Gabapentin Dry Reaction (Top voted first)
UpdatedThere is a long story and before I forget it all I want to share what is happening at this time. I took Gab. For 5 months and weened myself off over a 30 day period. What I was left with was 7-1/2 months of the worse hell on earth you can imagine, I was compelled to kill myself. I should never have survived to get to the other side of death, but I did and now the medical professional look at me as though I am crazy, Im not! Also, It has made me allergic to everything. I can't take any meds for the pain. I have even resorted to medical Marijo But am allergic to that also. I go through terrible mood swings mostly sadness, despair, lack of motivation, no libido, no plans for the future....as I might kill myself tomorrow so why Bother. People say you need to see a phy. Dr. ...to what avail? They would put me on drugs that I couldn't tolerate as I can't tolerate ANY drugs anymore. I have very little relief from this nightmare I live 24/7. I don't know what to do, I know I can't live like this. I have no life, I can't plan anything as I don't know what the day will be like. Hell I don't know from literally one moment to another how it is going to play out. This is all chemical induced. I am a logical thinker but I think I am loosing my mind because of Gab. I have found from a few out-of-the-box thinking doctors that the pharmaceutical industry is just now revealing that these meds they are prescribing to us are changing the neuropathways of our brains.....which is actually what gab. did to me. I don't know how to fix myself for the damage this drug has done to me. But I know I can't keep fighting a loosing battle. Help
Dear Neoren, hope ur doing better today. For me this day is better than i have been but as u probably know that could change in a moment. That's another issue w Gab, I will be ok one moment then this terrible sadness floats through my brain and floating is a good description of it, it might last seconds or minutes then it is gone and I am back the way I was. the last bad experience I had was to wake up with awful anxiety. Then I fell and hurt my back and was getting muscle spasms so I took diazapan, this doesn't cause depression like most other pain meds do but it made me loose a couple of days BUT the anxiety is gone now. And that is how my life goes now, never know what I'll wake up to. I am so angry at these pharm. mfg we are the rats they are trying their meds on. I called a lawyer to see if anything could be done because it has messed my life up so much. They asked me if I cut my arm off? Maimed myself or killed myself - no kidding- of course I said no I'm talking to you. She said if I didn't do anything like that there wasn't anything I could do since I am still alive! The thing I am doing is trying to get my thoughts in some order - another difficulty since Gab - and keep records and incidents and anything else I can think of because there will be a legal suit against this medication. It also has weakened my immune system. From reading from people everyone has many different symptoms from it, but none are good ones. I am here for you
I am so sorry Neoren you are experiencing those feelings from the gabapentin. I could have used the wrong word allergy vs. side effects. I went to an acupuncturist 2-3 times a week for over a month. It helped very much, I almost felt like myself again but I couldn't afford the treatments any longer, but it did help to relieve the awful feelings I have experienced. The acupuncturist tested the gabapentin and my vitamins I was taking and said I was "allergic" to them. A few of the vitamins I was not allergic to, probably due to the mfg of them. Some were more expensive than others. The reactions I have from meds are usually negative ones ie depression, wanting to crawl out of my skin, sucide, death, lack of ambition, which is NOT normal for me, I have always been a mover- n- shaker, get things done sort of person. The 7-1/2 months of hell I went through from Feb to Aug or Sept. after I weaned myself off in Jan. which I took 3 weeks to get off of it. In those 7-1/2 months, I couldn't form sentences to speak, I cried ALL the time, had overly compelling feelings to kill myself, those thoughts ran continually through my brain, I wanted to die, I couldn't cope being around people, i was like a zombie. But you have to remember we had just moved from one state to another and I had to force myself to pack and get things done. When we arrive at our new home the body said that was enough. my post of jan 31 was all the things that were causing me pain plus I tore my right rotator cuff so I couldn't raise either arm, I couldn't walk on my feet due to the PF, it felt like I was walking on razor blades. So I couldn't sleep on either side nor on my back wo a pillow under my feet to keep my heels from touching the bed. Then is when I started taking the Gab, it was wonderful - it let me sleep and took the pain away. That was at the end of Aug 2011 by the end of Dec. I was feeling depressed, thought it was because I couldn't move around. So I would hobble outside and sit in the sun hoping to absorb some D vitamin. It didn't work. By the 2nd week of Jan 2012 the depression was getting really bad and that is when I read the warnings on the Gab. Out of 10 serious warning signs it said if you have one see your dr immediately, I had 7 of the symptoms. And you are right about the libido, that is a menopause thing and not due to the Gab. But all the rest of this nightmare. I have searched for problems with this drug and finally found one in the UK but everyone of us are experiencing different symptoms. Mostly negative thoughts, why couldn't it have gone the other way any we all would be over joyed?? Gab or drugs such as these store in your fat cells. I have to sit down and try to sort my thoughts out on how exactly this junk is effecting me, it's hard to keep my train of thought. Thank you all for your Input I don't feel so alone. But before I let this thing kill me I am going to try my best to understand and figure it out.
