Gabapentin and my riding boots!

[scruffy_the_cat]

I have some sort of awful nerve compression that neurologists are trying to pinpoint that makes sleeping very painful. I wake up with my arms on fire over and over and over again all night long. In the morning, my hands are numb, so I can’t fasten buttons or put in earrings. Holding a steering wheel is iffy since I can’t feel my hands and I cut my finger really badly because I couldn’t feel my fingers while chopping. The neurologist prescribed gabapentin, which helps enormously. BUT, BUT, BUT, despite being very careful about what I eat (very low carb, lots of water, veggies, etc.), my dressage boots are getting tighter and tighter. I lost 40 lbs almost 3 years ago and I am terrified that I am going to gain it back. The neurologist was unimpressed. The pharmacist said, yeah, medicines like that slow things waaay down. I’m so depressed I’m about to go eat a whole cake.

Does anyone have any similar experience or advice?

[tinah]

I’m sorry. My weight is a constant battle. If I just relax and don’t worry about it I put on .5 lbs a day. Absolutely everything that goes in my mouth has to be tracked and accounted for. It’s exhausting.

[keysfins]

@scruffy the cat

I have some sort of awful nerve compression that neurologists are trying to pinpoint that makes sleeping very painful. I wake up with my arms on fire over and over and over again all night long. In the morning, my hands are numb, so I can’t fasten buttons or put in earrings. Holding a steering wheel is iffy since I can’t feel my hands and I cut my finger really badly because I couldn’t feel my fingers while chopping. The neurologist prescribed gabapentin, which helps enormously. BUT, BUT, BUT, despite being very careful about what I eat (very low carb, lots of water, veggies, etc.), my dressage boots are getting tighter and tighter. I lost 40 lbs almost 3 years ago and I am terrified that I am going to gain it back. The neurologist was unimpressed. The pharmacist said, yeah, medicines like that slow things waaay down. I’m so depressed I’m about to go eat a whole cake.

Does anyone have any similar experience or advice?

I have fibro and several years ago, my doctor suggested trying Lyrica (pregabalin). It did nothing for my fibromyalgia, but it made me crave junk carbs intensely. I stopped taking it because I got no positive effect from it.

I recently had procedures done on my back and was prescribed gabapentin. Yes, I gained weight on it, and now trying to rev my metabolism back up. Again, the benefit was not very much, and I went back to my fibro meds and quit the gaba. My brownie/cookie/stuff intake went up while on it, the craving was hard to resist.

Not much help, but yes, I have had the same experience. Can you talk with your doctor about any alternative medications? You worked really hard to get fit and healthy, and your concerns should not simply be dismissed. (I am glad you feel a benefit with the gabapentin, tho! I did not.)

[scruffy_the_cat]

Well, her other options were Lyrica and Cymbalta, which she said would be worse. In my case I am not craving sweets and carbs as long as I am careful with my simple carb intake, but I’m already on a very minimal caloric intake and any more will have me really question my quality of life. :no:

But yes, even a very small dose of gabapentin (between 100-300 mgs/day- you can go up to the thousands) seems to be helping dramatically. Unfortunately. You all know what I would do to have dressage boots that fit. Even if I am mad at my Konigs, I’m not THAT mad.

[Smiles]

Do you have an exercise routine? If not its best to start running or get a gym membership. I was on gabapentin for like two years and it caused weight gain for me. Not a ton but what woman wants to gain weight, right? I stop taking it because it was causing impaired speech and thought processes. I’m on cymbalta now. I watch what I eat and have to exercise with this one too. Frankly, I hate taking medicine, but I can’t avoid it with all my joint/nerve problems.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Well, I was in a more regular strength training routine but the nerve pain stopped that. With gabapentin I have been able to start back, very carefully. But every day I do some strength training- if my shoulders/arms are bothering me a lot, I’ll just stick to core things and quads/hamstrings. But I prefer to do over all strength training. And I try to do some sort of cardio 5 days a week. But it’s all very mild. If I push too hard, something breaks. Better to do a little every day than try to do too much then get laid up…

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

So sorry for the nerve pain issues you are going through OP. I was on Gabapentin for about 8 months a few years back… I went through breast cancer and ended up with a serious neuropathy issue of the entire brachial plexus on my right side. One of the chemotherapies I was on causes peripheral neuropathy, plus the nerves got damaged during radiation and I got shingles shortly after all that. Voila… really screwed up nerves - uggh. My pain is more of a dull ache mainly in the shoulder area that flares into headaches at time on the lower right side of my head, but numbness in my fingertips. The pain causes posture problems as well (hunching and rolling shoulder inward)… this has led to secondary muscle pain.

I was on Gabapentin at the same time as starting hormone therapy (made me menopausal) together a few years ago, and the result was a 10 lb gain over 8 months. Unfortunately, I didn’t loose it when I went off Gabapentin… just kept on gaining. I’m now 20lbs over my ideal weight.

Gabapenyin only marginally helped issues, and I went off just to see what would happen. Pain didn’t get worse when I went off it… so I just stayed off it.

Nerve pain has been chronic for s few years since then, but got very problematic again last year. One of the major issues with my pain is a lot of fatigue and sleeping issues too - I can’t lie on my right side for more than a minute when it acts up. I think the chronic fatigue is a huge factor in terms of crappy diet and weight gain… probably more so than the meds or menopause. With that said, weight gain STINKS, so when the nerve issues got bad again I worked with my doctors to come up with a treatment plan involving the minimal amount of meds possible, hopefully minimizing side effects. So we started with physical therapy, ibuprofen regularly for several weeks to reduce inflammation, magnesium supplementation, and sleeping with a custom medical pad around my right shoulder and armpit. I’m now down to ibuprofen only a few days a week, and daily magnesium… and am MUCH more comfortable. The goal is to lose weight this year, but just try to do 1 lb a month and make sustainable changes without getting overtired.

