Potential Long Term Effects Of Gabapentin

Hi Christal,

Poor you. I too was on 1800mg of gabapentin for some time before being switched to pregabalin 300mg a day. I too have ended up on a heavy dose of antidepressants, in my case sertraline, but as I take so many tablets as well as living in chronic pain I had never associated the two, although in the scheme of it all the antidepressant was the last medication to be added in to what I take. I too had suicidal thoughts and was very down. I have found both of these drugs guilty of long term effects on my memory, and am so cross that the drs nevere took me seriously when I reported the effect to them 5 years ago, I was in that much pain I didn't seem to have an option but keep taking them. I weaned myself off a few month back now, but I still have short term memory problems, I still transpose letters in my words when typing, and often what comies out verbally is not what I am thinking I have said. This drug is too readily prescibed and I too am saddened that drs are not honest about it, having worked in the Pharma industry myself for 14 years I know some things are brushed to one side, but this ? This drug is pure evil in my opinion. 

Hi cristal and holly. I have been on both high and low dose neurontin and Lyrica. The lyrica made me swell. My face, legs, and other areas. I also had chronic soar throat and sinus issues on lyrica. Not to mention the 50 pounds I gained on it. I went back to neurontin at 300mg 3 times a day. I was taking 600 mg 4 times a day. On the higher doses I not only suffered severe depression I actually wanted to hurt others but managed to control it. Neurontin pushes my blood sugar up and I suffer with the shakes first thing upon waking each morning. My vitamins levels are also low which causes joint pain and flu-like symptoms with depression. Get your vitamin levels checked as I am sure yours will also be low. This should help some instead of being stuck on an antidepressant along with the pain meds. I recently got an epidural that went very wrong. I got very I'll and started throwing up, felt like my head was going to explode and lost all feeling from the waist down. I was paralyzed from the waist down for over 24 hours. I soiled myself and urinated and didn't even know it. Was a horrible experience. I told Dr. I would never get another one and that I was tired of being their ginnie pig. I suffer with stenosis of the l-spine with three bulging disk. One of which herniated and blew. A piece of disk fragment wrapped around my sciatic nerve cutting it off. I had surgery six months after injury but was left with permanat nerve damage. I have found swimming is my new found love. It is the only exercise I can do and when in the pool it literally stops the pain. I guess it takes the pressure off my spine. It helps with the depression to get out and just swim for hours on end. I am so sorry you are having issues. Let us know how you are doing....

Hi Rose,

Interesting that you and I have many similar issues. I too have 3 bulging discs, stenosis , facet joint degeneration and also some artritic changes, all in my lumbar sacral area, L5/S1, L5/L4, and L3/L4  and also have trapped nerves or shall we say irritated nerves down both my legs, often lose feeling in them to varying degrees. I have some loss of sensation posteriorly all the time on top of previous IBS problems ( and I think SSRI and pain meds make it all worse too ) - which at 41 which pretty annoying and been going on for 8 years. I have had multiple steroid injections in pain clinic, my only problem now is lack of efficacy and I have stopped having those. I got sick of the meory loss probelms and easily distracted isn't the word to describe me !, so came off both of these drugs. Only been 2/3 months now though, no massive improvements to date. annoyingly I ha a good job in pharma industry and spent a fortune on childcare when my two teens were small to get ''up the ladder'', but although I had private cover through work at the start they said I was chronic after a few months and not covered by the policy, and as such went onto NHS list.....everything is so overstretched and wait times so long that I have just gone down hill over last few years, have gone from size 10 to 14, and my stomach problems are pretty bad but no one can work that out either. I actually take mutivitamins most days and eat a healthy-ish diet, and do not drink alcohol for last 5 years die to living on slow release morhphine now. That is often not enough though and I hae to top up on Naproxen, or Oromorph liquid, as well as diazepam for muscle spasms. I have in the past gone swimming, even had lessons as my stroke was poor, done aquaaerobics on core stability muscles in the day with older ladies so less cardio, pilatees is good if you can do it, but tbh I am quite weak now and fall over easily /lose balance, so the water did help support me. I haven't been for a while as I live in a small village and had problems getting there, as I won;t drive my car when I have to inc. pain killers, and my husband works as a school teacher. I am waiting to go to Leeds in October, pain clinic dr there, wh implants electrodes in epidural space for pain relief......other than that I dont know if I am a candidate yet or not, or much more about the procedure. Sounds quite barbaric, but so is chronic pain !! I have also had radiofrequency ablation of nerves in lower spine, sciatic and scaroiliac nerves in the past, under local anaesthetic on NHS ( hurt like hell !! torture ) - did help for a while once settled down, but I things the nerve endings rejoined. I have apparently too many bits wrong to be a good candidate for an operation. I would have liked to retrain ( my degree is in Pharmacology ) but my memory is so bad now I don't think I could pass an exam !! I do wish the drs were more honest about the horrible side effects these drugs have, pregabalin and gabapentin have a lot to answer for, whilst the drug companies rake in the profits, or did at least when they were patented still. I'll let you all know what the doc at Leeds says in a few weeks. .....