With what I am going through from taking gabapentin. I would say absolutely not, but I'm not a dr just one of the unluckily ones that the gab did this to. I shiver any time I hear someone is on that "demonic drug" that name for gab I found in threads and felt it was completely worthy of that label. There was so much and still is side effects from that stuff 3-1/2 yrs later. I weaned off over a 30 day period. Someone on a thread said it should be one month for every 100 mg. I was on 1200 per day and should have been a year to get off it. This stuff is bad news.
Hi I can empathise with you. I saw pain specialist played big money started prevailing and started getting allergic reaction to everything. Coffee tobacco cognitive function was zip and mood well if you can't think and as soon as get an idea and move and there conscious idea disappears and your left sitting there thinking I mean this no I mean this and the ideas just don't stay longer than that what quality of life is it. Then when I told pain management dude what was happening he said looks like your the type who like to play bridge and think and so stop lyrica, no weaning it just stop it, as I lift his office he pushed me in the back to hurry me out the door and seased seeing me all because of a reaction to a medication and to abruptly cease it. I have journey on jurnista 8 mg with paracetamol 665 mg 2-3xday and endone diazepam also at 5 mg 2xday reaction to these worsening so as I to wanted to take my life as I had such a struggle to do anything and sudden movement would alter my conscious state as would a smoke, a coffee, a meal, etc. Memory pain emotions all seemed intertwined and reality of life has been go back to bed and fall into a stupor for uptown 6 months. Fri I had mri spine and brain, I'd requested a referral to specialist physician he ordered it. I see him we'd. I saw Dr yesterday who said there was really nothing wrong with my back its depression and ptsd. I asked for copy of mri results he surprised gave me one. Now people know what they experience and for dr's etc to discredit your experiences and label them as something else doesn't help. I am retired nurse and so read report found I have life threatening blockage of csf fluid that flows around brain and spinal cord with the brain slipping down 5 mm into spinal canal and rt side c6/7 disc protrusion onto the spinal cord plus all lumbar vertebral disc desiccated. The dr said I had nothing wrong And prescribed an antidepressant. I tried med Maryland to and it helped for while now big problem. I took a reg value before I read the report as overdue sat down to read report and in 20mins it felt like it had weakened every thing and I had seriously affected the brain sliding down into the spinal area as I had so many sensory stuff racing though head head wad exploding and breathing difficulties vomiting urges and cough hiccups all at once and white light I made it through the night am better for no jurnista value or endone yes pain in lumbar but I survived this ordeal I couldn't have endured ambo trip truly 1 jarring and cactus. My hope in responding and sharing is to say hay get referral to physician dr's can be so wrong and bias and there could be some real change causing your symptoms change. And there's someone out there who has experienced what you are struggling with, glad you haven't taken your life. All best hope this helps anti epileptic is what lyrica is and the company had a 6 Mil legal suit over it. research the net about it, but get that referral to physician please. All best.
