How Long Before Side Effects Resolve From Gabapentin?
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My father who is 79 was started on 300 mg of gabapentin, three times a day. After the 4th dose, he was having hallucinations, tremors, and became tachycardic and arrhythmic. Although the MD prescribing would not say stop the medication, his cardiologist advised immediately stopping. He continues to be lethargic, confused and although better, still has some tremors about 36 hours after taking his last dose. His heart rate is down to around 84 now.

How much longer until these side effects resolve?

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I am taking 300mg of gabapentin for only 3 days now and my ankles are really swollen. If I discontinue this medication,will the swelling subside eventually?

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I was only taking 300 mg a day for 1-1/2 years and quit taking it 5 days ago. I had also weened off Norco three weeks ago but started on Tramadol at that time. Decided to also quit Tramadol 2 days ago. Cannot sleep only getting 2 to 3 hours night, anxious, muscles feel like they want to go a hundred miles an hour, nausea, stomach pain, a lot of intestinal gas. Also pain in knee replacement is nasty. Gives me stabbing pain that only last 5 seconds but stops me in my tracks.Or feels like someone put a lit cigarette inside your knee for 5 to 10 seconds. Hope this doesn't last a whole lot longer.

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Thanks. It took a full 5 days after discontinuing the medication before all symptoms (except the a-fib) resolved. The cardiologist had to do electro cardioversion yesterday.

I read that gabapentin stays in the plasma up to 6 days after the last dose and his cardiologist said the half-life was 12 hours.

Turns out he is hypersensitive to the gabapentin. Not allergic, but hyper-sensitive.

It was a scary situation, but ended with a positive outcome.

Thanks for your answer.

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Hi Snigs,

I'm very sorry to hear about your father's situation.

Based on your description, it sounds to me like his cardiologist may know best. A lot of these side effects can be serious/life threatening and may require immediate medical attention if they persist. For the doctor to disregard this only shows his lack of empathy and unprofessionalism.

As far as those side effects are concerned, it's difficult to say how long they can linger for since that can be different for everyone. However from my understanding, they probably wont start to subside unless he completely stops the medication.

Gabapentin has an average half-life of 5 to 7 hours. So at or around that time frame, 50% of the last dose taken should be leaving his system.

I hope this helps!

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