Hi Holly(and everyone)

Firstly talk to your Doctor about any and all issues you're having with Gabapentin.

I am a patient receiving Gabapentin for both neurological pain(chronic phantom nerve pain), and a complex seizure disorder (from a head/brain injury.. Post traumatic brain injury disorder).

My personal experiences with this medication have been positive, have nearly eliminated the seizures and my extreme chronic nerve pain is gone.

Any aide effects I experienced faded in time as my body became accustomed to it. And I am on the maximum dose(a little over it actually as my body weight and height was considered). The doctor and neurologist increased my dosage gradually over a long period of time I found that the sluggishness faded away after about a month of using it(days to a week or more with any increase). I have never personally experienced depression while on the medication. Quite the opposite for me. Though my dreams sometimes became vivid. My eye/vision sometimes become hard to focus, shakey vision, and or my pupil dilation went out of whack(larger dialation seldomly, more often extremely small dialation). But this faded also with time.

I hope this helps. But please ONLY take advice from your Doctor and or specialist. May I suggest that you keep a log or diary of your experiences and side effects, how long any physical or any effects linger, how long after you've taken the medication, what time of day. Whether it was after you took the medication before or after a light snack, heavy meal etc.

I also found that a balanced diet with foods high in anti oxidants, and regular exercise limited or eliminated some or all the side effects I experienced.

One positive side effect (in my opinion) that I experience that has not gone away. Is that when I excersize soon after taking Gabapentin. There is little or no sleepiness, and quite the opposite. And my ability to focus seems to peak out. Also I find that if I don't eat before I take it. The side effects have been worse. As opposed to taking it as I eat. So I take it about ten minutes after a meal or snack.

I hope this helps!

Niish Zawgin ~One Love<3(translated from anishnaabe/ojibwe) from="">

*and share your side effects log/diary with your doctor as soon at your next check up.

Hi there,

I am pleased to here that you are geting along with gabapentin better than I have, I am sure it does work for some people. I worked for me for the first year, it worked very well in fact. It was only a few years into treatment that the memory loss became more apparent, lack of concentraion, etc - none of which I had suffered before, I mean I have a 2i in Pharmacology from a good Uni in the UK. I take a keen interest in all medical issues since biology was my field of work for 13 years after graduating. I DID talk to my doctor, and sadly, I was told the it was just the ''American's going on about something that really was not a problem'' - except that I searched for the info. because I WAS having problems. This was my pain clinic physician in the UK. Whilst she was workin away on sabatical I saw another pain clinic dr who switched me to pregabalin ( Lyrica) and said in his experience it had cleaner side effect profile. I was more than happy to move over to it and give it a go, both are the same class of drug working on GABA receptors. Sadly my memory problems did not improve, in fact have just gotten worse over time, I get mid way through sentences and forget what I am atlking about .....etc etc,so I had no option but to try and come off. I did, slowly, as I take opiate painkillers due to my chronic back pain too, and didn't want to cause myslef any problems. What I do find disturbing, as someone who is sompetent at reading clinical trial data, is that no one can tell me if my cognitive function ( memory loss ) will return, and by how much ? I know diff people are affected differently, but I do feel the true extent of this side effect has been ''swept under the carpet'', and certainly is under reported by health care prfessionals. I was NEVER warned about this side effect, yes it was probably down there at the bottom of the list in small type, but I think it is a far bigger issue than that. I just feel it is important that we as patients are able to make INFORMED DECISIONS about what we take.

