Gapapentin - a controlled drug

[RebelliousHoping]

Hi,

I’d seen my GP who kind of side stepped my request to see a pain management clinic, saying it could take 3 to 6 months to recover from debridement surgery.

I’ve had varying results and a couple of good nights sleep with Nytol liquid medicine in the past week which I brought over the counter but I accept that can only be used really short term.

They are letting me try Gapapentin temporarily instead of Amitriptyline but I did see the postal prescription pharmacy refer to it as a controlled drug - it isn’t on par with cocodamol? I said I was taking high strength paracetamol.

It’s a controlled drug, yes.

Gabapentin os wonderful!

Gave me my life back.
I'm just about to take my evening dose.

It’s a controlled drug because people take it to get high. It’s very addictive.

l loved it, but it made me eat a lot.

It's rubbish for neuropathy.

Yes it is a controlled drug.

some people do really well on it some don’t.

i didn’t and went back to amyyriptyline.

Definitely a controlled drug. Is addictive and sold on the streets.

One of my Dc took Gabapentin after orthopaedic surgery.

And in previous years / previous surgeries took Fentanyl.

On another occasion Oramorph.

And is not addicted.

If you need powerful painkillers you need powerful painkillers. Just make sure you take only the prescribed dose and use only as your doctor directs.

I took it’s sister drug Pregabalin for about a month.

It was very hard to come off

My 9 year old takes it 3 times a day due to neuropathy as well as lidocaine patches on his feet. They've done wonders for him.

I've been on Gabapentin for over 10 years (Trigeminal Neuralgia and neuropathy) . It has made life doable . I was on a HUGE dose at first but had no difficulty weaning it down ...I now only take 200mg a day, 300 on a bad day. I was on 2700mg initially for the TN!

Gabapentin is a terrible drug. It was prescribed for my Mum when she had very severe damage to her back and it caused so many problems for her. She took it for about 8 years. The dosage has to be increased and decreased very very gradually and if it’s reduced too quickly as the level of pain starts to ease, the withdrawal symptoms are awful. My mum had to stop taking it a couple of times when she had surgical procedures, and many doctors didn’t understand just how gradually it had to be titrated, which caused her such problems.

Whenever my mum took her gabapentin, it made her shake violently for about half an hour. She developed near constant headaches, badly swollen legs and ankles, her vision became very blurred, she had frequent UTIs, frequent bouts of diarrhoea, and became increasingly depressed. Gabapentin has also been linked to dementia; my Mum ended up with severe dementia, and when I look back now, the changes in her cognition and personality began a year or so after she started to take it. Hallucinations are a well known side effect of gabapentin, and my mum’s hallucinations became constant and were so real and distressing to her.

I know not everyone is affected badly by gabapentin, but I wouldn’t touch anything that is linked to dementia, and I believe that it contributed significantly to the miserable final years of my mums life.

Gabapentin is definitely not a controlled drug in the community.

Same. Many drugs are controlled

Gabapentin is a schedule 3 controlled drug. Not subject to safe storage requirements but prescriptions are only valid for 28 days and should only be for 28 days supply.
There's a big issue with it being abused on the street and/or mixed with other drugs.

Edited to add the word supply

Gabepentin wasn't a controlled drug for a while but now it is.
I had major surgical debridment on my groin. They took 50% of skin, muscle, fat and nerves when I had necrotising facistis. I was and still am on bupornorhine patches (20mcg now) paracetamol and ibuprofen (when needed)
I've been on pregablin and gabepentin (in the past)

Also on amitriptyline at night.
Duloxetine in the morning ( for my mental health but I know helps for pain )

Gabapentin was recommended to me when I broke my back. I only took it for a short time. MSK objected saying paracetamol should suffice! I'd already tried load of painkillers including amitriptyline, which I don't like because it's an antidepressant. I had to move into morphine for a while. I didn't want to take that for long. Fortunately I'm now on nothing.

Go back and insist on the pain management referral, don't be fobbed off.

My DSS said that even the milder tablets trade for £1 each!

