Re: Frustrated!! Neurontin side effects, and more...

December 15, 2007

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December 15, 2007

Beth,

The reason that sometimes doctors prescribe Neurontin is because

it helps to try and control neuropathic pain that can come with

having vulvodynia for some women.

I tried Neurontin for a different nerve problem in the late 90s

and the only problem I had with it was dry mouth. I know that

there used to be some ladies on the list that tried Neurontin

and had problems such as the fog feeling and had to stop taking

it.

One other thing I noticed about the Neurontin when I tried it is

that as long as I took the medication by itself then it didn't

work the way it should. As long as I took it in combination

with something else was fine.

I think someone on the list mentioned that Neurontin could also

be made in to a cream formula like Elavil can. I don't remember

now who said that though.

If you ever need to talk one on one please feel free to e-mail

me off list any time. My e-mail is: sokokl @ yahoo.com (remove

spaces).

Kristy

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December 16, 2007

I felt awful on neurontin and it didn't help me one bit. Doing some

research I found that neurontin isn't statistically significantly

better than a placebo...so I made the choice to titrate off. I found

out that I had a RAGING yeast infection that lasted for months...that

neurontin wouldn't have done a thing for. I am now addressing the

recurrent yeast (comes back as verified by my nurse practitioner and

ob-gyn after four doses of diflucan + 14 days of boric acid) and have

done pt for the trigger points resulting directly from the under-

treatment of the yeast by the lovely HMO docs that flat-out refused

to culture me once I got the dreaded " vulvodynia " diagnosis, despite

the fact that eight out of nine cultures they had performed over the

previous year had been positive for something abnormal.

Beth, you WILL get better. Keep going to pt as long as you can and

ask your pt for things you can do at home. My best, most helpful doc

said, " EVERYTHING gets better or goes away-eventually. " I know this

is an oversimplification of a complicated problem, but you are 21 and

you will get through this. It feels awful now but hang in there.

Lindsey

>

> Okay, WHY do doctors prescribe Neurontin again?? I've been taking

> this stuff for a week, and I'm up to 300mg 2x/day, and I have brain

> fog so bad, I don't feel safe driving. I can't put a sentence

> together, or focus enough to study (which was great, what with this

> being finals week), I'm exhausted all the time...all this, and I

> should expect only 80-85% relief?! Wtf is this??? And I've been

> using a topical amptryptaline-baclofen (can't spell, either) cream,

> and now I've developed a very, very painful bump next to my urethra

> and can't use the cream b/c it's so painful to have it contact the

> bump, and physical therapy's over 2 hours away, which means I'll

have

> to stop going next year and pray that I can find someone closer to

> West Lafayette, IN, and this is only after 3 sessions...

>

> I swear, all of these treatments have made things so much worse...I

> mean, maybe I would have gotten as bad as I am right now without

> treatment, but right now it really, really doesn't feel like it. I

> keep saying I'm stronger than this, that I'm just 21 and am way too

> young for this to stay with me forever, but at this point, I am

> virtually all out of hope. Ugh.

>

> But anyway. Did anyone else experience similar symptoms while on

> neurontin? I tried searching for this before posting, but I didn't

> see anything (sorry if I missed it!). I thought it was just me not

> getting enough sleep, but now I'm not so sure. And if anyone has a

> hug to give, I could really use it!

>

> Beth

>

December 16, 2007

P.S.-the doc that rx'd the neurontin did say that in her experience

it is best used in combination with a small dose of nortriptyline

(10mgs)...for what that's worth.

Lindsey

> >

> > Okay, WHY do doctors prescribe Neurontin again?? I've been taking

> > this stuff for a week, and I'm up to 300mg 2x/day, and I have

brain

> > fog so bad, I don't feel safe driving. I can't put a sentence

> > together, or focus enough to study (which was great, what with

this

> > being finals week), I'm exhausted all the time...all this, and I

> > should expect only 80-85% relief?! Wtf is this??? And I've been

> > using a topical amptryptaline-baclofen (can't spell, either)

cream,

> > and now I've developed a very, very painful bump next to my

urethra

> > and can't use the cream b/c it's so painful to have it contact the

> > bump, and physical therapy's over 2 hours away, which means I'll

> have

> > to stop going next year and pray that I can find someone closer to

> > West Lafayette, IN, and this is only after 3 sessions...

> >

> > I swear, all of these treatments have made things so much

worse...I

> > mean, maybe I would have gotten as bad as I am right now without

> > treatment, but right now it really, really doesn't feel like it.

I

> > keep saying I'm stronger than this, that I'm just 21 and am way

too

> > young for this to stay with me forever, but at this point, I am

> > virtually all out of hope. Ugh.

> >

> > But anyway. Did anyone else experience similar symptoms while on

> > neurontin? I tried searching for this before posting, but I

didn't

> > see anything (sorry if I missed it!). I thought it was just me

not

> > getting enough sleep, but now I'm not so sure. And if anyone has

a

> > hug to give, I could really use it!

