To ask about gabapentin and nerve pain/sciatica success stories?

[SpamChaudFroid]

After nearly 3 months of sciatic pain, (it's bad, I need a stick to be able to walk, well shuffle really) and many different drugs, (codiene, amitriptyline, diazepam) my GP has prescribed gabapentin. I am seeing a physio who has made an appointment for a second opinion as to whether it needs further invstigation, (eg. steroid injections or material removed).

Has this worked for anyone? please someone tell me it works

Yesqueen, how awful.
I’ve only been on amitriptyline for a week. Maybe I need to give it longer. Am about to order a tens machine.

Just a word of caution: it made my poor mum hallucinate and lose touch with reality at times. She had to come of it despite it really helping her pain.

I actually made an account to write this...

Yes, it works. I had such bad sciatica I literally couldn't walk last year - this was what started me off on the road to recovery.

Fair warning though - a lot of the rest of that road was (sometimes painful) physio.

I want to be really honest with you about this, as I found out I'm not the only person this has happened to. I note that I'm allergic to gabapentin & pregablin, as my experience was so bad.

I took it for 4 days, multiple complex issues. I felt tired, fuzzy but I couldn't sleep, it felt like my head was full of cotton wool. I stopped it, it was strange being 'hyped up' but also 'drowsy' and really did not like it.

Talking to a random woman, don't know how the subject came about, she said they titrated her dose, then she was getting bad side effects the main annoying one for most is lots of weight gain. Although what I went through wasn't pleasant.

When it came to the point of this woman coming off it, she went through absolute hell for 2 weeks. I was on a MS drug which is similar, I had a very similar withdrawal where I didn't want to live. (This was nearly a decade ago)

I feel it's a cheap drug, maybe it's better than opiates, considering so many people report the same side effects, the same withdrawal. Plus the fact I watched something where they said it's even a problem in prisons, as you get this high, which weirdly some people like.

Anyway I can help let me know.

I have muscle spasms and other issues, when I was coming off the MS drug my DH has to take me as an emergency to the Dr's where I was sent home and the crisis team saw me in 60 minutes. I was put on diazepam as they could see physically the spasms and pain was awful, for a short time it helped for me coming off this drug too.

Now I take it purely for the spasms etc, I was in hospital, I remember being offered the diazepam, I said I'm ok at the moment. This girl chirped up she had it for MH issues once and would never turn in down. The Matron said your body responds differently if it's for physical reasons than mental health.

Honestly I can take or leave it, I pretty much use what I'm prescribed daily, but I take it when the spasms etc are really bad, over taking it prophylactically.

Really hope this helps.

If I can save anyone from the hell of it then I'm happy. Although I know we're all individual and react differently, I've read that lots have had bad reactions.

I’m on 3 100mg a day but they’re not really helping now so need to increase the dose.

I’ve realised that my teenage daughter was prescribed ever larger doses of Gabapentin by the hospital for her migraines. She didn’t feel it helped but it made her so drowsy and dull - which didn’t help at school- that she asked not to take it. Hmm.

I took it for about a year. It worked really well and took about 24hrs to start working. It does make you feel a bit funny. You know when you have taken it at first, but I got used to it. I started on a low dose and went up gradually.

I know someone who has it for sciatica. Just asked her I relation to your thread. She said it takes a while to kick in (2-3 weeks?), then the GP will usually increase the dose gradually if it isn't working, again taking a few weeks to see if the increase makes a difference, then dose increased again if not

I took gabapentin for a few years and it helped. I also take codeine/tramadol, naproxen and amitriptyline. More recently I switched to pregablin and have fewer side effects.

I took a long time to build up to a therapeutic dose because it made me so drowsy- that did eventually improve. It can stimulate your appetite so beware of that. The most annoying side effect I had, though was losing words and losing my train of thought. Pregablin is, indeed more modern, cleaner and more expensive. If after a few weeks you feel the side effects are troubling you do ask to move to pregablin.