Holly,

I'm where you are on wondering if I will regain all the cognitive functions I lost. I'm nearly three months off after 5 years on and have noticed some improvement in ability to focus longer and retain information. But I still have days where I struggle. My balance is still as bad and so are my tremors. I'm in the states and my new doctors, at the pain clinic, were glad I took myself off, in general, but won't admit that gabapentin was doing the damage. They are encouraging me in alternative pain management as I am hypersensitive to most medications. From what I can tell here, most doctors don't investigate the medications themselves...they trust the pharmacy reps. to inform them on the pros and cons of the prescriptions they hand out. If we were truly informed on what these drugs might do, very few sane patients would risk them.

I hope we will both improve in time and at least have stopped the progression of brain damage.

Hi Lynaria,

I was a Pharma Rep over here in the UK for two large pharma companies for best part 13 years, it works slightly different in UK to USA. And in the last 9 years I have not worked due to back / pain things over in UK have changed a LOT, far less promotion of products allowed etc. One thing that has always been in place though over here is sthg called the ''Yellow Card System'' where if patients report significant side effects to their dr related to a drug, espeically sthg new to market, the dr should fill out the ''yellow card'' and file it, so info can be centrally collated. Drs are busy people, and I fully suspect this is done on a somewhat limited basis !! I am now a few months with no pregabalin or gabapentin in my body, having studied pharmacology though I would love to know if the damage to certain area of my brain is permanent or not. When my dr told me ''not to expect miracles, we're all getting older '' ( I am now 41!), I was somewhat concerned. I am not daft,I know that certain other medications I take such as morphine for pain and diazepam and sertraline ( SSRI for depression - due to chronic pain !), all have some lesser contributing effect. However, I know now of many others who have these same cognitive side effects and also on short term and language area of brain, speciafically linked to taking pregabalin and gabapentin. Yes, I took 1800mg a day, there is no evidence to say that efficacy increases above 1800mg, side effects do but not efficacy ! We looked into that. I too cannot take other meds used for nerve pain such as amitryptiline - a TCA (old sort of antidepressant used at v low doses for pain ) as I get hot sweats and flu like symptoms, - it potentially has a lot of side effects, not used for depression anymore as the SSRIs came along (eg.Prozac etc). I think that most drs are savvy enough to know that Pharmaceutical Reps ( and I was one ) are there to sell their product and work out where into that drs prescibing they can niche their product, ie. for a specific sub set of patients. It has come to light over the years that some side effects have been supressed, and the Pharma Reps would not be told about them either ( they can't lie about them if they do not know !!), bit also some sode effects only come to light after many years of useage. Now that there is a significant number of patients talking about the loss of cognitive function, inability to concentrate etc I do think it would be nice to have some answers. I read the novel STILL ALICE ,and saw the film , about EAD in the early stages ( by Lisa Genova ) - I felt real empathy with the character in this novel ( only book endorsed by Alzheimers Foundation, the author is a biologist too )....but I do not have Alzheimers, I took gabapentin ! I just wsh I had been warned. And the reason drs generally will not admit to things is they are scared of being sued ! The UK is hot on the heels of USA for medical negligence cases now

Hi Holly(again)...

I too experienced and at times still do experience the memory loss and some issues with cognitive function. But excersize greatly limited or eliminated(s) it for me. And it did/does go away. I tried lyrica and found that it greatly and negatively effected my ability to function at work as a greenhouse assistant and education and engagement assistant coordinated. And I literally could not facilitate/teach our volunteer programs. And while it helped me with chronic inflammation and some of my pain. I had many days where I found my self angry and or frustrated for no apparent reason. Made worse when I'd forgetful. So I talked to my doctor and shared my diary/log of my issues. And we decided to drop the lyrics. As I found that my chronic pain that is or maybe arthritic in nature where my bone meets titanium and composite plastics. Did not go away with the lyrics. And in my experience. It was made worse when my bouts of extreme pain happened and the side effects of the lyrics happened simultaneously. I too have been off and on opiate based pain medication. And have been told I may have to return to them(I choose not to for now) if I wish to eliminate my pain completely so I may function day to day as the weather and seasons change(my chronic pain go nuts when the temperature fluctuates and or rain or snow is on the way. I live in Ontario Canada. And during the spring or fall are the worst for me where my pain is concerned. Where we experience two to three different seasonal temperatures, seasons, and weather conditions in a single day).

