Gabapentin

DH developed what was later diagnosed as a trapped nerve at the top of his arm. For six weeks he was in excruciating pain, couldn't think, couldn't drive, couldn't sleep. I had to attend all medical appointments to answer questions because he couldn't. The only pain killer the GP offered was paracetamol, which was totally ineffective. We were then offered a consultant's appointment - in another six weeks time. We went privately and were seen a few days later.

The consultant immediately prescribed gabapentine and the pain was finally under control, by that time DH was beyond caring about side effects. The gabapentine did make him feel a bit spaced out and whoozy, but that was all, but anything was better than the pain.

Bear in mind that the leaflets that come with the pills have to list every possible side effect that anyone has ever suffered, the probability of suffering from other than a few of the milder of these, if any, is remote. You then need to balance these against the severity of the pain. DH considered a feeling of wooziness a small price to pay for the pain relief.

He was on Gabapentene for about six weeks and stopped without problem as soon as the cause of the arm pain had been sorted.

I remember being given Phenegran when I was in early stages of labour ( 40 years ago) with my first child. It was given in a combination with Pethidine . There was also a local pharmacist who apparently made his own " teething medicine" I was always to wary to buy it, but seemingly parents came from miles around for it as it was so good !! No idea what was in it, but it allegeldly made the children sleep !

When my twins were babies they were bad sleepers, I was exhausted being awake with them for nights on end ,My GP prescribed Phenergan and it did make them sleep , but I watched them sleeping blissfully,but they were in a restless sleep, twitchy ,jerky movements, I thought that's not normal and I blame the Phenergan , I just didn't like the idea of giving it to them anymore,

I've taken 1800mg per day of Gabapentin since 2010. No side effects. No weight gain or appetite increase. Liver and kidney function unaffected.

Yikes to thinking he could fly, Marydoll! I suppose the likes of Phenergan & Medised were considered then as the modern - and safer - version of gin or whisky in the baby's bottle. Hmm...

SueDonim, many years ago, my three year old son was experiencing sleepless nights due to his severe asthma and his consultant prescribed Phenergan.
Just like your daughter, it had the opposite effect. He thought he could fly, proceded to ride a trike down a flight of stone steps and ended up with a black eye and smashed nose. We experienced a number of similar 'episodes', before we realised Phenergan was the culprit.

Cherrytree59 Thank you for your advice.

I do, usually, have a healthy diet (no processed foods, just vegetables, fish, fruits and very occasionally chicken) but at the moment I'm hardly eating at all and have lost several kilos since mid-January.

I also eat approximately half the amount most people put on their plates. This is by no means my attempt at weight loss, I long ago jumped off that particular band wagon. It's just that over the years my appetite has naturally decreased.

Notanan2
I've been a researcher for decades (had to be, to write my books) and am very interested in your links and information, for which many thanks.

I don't take paracetamol in my normal life as my arthritis responds so well to MSM. Once I kick this nerve problem, the paracetamol will be stopped.

I took the first Gabapentin last night, buoyed up by all your support.
I am truly grateful for all your input. Thank you.

I was given Phenergan to make my daughter sleep ,I think you could buy it over the counter.I didn't ask for it,the health visitor asked me how her sleep pattern was and when I told her baby was awake most of every night this bottle of stuff was given to me.She told me I could have it on prescription for long term use .I didn't ask the doctor as I knew" bad sleepers" were a family thing and didn't want to drug her .I'm sure many young mums would have been only too happy to use it though as sleep deprivation is not something to welcome .

Yes, Medised! My adult dd with a baby is astounded that you could even buy it. It was quite useful for travel sickness though, which she was prone to. Eventually I found that if she wore earphones with music playing, that was just as effective.

Any sedative-type medicine had the opposite effect on my other daughter. She'd be going round at ceiling height for hours afterwards.

Wow that IS interesting re the antibiotics.

Do you remember medised? I remember it being a staple beside the calpol in a lot of homes and considered quite safe! I never used it myself but was considered odd, even once called "cruel", for not dishing it out like my peers

Now imagine telling a young mum today how frequently people sedated their kids for car journeys, minor colds etc... they wouldnt believe you.

I think we will look back on the way calpol is used (e.g. for bumps and grazes) the same way in the future. Although it will IMO always have its place.

Notanan I must admit, I am astonished at how much Calpol some parents give their children. I'm not talking about only today, but going back to when mine were all small. A bottle use to last me years and often went out of date but some parents practically bought a bottle with their weekly shop!

The 500g x 4 versus 1000g x 2 is an interesting point. Does the amount of paracetamol in the body get up to therapeutic dosage, I wonder? Plus there's the matter of compliance - the more doses people need to take of anything, the less likely they are to comply.

