Posted by Chaston on March 15, 2001, at 8:33:41
In reply to Re: Neurontin as a mood stabilizer, posted by allisonm on March 13, 2001, at 17:52:15
First, **thanks** to everyone who has contributed to this thread for all of the helpful information on Neurontin. There are some bright, well-informed, and helpful, people here! It appears that many people, including some docs, are not well informed about the newer uses for this med (I'm certainly not). If I continue using it in the future, it will be in more divided doses.
I too wonder why they make the 800's, when 600 tid seems to be the max you can use. The stuff is really expensive, too (in all strengths--the cost per mg drops a little but not drastically in higher strengths), so maybe this is part of Pfizer/Parke-Davis's marketing strategy.
My personal experience with 1200-1600 mg at bedtime, and ocassional use during the day, has been:
1) helps with sleep
2) reduces anxiety
3) reduces iritability and emotional reactiveness
(sensitivity), but did not prevent depression after I tapered off Celexa last November.It seems to put a dampening layer between me and the world that can be beneficial and calming. It is very different from benzos, though--no sense of well-being or goofiness, just insulation and less reactivity. At higher doses, I literally felt "stupid"--not unpleasant, but just slow-witted and unresponsive to external stimuli. Overall, though, I agree that its side-effect profile is unusually benign.
I am not convinced, though, that it is the right drug for me to use as a long-term mood stabilizer, which is why I am tapering down. For me, it might be better used on an as-needed basis to deal with anxiety.
Interestingly, I have noticed that after reducing the dosage to 800 mg at bedtime, in addition to an increase in anxiety (temporary rebound, I hope), I had a heightened sense of smell.
> > > There is a neurontin thread here where it is claimed that the body cannot metabolize more than 600mg of neurontin at one time.< <
> >
>
> From what I have read from a pdf file on Neurontin supplied by Parke-Davis < http://www.pfizer.com/hml/pi%27s/neurontinpi.pdf > bioavailability is not dose proportional but when you get up to 300-600mg t.i.d., there isn't a lot of decrease in bioavailability -- it is about 60%. If the body could only process 600mg at a time and bioavailability decreases markedly in higher doses (which they don't say it does, nor do they say that it doesn't), then I wonder why they make and why I am taking 800mg tablets.
poster:Chaston
thread:56289
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56563.html