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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 16 of 16. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
At 3.9grams (3900mg) I felt a bit of relief but overall the Neurontin has not helped my anxiety and has actually aggravated my ocd, only a tiny bit.
Most people get great results from neurontin, am i just an isolated abberration?
I have given it a week which i think is sufficient- given that it usually kicks in straight away for 95% of people...
Back to the drawing board for Ace!!!
Ace................
Posted by Bob on February 8, 2004, at 2:16:03
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
> At 3.9grams (3900mg) I felt a bit of relief but overall the Neurontin has not helped my anxiety and has actually aggravated my ocd, only a tiny bit.
>
> Most people get great results from neurontin, am i just an isolated abberration?
>
> I have given it a week which i think is sufficient- given that it usually kicks in straight away for 95% of people...
>
>
> Back to the drawing board for Ace!!!
>
>
> Ace................
I had a terrible time with Neurontin, Topomax, Tegretol, and Lamictal. Not everyone can handle these drugs.I thought you were doing well with Nardil, Ace?
Posted by Chairman_MAO on February 8, 2004, at 8:10:22
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
I found Gabitril 32mg/day had a MUCH stronger effect than Neurontin at any dose. But be prepared to feel intoxicated for a few days unless you titrate up over the course of a month.
Posted by Ilene on February 8, 2004, at 11:12:39
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
> At 3.9grams (3900mg) I felt a bit of relief but overall the Neurontin has not helped my anxiety and has actually aggravated my ocd, only a tiny bit.
>
> Most people get great results from neurontin, am i just an isolated abberration?
>
> I have given it a week which i think is sufficient- given that it usually kicks in straight away for 95% of people...
>
>
> Back to the drawing board for Ace!!!
>
>
> Ace................
No, you're not isolated. I still haven't been able to titrate up to an effective dose during the day. It helps me sleep is all. I start my day with 1/2 a Klonopin. If I'm lucky that'll take the edge off and I'll be able to function, somewhat.I love it when I can sleep, though. Sleep is lovely.
Some people have good results w/ Gabatril. It gave me horrible insomnia. My pdoc sold it to me as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Maybe I should try it during the day.
I think the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders is poorly understood, which is why these drugs often misfire. All we can really see (despite modern imaging technologies) is someone's behavior, and how they say they feel. I think we will eventually find several distinct types of depression, anxiety disorders, and all the rest, and (I hope) drugs that are effective for each.
I.
Posted by Adam33 on February 8, 2004, at 12:45:37
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
I felt nothing while on Neurontin. I went up to 2400mg/Day. Was taking it for SAD (and incidentially have OCD too, which it also did nothing for).
Posted by djmmm on February 8, 2004, at 20:09:27
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
> At 3.9grams (3900mg) I felt a bit of relief but overall the Neurontin has not helped my anxiety and has actually aggravated my ocd, only a tiny bit.
>
> Most people get great results from neurontin, am i just an isolated abberration?
>
> I have given it a week which i think is sufficient- given that it usually kicks in straight away for 95% of people...
>
>
> Back to the drawing board for Ace!!!
>
>
> Ace................Well Ace...Im sorry Neurontin isn't cutting it...In my opinion, I would stay at a lower dose, for a longer period of time..just a thought..
FWIW, I took Neurontin (1800mg) for a few years (because of epilepsy)....but More recently (several months ago) I combined 1800mg with 2mg of Klonopin and found it REALLY increased the "pro-social" effect of Klonopin... (which in my opinion still pales in comparison to the pro-social/social phobia killing effects of Nardil)
Something you may consider is Zonegran...it has some effect on dopamine levels.
I have heard of some people having success with the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine (seroquel)
and even the AD Remeron...I forget, have you considered therapy as an adjunct to your regimen of medications?
Posted by Viridis on February 8, 2004, at 23:02:24
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
I found Neurontin very relaxing the first two or three times I took it, then had no response whatsoever (good or bad) at any dose, so I finally stopped taking it.
When my pdoc first prescribed it a couple of years ago (at my request), he described it as the mildest and safest of mood stabilizers, but seemed a bit skeptical about it. Now he simply says it's an expensive placebo for most people, based on more recent evidence and what he's seen with his patients. Interestingly, he is still willing to prescribe it if the "placebo effect" helps, since it's such a benign drug (although I doubt he'd let a patient who was in serious trouble use it as their primary mood stabilizer).
I'm convinced it really did something for me at the very beginning, and others seem to experience a more sustained effect. However, its effectiveness for psychiatric disorders does seem to be highly variable and somewhat questionable.
Posted by utopizen on February 8, 2004, at 23:34:54
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!??? » ace, posted by Viridis on February 8, 2004, at 23:02:24
Okay, um, first of all, 390mg is very low. For social anxiety, 400mg doses are what I took when I combined it with 2mg of Klonopin and 40mg of Inderal (beta blocker) before public speaking. I mostly believe Klonopin had the role there, because 400mg is so low for me.
800mg is great for social anxiety for me, but I stopped Neurontin a year ago. It's highly effective, and I don't mind its 1 1/2 hour onset, but it makes me feel retarded at the dose that's effective my social anxiety. So I switched to Klonopin, which I take at 1mg 3x/day now.
I sometimes took 1000-1600mg, as the event saw fit. I would have very slow thoughts and, well, be slow. I felt retardededly slow at those doses, but didn't seem to mind, because it was the first time in my life where I didn't have social anxiety. Eventually, after several months, I realized having social anxiety was not worse than feeling retarded.
