Neurontin is the same as gabapentin and is an anticonvulsant used to treat seizures and pain (sometimes anxiety). But I've never heard of it used as a mood stabilizer or AD or AP. You might want to discuss its uses further with your pdoc first and be sure to tell her/him that you're concerned about your mood swings. Abilify is an anti-psychotic. It can affect (decrease) mood swings but is itself NOT a mood stabilizer. Be sure to talk with your pdoc - these two are very different medications not to be used in place of each other. Good luck, Violet! I hope you find the med(s) that work!

kat is right. It's mainly a pain med that seems to be getting wider use.

The studies I've seen suggest it can be useful in conjunction with "proper" Bipolar meds but not a replacement. Not sure how long ago this was written (from Webmd) but it seems a bunch of meds that are being prescribed have yet to prove their value in dealing with Bipolar itself.

"Other anticonvulsants, such as Trileptal (oxcarbazepine), Neurontin (gabapentin) and Topamax (topiramate) have not been established as having anti-manic or antidepressant properties, but they are sometimes considered experimental treatments in bipolar disorder. Some of these medicines may have value for other types of psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, pain, or binge eating."

Idk I mean I'd hope she knows what she's doing that scares me. She said its better for anxiety than mood but she said to try it anyway. Also to start on 100mg but then Gabe me 300mg capsules so now I'm starting on 300mgs cause I'm tired of waiting for help. I really don't know how to handle this anymore I'm freaking out and I'm feeling like its hopeless. I know someone who took it for bipolar and it helped them but I have heard of it for bipolar before just not much. She basically told me to try it and see how I feel. Ugh

Also I've seen mixed reviews on it. A lot of people are on it with other things. I'm on Prozac too so idk maybe that makes a dif? And I'm not sure if maybe now the 300mgs wasn't a mistake because I see people taking like 1900 mgs a day...so maybe she wanted me to start on 300 then raise to 600? I took it as 100 then go up to 3 but I guess she wasn't clear.hope it gets clarified by her soon. They take so long to get back to me.

I take 900x3 daily. I kinda helps me a little I guess. I do notice when I don't have it but I don't know exactly what and why, make sense? It's in my cocktail. Best wishes :) (((Hugs)))

Thank you! Any weight loss from anyone? I've heard mixed and I get paranoid.

Kat and fish are correct.

I take it for 2 reasons. Primarily, I take a low dose at bedtime to help me sleep, but as you can see it's after 1 am and here I am... Secondarily, it's another med that will help with my anxiety along with the others I take.

I hope it works for you. Sometimes things we don't expect to work because they don't seem to make sense, do anyway. Fingers crossed for you.

No weight loss that I notice. I don't notice really any effects actually except crying without it and my back pain is a lot
worse. It's like taking Tylenol that stops me from crying. The first few times you feel kind of weird but that stops pretty quick.

Best wishes, (((hugs))) get to feeling better soon. :)

I'm very curious to know if I'm alone with this. I have PMDD and my mood swings during my PMS because of it are absolutely unbearable. It always made the bipolar mood swings worse. Once I started on the neurontin I noticed that I was feeling a lot better and I'm very happy about that...but the week my PMS always starts it all went down hill. It's as if I'm on no medication at all. I'm so upset and agitated and worried that maybe I need to up my dose or I had false hope of it working. A few people told me that it's unrelated and v hormonal with the pmdd and I should wait and see how I feel when its over. I'm still scared and obviously moody and worrying about this. Does anyone know anything?