Your story is one of extreme benzodiazapine dependence over 30!! years long. Gabapentin did not cause this, and it did not cause it for anyone here. Every single person here has posted the same story I went through, but I guess i started "crazy" and never had a "clear head" but manage to appear normal anyway. Benzo withdrawl WILL KILL YOU, you will seize up, you will have panic attacks, and you will die, especially after 30 years. Gabapentin can slightly offset this. In some people it can make it worse. It doesn't "bind to your fat" or your "magnesium" and to the other, these aren't "allergies" and you are taking the word of a holistic health dr. as fact.
Are these pills affecting neuro pathways if taken over a long time? YES! We have known this for a LONG ASS TIME. Please let me know if you actually need help. but your stories sound like long time benzo users with dr's trying to get you off and it is hell. I feel you are forgetting the part of the story your dr. told you that, or maybe you have a bad dr. They are all around I'll give you that much. But look on wikipedia and read up on chemistry for like, literally an hour at most, and you will understand every problem you are having is from depending on a Benzo for 30 years?!?! I cannot believe you let yourself take a pill for 30 years straight that knocks your brain that hard. Here I am at 4 years weaning off.....This pain is on you, your doctor, and is not an allergy to the first, its not binding, the gabapentin isnt the issue at all. You refer to a benzo as a DAMN PAINKILLER. Your ignorance of your medications and refusal to use them as a tool but instead a crutch for literally 30 years. Is insulting honestly. I empathize to your pain and situation and would love to reference dr. in your area or medications to help, if you are cognizant enough to, want to, or are even around.
I realize my response is confusing, as it is a response to both the respondee and the main poster. But please dont go fuming on about things you do not have the slightest clue about. Cutting edge seminar that states psychoactive drugs change brain chemistry over time? Was that 30 years ago? seriously, know your meds.
SuezQ73 is correct, and I know because I'm experiencing the same thing. You seem to be missing the point of what he's mainly trying to say. All the the symptoms like libido could be due to other factors, but the even has a warning not to stop cold turkey due to suicidal thoughts or actions. This medication has also effected myself. I haven't stopped taking it yet, I'm on 600 mg x 4 every night before bed. It increases my sleeping and it also causes me less anxiety the next day and less panic symptoms.
To get to the point, when I try to ween off the medication I start to feel like I literally want to crawl out of my own skin- I feel so uncomfortable I could do something drastic to make it stop. This drug has turned me into a nervous wreck on top of everything else- it's made me Neurotic, ironically.
WOW are you sure it was neurotoxin you took because i'm 57yrs old and it really works for me.
Just been prescribed Gab, read the leaflet, read this, I think that I will put up with the pain. 3 thoracic fractures, bulging discs and a laboral tear, all from being hit by an uninsured driver. get down enough now, can't afford to get lower. Thanks for posting.
Vernon, I really beg to differ with you on that. Whatever label you put on Gabapentin whether it be withdrawal, reaction, allergy....whatever it doesn't pertain! My internal med dr told me she had went to a cutting edge medical seminar the night before my appt with her. They were speaking on the pharmaceutical drugs, how they are starting to realize that these drugs are changing the neuro pathways of our brains. Gab was specifically designed to treat epilepsy which is brain related. The Drs are prescribing Gab for many other things besides epilepsy. My dr prescribed it to me for nerve damage. Worked great, I could sleep, no pain until 4 months into it, then my hell started and is just now 3-1/2 years later slowing down, sort of. At least I can hold a conversation again. For the first 7-1/2 months I felt like I was under demonic possession - true story. I couldn't stop the negative emotions. I got so tired of people saying, "you just need to have happier thoughts". What the hell, I had NO control over these, what I have labeled as "ribbons" of negative emotions. They would run through my mind like, I would be at an o.k place in my mind then these emotions would start floating through my head. Like they were floating in one side of my brain out the other. Except then each ribbon of for example sadness or despair, suicide, depression, hopelessness, every neg thought a person can have was running through my brain and they were all attached to each other. It was maddening. And I am not done with it yet, it may get me before its all over. I read that the gab adheres to the same receptor sites as magnesium and calcium in our brains. I am getting to where I can't cope with this right now. Sorry everyone, I am so much better than I was. If I can help someone going through this, I want to but I have to stop now. Another fun thing gab has left me with I can't cope with situations and the list is large of what it has left me as, definitely not the person I used to be.
