Hi all. Have just been prescribed Gabapentin for occipital neuritis. As an MS-er I’ve heard of other people taking this and wondered if it did them any good. Yes, I know I should try it first, but am a devout coward when it comes to new medications! Thanks for any anecdotal experience. Hope all are as well as possible. B.
I put off using this for months as I was to scared. Its been brilliant for me please give it a go but build up slowly, I started with 100 per day and inincreased to 300 3 times a day. Best of luck x
Zoe- thanks so much for that. Am still trying to work out dosage. Doc explained increasing dose, but my ten-second memory doesn’t help. Think it says 3x 100gms first day but haven’t got beyond that yet! List of side-effects made me come out in a cold sweat before I start. Pathetic eh? Thanks again. Belinda.x
I used gabapentin in the past - I then stopped taking it and now recently started pregablin as having nerve pain since start of this relapse - only seem to have the nerve pain during a relapse. I too put off taking gabapentin in the past because of the side effects but honestly I was fine on it
im on gabapentin prescribed by a neurologist to help with my headaches n migraines, im on 300mg a day at the moment, but they werent doing much, so i went on naproxen 750mg a day to go with it and both of them are brilliant
I make a habit of not reading the side-effects list anymore, i just get anxious about every niggle that comes along, then end up feeling worse than i did before i took the medicines!
I have used gabapentin for about 3 months now and i have not had a single side-effect. I use it mostly for nerve pain and spacicity. I started on 1 pill on the first day, 2 pills on the second day and then 3 pills on the third day and stayed there until i had to increase in a relapse. I now take 1200mg a day and couldn’t survive without it. Was on pregablin before which i found less effective and had an allergic reaction to! I think everyone is different, it’s about finding what will work for you.
Good luck 
This is interesting. I’ve been invited to a routine appointment with my GP tomorrow. Normally I can’t get to see a doctor when I want to but now they call me in, ha ha.
I’m fairly sure he is going to offer me gabapentin following a letter from my MS nurse at hospital. This is in response to his fax asking whether he should give me steroids for my stiff leg when in fact all I had asked for was a referral to physio! My nurse organised the referral to physio, told him she thought that was a reasonable request and that it was reasonable that I didn’t want more steroids since I had had them in March. She then told them that for neuropathic pain, since I was already taking amitriptyline, their next choice would be for me to try gabapentin.
The next thing I know, the surgery ring and offer me an appointment to see a doctor. Oops!! I’m either going to get a telling off for going behind his back and getting my own way or I will be offered the gabapentin. If he offers it I may let him write the prescription as I finish work soon for 5 weeks and can try it then so any side effects won’t be such a problem. It might appease him too 
Tracey x
Thanks all you lovely people. Have much more confidence to give it a go now. Hospital visit was for almost continuous migraine aura plus migraine most of the time but x-ray said ON. Haven’t had a neuro since R/R days -now in S/P and hoping relapses were a thing of the past. Apparently not, though GP doesn’t think this is MS-related. I do! Anyway, as from this morning, now have new neuro and am getting MRI as haven’t had one since dx in 1990, all thanks to carer who’d been on a course and said MS people should ideally have a review of their condition every three months!!! Hugs to all, B.xxx
glad you got more confidence to go on them now, it shud help you alot, vicki
Neuro put me on Gabapentin, but GP prescribes it
Hospital had a sheet of instructions in how to build up over a single week. Then it was 2 X 300 mg tabs, three times daily.
Five years later and it is 3 X 300mg, three times daily.
Side effects? what side effects?
Yes, I can doze off in the afternoon. I can also drive for two hours without doing it.
The jury is still out as to whether it adversely affects my legs (fatigue). but I know that if I take the evening dose early, and lie in the next morning, then the pain in my legs tells me that I had better get some Gabapentin down my throat fast.
For me, there is a higher dose yet, and I would rather stay with Gabapentin than switch to Pregabalin. The day will come, of course …
Geoff
I have had no trouble at all when taking Gabapentin. It does make me tired sometimes but the pain relief is fantastic. Nothing else tches the nerve pain.
Don’t worry.
Shazzie xx
Thanks so much you two. Really must get started on it (with much more confidence than I had yesterday) Hugs, B.x
Well I went to the GP today and, as expected, he offered me the gabapentin. I’ve said no for now as my leg is uncomfortable but not really painful very often. Gabapentin isn’t the kind of drug you can just take now and then so I don’t want to take it while I can manage without it. The offer is there if I find I do need it at a later date. It’s silly that I can’t normally get an appointment when I need one and then they give me one when I don’t want one. sigh
It wasn’t an entirely wasted trip. The surgery is selling second hand books for 50p for Children in Need and I found a Barbara Erskine that I haven’t already read.
Tracey x