin! I think that it's a wonder drug. I take it for nerve pain and anxiety. I take 3 300mg pills 3 times a day. It sounds to me that maybe they had you on a really high dose of it because of your symptoms. One day I took too many by accident and I could barely walk from my car into my house. Or maybe you just have some kind of allergy to it. It helps me immensely and I have been taking it for around 10 yrs.

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I told my doctor the same thing. They say it's good for you. Well I took one 300 mg and I told my sister whom I was talking to on the phone. I blacked out & didn't even know it. I called her and said why'd you hang up on me. She said you went to sleep. She said she tried her best to wake me up. She said I was snoring that's how she knew I was sleeping so when I called her back she said I've been out of it for about 6 minutes. I have no recollection of even going to sleep or nothing. And I believed it cause me to blackout. I ran off into an intersection and I remember pulling onto the highway and waking up in the middle of the road and I always swore up and down it was that medication so I really didn't take much of it anymore and I told the doctor I only take it when my sciatic nerve acts up and they said well you need to take it every day for it to really work. Well recently I just had spinal surgery on my neck and I told the doctor that I didn't like gabapentin because it knocks me out and I don't even know it and he said he heard several people say that so I have recently quit taking it because if it only helps you if you take it everyday then I'm not going to take it everyday because I never know when I need to get under a wheel and drive. I'm glad to hear somebody else complaining about this as well so that's why I thought I will let you know what this medicine has done to me. They need to start warning people that you can black out from it because I have and I have a witness. My sister was on the phone with me. Until this day I had no clue that I was knocked out. Are you asleep? I thought she just hung up on me and I just called her right back asking why you hung up on me not even realizing that I have been asleep.

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Re: Pops Smith (# 8)

It already is a controlled substance. I had to sign a waiver stating I wouldn’t sell them a few months back. Schedule 4 or 5.

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Re: Pauly (# 10)

Too bad, you must be in 19%, sure works for us. At least you got your money back, so nothing lost but a bit of time. Good luck on other things.

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Re: Roper (# 2)

Me too Roper. It helps with my pain and actually helps me with my anxiety. I take 3 300mg three times a day. I have never really had any bad side effects. I really dont know what I would do without it. But I guess our body chemistries are all different so it may affect others differently with some bad side effects.

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Re: Mica (# 18)

I am in shock as I take 2400 mgs a night for insomnia. Sometimes I still can’t sleep. My PCP had to look it up in his PDR because he said that was maximum dose.

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Re: Mica (# 14)

I only on 300 mg three times a day. But I only take one at night if I need it. And it will help with my sleep. I know people that gets 800 mgs three times a day. They do ok. It's just not for me. Like you say every medicine don't work the same for everybody. For me I only take it as needed whether they say it only works if you take it everyday it do work when I do take it at night for my sciatic nerve pain I might have to take two but it works but it'll knock me out and put me to sleep so I won't take it at all during the day. I don't care how bad the pain is.

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Took this for one day and couldn't see or walk right kept falling asleep for 2 days. Was told by NP that that was very unusual but the more people I talk to the more horror stories I hear. Would rather live with pain than be a zombie

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The side effect I can best describe it would be it makes you stupid.

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I take 5 at night for bladder nerve pain. It is a miracle drug for me...BUT ..... notice I take all at night. If per chance I need an extra one during the day, I just can’t take it because I feel like I’m in la la land. Night time seems to be right for me. When I get up during the night which I do frequently I feel slightly off balance, but only very slightly so I take care, it’s not bad though. I can come out to my lounge and sit and knit.
I would not survive without this drug. I always think that the first thing I would grab in an emergency is my Gabapentin. And we’ve had very very bad earthquakes here in Christchurch , New Zealand, always had my Gaba in a bottle on the bench so I could shove in my pocket and take with me if necessary, as we had to evacuate one time because of possible tsunami. So nights it for me.

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Re: TnJack175 (# 25)

That’s how I did it too. Over a month because I had tons of them in 300 mg and 100 mg. I still had withdrawals. Magnesium helped. That was in 2018 and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. That stuff is such garbage. The terrifying part is these quacks don’t even know people get withdrawals.

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Re: Optimistic (# 24)

Yes, if you decide to get off of Gab's, you need to taper slowly, I mean stretch it out for a few weeks.. That was what I was told, and I did that with no problems, but just don't stop, or you might get w/d's. Good luck..

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Re: Susan (# 19)

I am afraid for you when you stop taking it and have withdrawals. That is a lot. Why doesn’t your doctor give you something that is actually made for insomnia?

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Re: Stephanie (# 21)

It might have been because Fiorocet has that barbiturate in it. I take Firocet a lot and maybe that’s why it messed me up so much. But the headache med alone doesn’t impair me. It’s garbage medication and I hate that doctors use it for pain instead of actual pain medication.

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I didn't like what it did to me at all.

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Re: David (# 1)

Hi David and everyone else here. It's 7am, I took one 100 mg Gabapentin about 9 hours ago. Due to fibromyalgia and 2 bk surgeries I suffer with pain! Also have bad anxiety attacks. So I felt fine, no pain, about two hrs later I had to take a fioricet for my migraine headaches. Don't know what happened? Like the other Stephanie said, I was impaired, couldn't walk myself to bed. My daughter had to help me. I was so scared! Not the first time I took this pill. Never had such a bad reaction. So I had to go to sleep at 10 pm, woke up at 4 am. Had the worst nightmares. Woke up paranoid. Feelings of someone in my house, I was holding onto a hammer. I woke my daughter to ask "am I really awake or dreaming?"

Horrible scary pill, the worst. Thought I was having a breakdown. Still feel weird. In the past, dr gave me 300 mg. Was too much for me. It's been a week now, taking this only at night. I'm thinking it finally got into my system, idk. I've taken the fioricet before and never felt this bad plus dizzy and nauseous. I'm going back to sleep. I still feel knocked out! So no Stephanie, it's not only you! Thank you David, I felt like all those side affects. I'll stick with the Mobic or Flexeril. Gabapentin is in the garbage. Sorry for the long message but wanted to share my experience. Take care everyone, be careful.

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