Great ain’t it I started these Gabapentin with great enthusiasm and here we are a month later and nothing has changed. We I have changed I am pissed off and feeling depressed. I see the MS nurse next week I went to her a couple of months ago for help all I have had is a whole load of appointment s and nothing is any better I am now depressed
Today’s not been a good day.
Don
Hi don, for what it’s worth it took about 3 months before I felt the benefit of Gabapentin. I was nearly at The point of stopping it. Maybe it would be worth staying on it for a bit longer. Hope tomorrow is a better day for you Ann
Thanks Ann how much are you taking I am up to 300mg four times a day ?
Hey Don, I’m sorry you’re having a rough time just now. It’s not good when a new pill doesn’t take effect the way you’re hoping. You start off quite hopeful an optimistic and 5/6wks later you’re just… Meh. 
I’ve never tried gabapentin, I take amitriptyline instead of but is it not kinda like baclofen in that it’s got to build up first and finding the right dose can be difficult at first? Apologies if it’s not and I’m therefore talking keek. Can you increase the dose or are you maxed out already? Your MS nurse sounds just like mine. She’s there but what she actually does for me I struggle to think. I start off by talking about whatever an she just goes off an talks… an talks…an talks…an talks… I’m not kidding, it’s exhausting sometimes! She’s been my MS nurse for at least a decade but still calls me by my full title Rosaleen - and even though I have always been called Rosie, I have to remind her to please call me Rosie, every-single-bleeding-time I see her. She can’t pronounce it right either and that just drives me nuts! I’ve actually got the joy of her coming to see me next weds… and I’ve decided that if she calls me “rozalynn” then I’m not going to offer her a drink… She can go thirsty. It might make her stop talking long enough for me to speak. Oh I’m getting old and grumpy. Like Victor Meldrew. Sorry you’re feeling down man. Tomorrow’s a new day Don! That’s my nightly mantra I use… I’ll let you borrow it and won’t sue for copyright I promise! 
Don I am on 900mg three times a day. I started off on 300mg 3 times daily and slowly upped it.
Hi Don, So sorry you are feeling down. For nerve pain I found gabapentin only took a couple of days to kick in… It keeps it bay but as for spasms, never done a thing! Hope you are feeling brighter today. Nina x
Sorry to hear you’re feeling down Don. I’ve been on Gabapentin but prefer Amitriptyline… I think because it was originally meant as an antidepressant it improves my mood. However a lot of these drugs take ages for your body to respond to. Important to remember that the MS lesions themselves can make us feel down sometimes. Wish I could think of a way to cheer you up! Thinking of you Don. Love Pat xx
How about… It’s been reported that a prison van & a concrete mixer have crashed into each other on the M1. Police have asked the public to be on the lookout for hardened criminals. Pat 
xx
Well done Pat ! Made me smile…hope it made you smile too Don Nina x
Been feeling pretty grim myself all week, Don. We can be like two grumpy old men moaning away. This’ll make you laugh though- my wife nearly did for me yesterday Ha ha!!
She got me to the loo which involves me getting up on a rota stand type thing which has wheels, and she pulls me along the landing and into the loo. Afterwards I haul myself back onto the stand, and she pushes me back along the landing to the top of the stairs- wait for it, wait for it-
At the top of the stairs it depends whether I’m going back downstairs, or along to the bedroom. If the bedroom, then the wheelchair has to be in place, we half turn the dog-leg on the landing and I slip gracefully into the chair, which is up a step. I then wheel myself backwards to he bedroom.
If I’m going downstairs, we get to the top of the stairs and I sink gratefully onto the stair lift seat, which of course she has rotated into position and put the seat down.
Usually.
Except yesterday, as I sat down (my back to it, can’t see it of course) I began to think that I ought to be feeling the stairlift soon. But I only felt a bit of it on my left buttock and proceeded to carry on downwards. I scrabbled back up, thinking it was broken. Nope. She had forgotten to rotate the chair and put the seat down. I hung on as best I could, while she tried to hold me up and get the seat in place. After which I sank back on it and didn’t move for a minute or so.