> >

> > Beth

> >

>

December 16, 2007

<<Okay, WHY do doctors prescribe Neurontin again?? >>

Because it's one of the medications that can modify the pain response

- I don't know about the USA but in the UK Neurontin and Lyrica are

now licensed for nerve pain and are also given to those suffering from

shingles and diabetic neuropathy. They can and do help many people.

<<I've been taking

> this stuff for a week, and I'm up to 300mg 2x/day, and I have brain

> fog so bad, I don't feel safe driving. I can't put a sentence

> together, or focus enough to study (which was great, what with this

> being finals week), I'm exhausted all the time...all this, and I

> should expect only 80-85% relief?! >>

In my opinion this is too high a dose too quickly - I also felt a bit

spaced out at first so I took it real slow when it came to upping my

dose - I stayed on 300mg/day for at least one week before increasing

and did not increase until I felt OK. Almost everyone I have spoken to

feels quite foggy for about 3 weeks and then typically they report

that the symptoms ease right down and many then have no side -effects

from this drug.

It might be worth staying on this dose for a bit longer to see how

your body adapts before either giving up or increasing. BTW, it took

me about 2 years on high doses to get the relief and then the relief

stayed for years. I also added some Nortriptyline in later and that

made all the difference.

Good luck,

Kay

December 16, 2007

Beth-

I had been on neurontin for something different...Post Herpetic Neuralgia from having had shingles. Basically it's nerve damage in my abdomen and back. Neurontin will definitely make you very sleep and foggy. Please let your doctor know how you feel if it's so bad you can't put a sentence together or concentrate. Maybe he can lower the dosage for you?

Be careful!

Hugs-

Ivy

-- Frustrated!! Neurontin side effects, and more...

Okay, WHY do doctors prescribe Neurontin again?? I've been taking

this stuff for a week, and I'm up to 300mg 2x/day, and I have brain

fog so bad, I don't feel safe driving. I can't put a sentence

together, or focus enough to study (which was great, what with this

being finals week), I'm exhausted all the time...all this, and I

should expect only 80-85% relief?! Wtf is this??? And I've been

using a topical amptryptaline-baclofen (can't spell, either) cream,

and now I've developed a very, very painful bump next to my urethra

and can't use the cream b/c it's so painful to have it contact the

bump, and physical therapy's over 2 hours away, which means I'll have

to stop going next year and pray that I can find someone closer to

West Lafayette, IN, and this is only after 3 sessions...

I swear, all of these treatments have made things so much worse...I

mean, maybe I would have gotten as bad as I am right now without

treatment, but right now it really, really doesn't feel like it. I

keep saying I'm stronger than this, that I'm just 21 and am way too

young for this to stay with me forever, but at this point, I am

virtually all out of hope. Ugh.

But anyway. Did anyone else experience similar symptoms while on

neurontin? I tried searching for this before posting, but I didn't

see anything (sorry if I missed it!). I thought it was just me not

getting enough sleep, but now I'm not so sure. And if anyone has a

hug to give, I could really use it!

Beth

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December 16, 2007

Beth, I had brain fog as well, and it took about 3 weeks for me to adjust to each dose upgrade. rebeccaBeth wrote: Okay, WHY do doctors prescribe Neurontin again?? I've been takingthis stuff for a week, and I'm up to 300mg 2x/day, and I have brainfog so bad, I don't feel safe driving. I can't put a sentencetogether, or focus enough to study (which was great, what with thisbeing finals week), I'm exhausted all the time...all this, and Ishould expect

only 80-85% relief?! Wtf is this??? And I've beenusing a topical amptryptaline-baclofen (can't spell, either) cream,and now I've developed a very, very painful bump next to my urethraand can't use the cream b/c it's so painful to have it contact thebump, and physical therapy's over 2 hours away, which means I'll haveto stop going next year and pray that I can find someone closer toWest Lafayette, IN, and this is only after 3 sessions...I swear, all of these treatments have made things so much worse...Imean, maybe I would have gotten as bad as I am right now withouttreatment, but right now it really, really doesn't feel like it. Ikeep saying I'm stronger than this, that I'm just 21 and am way tooyoung for this to stay with me forever, but at this point, I amvirtually all out of hope. Ugh.But anyway. Did anyone else experience similar symptoms while onneurontin? I tried searching for this before posting,

but I didn'tsee anything (sorry if I missed it!). I thought it was just me notgetting enough sleep, but now I'm not so sure. And if anyone has ahug to give, I could really use it!Beth

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December 17, 2007

I had all sorts of issues while I was on Neurontin and found that

none of the antidepressants or antisezure medications ever did

anything for the pain anyways and I gave each one at least 3 months

(zoloft I gave almost a year). Some women have much success, however

I was not one of those.

The theory behind the use of Neurontin and other such drugs is that

it is supposed to interupt the chronic pain cycle at the nerve

leval. When people develope chronic pain they start to create

special highways so to speak to communicate the pain to the brain.

The medication is supposed to interupt that and put a stop to pain

that in theory should no longer be there by interupting the signal.

Similar theorys are used to support lidocaine injections. They think

that by numbing the nerves and interupting the signal that it may not

return.

Bunny