So I started my Neurontin three days ago and I'm already having issues with it that are interfering with my life. First off I feel drunk all of the time (I've never been drunk but its what I would equate to how you would feel if you were drunk). My mind is foggy and my cognitive thinking has gone way down. I can't even type without looking at the keyboard anymore, that and typing is so slow now. I feel detached from the world, spacey, and I find that I'm very irritable lately. The worst part is without a doubt the memory problems. On Saturday we went to the gas station and then went down the road 5 minutes to the grocery store to buy some hamburger meat and when we got back to the car I reminded my dad that we had to get gas. He looked at me dumbfounded and said "we already did" and I didn't remember it at all. I have a test wednesday and everything I studied for the past two weeks is completely gone from my mind. Oh and there is also the fact that my attention span is minimal at best. I can't focus in school, I'm extremely restless in class, and I can't sit still. Even my classmates can tell something is up. One even asked me if i was high! They asked me, of all the people in the world!! I am the last person who would ever touch drugs (other than those prescribed for my TN). This medication doesn't make me feel "right." I feel like I am trapped in someone else's body, or that my own body is being controlled by someone else. I don't know what to do either. My mom says to give it a chance but this is a HUGE week at school full of tests, essays, and projects and I don't know if I can handle them all (or even pass them all) if I am like this.
What's even worse about this is that I'm only on the minimal dose of the Neurontin (300mg) and its not even touching my pain. I'm supposed to bump up to 600mg on Thursday and then 900mg the Thursday after that. If I'm feeling like this now how am I even going to function when I get to that high of a dosage? My doctor said I could email him if things are getting to be too much but I don't think my mom would even let me email him. What am i going to do?!?!?!
(I timed this post. It took me 45 minutes to write where last week it only would've taken me 20)
I am so sorry to hear you are having so many problems. I tried it too and could not stay on. I hope everything works out. Sending prayers and thoughts your way.
I found that tegretol was much more effective for my pain and Neurontin did nothing for me. They may be in the same class of drugs. I know tegretol is used as an anti-epileptic med.. It sounds to me that this would be an alternative drug to try especially with the reaction you have had. Have you considered taking the semester off while trying to get your condition under control? It sounds to me like you have way too much on your plate to try and handle school and this horrid condition. As I have probably told you I did finally get my symptoms under control with the mvd surgery. My life has been changed over the last 2 months as I came out of the surgery with no symptoms. There is hope don't give up. You have a lot of people pulling for you and you are very much in many of our prayers!!
I have been taking neurontin for about two weeks now. One thing my doctor was quite specific on was not to increase the dose if I was feeling side effects and instead actually reduce the dose back to the point where I wasn’t experiencing side effects.
I think you definitely have a case for talking to your doctor before you are supposed to increase the dose.
So sorry to hear this, sure have been thinking about you. It is amazing how different drugs effect different people. If I take as much as a Benadryl, I am out, but I am fine on Gabapentin. I would definitely get with your Dr.(just don't tell Mom), there are other drugs to try and if it is not helping and just interferring with everything, you need a different option. Most with TN is trial and error, unfortunately, we all react differently to drugs and so much is unknown about TN. But there is help and you deserve to feel the best you can with all this. I hope your Mom understands it is truly trial and error and keeping in close communication with your Dr is vital,your first priority is taking care of you and getting relief, without these awful side effects. It has been many years since I was in school, but sure know how important it is and how hard you have worked and continue to, you are in my prayers, please keep on with Dr to find an answer. Sending you a big, gentle hug, hang in there and know how much we care.
Hi, I completely understand how you feel on your gabapentin. Every thingy you said I had. I felt the same way when I first started it and every time the dose increased. I also had the same feeling when my Dr. added Tegretol to the mix. The 'drunk' feeling did go away for me after a while.
Oh boy…that sounds just like me!!! I find myself wanting to tell people “I used to be a smart person and my IQ was___!!!” My Doc switched me to Gralise instead of traditional neurontin because it has fewer “dumb headed” side effects. My thinking is clearer but I think it’s a bit less effective for pain. Bless you dear…don’t give up!!!
Thank you everyone for the support. I'm still waiting for my mom to email the doctor so we can figure out what to do next. Until them I'm just back to square one, living with the pain like before without any medical help. I did talk to my professor and he said if i needed to take time off so I can get this straightened out he would fight to make sure I kept my scholarship which made me feel a lot better about exploring my options now rather than waiting until later when it could be much worse for me (winter is already on the way). If anyone has any suggestions that I should bring up with my neurologist regarding treatment I'd love to hear it :)
I would definitely see if he would consider ordering a mri/mra to see if there is compression of the TN by an artery or vein. If this is ordered and they do find that this is the case I would hope he would refer you to a neurosurgeon for consultation and options including mvd surgery. It's at this point that I elected to do a lot of online searching to find my best options for a surgeon and the best technique. I would not settle for the local guys and ended up choosing a neuro surgeon in LA at Cedar Sinai Hospital that uses a minimally invasive endo scope. Minimally was the key word that caught my attention. He has performed nearly 300 of these with very good success. Keep an open mind and research all of your options. If you want my take on the procedure I definetly will share more of the actual experience to help out. Jay in North Idaho
Really sorry for you … Some time I feel disable either bec. Of pain or drugs & when I am in a remission I am in fear ! I don’t know when the time will come & I will quit every thing my job my study !
I took that medicine made be so sick. I got off after a week when I called pain dr and sdked if I had to wesn off said just stop it. It was a week later before I stsrted freling half normal.I have tn2 and I am in constant pain. No meds have helped other then to put me to sleep which then I don’t feel the pain. The pain itselfs keeps me feeling tired all the time. I never laid around as much as I do now. I cant work and am waiting on ssdi heari g in Ja . Good luck prayers for all dealing with this pain.