I really hate to say this Suezq but their are 2 of you. That is me. I left for hawaii of all places to care for my mother for a yr. with a broken foot & severe altiheimers . My back was in a major bad way and sciatica but I had my 2 right meds so I made it though. I came home to get my son to move there because she had no one. Them I found out that I had lost the Dr. that I love & had to look for another at a time when the u/a'a & insane, paranoid rules I didn't know about started happening (I think it was about march 2013) I had to go to my awful primary care & ask for a referral to another Orthopedic Pain Management dr. My primary care wouldn't give me any of my alprazolam that I had taken for 30 yrs - on & off but my pain & nerve disease & the panic attacks were much worse now that I am older. He actually gave me Gabapentin & gave me not 2 words to say about it. They were 300mg. At 1a day but the nice nurse said that these were not strong & I could take 3 a day if I needed. Here I was - a retired pharmacy tech & I actually took - what I didn't realize at the time was Neurontin !! How totally stupid could I be. Of course I knew it was for epilepsy but only the brand name kicked in because it was only brand name when I was a tech & my brain was desperate to have something for my poor back & nerves.
That was the end of where my memory went !! I started taking 2 a day & migraines on & off came like I could never imagine but my throbbing back was still bad so I decided I would take 3 a day. Which numbed my back up to the middle of my back but it made me so dizzy that there was no way I would get behind the wheel ! I felt like I might fall asleep but I never dosed off for more than 30 mins at a time, maybe 2x a day. The migraines came & went, my appetite that I never had became to start soaking up the toxin I was putting in. All I was doing was waiting for the 2 months for the only dr. There was to see. As a few weeks went by my brain started not to think straight, I could not talk the same on the phone about major business ! I felt like a Zombie. I had to just make it to this appt. i was getting worse & worse. My brain has always been the one thing that I alway respected & kept straight. My son carried me 1/2 dizzy & angry to this Dr. 45 mins away & then I walk in this awful place with everyone in angry moods & stuffy. I payed 250. In advance to come to this obviously unprepared dive of an office & stuffed in a room in horrible angry & this kid walks in that couldn't be my Dr. Of course he was a fill in ! Not in anyway prepared or even looked at my 8 yr. chart & MRI. I this little nerdy guy said we usually don't give controlled meds on the 1st visit ! But I can maybe give you some gabapentin!!! I was sure I was insane now! I grabbed my stuff - hobbled to the desk, said give me my money back, the dr. I was scheduled to see is not here, give me my paper work please - I'm leaving. I was refused my money, of course grabbed my son & records and I do not think they will forget the insane women on gaba! My brain was so twisted from that junk.
Every thought was angry & dizzy & not remembering as every 3 sec. Went by. All I could do was go home & make an appt. W/ the last Dr. On the list that was going on vacation for a month so it would be 2 more months. I took the gaba for 1 more month & as dysfunctional as my dementia brain was getting, I could not even try to explain to anyone that' would understand this!! So I started to taper down 1 a day. Talk about physical nightmare! Gaba is metabolized in your kidneys only so here came the urine - every 30 minutes for days & diarrhea every 2 hrs like clock work . My left kidney was so over worked urinating so so much for days - I was so close to 911 & begging for dialysis to somehow get this all out of my system fast or I was going to dehydrate between the urine every 30 mins. & the diarrhea every 2-3 hrs all day & nite for 3 -4 days. I think I was down to 1 pill a day. There is no antidote for this poison but if I had no Dr. I knew I wasn't going to make it this way. I had to go back to the same dose until I had a dr. To go to because I started to take 1 + 1 again & all the side affects of death started to normalize. I could not believe that any killer drug like this that' could even take your memory, too, was ever even invented for epilepsy. They were giving it for Bi- Polar & mess with your brain w/ this junk? & any walk- in clinic - all because it wasnt controlled! When I had finally made it to the only dr. Left - I just told the nurse that I had been deathly sick for 4 months taking this poison but I couldn't stop without maybe just my pain med & see if I could keep that down as I stop. I told that this was not me by any means & that I could barely talk or even think at all but I will come back. I knew this new Dr. Was not going to give me both my meds until he knew me better so I just took my pain home.
