I am, as of yesterday, working my way back down in dose of gabapentin due to the side effects.

My vision has blurred to the point I can't read the computer screen half the time. Yes, dry eyes. Worse for me is a lack of focus, sometimes to the point of being unable to finish a sentence and lack of balance to the point that I have taken a few falls and have had to give up driving absolutely.

I was at 1800mg of gaba, and we are currently backing it down to 1200 mg.

yadlim

I am as well. I am on a relatively low dose in comparison to some of the others on it. I have noticed that my eyes are blurry but never made the connection to the gabapentin. I guess I will see if it gets worse. I also forget what I was trying to say but I blamed that on the fibro, At this point I don't know what to blame on what, lol

Mine seem blurry only when I am on my phone or something really small like that, but since I am supposed to be increasing my dosage, I am concerned about this side effect. Other side effects I have experienced, other than the obvious foggy brain, etc., are thinning hair and constipation....anyone else?

Hi megsmom. Hypothyroidism made my eyes dry, sore, and blurry. Try using a cool, damp cloth over your eyes. Are you hypothyroid?

The side effects that are taking back out of the therapeutic range for me are a blurred mind and blurred balance.

I wandered around in a haze of neasua with a cotton ball shoved though all of my brain to the point I could not finish about 1/4 of my sentences for just over a month. During the time I seem to have forgotten how to walk, and had to learn to walk the furniture or with one hand resting against the wall to keep from falling. Oh yeah, I also would pass out if my pain level got too high...

Now I am backing off the gaba... I was at 1800mg a day and am currently on 1500mg a day. It has been four days and I can feel the difference. I could walk without help today. I talked with hubby for five hours... and I am in absolute agony.

At 1800mg the crushed part of my spine only hurts if I jolted my back.
At 1500mg I can't sleep because I hurt too much - let alone how high the pain goes when I do things.

It is not QUITE worth staying at the higher dose. I might even have to go down one more notch, but I am going to see if I can get clear headed enough that I could drive again first. That is the indicator I am using. When my head is clear enough that I could drive if I needed to, then I will stop decreasing the dose.

yadlim

Keeske, I do have hypothyroidism and have always had dry eyes with that too. Maybe that is what it is instead of the medicine, because I am on a fairly low daily dose. I have battled with getting the right dosage and the right medication for my thyroid for almost 20 years. I currently take 137 mg of Tirosint for it.

I had to stop both Gabapentin and Lyrica because of blurred vision, it wasn't reducing the pain, anyway. Figured I must be allergic to the stuff.

It isn't reducing my pain at all either. He says I am just not taking enough at 300 to 600 mg a day. I am over the side effects. He says there is nothing else to take........is it really that hard to treat back pain with no herniation? I don't want surgery, and i am not a candidate anyway since I don't have a bulging disk, but I do have pain in my right leg and tingling and then some pain in my SI joints.

I had to stop it because of blurred vision as well.

My mother also takes Neurotin and she has to use drops all the time for her continuous dry eyes. I think there may be a connection. A lot of medications cause eye problems. Hugs GB

I also have trouble with blurred vision and lack of focus.. I have the most trouble in the afternoons when I am grading student work or working on lessons plans.

I take 1200. Hope things get better soon

My vision, balance, constipation and ability to find words or remember things have all gotten worse since starting Gabapentin almost two years ago. I only got up to 900mg a day before things got too bad and I had to go back to 600. I still have side effects and no significant pain relief but it has been hard to go down further without feeling much worse. I know it's just that my body has become dependent on it and not that it's really helping that much. I just want off of it.

Hi Meg, I have blurred vision and very dry eyes as well, I was taking Neurontin but it wasn't working for me. I had the impression it was making things worse. I went to see another optometrist and she said that she thinks I spend too much time behind my computer because I'm a writer so she just gave me some tips like turning away from the computer and blink several times and taking regular pauses and I think this works better for me. I also found some tips on this post http://bit.ly/1sSkDOr it provides great tips that help me as well, you may want to check it out :)

I am still on the 300 but the dry eyes get worse as the day goes on. Like you said, HugsNeeded, grading papers takes it's toll on the eyes! I teach English and handwriting leaves something to be desired anyway, so it is rough on the dry eyes.