Gabapentin -have had dose reduced & having problems with withdrawal symptoms, any help appreciated?

You can go to a speech pathologist which is cheaper and get a PICA Porchas Indicative Cognitive Assessment--- I don't really think that Ethan needs to have one. The assessment for children is called a PICACH- pronounced pie-kak. I had the privilege of meeting the Dr. and his wife, and I wasn't a patient or related to a patient. I was a volunteer that kept taking the PICA to train speech pathology students getting their Masters of Science degrees at the university. It is a real art to almost fail so many questions, and still pass. Like they'd give me a comb and I'd brush my teeth with it or try to unbutton my shirt, just stare, use it like a cell phone, etc. The reactions were based on if they were examining for a head trauma, drug overdose or a stroke. My daughter volunteered me out to her classmates.
My daughter is a speech pathologist for children, but she had an internship at the VA, where her main clientele were stroke and head injury patients.

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She had one client that came in with a stroke. The MRI showed that he was had a series of mini-strokes. My daughter did cognitive therapy with him, but he got worse. My daughter ordered another MRI-and he had several new mini-strokes. He was in-patient- not allowed to smoke-they conferred and did weekly MRIs on him, which showed that he was having more mini-strokes. My daughter went out on the patio for a break- and his wife was giving him cigarettes and they were both smoking. They had talked to the wife-about smoking and mini-strokes. The committee decided that since my daughter had a waiting list of other veterans that therapy for him should stop.
They did an MRI on Ethan-which for the last 25 years can detect the signs of the smallest mini stroke. They did not find any.
You are a sweet and caring person, who is trying to help from your own experience. But Ethan keeps saying that he has been having trouble with a medication, he's talking to his doctor-they are working together-and from looking at what Ethan is saying about a good and recent MRI result, I think things like PICA isn't in the picture for him. That he does know what a comb is for-his hair if he has any-he might shave his head- The only reason I'm talking to Ethan is bc I've used the medication several times in larger doses-for a longer time and I had some great doctors explain how it works on neural synapses-one reason for that is the doctor knew about my experience in working with graduate students and understanding some neurology-and my son is a disabled vet with physical injury and emotional problems-some created by meds. We need to help Ethan focus on his problem right now- and let his doctor and Ethan take care of the current medical problem-which takes a long time. I'm sure that Ethan's doctor will refer him to a Neuro Psychologist or a competent speech pathologist if the doctor thinks that Ethan has this type of impairment. He just doesn't need to worry about anything else right now. He's a good and intelligent person. I'm glad that I met him. I just wish that he wasn't hurting so much.

Ethan, just having physical difficulties can cause depression, anger and frustration. The meds you take calm you down, but they also slow down your reflexes and fine motor skills. You can't blame yourself, and you usually can't blame a doctor. I get off by blaming the FDA. I've had some friends here blame the DEA. I was poisoned last year by cholesterol medication-it ruined my life. I still want to do things, but my muscle cells were destroyed.

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Neurontin shouldn't be doing this to you. I have a feeling that your system has been so ravaged by quacks that nothing is working right. You need to talk to your doctor how you're feeling-get 100 mg pills- and slowly reduce your dosage- only your body can tell you when it's time to reduce again. It's so hard to be logical when things are so wrong. I was having a hard time standing from pain- and I was so enraged from reading a medical report on the extent of my damage that I kicked a wall-you guessed it- I kicked with my most damaged and painful foot. I couldn't walk unassisted for about a week. Look for mental health practitioner-ask them if they are familiar with neurontin. You need to direct with your current doctor. There's something missing in your communication with your PC. Sometimes, you have to focus on the main problem and speak up loud and clear. get their attention.

