Hi everyone, have started taking gabapentin in last few months. Still on a relatively low dose but have put on over a stone. After some googling I realised it’s probably the gabapentin. Really getting me down. On top of everything I now can’t fit into my clothes. Wondering has anyone else had this problem and did they try another nerve pain drug that doesn’t have this side effect?
Thanks in advance
Susie
hi susie
i lost loads of weight at the time of my diagnosis.
went from a size 14 to a size 10.
so when gabapentin made me put some on it didn’t feel too serious.
however i started to feel bloated which made me miserable.
so i decided to ditch my meds one at a time to see which one was to blame.
it was gabapentin.
now i only take amitriptyline at night.
the nerve pain still bothers me but i can cope with it more than the feeling of being bloated.
now i’m a size 12 and thats ok.
carole x
I put a stone and a half on in less than 3 months on gabapentin, it is a known side effect and a seperate one to increased appetite, so if someone tells you your eating more don’t believe them.
I couldn’t afford to gain weight as I was already size 20 and with arthritic knees, so I weaned myself off them and the weight dropped back off. I’ve been advised that Pregabalin can be tolerated better my some but as it’s in the same family and also has weight gain as a side effect I’ve not tried them.
Hi Susie
I’m sorry you are having this side effect. I take pregablin for nerve pain pins and needles etc - maybe you could give this a try?
I have also put weight on but I move a lot less than I used to and I eat something nice everyday to treat myself, after my needles I always have something disgustingly lovely !! So I cant honestly put it down entirely to the pregablin so maybe it is worth you asking your GP?
Good luck and best wishes x
same thing happened with me carole. i put a lot of weight on with gabapentin and more so with pregabalin. When I came off pregabalin i lost 4 stone, I only take amitriptylene at night too, i try put up with the pain
Hi folks
Interesting to hear that gabapentin puts on weight which I am trying to shift. Most days I need to take the max dose for pins and needles and do feel bloated at times which I was putting down to my IBS. May give other alternatives mentioned a try.
Regards
Widely reported that gabapentin causes weight gain in alot of cases
Hi All this may or may not help with your weight control with regards to your meds i will start my story at the beginning.
back in 2008 i weighed 23 stone and would eat and drink everything put in front of me, it was really getting me down physically and mental especially when my gp described me as super obese. i managed to get an appointment wit the bariatric surgeon at the local hospital and he was fantastic recommending a gastric by pass and within 2 weeks i was in and done i came out of hospital and steadily over the next few months the weight dropped off until i reached 13 stone to be fair i looked ill and people i knew thought i had a terminal illness. anyway not long after that my black dog reared its ugly head in a massive way and i had a massive nervous breakdown and was admitted to hospital for nearly 2 months and started on a right cocktail of weight gaining drugs. anyway over the years my mental heath would peak and trough and there was more admissions to hospital and i finally got a diagnosis of bi polar type 2 and the meds changed again and the weight gain kept creeping up till i hit the 17st mark. i went back to see the bariatric consultant and told him its not the meals i eat because i could still only eat a childs portion it was the crap i was craving between meals through out the day was the problem. he explained that the drugs i was taking open a pathway in the brain telling your body that you want this rubbish food and that it was just a case of simply turning that receptor off, wow i thought and how on earth are you going to do that? his answer was a drug that diabetics use called victoza which you inject twice a day and a small tablet i take of an evening called topiramate now the weight is dropping again and i don’t crave the rubbish between meals. Your gp might be a bit difficult in prescribing it but if your weight is causing you a problem try and get a referral to a consultant who might prescribe it.
Never been on them but my friend was and he blew up lol, she came off them as she put on a ton of weight.
I think you are right about that sort of recommendation needing to come from a hospital bariatric specialist who understands your case and your needs. If a patient without a bariatric history rocked up to the GP and asked for these drugs to help with appetite control, the GP would probably fall down in a faint! 
It is great that you have found something that works for you after having a difficult journey along the way. Good luck, and good health.
Alison
How does anyone else get Victoza? I have Topiramate but I don’t take it every night because I’ve found it makes me really sleepy which together with ice packs gets me off to sleep. I fear if I take it regularly it won’t have this affect. I vary what I take over the week - the latter, lorazepam, sominex, special biscuits(!), two zopiclone.