And by retarded, I simply mean slow, not anything else, clinically speaking.
Posted by utopizen on February 8, 2004, at 23:41:43
In reply to Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by ace on February 7, 2004, at 23:02:49
> At 3.9grams (3900mg) I felt a bit of relief but overall the Neurontin has not helped my anxiety and has actually aggravated my ocd, only a tiny bit.
>Um, come on guys, as someone who's been up to, I think it was 2000mg once, and certainly many times at 1600mg (hey, I was prescribed those big 800mg pills 3x/day, and my doc was fond of my experimentalism) -- I can easily say it takes 1 1/2 hours to notice the full effect.
1 1/2 hours, not 2 weeks. Jeez!!
Up your dose, and wait 90 minutes. It's incredibly safe, the toxicology of the drug is very minimal.
If you get adverse events, or feel incredibly blurred and are stumbling around without a balance to your name, you've selected the appropriate dose. If not, your dose is too low. Increase at 400mg intervals, with a target dose of 1600-2000mg or lower if you respond well to a lower dose.
In two weeks from now, with regular dosing, these side effects will diminish, you will walk straight, and your thoughts will only be mildly to moderately impaired.
Posted by Viridis on February 9, 2004, at 1:47:57
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by utopizen on February 8, 2004, at 23:34:54
I agree that Klonopin is extremely effective for anxiety. Neurontin...I don't know about other people, but my experience makes me doubt it's very useful. Of course, everyone reacts differently etc. etc., and it did seem to work for me very briefly in the beginning.
I do think that I could take just about any amount of Neurontin and not notice a thing, whereas Klonopin just keeps on working at the same low dose.
Posted by Karen_kay on February 9, 2004, at 12:39:29
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!??? » utopizen, posted by Viridis on February 9, 2004, at 1:47:57
Neurontin helped me with anxiety. I'm sorry cowboy that you didn't get the reuslts I did. Maybe you could go higher? I know my pdoc said that you could go rather high with this drug... But, my Pdoc isn't always right. I got up to 1200 mgs 3 times a day, but now I take 300 mgs as needed for anxiety. It does seem that with Neurontin you become acustom to the side effects rather fast, but I still found it useful in helping with anxiety. And I found that once I started running into walls, that was my appropriate dose.... Anything below that didn't help with anxiety. Once I started slurring my speech, the dose was too high. That's how I found the right dosage. Odd way to find the appropriate level, but it worked for me...
Posted by zero on February 10, 2004, at 11:03:00
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!??? » utopizen, posted by Viridis on February 9, 2004, at 1:47:57
I started Neurontin at 100mg. 3X/day, and got almost immediate anxiolytic effects. After about 6 months, I realized it wasn't working anymore.
I tried doubling the dose, and I got disoriented, confused, dizzy and was having "mini-blackouts".
What a strange drug.
Posted by utopizen on February 10, 2004, at 15:26:48
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by zero on February 10, 2004, at 11:03:00
> I started Neurontin at 100mg. 3X/day, and got almost immediate anxiolytic effects. After about 6 months, I realized it wasn't working anymore.
>
> I tried doubling the dose, and I got disoriented, confused, dizzy and was having "mini-blackouts".
>
> What a strange drug.
>I didn't get blaqckouts, but I got disoriented and all for the first day, then just had a feeling of imblanace for a couple of weeks, which went away.
You could try taking a high dose similar to what you took before, only at nighttime, for a couple of weeks. By the time you wake up, I believe from what I remember before I switched to Klonopin a year ago, is that it clears your system before you wake up, so you're not groggy.
Then, after two weeks is up, you can take that dose in the day, and your body is adjusted.
Sleep through the side effects first, ask questions later.
Posted by sjb on February 12, 2004, at 7:03:52
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by zero on February 10, 2004, at 11:03:00
No. It has been in the news a lot due to the manufacturer pushing it for off-label use. It is was originally approved as an anti-seizure medication only. This is not an isolated case, of course, but they were one of the first to push the drug, big time, to PDocs for off-label use by wining and dining them.
I'd like to see you look at it the other way: Neurontin has failed you, you have not failed Neurontin. Neurontin has failed a lot of people with mood disorders.
Posted by socialdeviantjeff on February 13, 2004, at 2:09:30
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by sjb on February 12, 2004, at 7:03:52
sjb makes a good point. It's the drug that failed. I tried Neurontin, but couldn't tolerate it and wound up in the Emergency room. I was on Prednisone for a month and had hives for a week after. Needless to say I'm not partial to Neurontin.
Posted by femlite1 on February 13, 2004, at 12:26:20
In reply to Re: Am I the only one to fail Neurontin!!!???, posted by utopizen on February 8, 2004, at 23:41:43
Im taking a low 900 mg of Lithium (8 weeks now) and 3000 mg. (spread throughouth the day, with the bulk at night) 4 months. Ive been really happy with Neurontins ability to help diminish my sensory overload, anxiety, fatigue, and fibro pain. But I am noticing a difficulty with word recall. I thought it was the Lithium. But your comments sugguest it is possibly A Neurontin SE.
I taking a low dose of Percocet and thought it might be that. Its hard to tell. I only recently increased my Nerntn. dose and the problem seems especially pronounced. I dont know if I could stop any of these meds but I would feel better knowing what is happening to me and why.
> In two weeks from now, with regular dosing, these side effects will diminish, you will walk straight, and your thoughts will only be mildly to moderately impaired.
This is the end of the thread.
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