Skin burns while taking Gabapentin! Does yours?
Posted , 28 users are following.
I've been taking Gabapentin - 800mg 2x's a day -
For a good 4 months. I have been on this drug for over a year. I'm trying so hard to get off of this poison! Yes, it did help my pain in the beginning but I'm so ready to get off of it now! My skin will burn so badly and I don't know if it's from the Gabapentin or something else. Every time I try to lower my dose I feel the " withdrawals from HELL " come on and I pop a pill to feel a little bit better. I know it's gonna be a looong battle getting off this stuff. Just wondering about the burning skin! Or am I just super sensitive, which I am- but whew, this drug is devilish! Thank you all!
1 like, 58 replies
Angeloflove Floatmeaway
Posted
I took two pills and had severe rude awakenings then i realized it was addictive. I knew because despite the pain and feeling of having a mind blowing experience then heart attack feelings with both my arms up for 45 minutes and nerve surging down through my upper back into my shoulders then down to my wrist and fingers i took two asprin as soon as I COULD put my arms down and desired to take another pill to off the pain and much need to fall asleep again.
Then for 2 months it felt like my left arm from elbow to wrist was burning on fire.
I DO NOT TRUST Doctors they are not knowing what they are doing; creating addicts is what.
linda88918 Angeloflove
Posted
So sorry! As someone who has suffered the worst of the worst from this medicine, I empathize with you. (The burning I experienced was HORRENDOUS!!!) I'm now a member of the Gabapentin Withdrawal facebook support group. You may find their experiences and advice helpful. I have. Best wishes!!!!
cindy20400 linda88918
Posted
MAY I ask how did you get off of it?
I have been cutting back to two 3 times a day and I am having a hard time doing this.
How long did it take you to get off of it?
linda88918 cindy20400
Posted
Cindy, I've done it the right way and 2x the wrong way. The 1st time was cold turkey from 4800 mg as per my doc -- horrendous! He put me back on 7 weeks later. The right way is to cut VERY slowly over a LONG period of time. That time I got off with almost no side effects. But a few years later it was prescribed again for antidepressant withdrawal and then I had to titrate off too quickly because by that time my body had built up a resistance to the drug and I had horrific "reverse reaction," and that led to lots of problems. The Ashton Manual recommends lowering doses of psychiatric meds no more than 10% per each dose change and holding for at least 2-3 weeks until stable before lowering again. When you say two, do you mean 200 x3/day or 2 pills of another amount x3/day?
rhonda06945 Floatmeaway
Posted
take a 100mg pill and cut it in half and divide the powder evenly between the two. Go down half a pill every 3-4 days and you will not burn. I have been totally off gabapentin for 2 months and it is wonderful. I find that whenever I was put on a pill for nerve pain I would get burning. Most of them are used for epilepsy, sleep, or depression. Same meds, different uses. My doctor said that a small percentage of people are very sensitive to medication due to their DNA strand lengths. I suspect that is your problem also. Go off very slowly and you will be fine.
joyce74357 Floatmeaway
Posted
I 'm on 300 3xs day.I was initially feeling great on a lower dose .No bad neuropathic burn and stabbing at night .Now, i am suffering the same as you.Iread that women over 60yrs have a higher incidence of this yet what are we to do? you're correct I went down 300 for 2 days and thought I would literally die of this fire !
linda88918 joyce74357
Posted
Joyce, I am so sorry! The same thing happened to me. I had been on and off gabapentin, but it eventually caught up to me and I knew I had to get off! The burning was horrific and very scary. I tapered off because I knew if I didn't, the withdrawal could be worse, but, I did a quick 3-week taper and ended up in very debilitating withdrawal! It took months for my body to reset. I am 2.5 years since that happened and am great now, but it was not an easy time to get here. I was told at Cleveland Clinic that I had a "Reverse Reaction." As far as I know, the only way out of it is through it. I fear if you raise your dose, it will get worse. Just make sure you keep taking it 3x/day until you are off or you could get interdose withdrawal and make things worse (since the half life of gabapentin is 5-7 hours). There are support groups on facebook. You may want to join one for daily support. Hang in there!
