As the title says I’m totally fatigued and have been for a long time.
I’ve never been on medication for fatigue but after speaking to my cousin, who also has MS and is taking Amantadine with great results I’m thinking of asking my neuro if I can try it.
I did have a consultation with him last week after ringing my MS clinic and explaining that I’m struggling at the moment, but we spoke mainly about the stiffness and heavy legs, I forgot to mention the fatigue and how it’s affecting me, so the out come was to try Baclofen for my stiff and heavy legs alongside the Gabapentin that I’m already taking, but since speaking to my cousin and reading up on Amantadine I’m wondering if a low dose of this would also help, or would this combination of all 3 be over the top.
At the moment I get no side effects at all from the Gabapentin (300ml 3 x daily), and in all honesty I cant feel any real benefit either !
Any advice on these meds or this combination really appreciated…
Gabapentin made me dozy. I switched to pregablin and it made me much ‘brighter’ although a little bit raw round the edges, if that makes sense. Still helps me sleep at night. Husband says I wasn’t me on gabapentin.
However, I still have horrible fatigue. I just don’t sleep through it any more. Which could be a good or bad thing.
Don’t know about the rest but will read with interest.
Amantadine might help with fatigue, it does some people.
But a couple of things spring to mind:
try one drug added to you gabapentine. If it helps, good stick with it. If it doesn’t, stop taking it.
wait a good few weeks. Try the second drug, again if it helps …
if the gabapentine isn’t doing what you want it to, try switching to Pregabaline. Again, swap drugs one at a time and leave all alone for a few weeks.
All of these drugs can be taken together, but you do need to establish the efficacy of each one over time before tinkering with another.
Take your neurologists and your MS nurses advice about drug therapies.
It seems like at the moment you’re having a rough time of it and want the drugs to cure the symptoms you’re experiencing. They probably won’t entirely, but they might help, just take it slowly and see what works. I know that the temptation is to pick a drug cocktail and see what that does, but it won’t do the job.
Really am having a p*ssy time at the moment, I do have a lingering cold and bad throat so perhaps this is not helping ?
The problem with reading about all these different medications is that you tend to think that every drug will be a benefit, at least I do !
My trouble is that when I was first put on Carbamazapine I took it for around 2 or 3 months but found no affect, so then I was put on Gabapentin, each time to try to help with surge like sensations in my thighs when walking, but again I’m having trouble feeling any real benefit of the Gabapentin, but I’ve only just hit the higher dose and like I say I’m under the weather with this cold. which for some reason is just not shifting, normally a couple of days and my colds are usually done with, so perhaps I need to try it (Gabapentine) for a bit longer !
Today in work is probably the worse mylegs have been since I was diagnosed 4 years ago.
I could only walk a few mtrs before all energy had drained from my legs !!
If though I sat down for 10 mins I could then walk again for a short period but would soon be back to square one.
I’m still not entirely convinced that I’m NOT having a bit of a relapse, yet the way my specialist nurse explained things was that if it were an actuall relapse then a little rest would make no difference !
I have to say that I once checked the price of certain drugs when compared to others which supposedly do a similar job. Gabapentin is very very cheap when compared to Pregabalin. They do a similar job, but Pregabalin tends to work a bit better for most people. Most people are put on Gabapentin and if it doesn’t work they get switched to Pregabalin. Do you think these facts are connected? I do.
I cant really understand why my specialist nurse suggested Gabapentin because I thought it was more for nerve pain as opposed to settling down agitated nerves ?
My father is on this for nerve damage after a hip replacement, he gets a bad burning sensation on the tips of his toes, but after a few days on Gaba he’s a lot better.
So far my MS has never given me any pain what so ever, I get weakness in my legs which then affects my balance ect.
Like you I’m guessing its a case of starting with the cheapest.
I was told nerve pain is just another sensory symptom. Gabapentin and Pregablin are therefore used for pain and any other unpleasant symptoms. But if you don’t have any unpleasant feelings then I don’t understand it either.
I get these surge like sensations in my thighs as I’m walking which put me off balance, when I first explained this to my specialist nurse he put me on carbamazapine which I took for a little while slowly increasing the dose but I just didnt feel any benefit at all, just a sense of getting a little snappy and moody, so he then put me on Gabapentin, which I’ve been taking for a while now and again slowly increasing the dose to 300mg 3 x daily, as instructed, but again I"m not really feeling a benefit yet !
I feel stupid ringing the clinic up every month or so to tell them my symptoms are the same !!
But as for pain, I’ve never had pain since being diagnosed, and I’ve told them this !
Apparently Gabapentin & Cabamazpine suppress the nerves to help with pain but also to help calm them down if they are causing problems like spasms and surges, at least this is what my specialist nurse tells me ?
At the moment I have a head cold that I just cannot shift (2 weeks now) which seems to be going to my throat and chest, so perhaps my MS symptoms are heightened due to this ?