Neurontin and neurontin

I have just been put on Neurontin and found out about this weight gain thing!! I am freaked out. I have come off of Topamax due to I could not handle the side effects and I was like I was in a coma. I am also on lexapro for depression so the topamax really effected me. The Neurontin has said to be given to bi polar patients but from what I have read people are having depression problems on it. So the whole weight gain and the depression thing is scaring me.

I was first prescribed Neurontin in November of 2008 for cervical disc bulge touching my spinal cord causing severe nerve pain in my left extremities. I was prescribed narcotics and eventually prescribed Neurontin. The side effects from Neurontin, at that time, were seemingly intolerable, but as the narcotics were decreased several months later, I found the Neurontin was actually effective and did its purpose. The side effects from the Neurontin were not that great to outway the pain factor I had. I believe this drug does its job!!!!

I am switching from Lyrics to Neurontin. I have always had a weight problem and lost 50 lbs.on Weight Watchers and have gained about 10 of it back. I am switching from Lyrics to Neurontin, hoping to stem the weight gain. Opinions and experiences please . . . am I jumping from the frying pan into the fire? I CANNOT ALLOW THIS WEIGHT TO COME BACK ANY FURTHER !!!! HELP !!!!!!

LC - Ohio

Hello everyone..I have many great things to say about Neurontin. It has been a miracle medication for me. I was in a car accident in 2000 as a passenger my face and head hit the windshield at 80mph. my jaw was broke and the back of my teeth were broken.
Little did I know it was extremely traumatic! My MRI's came back fine and I moved on with my life. About 6 months later my life began to change a brown spot covered my eyesight in the left eye. I began falling all the time and having seizures.
I had another MRI's of by brain done it came back negative. Not one Doctor could seem to understand what was wrong with me. I was put on Topamax for bad headaches that seemed to help. I began loosing weight and continued having seizures(Granmal) where you lose ur vision and it began to effect my speech and i would become confused.
My life was like this for 5 long years. Life didn't get better, I began to be soo tired and felt exhausted all the time. One day out of no where , I couldn't raise my head to get out of bed for work, my whole right side was burning and i was in pure agony!!! i will never forget that day. I had to have my Daughter help me up and i could barley walk...I pushed myself to keep going thinking this is all in my mind!! theres nothing wrong with me.. The MRI's are negative. I proceeded with my day in so much pain and limping all day.
It finally went away and I was fine again fo a small amount of time, I started not being able to remember things ....and forgetting from one second to the next and getting lost when I would drive...i began to panic and have anxiety, I felt like my life was out of control. I called my Mom and she said she had noticed a change in me, things I guess I didn't even know. She said I couldn't hold a conversation as before and i would slur my words and I couldn't recall what she would tell me.
My attacks moved to 4-5 times a week sometimes having seizures 2-3 times a day. I ended up having to be taken care of and moving where my Mother was so she could watch over me. I didn't get better. I couldn't work and I couldn't do much of anything.
My Mother took me to a MS specialist and he was the one who noticed there was something wrong! My face and legs would jerk and I couldn't sit still ..I had so much going thru my mind what could be wrong? I had 2 Sets of MRI's this time and it wasn't fine this time...My Spinal Cord was barley attached to my Brain Stem and CV 5-6 in my neck.
I was at the stage of being in a wheelchair not that I hadn't been using one from time to time and needing a cane.
I was sent to ER Surgery and had a stay in the Hospital and really thought I was a lucky Person to have made it for 5yrs without dying. It has been 4years and I still have soo many problems, I'm held together with a steel plate in my neck that holds mt together.
I'm now 41 years old and I wonder what my future holds. I'm not the same girl I used to be and probably never will be. I have to have Neurontin 600mgx4 a day and 1000mg Keppra a day...Without it I would not want to live the pain is unbearable for me! The only negative side affect is my hair falls out and I have severe Insomnia. Neurontin is a Miracle for me!

I wish all of you the BEST! Prayers for all of you.....

I feel like I am walking on clouds; I feel light-headed; I can't think straight/logically; I feel drowsy; I see strange images that are not really there; my stomach is bloated and I have severe, disgusting gas; and my vision is blurred. All this to kill my carpal tunnel pain? It's high time I get off of this poison. I suggest all of you do too.

i have been on neurontin for nerve pain in my legs due to vasculitis for a few weeks now. i have only noticed a small increase in appetite. my eyesite seems to be out of focus, but its so bad anyway that i have no idea if its the neurontin or just my eyes, and minor headaches i had no pain relief either........absolutely no improvement at all. my doctor just raised my dose from 900 mgs a day to 1200 the other day. still no pain relief but i am now getting a bit dizzy. i guess we will see what happens!

mood swings, short term memory loss, extreme sleepiness, edema, light flashes, constant ringing in ears that varies in tone, depression, stomach pain, flu like body ache, headaches, ear ache, continual nasal congestion, weight gain, constipation, dry & flaking skin & hair

my right hand and fingers have been swelling along with numbness and tingling. I have seen that periphreal edema is a side effect. has any one else had this to happen to them

I have been on neurontin 300 mg for only 2 weeks, if not less and I feel the weight gain. I'm either bloated or this is unbelievable. I have a disc in both my left hand and my lower back, fibromayalgia and Lupus. Therefore, the severity of my pain is unbearable. With Neurontin, there is no pain. But, there is the dizziness, weight gain, forgetfulness and just feeling incoherent and drunk. I don't think I can handle the side effects. So, I do have a question, if I've only been on neurontin for two weeks, can I just stop them on my own or do I need to speak to my Dr.? I know he will tell me not to which is why I'm asking. I have an issues with my weight and gaining weight would destroy my psyche. Thanks for listening ..it's nice to be able to find common ground with people. I don't feel so alone anymore.

you people are a trip, don't you have anything better to do with your lives?
most of you are a hypercondriac and don't even know it, did it ever occur to any of you that you may have other problems? or was that too hard to face the truth about yourselves? if Neurontin was all that bad, don't you think that, that would have all been out? I knew there was some wackos but you guys take the cake, GET REAL!

