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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by CtrlAlt n Del on June 8, 2002, at 20:31:10
Currently on gabapentin 300 x3 daily (also 225 efexor xl)..I try and remember to take every 5 or 6 hours but if I'm late say a couple of hours I get intense fear/dread paranioa almost I guess psychotic .
Does this drug have withdrawal as it leaves body quickly or I'm wondering if my general mental health is getting worse.
On the drug Im still often severelyb depressed but the relief from anxiety is wonderful my memory is very bad.
Feels like I'm losing my mind but not worried about it if you know what I mean..hoping this makes some sense : )
Thanks
Posted by Rathrbfishn on June 8, 2002, at 22:50:29
In reply to what's happening to my mind, posted by CtrlAlt n Del on June 8, 2002, at 20:31:10
Ha! I new I would eventually see someone post about feelings of fear, dread and paranoia with gabapentin. It was a very strange drug for me. I had no memory on it, anxiolitic effects were OK for about a week and then they stopped. Had no effect on depression at all. I slept a lot on it and was alway bumping into things. Told my pdoc about it and he said he had never heard of such things. I stopped the drug over about 2 weeks and things didn't improve until I was off it completely for about a week.
I know many people think this drug helps them a lot, so I don't want to bash it. But I know a pdoc who thinks neurontin is a joke, one of the most expensive drugs ever hyped that is beginning to show all that it was supposed to be effective for is nonsense.
Posted by JohnX2 on June 9, 2002, at 1:50:06
In reply to what's happening to my mind, posted by CtrlAlt n Del on June 8, 2002, at 20:31:10
>
> Currently on gabapentin 300 x3 daily (also 225 efexor xl)..I try and remember to take every 5 or 6 hours but if I'm late say a couple of hours I get intense fear/dread paranioa almost I guess psychotic .
> Does this drug have withdrawal as it leaves body quickly or I'm wondering if my general mental health is getting worse.
> On the drug Im still often severelyb depressed but the relief from anxiety is wonderful my memory is very bad.
> Feels like I'm losing my mind but not worried about it if you know what I mean..hoping this makes some sense : )
> Thanks
Hey, gabapentin is a good med.The crummy 1/2 like (time to leave the body) can make it
difficult to dose. It shoots through your body really
quickly, straight through the kidney. I found that if
I didn't take the medicine exactly 8 hrs apart then I got
a really bumpy ride. You are right, you can definately
experience withdrawl effects shortly after it wears out and
then more side effects when you restart the medicine.Best to try to really keep track of the dosing schedule to
ensure the medicine is at a steady level in your body at
all times.Don't worry. Just stay on top of the dosing schedule and
you'll do fine.Regards,
John
Posted by JohnX2 on June 9, 2002, at 1:56:56
In reply to Re: what's happening to my mind » CtrlAlt n Del, posted by Rathrbfishn on June 8, 2002, at 22:50:29
> Ha! I new I would eventually see someone post about feelings of fear, dread and paranoia with gabapentin.
The "dread,fear,and paranoia" was over missed doses, not the action of the
medicine itself.It was a very strange drug for me. I had no memory on it, anxiolitic effects were OK for about a week and then they stopped. Had no effect on depression at all. I slept a lot on it and was alway bumping into things. Told my pdoc about it and he said he had never heard of such things. I stopped the drug over about 2 weeks and things didn't improve until I was off it completely for about a week.
>
> I know many people think this drug helps them a lot, so I don't want to bash it. But I know a pdoc who thinks neurontin is a joke, one of the most expensive drugs ever hyped that is beginning to show all that it was supposed to be effective for is nonsense.What dose of neurontin did you take and
how many times a day did you take it?Thnx,
John
Posted by Rathrbfishn on June 9, 2002, at 7:36:19
In reply to Re: what's happening to my mind » Rathrbfishn, posted by JohnX2 on June 9, 2002, at 1:56:56
John...I took 300mgs of neurontin TID. I was also taking xanax. The negative feelings I described from neurontin happened for me as soon as I titrated from 600mgs/day to 900mgs/day, approximately 4 days after initiation of therapy. I stayed with the drug for over 2 months at 900mgs/day. I had never experienced, admittedly subjectively, paranoia in my life until I started this drug. Three days after initiation of the drug I could no longer do homework as I couldn't remember the lesson from that days class, nor could I follow the info in the text book.
At this point, I admit that my experience was not typical of the drug. But it is still a somewhat new drug and although I see few posts about it that dicuss it's drawbacks, they are beginning to appear. The pdoc I refered to that told me neurontin was a joke was a friend I grew up with and called to ask his opinion because I was having the problems with it I was and not seeing anyone else have them.