Obviously she was distraught. We had been within a hair’s breadth of a big-time disaster. Just shows you. Adult Social Care can draw up all the risk assesments they like, but they’ll never think of them all.
Luckily the stand isn’t your ordinary Rota Stand, otherwise it would have tipped me over down the stairs. It’s called a ReTurn 7500 and is as solid as a rock, with a very heavy, stable base. I think it’s brilliant. Some of you might like to alert your OT to it, I get the impression that not all of them know it. Details here: http://www.handicare.com/en/products/systemromedic-–-transfer-and-lifting-aids/systemromedic-–-transfer-and-lifting-aids/systemromedic-–-manual-transfer-aids/systemromedic-–-assistive-devices-for-mobility-support-during-sit-to-stand/systemromedic-–-return7500/c-39/c-204/p-293
And there’s a video of it here: ASSTSAS | TROUBLES MUSCULOSQUELETTIQUES LIÉS AU DÉPLACEMENT DE PERSONNES - PDSP
It’s in French but stick with it. We don’t bother with the belt except when I’m too weak to get myself up, it has pulling handles. I travel about 9-10 feet along the landing on it.
Saved my life, anyway!
Hope you feel better soon- back to good days instead of not so good days!
Kev
Hi Don, Kev Sorry you are feeling down hope you are back to your chirpy selves soon. I am no good at jokes so can’t even cheer you up that way. At least the sun is shining!!! It is glorious here for the Scottish Open golf in Aberdeen on the links course just down the road from us so hope it keeps up for the weekend. Take care, Mags xx
Hi Donna and KeV
Hope today is better for you both, its no good me trying to tell you a joke, I always forget the end!
Had a couple of days at my favourite place…the seaside, very relaxing and also had fish and chips Son, thought of you, take care both of you.
Pam x
Thanks for the kind wishes folks I am using Rosies mantra Today is a different day I didnt get up until the one oclock news was on and no tears today. Yesterday was just one of them days I was feeling sorry for my self which in itself is unusual but hey ho when you have to put up with this C R A P day in and day out it gets to you. I am sorry I put it to you guys but I was pee d off.
Never, ever apologise for coming on here and saying how you feel. That goes for all of us!!! Glad things are a bit better today Don. All we can do is live it one day at a time… and to remember that you have your own little MS gang on here who know how it is and who care about you. Hoping you have a nice, relaxed & happy weekend… that’s for all of us. Pat xx
Glad you’re feeling happier today. Jan x
I agree that people shouldn’t apologise for having a rant. If we could only come on here to post medical questions or happy events we wouldn’t be getting the support we need and it definitely wouldn’t be an honest depiction of life with ms. We all need to let off steam, rather do it here where everyone understands than upset a close friend or family member. By the time you’ve sat down and written about your rant and proof read it life seems easier to cope with too. Take care everyone.
Cath xx
Well said Cath, I totally agree.
Pam x
PROOF READ sorry Cath me no understand this concept
Have a good weekend folks
Don
Hi Don, So glad you are having a better day. You are allowed to have a good cry now and again. This shitty illness would make a saint cry. Yesterday I had a bit of a meltdown we were cleaning the house for the photos next week and I just couldn’t do anymore and had to watch my hubby do it. Watching him made me feel so annoyed that I couldn’t do something which I managed fine a couple of years ago that I just burst into tears. But today is a better day my daughter came to visit with my grandsons and it made me appreciate the pleasures in life such as having a wee bosie with them. I forgot how lovely the smell of a newborn is and how velvety their skin. So now I have got things in perspective. So what if the house is not perfect!! Take care, Mags xx
Mags how lovely to hold new born I love kids (don’t tell anyone it might spoil my grumpy old man image) they can’t do any wrong in my books , I love giving them two chocolate biccies, one for each hand. There parents go spare as one melts as other gets eaten no good getting old if you can’t get artful. It’s the ONLY fun I get
X Don