joyce74357 linda88918
Posted
Thank you for your response .I am not going to go up as I've gotten this far and am now stoically at 300 mgs a day starting today. going to split them at 100 morning and 200 evening .Realize they should be every 8hrs but within 25min of taking it , it's back to not ony burning legs but back muscles feel as if I'm in a vice grip .I so want to have this stuff analyzed in an inde lab .My paranoia at this phase of long ,enduring max pain has me thinking there's something very poisonous in this crap .
From the long list of afflictions people suffer on legal websites .The law suites are huge .100's of millions .Everything from suicide to pancreatic cancer . Scary to be in the midst of such pain and not knowing when it will finally stop.
At any rate there's no way out as you've stated but to march forward
Josephga01 Floatmeaway
Posted
I was put on 900mg of gaba aday for around 6 months then the neurologist decided not to prescribe it to me any longer . its been around 3 weeks since last dose. skin burns so bad really bad if i get hot. cant go out side at all this summer if i sit the groin and thighs fell like the meats being cooked off the bones. can only take quick cool showers . i got in a hot bath one night and the result was burning all night. iv burned so bad ive passed out a few times . lotion on the body even stings and burns
linda88918 Josephga01
Posted
So sorry this happened to you and keeps happening to people. Doctors are so untrained regarding gabapentin and people like you are damaged every day. Being on that dose for 6 months, your neurologist should have tapered you off according to the Ashton Manual protocol of no more than 10% drop no more often than every 1-2 weeks. I had the intense skin burning (among other symptoms). It took 5 months to let up enough that I could tolerate it. It took many more months to stop completely. I used ice packs to cool the skin and also found solarcaine/aloe vera helped numb my skin and brought some relief. Tylenol also helped a little. If your doctor would re-prescribe and allow you to taper, it should help eleviate your symptoms since you are in (or close to) the recommended 3 week window for restarting. (Sometimes that doesn't help as much as people want, but it usually minimizes the withdrawal symptoms.) If that is not possible, you most likely have some months of suffering ahead of you, but it WILL ease up in time. You would be a good candidate for the Gabapentin Sufferers Desiring Action facebook group that is trying to promote better doctor training and more public awareness of the dangers of this drug. Again, so sorry and hoping for the best for you.
joyce74357 Floatmeaway
Posted
I know how you feel.This is a poisonous substance and should never have been scripted for anyone over 60yrs old and anyone that specifically doesn't have seizures .It has been hell for me.I'm laying in bed most of the time without much rest from the symptoms of burning, paresthesia mostly on legs.Stomach has just been scoped last week and it's given me chronic gastritis.
I have been titrating down from 900 starting the first week in august 10-12 days- 100mg .i realize thats quick but I was burning all over much worse at the beginning.
I'm now at 300 and it's Oct.My stomach is so awful .taking pantapozole 40mgs 2xday and then 1xday after tommorow.
will keep you posted as to how I'm doing.again this is one poison pill guarenteed to wreck body and mind.I am taking lipoic acid for nerve pain and magnesium 240mgs daily at least 2hrs after gaba.
marci14141 Floatmeaway
Posted
I have been taking Gabapentin for over 3 years now. I have a rare neurological condition called syringomyelia which causes all kinds of pain so every time I complained of pain the neuroligist increased my Gabapentin. I was taking 800 mg a day. My body felt like it was on fire! I thought at first I must have a fever but I did'nt. I also got so anxious I felt like I could not breath. I really thought this was just happening to me until I found this site. I have burning stinging pain all day everyday!!! I have told every Dr. that I see about it and no one mentioned anything about Gabapentin being the problem. I have such burning, stinging pain that it is very painful to sit, laydown, and anything else. I decided to slowly taper off. I am doing a little better now only taking 200 mg a day and cant wait to be completly off this awful medication. thank you all for your advice it really is helping me!