I have since seen a few other doctors on the net discuss their dissapointment with the drug, especially it's supposed anxiolitic effects. It may turn out to be a great drug, but I am very skeptical of all these new drugs being used off label to increase market share based on what is happening with the ssri's. Virtually everyone of the ssri manufacturers are being sued based on negative data they did not report to the FDA in trials before they were approved for depression. There is no question that the ssri's have a place in medicine and many people have good responses to them, but now the net is overwhelmed with horrible withdrawal experiences when people try to get off them. I'm wondering what is going to be the outcome of neurontin in 5+ years. When the ssri's first came out I gave them all trials and suffered from each. At that time my pdoc thought I was nuts, he now admits that there is a subset of people who have all kinds of problems with them, similar to the problems I had. So I am very skeptical of neurontin and any other new drug for that matter, especially the anti-convulsants being used off label as bi-polar and anti-anxiety meds. Keppra is now being touted as useful in OCD. What it is really all about is the drug co. are looking to increase market share to increase profits, hoping, not knowing, that down the line these drugs don't show up to have similar problems akin to the ssri's. The drug co. don't do long term studies before submitting new drugs for approval, they leave that to the patients who use them after they are approved, and I think that is bad science and bad medicine. If you think that pharmaceutical co have patients best interest in mind when marketing new drugs you are terribly naive. It's all about money these days.
Posted by Ritch on June 9, 2002, at 10:26:03
In reply to Re: what's happening to my mind » JohnX2, posted by Rathrbfishn on June 9, 2002, at 7:36:19
> John...I took 300mgs of neurontin TID. I was also taking xanax. The negative feelings I described from neurontin happened for me as soon as I titrated from 600mgs/day to 900mgs/day, approximately 4 days after initiation of therapy. I stayed with the drug for over 2 months at 900mgs/day. I had never experienced, admittedly subjectively, paranoia in my life until I started this drug. Three days after initiation of the drug I could no longer do homework as I couldn't remember the lesson from that days class, nor could I follow the info in the text book.
>
Hi, that sounds like a depersonalization reaction. Some people are especially sensitive to depersonalization/derealization. I had that response to Gabitril (tiagabine). I have only had that type of response to AED's (anticonvulsants). At higher doses of Neurontin I also experienced depersonalization and the "blanking out" you mentioned (1200mg+/day). I take a low dose of Neurontin now (300mg/day), and find it helpful with Depakote for bipolar. What's your dx?Mitch
Posted by crepuscular on June 9, 2002, at 12:41:28
In reply to what's happening to my mind, posted by CtrlAlt n Del on June 8, 2002, at 20:31:10
i *really* did not like gabapentin. yes, i was relaxed, but i felt senile, stupid. i got lost driving my car at one point and suffered from a freaky kind of anxiety because my brain felt "smothered" by this drug.
some people love it, but for me - and maybe you - it was not the answer. have had much better luck with low dose seroquel+zoloft+klonopin (when needed for xtra sleep.)
Posted by Rathrbfishn on June 9, 2002, at 14:52:31
In reply to Re: what's happening to my mind » Rathrbfishn, posted by Ritch on June 9, 2002, at 10:26:03
Mitch...my dx is panic disorder. I can assure you that I was not having any type of depersonalization/derealization effect from the neurontin. Those two symptoms are predominate symptoms of my panic episodes and I am very familiar with each of them. The paranoid feeling I had from neurontin was something I had never experienced before that I had a hard time explaining to my pdoc. It is hard to put into words. It was some type of irrational fear that was just there. I was afraid of something but I couldn't figure out what. I was in no danger, often at home, alone. It was nothing like a panic attack. Panic hits hard and fast with a cascade of symptoms that overwhelm all my senses. This was sort of a low level fear that didn't go away, was just there. I was in complete control of my mental faculties and spent many hours trying to figure out what I was afraid of with no resolution.
Whatever it was, stopped after I discontinued neurontin and I have not felt it since.
Posted by CtrlAlt n Del on June 9, 2002, at 15:16:24
In reply to Re: what's happening to my mind » Ritch, posted by Rathrbfishn on June 9, 2002, at 14:52:31
> Mitch...my dx is panic disorder. I can assure you that I was not having any type of depersonalization/derealization effect from the neurontin. Those two symptoms are predominate symptoms of my panic episodes and I am very familiar with each of them. The paranoid feeling I had from neurontin was something I had never experienced before that I had a hard time explaining to my pdoc. It is hard to put into words. It was some type of irrational fear that was just there. I was afraid of something but I couldn't figure out what. I was in no danger, often at home, alone. It was nothing like a panic attack. Panic hits hard and fast with a cascade of symptoms that overwhelm all my senses. This was sort of a low level fear that didn't go away, was just there. I was in complete control of my mental faculties and spent many hours trying to figure out what I was afraid of with no resolution.
>
> Whatever it was, stopped after I discontinued neurontin and I have not felt it since.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is exactly how I feel between doses ...I know when I'm late for my neurontin.
My memory is bad but at the moment I really need the anti-anxiety effect..which is stronger than any benzo I have taken. As for depression nothing as for mood I don't really know I'll leave that to my doc.
I should add , the strange unknown fear is usually the first sign of my breakdowns so I have had the feeling in the past -unmedicated.
Lets hope I'm not cracking up :-)
This is the end of the thread.
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