Gabapentin and sciatica

[bananaskin123]

Posted previously: DH had a fracture humerus in his arm two weeks ago. Too high to be plastered so we are managing in a brace but is in a lot of pain. He's taking Ibuprofen and paracetamol. To add to this he also had a nerve root injection in his back for spinal stenosis about a month ago. The previous one lasted for six months but this one failed after two weeks. Can't be repeated at the moment because he would have to lie flat on a table and as we have a brace and broken arm this would be impossible and not sure that's the answer anyway. He has acute, crippling pain down one of his legs from the buttock down. We managed to see the GP this morning who has given him Gabapentin 100 mgs 3 times a day to start with. Told him to take 3 a day for a month and then see him again. Please, please can someone tell me this really helps with sciatica. Any advice, good stories greatly appreciated.

It really really helps with nerve pain, but can take a while to kick in. Stick with it though.

Amitriptyline might be a good option too though

I had it for sciatica and i don't think it helped me. But i did have one of the worst cases the consultant had ever seen! I had to take morphine capsules and prn oromorph liquid and for a month leading up to my operation that was barely touching it. After my op i think the gabapentin helped to an extent. Co codamol 30/500 is the only thing that eases my sciatica!

My DH struggles with sciatica (and has also had spinal (facet joint) injections which are difficult enough at the best of times. Your poor husband!
He took Gabapentin for a long while, from what I remember of it it's pretty effective but he hated the side effects - he said he felt like a zombie on them. He found pregabalin more effective with fewer side effects, I think it's pretty common for one or the other to suit better and its trial and error really. You also have to tail them off when you finish on them, they are addictive and you get pretty bad side effects when coming off them

It is the go - to drug for nerve pain though so defiantly worth a try! I've taken this for nerve pain elsewhere (not sciatica). It did help but over a number of years my body got used to it so that it had less of an impact. To be honest it will probably take a much higher dose before it has a big impact to his pain levels. I expect the GP is saying to take it for a month to see if it has any impact, if it helps a little they'll probably increase it further.

I'm not on it anymore but when I was I think I had 600mgs 3 times a day (I weigh 60 kg).

Didn't have any bad side effects coming off it. I did find that it generally made me 'foggier' though. I was very bad at mental maths during that time

It works really well for some people and less so for others. It isn't a pain killer in the same way as paracetamol but can interfere with pain messages . Generally the dose has to be built up over weeks.