(For me, Pregabalin didn’t work with pain and made me put on weight. So it’s sat in a box of medicines full of other things-that-don’t-work-well-on-a-dodgy-back like Zapain, Nortriptyline, Amitriptyline, Naproxen, Celecoxib, Meloxicam …

At the moment I much prefer a tens machine and the occasional edible.)

Theres acute pain (short term ) and chronic pain (long term) drs are usually ok with prescribing stronger controlled drugs to help with short term pain but it can be un helpful for long term pain because they are addictive but also because they can become less affective over time and they can change the way your body reacts to pain.

Strong pain killers block pain signals but the brain still knows there’s pain and will still fight to get the pain signals out there so it can learn overtime to create new signals. This can mean you end up more sensitive to pain, so basically pain becomes more painful.

For short term if you need it try it and let it aid your recovery, make sure you do whatever else you have been advised (physio etc) and that you are correctly weaned off of it (Google it to give you an idea but also speak to GP/consulrant)

i had to take a opiate called tapentadol when it was time to wean I did it very slowly 300mg down to 250mg then left it 2 weeks (pain did increase initally but settled after a week or so) and basically dropped 50mg every 2 weeks . It took around 3 months. Doctors can be a bit scary, one tried (mid weaning) to stop it and I had to beg to continue. Another time the chemist couldn’t get it and I had to track down a chemist that couldn’t get. I made sure I had a couple weeks extra supply for hitch’s like that.

pain clinic you won’t get a referral for short term pain and it’s frustrating because once you have been in pain long enough to warrant it there’s a wait list. But my experience of pain clinic is that it is a whole body approach. So I was taught about the nervous system and how it reacts to pain and becomes more sensitive to pain. The psychological aspect of pain and body health. I had counselling sessions to help develop strategies for managing my mental health and my mental reaction to pain. Saw a nutritionist to look at an anti inflammatory diet. Physio for exercises and strength building . My meds were still managed by gp, I found gp knowledge hit and Miss so I would ask my consultant for advice anytime I saw him. I also googled a lot and joined pain forums (but take it with a pinch of salt)

I have chronic pain that’s improving with weightlifting, and Pilates I have completely changed my diet and slowed my life down. I take paracetamol or ibuprofen when needed and have naproxen and cocodomol for flair ups.

By the way if you are taking any antiflamatory like ibuprofen long term make sure you take a proton pump inhibitor like lanzaprozole to protect your stomach lining.

Thank you everyone for the guidance. I gave in yesterday taking Ibuprofen instead of paracetamol just for a day and today I’m actually feeling good done a big walk this morning so hopefully that will exhaust me later. I only started Gapapentin this morning, should I now stop the nytol?
Hesitant to take Ibuprofen before as I understood that wasn’t good if you are eating small portions to manage weight.
I refused a new fit note as feel work is kind of helping me be grounded so I hope this Gapapentin is the answer.

I just thought they’d swap my Amitriptyline for anti depressants now I can’t take HRT and the way the appt with GP came about but they seem to stear away from that.

I couldn’t discuss my foot injury with the GP as was asked to refrain from that, the hospital via pals refuse to see me in follow-up as the district nurses are involved?. I presume as some sort of policy.

I’m on gabapentin for serious nerve damage to my right hand and arm. It took a few days to work and it did make me eat far too much to begin with but it’s been a life saver. I’m on 900mg a day with the option to take more if the hand starts to seize & curl over and I have found that if I take it quickly enough it stops it in its tracks.

But yes, it’s controlled so if you travel with it you have to take a copy of your prescription for some countries, and as others have said you have to reduce dosage slowly.

Hopefully it will work for you.

My DH is a on a huge dose (totalling 2700mg a day). He has chronic pain from prolapsed discs in the lower spine, and has had 2 surgeries to remove bone spurs and fuse discs in his neck. Gabapentin (along with some other drugs) has been life changing for him. He is 50 and we have a business and 2 young children, it has meant he can have a normal life, go to work, bike rides with the kids etc. yes he is probably addicted to it but it has meant he can live a normal life.