Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
If you've taken Gabapentin for fibro pain, can you please share what your side effects were and how long they lasted?
I've just started taking Gaba for almost 3 weeks. It works immediately for the pain, but the side effects start to show in about 2 weeks. Mine are rarer side effects: hyper, restless, irritable and angry.
I had tried lowering to 1/2 the dose, but that did not help my pain. So, I'm back on the original dose, but taking 1/2 in the AM, 1/2 in the PM. Helps with the pain as good as before. Side effects lessen; but I still feel very grumpy, irritable and anti-social. Do these side effects go away after a while??
I've just started taking Gaba for almost 3 weeks. It works immediately for the pain, but the side effects start to show in about 2 weeks. Mine are rarer side effects: hyper, restless, irritable and angry.
I had tried lowering to 1/2 the dose, but that did not help my pain. So, I'm back on the original dose, but taking 1/2 in the AM, 1/2 in the PM. Helps with the pain as good as before. Side effects lessen; but I still feel very grumpy, irritable and anti-social. Do these side effects go away after a while??
You should talk to your Dr about your side effects. I had severe panic from Gabapentin on the first dose. They told me to start it at night - so I was up all night in a panic state. The Dr thought it didnt mix well with my Domperidone that I HAVE to take 4 times a day so I can eat. I did take it fine about 15 years ago for thoracic outlet syndrome , but I wasnt on Domperidone then.
But I had a friend who took it for fibro and he ended up irritated, grouchy, angry, etc. Had to get off it.
I've since switched to Lyrica and Lexapro and am waiting to see if it can help more... so far - lucky to have no side effects but also not seeing much benefit as compared to the Gabapentin.
Hope this helps!
One doctor and a pharmacist said the side effects tend to subside over time, so I'll stay with it for a few more weeks at least. (I'm taking 50 mg in AM, and 50 mg in PM. Yep, very light dosage, but perhaps because of my low body weight.)
So far, the benefits are tremendous. I have not been this physically productive in years. The other day, I house cleaned for 4 hours non-stop, rested, then clean some more the next day. By the third day, I was very tired--but it's a normal kind of tired, not half dead for days and needing the immediate intervention of a masseuse or trigger point injection. The following week, I felt normal. So, it's worth waiting to see if the side effect subsides.
Thank you all.
I had asked two doctors about Lyrica for me and they both discouraged it. One said it would be too strong for me. Another said that in his experience with his patients, it hasn't been all that effective for pain and it tends to make a person spacey-headed.
I asked also about Cymbalta and the doc said it's more like an SSRI, which I didn't tolerate well.