To take the conversation in another direction, our vet had given my cats long-acting antibiotic injections for infection. They last about 10 days. I commented that that would be useful in humans too and he said it was actually developed for use in people but they found the effect only lasts 10 hours! I think he said it also doesn't work in dogs, or maybe rabbits. Bodies, human or otherwise, are weird!

Katyj youre on quite a small dose of that drug (which is usual to start off with). That particular med takes adjusting to both when you start taking it and when you stop. Its not unusual to have side effects initially that fade. Speak to your GP I imagine with sertraline they will say give it a few more weeks but no harm in letting them know. A phone back would prob do rather than a full appointment.

Dont stop taking sertraline without your GPs supervision

Sorry Bradfordlass I've posted on your thread by mistake

But clinicians are already concerned about long term effects they are observing, which is why now when it is prescribed rather than OTC its often a half dose.

They still think it works less if not taken regularly but that is considered down to frequency not dose, so where you see more cautous prescribing now, it isnt 2 tabs twice a day, its 1 tab 4 times a day IYKWIM.

Hi, I have been prescribed Stertraline 25mg, I'm on day 5 now and my tinnitus is very loud and has been for the last three days.I can't find anything online about this, only that it can help to quieten it .Don't know wether I should stop taking it.Anybody else had this problem?

No I agree the research is not robust because there is a lack of research which was identified as a problem a few years back and it is now a current area of interest so will be a while before that translates to publications. Particularly with bigger more useful studies.

But it is a "watch this space" topic. I think the first of the current research to emerge will be a change in how childrens paracetamol/calpol is licenced for over the counter sales. My prediction is that it will remain on sale for treating fevers but will not include on the label that it is also for minor aches and pains. It will need to be presctibed for pain use in children to reduce long term over use

That's interesting, Notanan. I have a background in pharmacy and we were taught that paracetamol is ineffective unless the full dose of 1000g is taken.* The study you link to isn't hugely robust and tbh, I think if you're not taking large doses regularly, I wouldn't be too concerned.

* I knew an old lady who took one paracetamol tablet each night at bedtime because she claimed it helped her sleep. There's absolutely no evidence for that but the placebo effect can be huge!

Quality of life is better than quantity. If the painkiller keeps you comfortable, mobile and has little or no side effects. I'd say, go for it....I take ibuprofen for my right knee pain....it's great. They say it causes tummy upsets, but I have no problems. At our age we shouldn't be worrying too much about long term side effects. Good luck to everyone and I hope you manage to cope with your pain in whatever way you choose xx

Its a current area of sudy so a lot of the better currebt studies are not yet published but a lot of clinicisns are no longer widely prescribing paracetamol at the max dose, which is JUST on the borderline with the toxic dose, and a lot more people are being prescribed ONE tablet 4 times a day, 2g daily, not 4g daily.

Its not a "bad" drug but what IS bad about it is that it was previously considered universally safe, and no drug is. And because of this it wasnt properly studied. I believe another current area of research (which you wont find published yet) is the long term effects of excessive use of calpol on children (excessive not meaning overdose IYKWIM).

What is provisionally emerging, and being put into practice, is that paracetamol has its place but needs a lot more caution. Not more caution than other pain killers just an equal amount, when previously it had less.

www.nhs.uk/news/medication/is-long-term-paracetamol-use-not-as-safe-as-we-thought/

Taken both Gabapentin and Pregabalin for years at a time and luckily had no side effects. They work OK for my nerve pain but not other pain...I used to have Fentanyl patches but now have to make do with Naproxen, which doesn't work

I take Gabapentin for an ongoing back pain/mobility issue. I usually try to limit it to one a day (morning) but I occasionally take more. Absolutely no problems and it seems to help.

Bradford Lass
Just want add re weight gain worry.
How I understood the side affect list, was that the drug could cause increased appetite which in turn could cause a weight increase.
I am mindful of this and try to eat a healthy diet.

I was on it some years ago for nerve pain and found it made me very tired. I remember going upstairs and thinking what a hard day I must have had then realised it was morning . However in recent years GP has said if you go onto it gradually this will not happen . Not done it so far .

I took Pregabalin for a couple of weeks and came out in a rash all over my body. I was aware I was not to stop the drug immediately - my GP did not know that- I just did my own thing until I had finished the drugs and the rash had subsided. I gave up taking all drugs after that.

There's a medication used for blood pressure which also eases nerve pain too. It's called Clonidine and to my mind isn't as drastic a medication such as Tramadol or any of the other.
As with a lot of pain it increases the blood pressure too.