If you haven’t tried magnesium yet… do. It’s remarkable. PT has also been a huge help to me… I’ve consistently had pain in my shoulder that runs down the arm, sort of wrapping around, and eventually turns to numbness in my ring and pinky fingers. When I do certain basic PT exercises on my own, I literally feel the numbness ease midway through a set. And headaches easing as well simultaneously… it’s amazing the compounding of problems caused by hunching and tension you don’t realize you are carrying when you have an injured or inflamed nerve… specific PT can really help, but it’s not necessarily intuitive, so getting advice and guidance from a good therapist on which exercises to do is key.

Good luck

[CHT]

I was on Gabapentin for quite a while, before the side effects were too much for me. It did help though. I did not like Lyrica or Cymbalta. They all have side effects. Weight gain was NOT a side effect for me, but I do have edema in my hands, feet, legs and face (not related to the Gabapentin though, rather part of my neuropathies). This edema also causes my boots to be tight, and I have to be careful. Light compression socks do help with my edema, as does regularly putting my feet up.

(I minimized my nerve pain issues through a chronic pain clinic using occupational therapy, physio therapy, and psychology…although obviously this will only work depending on the route causes of the nerve pain)

[scruffy_the_cat]

@Virginia Horse Mom, tell me more about your magnesium use? I just started it last night but don’t really know dosage. I’m just following what it says on the bottle. I’m taking dimagnesium malate with SRT (Jigsaw brand).

My symptoms most resemble brachial plexus syndrome but they’re not exact. My fiery numbness runs all down the inside of my arm, from armpit to my palm and all fingers. It was waking me up what seemed like a hundred times a night and I was getting no sleep at all. I was always exhausted. On the gabapentin I can finally sleep and my energy is dramatically better. I’m also going to do PT but we’re waiting until I do an EMG to narrow down what we’re dealing with. I can’t take ibuprofen because of side effects but I could take Celebrex. All your information was good to know, though I’m sorry you have had a tough go of it.

[SMK]

I was put on Gabapentin to help with the peripheral neuropathy associated with my lymphedema. The gaba helped with the pain and sleeping, but made the swelling worse to the point that I had to stop the gaba. This was not weight associated swelling, edema itself is a side effect of gaba. However, with my condition, I may have just been sensitive to that.

I’m sorry you’re going through this, that sucks. Best of luck to you. I have not found a perfect control, but TCAs have worked somewhat for my pain.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Thanks for all the responses. I’m going to try to increase the magnesium to see if it has any effect. But I really do need jingles that my $$$$$ Konigs will fit this season!

[Where_sMyWhite]

Not directed at all to those of you who are experiencing gaba or Lyrica side effects but more for those who might stumble over this thread in looking for advice…

I’ve been on Lyrica for close to 5 years (and gaba before that) and find that it does help tone down my nerve issues and I haven’t experienced the swelling that many of you seem to have. Yes, my ankles do well but more from sitting in a w/c than the Lyrica.

{{OP and the rest here}}

[KathyR]

Be careful with Gabapentin. Turns out that it almost put my husband in renal failure. He also had some swelling-due to renal failure problems. Went off, gradually, put on another med, no more swelling and kidneys are back to normal.

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

@scruffy the cat - I take 250 mg of magnesium daily in addition to a multivitamin.

I went back and re-read your description of your symptoms and it DEFINITELY sounds like something is getting ccompressed somewhere in your shoulder region causing brachialplexopathy. It’s important to go to a neurologist for the emg test to evaluate whether or not there is weakness as as pain. But my experience with neurologists is that that they do tend to go straight to medication solutions. Maybe it as just the group i saw though. Physical therapy has been a major hel to me… If you haven’t gone in for it yet, talk to your doctor about it. Shoulders are complicated and three are so many ways our posture shifts when we are in chronic pain… Having qualified help with this can really unwind problems.

Good luck to you.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Thank you. Yes, I know I have a brachialplexopathy or radiculopathy- that’s clear. It’s just not clear where, exactly. My EMG is scheduled in 2 weeks. She offered to send me to PT first but I decided that I wanted to know specifically what I was going in for first so we could use our time wisely. Co-pays aren’t cheap!

[Ceylon_Star]

I had to take a slightly higher dose, but switching to brand name Neurontin made a huge difference in the weight gain I experiences while on gabapentin (I took it at higher doses for mood stabilizing for about 6 years, and added in a compounded gabapentin cream/gel when I had nerve pain after an injury. It didn’t do anything for the numbness from said injury, but that was because the nerves were cut, not damaged, in the injury.)

I gained weight like mad in the first 6 months on the generic, but it slowed down to a couple lbs here and there and maybe 25 total in the time i was on the neurontin.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Thanks for the input. I just lost 40 so putting back 25 will make me very grouchy! I do think the weight gain has leveled out. I’ve been adding in more exercise and cutting some calories and my boots are getting easier to zip so I feel like things are heading in the right direction.

[Ceylon_Star]

I am on a number of other medications that are known to cause weight gain, and at the time the only difference in my meds was gabapentin vs neurontin. so for me, 25lbs was nothing (in the 13 years i’ve been on psych meds, I’ve doubled my weight, though to be fair those years were from 13 to 26 so it’s not necessarily as scary as it sounds, but it’s still a dramatic change). But I 1000% understand that for you it would still be substantial. For me, it wasn’t much at all.
Good luck!

[scruffy_the_cat]

Yeah. I’m an old bat so losing weight is a challenging matter!

p.s. I have a transgender child and my hat is off to you for your courage. It’s a tough road. Good luck to you in your surgical recovery and here’s to finally feeling like yourself.