The pain meds turned the withdrawal around to throwing up. Weeks went by & I would take a tiny sip & piece of pain med. & no gaba. - no way ever! Every 6-8 hrs for many weeks was the same routine for about a month. The next time my brain was a tiny bit of being able to hold a thought & for the next 6 months - each time I would go & tell the nurse - no not yet - I'm not back but 1/2 maybe- that was 4 months & by 6 months I guess I was 3/4- it has been a yr. & 2.months & I still have that flash like you are talking about - that I don't care about anything, no motivation for several days sometimes. The only thing that I had, that was the most important to me was my clear brain & I know it has to come back. Eating the right food & the absorbable calcium / magnesium / potassium powder that I have to make myself drink again. It helped my pain way before I took poison. & my mental state, too. It has been almost a yr. & 1/2 & my mind will still draw that weird blank that has never happened in my life. It is all the right attitude from here & forcing my self a lot ! Unreal isnt it. Totally true & I can not believe I lived through it with no hospital. That would have made me just a crazy person. This is no lie !!! & of course, always parts you leave out but you are not alone. It is very hard for me to even try to tell this story!! I can tell you the nurse had totally seen this happen before, too. She could never give me exact happenings but she kept saying that she was sorry, like she knew I was another victim. I do hope that they are still not throwing that stuff around like candy. I never read that it was fat soluble, yet- Cute- we can sweat it out- too.
Gab was given to me for nerve damage as I tore all the nerve endings from my deltoid muscle in my left shoulder. It was wonderful to stop the pain and allow me to sleep. I can't take anything for the pain now. I also have DDD in my neck, plantar faci in my feet, one bulging disc and a ruptured disc in lower back, ostero in my knuckles. I know I am allergic to most meds as they will give me a bad experience. Ie depression, sucidal thoughts, extreme sadness, etc. the research I have found on the net, as I have been searching for 2 years is that most people are having different side effects from it. I also found it stores in your fat cells and can rear its ugly head whenever it wants. It's the strangest thing, I will be feeling "normal" as can be expected today and then a wave of sadness will float through my mind, it might last 3-4 seconds maybe a couple of minutes then be gone and I'm back to the way I was feeling before.
Those are all still side effects, I understand why they made you miserable, but none of them signify a medication allergy.
And no, there is no medication that lingers for that long in the body to cause problems again, long after stopping it. Everything is processed out in just a few days.
I am prescribed opioid medications and have been trying to stop - a friend told me that taking 400mgs of gabapentin helps the withdrawal symptoms. Is this true?
Dear Smith; I am so sorry u r going thru this nightmare also. GAB is the most demonic drug I have ever seen, heard and experienced. I am a problem solver and I think that is the only reason I survived this crap wo killing myself but I did survive and I am still fighting it. These are the things that I got some relief from: Fasting, I did a 7 day fast. Along with the fast I did several coffee retention enamas as the toxins will get caught in ur lower GI track and the enamas help flush them out, I felt much better after them. It took 5 days of the fast before I felt like my old self again. It only lasted for a few days then the GAB came back. Acpuncture also helped, it took 7-10 visits before I felt relief. Again, it only lasted for a few days, then the demonic drug affects came back. I have changed my eating habits, I only eat organic veggies, meat, butter, milk everything is organic. I read GAB adheres to the same receptor sites as magnesium and calcium do, so I started with magnesium chloride which will help cleanse your cells and tissue, but it made me nausea but I continued for one month then switched to mag glycinate. I also take a good calcium along with my other vitamins and herbs I take. I took 1/2 t. Epsom salt in 1/2 c. Of water, switched it in my mouth for 10 seconds and spit it out until it was all gone. Then I put 3c. Of Epsom salt In a tub of warm water and soaked for 30 minutes. I felt SO much better after that. I am trying to remember all the things I did that heped me. I am not saying they will all help you but some may. This drug is a terrible thing and we are suffering because of it. Any of you that is having an awful time with this stuff, please write to Med Watch and report it. For those of you who don't know Med Watch it's a program through the FDA. They are the go to, to report adverse effects from drugs. Here is the link:
fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/HowToReport/default.htm.