I regularly chart my basal body temperature as a way of tracking my menstrual cycles. Prior to starting Neurontin, my cycles were very regular, though I had an abnormally short luteal phase. I've been taking Neurontin for a month now: 300 mg 3 times daily. Now my basal body temps change drastically from day to day instead of following the regular rise and fall pattern of my cycle, and my period is 4 days late so far. Have any other women experienced similar side effects?

I have been taking Neurontin for 1 week (300 mg 1x per day and then prescribed to increase to 300 mg 2x per day after 1st week). It has been incredible taking the pain away (hemi-vertibrae bone defect in neck with severe arthritis)!!! Like Oh my goodness wonderful!!! however - by the end of the day - i am 20 lbs bloated and feel like the weight gain is right around the corner... I am very aware of body ( I am a dancer) and need to know if this is going to balance out... i know the answer of it depends oneach person - but some insight would help me not panic right now

I have been taking Neurontin for 2 months. I didn't think it was really helping because I still couldn't function normally. I have had 3 disk surgeries on L4/5, and still have severe pain in my right hip and down my right leg all the way to my foot. I am told there is scar tissue build-up in the area causing the nerve pain. I started taking Neurontin in small doses and have built up to 1200mg 3 times a day. I still couldn't walk more than 20 feet without leaning on something, but the pain was noticably less severe. My doctor put me on Trileptal instead, and the first day off the Neurontin was a nightmare...the pain was worse than ever. I went back to the Neurontin immediately. I have experienced some weight gain, but have attibuted that to no exercise. It does seem to make me forgetful, tired and somewhat depressed, but without it, the pain is completely debilitating. I want my life back, but I don't know what to do from here. Neurontin has helped the pain to a more tolerable level, but if I still can't even walk, I'm not even close to functioning normally. If anyone has a suggestion, I would love to hear it...thanks.

I was put on Neurontin to help with the side effects of discontinuing the use of Lyrica. Not too bad a trade off .....Or so I thought. Now I have been taking 1500 mg a day for almost a year and I want to stop taking this drug. My memory is shot, I can't find the words I want to say even for the most mundane things, my vision has deteriorated, and the worst of all has been my mood swings and sleeplessness. My family has paid a tremendous toll for this drug. Emotionally - not monetarily.
I just want to stop taking this and can't seem to find any information to help with that. I know neurotransmitters have been affected and I just want to be done with this and have the old me back. I really do miss the real me.
If anyone has been successful at stopping this or knows where I can find knowledgeable support please let me know. Thank you from me and my family.

I'm a female I think of sex but can never climax anymore no matter what my husband and I do, before it was all we could do to stop.

After taking 200 mg a day for 5 months I developed hives on my stomach and love handles. The itching is driving me nuts. Anyone else have this and could it be kidney damage at this low dose?

This freaks me out reading all of these...I just expierenced something....

I was in the hospital because they thought I had a stroke. I am only 26 years old. My whole right side when numb and weak and it was my leg, arm, and face, and lips, nose, and eye areas. It then went away after 48 hours. They have no idea what it was. they have done MRI's and ruled out Bells Palsey and tons of stuff. I also see flashing lights so they are starting to lean towards migraines.

The only weird thing is that I went in a while ago for extreme belly pain burning and they found that my liver was enlarged.

Now, someone else above mentioned these stroke like symptoms and the enlarged liver.

I also get strange thoughts. I am on Neurontin 2100 MG for anxiety.

Anyone have any advice?

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I am the person who posted the above message about kidney pain as a bad side-effect of N. use for fibromyalgia -- I use the drug for muscle pain, and to get to sleep at night -- and am at the point of trying to lower the dose, as well as wean myself off of it, before permanent damage can happen to my kidneys (and I hate the brain-fog).

Some research into the chemical and physical effects of the med lead me to believe that it works by helping the kidneys take a certain substance out of the blood stream -- the same way that dialysis works for kidney-failure, so definately Neurontin will affect the operation of the kidneys (see posting on "husband taking it for prostate problems" -- is this because of problems urinating?).

There have NOT been any studies on how Neurontin works -- or dangers/side-effects of the drug --for any other use besides epileptic seizures. If a person is experiencing bad side-effects he or she should immediately contact the doctor who prescibed it and ask for a different med, or for the dosage to be reduced (don't just stop taking it, which is what a lot of people do about bad side-effects -- that could be dangerous.). Such use makes a patient a guiney-pig for research, and the makers of Neurontin have been under attack for aggressively pushing it for what are called "off-label" uses.

If the doctor won't listen to you about this, find another one. IT'S YOUR BODY and no one knows better how you feel inside of it. Also you could experiment with withdrawing yourselve from high levels of the dosage, or asking that the amount of the med in the rx be reduced...fast- withdrawal sometimes causes seizures (as I understand it) and of course you have the complete right to ask a doctor to listen to your symptoms and needs.

Also if you're a person who notices bad effects in a child or a spouse you should make it an urgent project to point the bad effects out to the doctor, to become an advocate for the person who cannot do it. Good luck. JanK in Portland OR (and I am not a doctor, just a person with a lot of experience in surviving the American health system.)