linda88918 marci14141
Posted
Marci, I also had horrific burning from gabapentin -- though not the 1st time I took it, but after being off and getting back on. I had to do a quick taper off after my dose was raised and then went into horrific withdrawal that included anxiety and difficulty breathing, On the facebook gabapentin sites, many people discuss these symptoms. Just one thing to pay attention to. Gabapentin has a half-life of 5-7 hours, so if it's not taken 3x (or 4x) per day, one can develop interdose withdrawal. Many docs prescribe it 2x or only 1x/day, which some people can tolerate for awhile, but most run into problems eventually. Some people do better when their dose is changed to 3x/day. Since you are taking a dose that is not divisible by 3, I thought that could be contributing to your problem. Just wanted you to be aware in case you weren't.
bryan7489 Floatmeaway
Posted
Thank you all so much for this thread. This explains so much of what I experienced while on Gabapentin.
I was prescribed it for an ant bite on my R foot that caused intense, horrible, shooting nerve pain.
After I started taking the Gabapentin (and this explains it now - but last year I had NO idea), my R foot AND my L foot started burning on the tops of my feet. This was so confusing and I didn't even think it was BECAUSE of the medicine. I just thought it was part of the nerve pain on the R foot - and because then I was having it on my L foot, I worried that the ant bite was not the cause and something was seriously wrong with me. But the more I burned, I just kept taking gabapentin because it was for nerve pain. And the more I burned. I did finally get off Gabapentin because after a few weeks, I noticed my personality was more aggressive and I was quicker to anger. I yelled at two people (I am not the type of person to yell at anyone!). After a few months, the burning sensations in my feet went away. I just thought that my nerves had healed. Again, I made no connection to Gabapentin as burning skin is not listed as one of the side effects.
One thing I loved about Gabapentin was how well I slept when I took it. So I kept my prescription and every now and then would take one to help me sleep. Well (and now I understand), then my feet would burn again, and then I'd take one the next night to help me with the burning and here we'd go again. I feel stupid now because I never realized the pill was CAUSING the burning!
Flash forward to this year. I hadn't taken it in months. I had the second Moderna Covid-19 vaccine shot and was very sick with a high fever for two days post-shot. I had to take so much Tylenol and Advil for my fever that when I recovered from it, I was just spent, and I wanted to get a good night's sleep. I didn't want to take Tylenol PM or Advil PM to sleep since I'd been taking so much, so I went back to the gabapentin (stupid I know - trust me - now I know - but I'll also agree with so many of you here who say it's addictive. It absolutely is). I took it. Here came the burning again. So it took it again and again and then I experienced burning in my L arm - the arm where I'd had the COVID vax. And if you look, people who had the Moderna shot get "covid-arm" after the shot - so that's what I thought I had. I'd never had burning in my arm. But also in my feet again, and so I kept taking the Gabapentin - and then I had burning in both legs, in both arms, in my feet and my hands and my face and a few other parts.
I went to my wonderful doc and just casually mentioned the Gabapentin without detail and we both just passed right over it. Because why would nerve pain medicine be causing nerve pain? We did blood work (which I'm sure will come back normal) and we both were going to research.
That night I found this message board. I thought I was developing MS! Instead, now I know what's caused the burning and my doctor agrees. I sent him this link and he's read your comments.
Two days with no Gabapentin and 95% of the burning is gone.
So thank you for sharing your experiences. You saved my sanity. They simply MUST add "burning skin" as a side effect! All total, in the year I've had the prescription, I took it maybe 20 times and all this from those 20 doses (which, by the way, I was cutting in half, so it was really about ten pills). Never again. My body can't handle it.
I will say I do have Gilbert's Syndrome - a mostly benign disorder of the liver which means I process medication and toxins very slowly. I add that here in case anyone else ever has that, too. Other than that, I'm healthy.