Guest guest Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 I take 300mg daily. My dr did a great job of explaining to me that the first couple of weeks I should only take it at night since one of the side effects will be like taking a sleeping pill. That will wear off after 2 or 3 weeks. After that the tingling feeling you have in your arm or legs due to nerve damage will subside or go away. That should help you sleep better, since you won't be in as much pain. Now I am curious how you can take a vicodin and 8 hours later still have side effects. How much were you taking another option could be to lower your dosage. Also, have you considered a sleeping pill? The " gothca " you need to keep in mind with gabipiten (neurontin) is that you can't not take it. It affects your brain and you can't just chose to stop taking it. If you do decide to stop taking it, you will need to work with your doctor. I personally think Neurontin has done wonders for me and would recommend it. Just be informed of how to start and to give it at least a month before you will see changes (I was very glad my dr told me that so I didn't give up on it). Also you can try Lyrica instead of Neurontin, they are in the same family, but Lyrica is newer and you don't need to take as much (300 for Neurontin is 50 of Lyrica). WIth that said, I had swelling wtih Lyrica and went back to Neurontin. I hope that helps. Feel free to ask anything else and I will be more than happy to help where I can. > > While I am waiting to determine if I want to go the Artificial Disc > Route, I wake up frequently at night due to my back pain. Actually, I > have a few good days and a few bad days. When I am on a streak of bad > days, I find if I take a vicadin at night, it helps me sleep. Only > problem is I am very groggy in the morning. It takes a few hours for > this to wear off. After that I usually feel pretty good. > > Discussing this with my doctor, we both feel that we would prefer for > me not to take a narcotic unless it is absolutely required. He > recommended I try gabapentin which has been found to tremendously help > this type of pain in some people. Anyone have any direct experience? > > Ken > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 I get the side effects even if I go below 5 MG. I have a tablet which is 7.5 MG and split it and take that. I usually have to split the tablets if I am in an " emergency " mode (a major flare up), because if I take the whole pill I can not stand up for an hour or so. When I mentioned to may doctor the suppose 6 hour effect of vicadin he said everyone is different and was not surprised. He said the " hangover " is a quite common effect. By the way, vicadin does nothing for the pain, it just blunts the brain in my case and makes it more tolerable. My doctor claims that I should be able to just take the gabapentin at night, and that there is not any effects of not taking it (except for having pain). Unlike other anti-seizure medications if you stop taking them you might get a seizure. It almost sounds like it might be that you have to take it all the time, which I am not sure about. So did the pins and needles go away with this? I get this in my thigh a lot (I call it pins and nails cause it hurts a lot more then pins and needles!).I have about a 5 -6 pain level in my back round the clock. This is just pure constant pain, not pins and needles. Did it help with that? Thanks > > > > While I am waiting to determine if I want to go the Artificial Disc > > Route, I wake up frequently at night due to my back pain. Actually, I > > have a few good days and a few bad days. When I am on a streak of bad > > days, I find if I take a vicadin at night, it helps me sleep. Only > > problem is I am very groggy in the morning. It takes a few hours for > > this to wear off. After that I usually feel pretty good. > > > > Discussing this with my doctor, we both feel that we would prefer for > > me not to take a narcotic unless it is absolutely required. He > > recommended I try gabapentin which has been found to tremendously help > > this type of pain in some people. Anyone have any direct experience? > > > > Ken > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 > > > > > > While I am waiting to determine if I want to go the Artificial Disc > > > Route, I wake up frequently at night due to my back pain. Actually, I > > > have a few good days and a few bad days. When I am on a streak of bad > > > days, I find if I take a vicadin at night, it helps me sleep. Only > > > problem is I am very groggy in the morning. It takes a few hours for > > > this to wear off. After that I usually feel pretty good. > > > > > > Discussing this with my doctor, we both feel that we would prefer for > > > me not to take a narcotic unless it is absolutely required. He > > > recommended I try gabapentin which has been found to tremendously help > > > this type of pain in some people. Anyone have any direct experience? > > > > > > Ken > > > > > > I have been taking 3 10mg or Norco at a time for a month and it doesn't help me much. It doesn't help me sleep either. I wonder if there is a better medication out there? Cheryl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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