I don't want to talk bad about lyrica because I know medication and it's side effects are different from person to person. And I have friends who swear by it. My experiences with it have been negative. What I have shared here barely scratch the surface with what I endured for the two + months i was on lyrics. Both only taking lyrica, and with Gabapentin (far worse taken in combination)...

Thanks for sharing. It's wonderful to see forums like this where we can share our experiences.

Have you consulted a neurologist?

I have, mainly for my seizure disorder. But at first for the neurological pain( phantom nerve pain where I have titanium/plastics in place of bone. And dead nerves/typically no feeling as a result)

Niish Zawgin ~ One Love<3>

Hi again,

I have seen pretty much most specialties over in the UK that the NHS will let me access. I have seen 2 orthopaedic surgeons in last 10 years, they still say I am not a good surgical candidate from my MRI scans. I have seen a few diferent Pain Clinic drs ( usually anasthetists with pain management training too ), and have had everything from epidurals done under X-Ray and steroid injected with local anaesthetic, radiofequency ablation of nerve endings arounf sciatic nevve / SacroIliac nerve in buttock area ( v painful when done under local aneastetic only ) - all of which have had some effect and then nerves have reconnected etc over next few months....I have just been to see about a procedure called ''spinal stimulation'' where a box with electric current somehow produces electrical activity in epidiral space of spine. They do a test procedure and if successful then convert it to a full procedure. Sadly I have been told that it has less than 50% chance or working on 50% of my symptoms, as I suffer a lot from muscle spasm too and what they term mechanical back pain. The nerve pain is another element of it. I am not a easy case to treat ! ( not typical )....For now I await something else. PS> I might take opiate analgesics, but if you can do without them then you are better off to, as my problem will be in 5 yeasr from now when there's nothing left to take to treat the pain !! I used to take tramadol, and tramacet, and evebtually that stopped working and they moved me onto slow release morphine, which suddenly meant I slept through the night etc etc, no longer though.....now I am back where I was a few years ago, except that the meds don't work as good as what they should ! I naturaly have a high toerability to medication, but meds such as painkillers, especially opiates and also diazepam do have the effect of the more you take, over the time, the more you need to achieve the same effect....good luck

Thanks Holly:

Our pain issues are different in areas of pain and origin +. The prescriptions are only similar in what they were(or are). Gabapentin was only prescribed after the doctors tried me on several different medications for two(to three if you count inflammation) separate issues. For me the double effect of greatly reducing or eliminating the chronic nerve based "phantom" pain(in my face where cheek and orbital bones were replaced with titanium plates, mesh, and composites) and my seizures. Helped a lot. And dealing with the side effects of one medication versus a few and the resulting "combined-dominoe' effects outweighed other options. I found that the cognitive function side effects did fade with time on the medication. However still occurrs for a period of time shortly after taking the Gabapentin. When I've gone off the medication over the years, I have not noticed any issues. But have wondered about and read up on long term use issues. Which is why I choose to stay away from opiates as much as I can. Needless to say. Extreme nerve pain, physical pain, effect cognitive functions more than I understood until it was explained to me and I read up on it. For now though. Im good with Gabapentin. I refuse the opiates because I've seen the long term effects, experienced dependence, and withdrawals. And prefer days with little or no sleep than go through dependency or withrawls again. But it's a tightrope. Go on disability (here in Ontario Canada) or work? Meh... You know how it is

Hi Holly,

I reacted to amitryptiline with restless legs and arms so severe I wanted to cut them off. Nasty stuff. I related to Alice too when I saw the movie. I had one neurologist diagnose me as early onset Alzhiemers but others since, say absolutely not. I wonder if you're on gabapentin long enough if it doesn't actually cause Alzhimers...another reason I got off it and am also off the few other medications, I had for chronic pain, to ensure that their not contributing to the cognitive disfunction, balance and tremors I've experienced. The down side is increased pain and spasms but I'm weathering it most days. People have noticed some improvement in my cognitive functions but I'm afraid most of the damage is permenant. My concern now is for the growing number of new patients given this drug for a wide range of conditions it hasn't been cleared for properly. It was originally approved here for epilepsy only. I agree most doctors are afraid of being sued over this yet at the same time they continue to prescribe it like candy. It is criminal the damage being done by this drug and hopefully, one day, all the guilty parties will be held accountable...in the mean time I'm grateful to have the support of other victims, like you, while we try to heal ourselves.