Now your talking about 2 types of side effects. 1 the side-effects of taking neurontin which are usually temporary. The first time I took Neurontin the VA started me off 100 mg 3/day for 7 days. Second week -200 mg 3/day , 3rd week then 300 mg 3/day. I was taking 900 mgs a day and I weighed 130 lbs. When I upped a dose, I sort of felt like I was floating when I first got up. I have RSD-and this was for a re-occurrence. Dear doctor John Luckwitz told me that if I wanted to taper off, to do it by 100 mg a week or slower- The side effects of getting off too quickly are strokes-which are permanent-death from stroke is considered permanent by some religions, epilepsy which usually is permanent.

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The side effects of neurontin are floating, some nausea-didn't bother me, toes and fingertips going numb, tongue going numb, not thinking quite as quickly, I was more relaxed, not quite drowsy, I can't say anything about fine motor control because the RSD already ruined that-I had to learn how to eat and write again. Those went away as the neurontin was reduced and left my system. Another accident-a man was running for a class and came around a corner and knocked me down, my RSD area landed on concrete. Another doctor started me off with 100 mg as before and then upped me to 600 mg pills I took 2/day-total of 1200 mg. Part of this is because neurontin had been successful about 4 years earlier, and I understood neural synapses. When I weaned off, I again I again did it 100 mg at a time. If you don't rush quitting the medicine-there shouldn't be any lasting problems. I did this 4 times. Once I went swimming for a few hours with a grandson, then had a 5 hour drive home on rough reservation mountain roads. That is not good for RSD- I do not recommend that to anybody.
Withdrawing once i had some headache-so I waited for that to go away before I reduced again. As my neural synapses increased, I felt antsy-as my nervous system was getting more stimulation, and I was less sleepy. My headaches lingered from nothing to a day or so after I quit. I'll give you a clue about that. I was sort of weak- I clench my teeth while climbing stairs and stuff in that condition-the headaches were from clenching my teeth. A few massages took care of that-thanks to my doctors and insurance. I normally don't have headaches. It took a few weeks before I slept normally-looking in my history bag-I see that my many doctors prescribed a gentle sleeping pill to help me establish my needed and preferred sleeping patterns. I'm glad that you talked to your doctor--you might think of divorcing your wife if she insists on being the doctor and she put you at risk for a stroke or a life of convulsions- gran mal seizures. As the others said-if you were going to have brain damage-would already be flopping on the floor and foaming at the mouth. If you can take a tylenol-take some. Your headache is probably stress. Tell your wife she owes you some good shoulder and neck massages, if she wants to practice medicine- she can play a physical therapist. darling, you're worrying yourself to death. It's time to take a deep breath and say-I am well- I did not stroke out-I will feel better-my sleep patterns will return to normal--- Meyati is allergic to Tylenol, neosporin, cold and flu medications, cough syrup, cholesterol medications, aspirin, motrin, polysporin, blood pressure medications, some antibiotics, synthetic thyroid hormones, and she took a heck of a lot more neurontin did than I did and for a lot longer-and she didn't suffer from neurontin-are you allergic to bandaids-I am- My doctors have lots fun-LOL If I get stitches i have to take antihistamines to keep from breaking out. My current doctor is getting good at practicing weird medicine. He's the one that put me on antihistamines so I could heal from being attacked by loose dogs almost 2 years ago.

Ethan,
Please give us an update on how you are doing & what you went to the ER for...

Also I think after reading about you that you REALLY need to find new Drs.
I would make sure that the first thing a new Family physician or PCP starts with a Physical & then do some further testing.

I don't feel that your Family Dr. is working with your Physciatrist & vice versus.
A good Physciatrist will make sure he knows what medication you are on & what medication do not work well together.

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I am not sure how old you are but I am 49 yrs old. I found myself last year having ALOT of medical problems & actually quit working. The main reason was because I was having memory issues & just general overall problems with everyday task. I was having problems with my right side not working. And my depression was getting really bad & alot of it was because I was frustrated with everything going on in my body. I went to a really good Neurologist due to all this but also because I have Chronic severe migraines. After I told her about all these symptoms she ordered a MRI with Dye she found out that I have
Vascular Dementia which is something older people have usually. But I showed that I had 7 small strokes & that was the reason for all these "different" symptoms.
The symptoms are alot like Alzheimer disease.

