Hi openroad. Sorry about your joint pain. I didn't get joint pain from gaba. I was up to 3600 mg/day divided into three doses, but quit taking it because it wasn't helping, even at that dose.

You might call your pharmacist to inquire about the side effects.

Thanks keeshka,
I told my pain doc and that's when he sent me to see my family doc about getting arthritis tests done. I pushed my appointment with him forward so I'll find out about the tests in about ten days now since he's getting a copy of the results. If it's not arthritis I'll see about going on lyrica to take the gaba's place and hope for the best. The gaba did help with my sciatica so I'm thankful for that but it was right around the time I started on it that I started getting the joint pain so we'll see what happens.
openroad

i have had neurontin before and i was at 900mg too. It did nothing for my chronic pain. the only symptoms i personally experienced was dizziness when decreasing or increasing the perscription. sorry i couldn't be of more assistance.

welcome...I don't take that med but have joint pain from uncle arthur...(arthritis) so sorry your having trouble but this is the place to be....hugs bill

You have a Pain Management Dr. and they sent you back down to your PM for Arthritis testing??? That's kind of weird, why didn't they just do the testing?

Anyways....before you go through the hassle of changing meds, Gaba & Neurontin are pretty much the same med, same class of anti-epileptics, etc. Your on a pretty low dose of Gaba, you might see about getting up to a decent therapeutic level before you mess with changing to Lyrica. 900mg is like a starting dose for Gaba, you have tons of room to increase.

Take care and welcome to the group,

Kat

Hi Camtrol, Welcome to the group. I take 3600mg divided into four doses. The biggest side effect I've had from this drug is a huge weight gain. At first I gained a little over 50lbs in barely three months a month & a half later I was up to 72lbs. I know this drug can make some people hungry thus they eat more. This never happened with me. I cut back on calories as the weight gain to me was almost as bad as the pain this drug was to help. Like Kat said. Neurontin & Lyrica are cousins on Lyrica I also had huge weight gain but most of that was from the severe edema it caused I stopped that one years ago. In my book & in my opinion only I think both drugs suck. I know many people that have had great results. I've stayed on the Neurontin as the nerve pain is no fun. My Dr & I did decide recently to slowly cut me down to 2400mg. As far as joint pain goes I'm afraid I am unable to give you a definite answer as all my joints hurt, but they also hurt before I started it. I'm glad you joined us. You will find many caring & compassionate people here. The best of luck in finding the answers & relief you seek.

Hugs & God Bless
Lisa :)

Neurontin/gabapentin didn't do enough for my pain to justify the side effects after a few months. I think my dosage was 2400/day split into two doses. Its been a few yrs.

As Lisa & Kat mentioned, Lyrica is basically the same drug its just a name brand version & costs much more. Since it's approved for fibro there may be an anti-depressant built in. Most fibro drugs have that. I can if Lyrica is one of them or not. I have heard some people do better with Lyrica but I wasnt one of them. With Lyrica I did get the added side effect of swelling in my feet to the point of not being able to wear shoes.n

Oops..Hit submit sooner than I wanted but I guess I said what I wanted to say. Also was trying to say I don't remember if Lyrica has an anti-depressant built into it or not like the other fibro drugs Savella & Cymbalta.

Good luck with the arthritis testing. I have rheumatoid arthritis so I've been down that road. Just make sure your family Dr orders the right tests or refers you to a rheumatologist. Since I have joint pain with my RA anyway I never linked joint pain as a side effect of gaba.

Take care,
Emerald

Thanks for your input everyone. Oh, katlyn40, I don' t know if you're in Canada or The States but here in the great white north they like to spread the wealth around so they send you to as many docs as possible. This way my family doc gets paid as well as my pain doc and then of course the x ray people and the blood people get paid. Then my pain doc gets paid again and my family doc gets paid again to file away my results.
If the lyrica is basically the same then I'll stay off of both of them. I just want to get rid of this joint pain and all I know is that it started with the gaba. I hope it's not the start of arthritis but it seems pretty sudden to have every joint start to hurt all at once don't you think? And they hurt pretty badly too so all I could think of was the gaba. I guess we'll find out soon enough, I'll let you all know what comes of the tests.

Hello and welcome-I as well would check with your pharmacist/ dr on side effects.

My Group:
http://www.dailystrength.org/groups/all-your-ailments-can-come-here

I have been taking Gabapentin for over a year now but I'm only taking 600mg a day. It was prescribed by my GI doctor for abdominal pain. It has done nothing for me bad or good. I'm afraid to go up to the higher dosages because of all the adverse effects I've read about. I tried Lyrica before but side effects were too bad. I have chronic abdominal and back pain that is getting worse so I'm going to a pain specialist to see what my options are.