I really don't know what to do with myself and its hard to put into words. I feel like Im getting alzheimers except that I am fully aware of my confusion. Maybe its the pain and sleep deprivation. Im only taking Gabapentin at night because I need to drive and work Yesterday I suddenly felt really faint and weak, my heart was racing and my head was jerking. I was freezing cold and confused. I didn't pass out but but remained dizzy and pathetic for about half an hour. I am an Optometrist I had a patient that I was supposed to be fitting contact lenses for. A colleague saw that person for me, I felt better and carried on with my fully booked day. I have worked in Optics since 1978, yesterday the numbers meant nothing to me. I was looking at prescriptions and feeling clueless about what they meant. Over the last year Iv onl;y written bits of what I wanted to record, like half sentences and am making mistakes I regularly see 18 people a day and am closely audited in terms of record keeping and performance. Today I feel terrible, my head and ears and throat and shoulders hurt. All of that I would work through but I cant actually remember the detail of doing my job. Im so despondent about it all. My GP has asked for a second opinion from Liverpool so I am waiting again. My head first hurt 13 years ago, it was so shocking and acute and localised in the back of my head, that I had no doubt it would be easy to diagnose. I feel like my family are humouring me, nobody has any sense of urgency.
Family often does not understand. I suggest you google spoon theory. It offers a great way to explain your situation. I too am having all these problems. Saw my neurosurgeon yesterday and he adjusted my programmable shunt. Says it may or may not work. Feeling desparate. I give you credit for working. I can’t work at all. Best.
Hello! Wish I would have seen this earlier. Check out the patient posts on bad drug for neurontin/gabapentin. Not sure what kind of dose you are on but some patients experience worsening of cognitive issues, aphasia and rebound pain as a side effect of the medication. I had to stop taking it. Was so glad I choose that route instead of just having them up the dosage. Not to say that chairi or something else isn’t causing your issues but I know from experience that some of the side effects of the medication include debilitating cognitive imparement and I knew other people who were on it with cognitive complaints. It can give you a dizzy high sort of feeling when it kicks in and sometimes eating a good bit with it can reduce the effects but there were hundreds of listings of other patients with the same complaint. And rebound pain that caused unnecessary increases in the medication was a big one as well as withdraw when trying to get off of it. It can also cause motor and other seizures even though that’s what it’s created to treat. I was a pharmacy tech for awhile and this is one of those meds that has the potential for abuse. So as a retired health care worker to a current health care provider I would start by investigating if the neurontin side effects aren’t exasperating your problem and see where you stand with your symptoms after you get that sorted out. I can totally relate to what you are experiencing. I can verify the legitimacy of what you are going through. You are definitely not alone. I will see if I can find you the link so you can research it and show your doc. I hope this helps some. Hugs and Prayers if that’s acceptable to you. Hang in there! Kris
I tried to upload a list of other side effects found in clinical trials for neurontin/gabapentin but everything you described is on the list. If you are only taking it at night maybe a muscle relaxant would be a better alternative for the doc to consider but it might give you some difficulty waking. Diphenhydramine might be an option as well. It all depends on what the doc is treating but if your goal is sleep because your not sleeping due to pain then you may have other options you and the doc can try but I would talk to your doc about the neurontin and see about titrating down if you decide to get off of it at least for a trial period if you and your doc come to that conclusion and agreement. Easiest way to pull up a search here in the states on yahoo is to use the key words neurontin gabapentin and aphasia. You should get a ton of info on it. Much luck to you. Hope you get this and it helps some. Please keep us updated on your status. I’m worried for you because I’ve lived it and understand what it’s like. No fun at all. 82-image.jpg (899 KB)