I also have regular massage and do rehab Pilates. I swim (front crawl with a float between my legs), love heat pads, Alexander technique and mindfulness. I’ve had my back and leg pain several years now and I would say that pain control is like a jigsaw puzzle, many small pieces fitting together to achieve the best outcome.

Keeping a active as possible whilst also resting regularly is crucial. I do use a stick, partly for support but also to warn others that I’m vulnerable. I use a walking pole with a spring to reduce the strain.

I recommend keeping going with a small dose of amitriptyline at night- it’s very likely the reason you are getting sleep at night.

Good luck.

Sorry, I should mention that pregablin has recently become a controlled drug which is a pain. Apparently it’s massively popular as a recreational drug. I’m afraid I’ve never seen it that way. It does, though have a very slightly calming effect.

I think it's abused as allegedly they found in prisons, the people were saying they had back pain / joint pain, for the last decade or so it's par for the course a GP will prescribe gabapentin as a frontline drug.

It works on gaba a receptors, where the diazepam family are gaba b receptors. So you can see why in some cases it's used maybe for anxiety etc.

I hate the fuzzy feeling, I'm lucky that I can feel the effects of the meds I take in a pain relief way, but without the fuzzy feeling.

You can try it and see how you get on. As I said each person reacts in their own way, so it could be perfect. Although most people do report weight gain, if a person stops it, it's usually because of the weight gain and the impact that has on their health.

It was massively successful for me. Still didn’t take away general pain but it stopped the electric shock pains which had me in tears. I changed to lyrica after about 6 weeks as I’d put on stone in weight, lyrica still worked just as well.

Have any of you come off it completely with no withdrawals? I guess that's my biggest concern for OP.

I have a chronic pain condition called Ehlers Danlos or hEDS and while I have not tried gabapentin , I did spend 18 months on Lyrica or pregablin.

I had THE worst experience of any drug I have even taken with that. It sort of helps with nerve pain but not acute pain, but the weight gain I experienced was horrendous - 16 kg in in a matter of months, and serious thick headed the next day. It was the most brutal withdrawal , my GP describes it as the worst withdrawal next to oxycodone . I shat myself, I vomited, I fainted , I couldn't get out of bed , couldn't drive , felt suicidal - you name it. I took a good threee months to taper down and every minute was hell. GP apologised for putting me on it, but at the time I didn't have a diagnosis for what was wrong with me and it seemed like the only option.
Since stopping it, the extra kgs have all melted away with no alteration in eating or exercise. 8 months later I have only 2 kg left to show for my Lyrica experience, and when you have a serious joint condition you don't want weight gain at all.

A low dose of Endep nightly is a vastly better alternative for me plus additional meds when I have acute pain episodes.

I am completely anti- Lyrica and to be honest if you do any reading about it - which my pharmacist MIL did they actually don't know how or why it works for pain- it's mainly for preventing seizures in epileptics.

Anti-inflammatories are also not recommended on either of these drugs.

Apparently it’s massively popular as a recreational drug. I’m afraid I’ve never seen it that way.

If you were taking morphine to treat pain you wouldn't see that as a recreational drug, either. It is "recreational" to people who abuse it. Gabapentinoids (gabapentinoids and pregabalin) are widely abused, just like opioids are, so their supply has to be controlled. Furthermore, gabapentinoid-related deaths in England & Wales increased from 1 in 2009 to 137 in 2015, alongside a 150% increase in gabapentin prescriptions and a 350% increase in pregabalin prescriptions. It is important that medical use of the drugs is monitored and that supplies are restricted to reduce nonmedical use.

Of course these drugs are essential to people who experience severe pain that doesn't respond to other drugs or physiotherapy, but that is also true of opioids. The massive overprescribing of excessive doses of opioids is killing thousands and thousands of people worldwide every year and gabapentinoids are following a similar pattern, although from a much lower baseline.