Or call them at 800-FDA-1088 M-F 8 am - 4:30 pm. EST. I reported this drug to them last week. They emailed me back saying they would save my name & info and if they got 2 more adverse reports they would look into it. We could all die in the mean time but at least we can have a bit of control anyway. The other thing I did that seems to be doing something to improve this experience was getting on bio- identical hormones. I got on them due to my menopause of 15 years. I refuse to get the synthetic hormones, first because the way they r made then they are not good for us at all. I don't understand how the hormones are helping with this stuff but I will take whatever works. I am being very careful what I put into my body now. Anyway I haven't had "a spell" for about 5-6 days and it's wonderful. I have been on the hormones for two weeks. I still have the floating feeling in my head but the negative feeling and the wanting to crawl out of my skin have gone. Last but not least, I connected with my God again. GAB had taken my spirituality away for the 3-1/2 years and that was a very dark place for me but I forced through it and found Him again. These are the things that helped me, I hope some or all of them will help you Smith. I understand EXACTLY what ur going through, all of you who have had a bad experience with this junk. I am one of the very unlucky ones that had a very bad reaction from gab and I am slowly crawling out of the hell it put me in. Please all of you who are suffering with this, report it to Med Watch. Good luck and hang in there.
I had a similar reaction to neurontin which I believe is a form of Gabapentin. It was prescribed for fibromyalgia. It made me very depressed, so fatigued I could barely get out of bed, my legs felt like jello. After I stopped taking it, it seemed that every medication that was prescribed made me sick. For example, I tried savella, on the lowest dose I projectile vomited. Stopped after second dose. It was stupid to take it the next day but I thought it was a stomach virus. I can guarantee if a drug has a possible side effect even <1% I will get the side effects. A friend of mine was on neurontin at the same time. She lost control of her muscles and urinated on herself. No matter what they call that stuff it is not good for many people. Cymbals is basically the same chemical component as well.
A few yrs back my doc gave me lyrics and I tried Neurotin also and I could feel that I was changing and not for the better as well. I hate both of those drugs! I thought I was going crazy on them! It's nice to see I am not the only one that had these reactions. Thanks for posting! I got off them as fast as I started and refused to take either one again.
Rational man I don't know who you are referring to as you didn't put a heading. I don't know what ur talking about. I was only on gab for 4 months. I didn't and don't take benzo whatever the hell that is. You have no idea what I have gone through and your spouting off like you know what is going on, that is really fresh. If you can't be positive and helpful don't post. You don't know what any of us are going through.
Don't listen to them when they tell you that no medication or drug has lasting side effects. What it seems to me that your going threw is PAWS POST ACUTE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. It happens in former drug users and in your case former Gabby user. What it means is months after you stop taking the drug you could all of a sudden feel withdrawal symptoms all over again. Just like the depression and hopelessness your feeling.
i can only hope that prayer helps.and perhaps you find and antidepressant u can tolerate.
Re: hurtin bad (# 7)
I was taking lorcet for pain, Valium for anxiety.. for some reason the Dr. kept wanting to put me on gabapentin. It was a nightmare... blocked all my meds from working, was on edge ALL the time, had restless 'body' syndrome, I was miserable. I took it for a month, then went cold turkey off of it. Changed my doctor, who, when I told her about it, said I must have had a reaction from it.
But as far as using it to replace your pain meds, I would be very careful... this is a very nasty med for some, and being prescribed out of it's approved treatment parameters...
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