awful nerve pain - anyone had luck with gabapentin or pregablin?

[GemmaPearl97]

Awful debilitating nerve pain for 5 years - only thing that has ever remotely helped is amitriptyline which has taken edge off at times but SO awful a lot of the time. New dr has suggested trying gabapentin or pregabalin

Has anyone had these help with pain at all? thank you

I've taken both those medications (at the same time, and with a third added!) for nerve pain and they did help. I suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia. It was a while ago and I took gabapentin, pregabalin was pretty new then.

I took pregabalin and it was great for my nerve pain. It was helping me to stay out of a wheelchair. The problem I had with it was the brain fog. I was spaced out all the time. First 6 weeks I was too spaced to drive. I took it for 4 years and struggled to hold down a job. After losing my job 3 times I decided to come off it. I'm in stupid levels of pain and don't really cope with that, but my brain is better and work is going great.

I hope you can find the right one for you to give you the relief you need. Good luck.

@ChicCroissant , are you saying the TN pain has gone away? If so, tell me more!

I took gabapentin for 4-6 weeks until the pressure on my nerve subsided. It worked as it made the pain bearable but made me very groggy.

I had a successful MVD, I'm very lucky.

I took pregabalin for severe bout of sciatica, took some time to bed in but it did work eventually. I was in severe pain for 2-3 months and by 6 months it had gone. Some of that was from doing regular rehabilitation exercises but I needed the pregabalin to get me to the level at which I could exercise, as I was horizontal for about 6 weeks!

My grandma had horrendous nerve pain from neuralgia a few years ago caused by shingles. She was literally screaming in agony. Gabapentin was a miracle drug for her, it worked over a few weeks and now she has zero pain.

I have peripheral, sensory and motor neuropathy and have constant severe pain from my knees down.

I had some wacky side effects from Gabapentin and amitryptaline so am managing (well sort of) on cocodamol.

I tempted to ask to try Pregablin but apprehensive due to the stories of brain fog and my previous side effects.

Would love to hear some positive experiences too!

Gabapentin user - for acustic neuroma, tumour squashing nerve going through ear space, inoperable.
started with tegratol which was like flipping a light switch, fantastic, worked for several years, then stopped. tumour is growing slowly. now with Gabapentin, mostly works if im good at taking it every four five hours, can go longer sometimes which is odd,
dont remember being groggy at all, do try to take with food already eaten.

@ChicCroissant ,thanks for the reply. Do you know what started started your TN? Mine is related to recent surgery.

Interesting to see this thread.

I've got nerve pain after shingles (in my face, previously in other places)

Finding also it helps every 4-5 hrs. A bit groggy but worth it for the pain relief.

That sounds awful, hope you are ok

DH uses gabapentin for nerve pain after his leg was amputated.

I have taken pregabalin for a number of years for trigeminal neuralgia and various other neuropathic pain. I am pain free when taking it. There is some sleepiness but I much prefer it to amitriptyline. It also helps significantly with my anxiety. I love pregabalin and if my doctor refused to prescribe it, I'd be having a conversation with any drug dealer I could find.😀

I prefer it too. Hoping they can continue to prescribe it.

I had a trapped nerve in my hip last year.
I have never known pain like it.

Amitriptyline didn't touch it.
I am forever grateful to the wonderful OOH doctor who prescribed Gabapentin.
It began to work within a few days.
I am on a low dose now. I have tried to stop taking it on a few occasions but the pain always returns.

Good luck to everyone with nerve pain.

Amitryptiline just used to knock me out / made me very sleepy.

Which was fine if taking in the evening but not the rest of the time.

Also don't think I am supposed to combine it with my antidepressants

thanks Oranges, its been 20 years now, but still have to guess when to give in and take a pill, as Doctor thinks I take too many, everyday can be different

It's a very effective drug but it is very strong. I put my back door key in the bin (knowingly, saying to myself, key goes in the bin) and forgot my own name while taking it.

I had to come off it as while I didn't have pain I just about realised that I could not look after my children taking it. It would have been safer to eat a space cake for breakfast. I was shocked by the strength of it so get the dosage right. Get it wrong and you have the nod like any heroin addict.

But no pain at all!

Btw it does have the capacity for addiction so tread very carefully. Gabapentin is popular with recreational users but it's addictive nature is not really thought about too much. Worse than Valium or opiates probably

yes on the phone the nurse said about addiction, it is a concern

the pain is awful though and it seems to help me function

I wouldn't take it if I didn't have the neuralgia post shingles

It's interesting the doctors can be different

hope you are doing ok

I was on one of them for post herpetic neuralgia but it turned me into a space cadet. I found lidocaine patches the only thing that helped but they are blooming expensive (not in UK so I don’t even know if you can get them on the NHS ) worth a try though- they changed my life.

I am finding it wears off after about 3-4 hrs but I am supposed to space them out e.g twice or 3 times a day.

So I am taking co-codomol in between to deal with this breakthrough type pain.

I guess I will speak to them as might need to increase the dose or something
Co-codomol only helping a bit.

I'm sorry this is an old thread but I have just been prescribed pregablin for post shingles nerve pain which is currently unbearable. Co codamol doesn't touch it. I am really scared of weight gain. Did anyone suffer with this?