Last post Sat, May 10 2008 3:31 PM by hinge404. 17 replies.
Hi Sherry,
One of the listed side effects is weight gain. Not all but most people will gain weight, it can also cause hair loss, mental confusion and word association problems (forgot the technical term). I take 2400MG a day which is the min to get pain relief for me. Since this is a neuro drug it should be taken in small doses over time raising to desired dosage. If it is started or stopped suddenly there is a real risk of seizures as explained by my Dr. I started at 300 MG and kept adding more until some pain relief was acheved. Everytime I raised the dosage I gained more weight, when I lowered my dosage my weight dropped. It also kills my appetite which makes no difference on my weight gain. I also began to lose hair until now I have a nice thinning in small area. I have a terrible time with mental confusion with this drug to the point of sometimes forgetting where I am when driving, I just pull over and concentrate and remember how to get home. But I still take it since it helps more than narcotics and is the oldest, safest and most researched of the roughly 60 neuro drugs on the market. At first I was having a really hard time adjusting to the side affects so I tried Topomax. It worked great, controlled pain better, causes weight LOSS in most and does not cause confusion, but it has other potentialy nasty side effects and in my case caused such severe acid reflux I had to go back to Neurontin or take yet another drug which I did not want at the time. I still take other drugs in addition to Neurontin for pain and recently have decided to give Topomax a try again along with a GERD drug. After 4 yrs really tired of the mental confusion, word association issues, spelling etc... I am fortunate enough to be able to go to one of the countries most recognized pain clinics.
Good Luck,
Let me know if this helped.
Charles
I take 400 mg Neurontin a day and it definitely helps the pain but I have had trouble with bloating of my stomach and water retention and yes weight gain from Neurontin--like everything else for pain it probably will be taken off the market eventually--sooner than later!! I cannot take Celebrex because of heart issues, so what else is left--I tried the new drug that is supposed to help with depression and pain and all it did was upset my stomach BIG TIME! Do what are the alternatives--sometimes the natural way is BEST!!
I DON"T LIKE WEIGHT GAIN--end of discussion!!
Susan:
You do not have to worry that Neurontin will be pulled from the market. It was originally developed several years ago as an anti-seizure medication. A few years after it was put on the market, they decided it was not that great a drug for epilepsy. But by then, they had found out that it relieves certain kinds of pain for some (but not all) people. So, it is still available...
The generic is available and is called gabapentin. But I am not sure how much cheaper is since name-brand Neurontin is already a pretty cheap drug.
--hinge
PS--just thought you would like to know so that you too can impress people at cocktail parties...