I take a mega 1200 dose of pregabalin during the day, with lacosamide, clonazapam - my pain levels remain mega extreme and what will make it worse is a sleepless night.
I suppose I should try to reduce the pregabalin, given it’s ostensible uselessness, apart from possible weight gain. But I’m terrified that it just might actually be having some effect. Plus the kick back to my body causing more pain, even if the pregabalin doesn’t have an actual real effect.
i could make a lot of money selling it on the street!
Since I am not overweight, just heavier than the size 8-10 I was beforehand. And since I’m very inactive due to MS really taking a hold of my mobility, fatigue, etc I’ve not tried to come off it. It’s such a large dose that together with the other meds, I assume it’s screwing up my internal organs but …
Mind, I do fancy the Victoza!
susi
i was obsessed with my weight especially after having the by pass i felt as i had gone through all that for nothing and my mental health drs and nurses would just brush those concerns to one side i was lucky that my bariatric consultant sat down and listened to me although him and my gp had a bit of a ding dong over it and the gp refused to prescribe it the consultant told him not to worry he would be doing the 6 weekly prescription. its chipping away at my weight now as quitiapene and sodium valproate are known to increase youre appetite, now i have started on the first dose of pregablin 50mg and that needs to go up we will see how the victoza copes with the hunger pangs.
Your bariatric consultant sounds like a doctor in a thousand. Clasp him/her to your bosom with hoops of steel!
Alison
to be honest Alison i have been seeing him so long now i count him as a friend he is a typical old fashioned dr who will sit and listen to what you have to say and your opinions he doesnt rush you in and rush you out in record time his clinics always over run by hours i am very lucky to have him on my side. when we firs suspected that i may have ms he was the dr who explained everything to us in laymans terms.
That sounds just horrid - I am so sorry that you have such pain to deal with. You must be at your wits’ end. There is nothing more draining or exhausting as pain with no reliable and effective relief. That’s a whole load of heavy-duty meds you’re on, and for them not to be doing the trick is awful.
Are you getting the help you need on taking an overview of the medication to check that there isn’t scope for tweaks or changes that might make it all work a bit better? It is so difficult, though, when you don’t dare stop or reduce anything because the only way to find out whether it is actually doing any good is the hard way!
Alison
It is a rare and valuable thing when a hospital specialist takes the time and trouble to look at the patient and see a whole person, not a machine with a fault that happens to lie in his specialist area (and maybe other faults which are of no interest to him because they are another doctor’s business). I am glad that you have a good 'un.
Alison
Hi Alison
i see a palliative care consultant who’s tried methadone (my god - the side effects!! I’m not usually cranky but I was mega!). Ketamine - which I knew wouldn’t work as I’d had it before on infusion. I was an in patient and was over the moon happy, inappropriate and calm even though some awful things had happened. That’s until I had some weird side effects that they couldn’t contain and I had to be taken off it instantly.
Its difficult to tweak because appointments with your pain consultant are so spaced out and the Neuro won’t touch it because you’re under the pain team. Really one needs a ‘drugs holiday’, but coming off such mega doses and concoctions can cause bad withdrawals.
Im apparently in ‘the small but significant minority for whom nothing can be done’ Not a great group. Y consultant asked me 8 years ago, would I ever accept this may be a possibility. I was an absolute ‘no!’. Now after 16 years, it’s yes, well not accept but understand this is the case.
I’m just one of the unlucky ones.
Susi
Oh crumbs, you have thrown the kitchen sink at it, haven’t you? I am so sorry that things are so bloody. You are right, people won’t be queueing up to join the ‘small but significant minority’ club. I do wish you could cancel your membership, though!
Alison
Today I am not taking my Gabapentin because I took it all last week and ballooned up. Saw my Consultant and Gp loads who swear it doesn’t make you fat as the GP said ‘No Pam, it is you who is making you fat’, ta for that. Last week saw a new specialist nurse who said ‘Oh yes, that’ll make you fat, it makes everyone and it makes you eat’. So I take mine when the tremor/tightness/etc is too much then drop it off when I can’t get any clothes on till my belly reduces. Not exactly something you would see on the advice sheet!