Sorry. Autocorrect keeps changing "gabapentin" to "gabapentinoids", so parts of my previous message won't have made sense.

I had the most excruciating sciatica after herniating a disc. I couldn’t move an inch without screaming and shaking. Couldn’t even get to the loo. I have never known pain like it and no pain killer touched it. I thought my life was over.

Eventually they decided to operate and I woke up pain free. My back was still very weak and I had to do a lot of physio to get properly mobile but i view that op as a miracle. I can now go on hikes, do yoga, barre, Pilates, play with my kids. The only thing I can’t do is high impact exercise.

My partner has had sciatica due to herniated discs for the past 4 years. Pregablin didn't touch it.
He's had 2 operations including a test procedure to shock him into not receiving pain. Both failed.
He's now on morphine daily and can't walk without crutches due to the pain.
Got everything crossed it works for you because poor dp has no quality of life being in severe pain constantly.

Thanks for the replies. I am aware that gabapentin can be addictive, and I have had addiction issues in my past. My GP's aware of this, and that's why she didn't prescribe pregabalin, it's much less addictive apparently.

Am a bit concerned about the weight gain PPs have mentioned, i definitely don't want to put my back under any more strain. My appetite is completely non-existent at the moment though, since I began the gabapentin on Thursday. Slightly queasy. I am still taking ibuprofen though, and somebody posted anti-inflammatories shouldn't be taken with gabapentin. Perhaps that's why? I'll ask my GP about other alternatives.

I did manage a walk with my puppy to my nearest shop and back, with the stick. He keeps attacking it! It did seem easier than when I last did it, I wasn't shaking and sweating from the pain this time. I'm to up my dose today to 200mg. So will see how I get on with that...

Thanks to everyone who's posting, it's really helpful. Have any of you had an MRI scan, and did anything conclusive show up? I think that's what my physio is going to recommend, I have an appointment with his colleague for a second opinion in just over a week. I've been told to stop the stretching exercises apart from the side bend.

Couldn’t even get to the loo That happened to me a few weeks ago, I went to get off the sofa to pee and the pain just put me on the floor! That's when the awfulness really hit me, I felt very sorry for myself and very alone! Took me 45 minutes to pull myself along the floor and crawl up the stairs and only just managed not to piss myself in the process.

It works but it’s also addictive

Have you tried an osteopath OP? I've tried two physios for different things and tbh found them useless but a really good osteo (and make sure you're recommended) has been wonderful and got me to the state with my sciatica that I could start doing Pilates and yoga.

Drugs of any kind would be the absolute last resort for me, although I understand people have to resort to them.

I won't tell you my backstory as it's huge but my advice is to go and see a podiatrist.

I have been in agony with my lower back/pelvis and radiating pain for almost two years and it has severely affected my mental health. A colleague at work gave me the number of a private podiatrist and after four months of gradually getting better I am back at work and there is a tiny improvement every day. I have gone a week with no pain relief now too.

A chiropodist - I will ask my physio or GP if they can recommend one. It wouldn't have occurred to me to think podiatrist though.

Did anyone elses' pain change a lot? At first I'd struggle to get out of bed in the morning because of the pain, but it was relieved a lot by walking, and it was painful to sit. Now the pain's not terrible in the morning, or if I sit in a comfy (for me) position. I can walk about 10 paces and that's when the terrible stabbing nerve pain starts accompanied with cramp in the leg, which builds and builds and then becomes impossible to walk. Showering and doing up bra strap is painful. Anything twisty, like reaching up into a cupboard is painful. However i can still bend over and touch my toes fairly comfortably.

Yes, pain has shifted and changed over time. I couldn’t possibly bend over and touch my toes. I can’t bend forward at all. I can bend backwards. I can’t sit down now, but I can walk-shuffle a bit. Told to avoid any twisting. Lying flat helps the most. Can be vertical for about half an hour, before needing to lie down. Getting in a lying down position hurts like hell. Got my tens machine. I think it’s helping.