So if you get a chance look up "Vascular Dementia" . See if any of these symptoms are some that you feel like you have.
And if so speak to your Dr. & see if they can check into it.

But I really feel that your current Drs. are not working together to help you.
Take care & also I sent you a friend request if you want to chat "off the boards".
My thoughts & prayers are with you & I just want you to know that I totally understand howe your depression is getting worse due to the fact that you don't understand what is going on in your body.
Kathy

The ECTs give headaches-and they seem to flare up every so often. That's probably one reason why you have one or keep having them. The stress, then worrying about the neurontin doing brain damage put you in a bad place. I'm glad that you have the 100 mgs of neurontin. Just don't rush the withdrawal. I see what my son goes through, and I'm hearing you say many of the same things. He takes 30 pills a day. He just tries to get through each day. He doesn't seem to be cutting or burning himself anymore. I try not to bother him. If he seems off-I ask him if he took his meds-sometimes he forgets. Mostly he says that it's about as good as it gets and for me to mind my own business.

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This might sound odd-but if he starts talking-he's going downhill in a hand basket, and I start worrying. One time I went up to the VA, and a nurse came up and told me that he was making a breakthrough. He talked to her for an hour- I expressed my complete panic-and begged them to keep an extra close eye on him. They told me that I didn't understand psychology, etc. The next day I went, and the nurse was apologizing to me. He was heavily sedated and in the quiet room. He doesn't get violent or angry-he just starts -well it's hard to describe-he gets very incapable and twitches. He had the flu last week and didn't know that he was sick. He thought that he was having one of his med reactions. I finally got him to quit trying, sipping water and 7 UP, checking on him. Got him to take hospital strength stomach meds and enough of those dissolved and helped him, etc. Tonight I fixed him a nice homemade potato soup with crackers. I think that my son is one of the bravest people in the world, getting up and trying to smile. I think that you're brave too. It's hard to have doctors say maybe all of these bad things-hearing scuttlebutt about meds and things- and being able to figure out how to do one day at a time-that takes courage.

Ethan don't worry about dementia-the memory loss is temporary. The last series my son had was about 2 years ago-He recognized me when I went in-he even got a phone and called the house by himself to tell me that he'd be ready in about 30 minutes. The nurses told me that he immediately knew who he was, remembered the names of the nurses and who his doctor was, where he was. When they gave him his first one back in the 1990s, it took about 10 days before he recognized his wife. They just gave one heavy ECT- and he'd have one or two a year. Sometimes- 2-3 years would go by without any at all.

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One time, about 2002- I was out of money and groceries. I picked up my son, we came home. After he took a nap, we went to a grocery store. He followed me around and I asked him for his debit card to check-out. He was asking me why we were in line. We checked out. The next day-we went back to the store-he looked at the store ATM from his bank and asked me what that was. I told him and how to use it. He walked over-pulled out his card-put in his card-entered his pin and came back with a couple of hundred dollars-and the next day he was OK. I didn't tell him what his pin was. They used to give really powerful charges that did damage until the mid-1970s. They keep reducing the charges-patients get on their feet better and their memory and function quicker.
For his dementia from this-he remembers what school his head doctor went to-Texas A&M-so when my son takes his annual trip to the Galveston Coast Guard base he buys an A&M gift for his doctor-He can tell you the tonnage of almost any CG cutter. On Hawaii 5-0 last week, he was excited because the USCGC Jarvis was docked and part of the background of several scenes. It panned in and then we could see Jarvis 725 on the bow. His father set a fuel transfer at sea in the caribbean-which still stands-and my son can tell you how much fuel was pumped in what time and the name and numbers of the tincan he was on. He can say with pride that when his cutter approached an oiler in the carib-that the captain announced to the crew that the record was set in the early 1970s by a Bosun mate on the William C Lawe DDR 763, and they needed to break that record and keep my son and his father's name famous in maritime history.

He does his own bills-and he does not put his boxer shorts on his head. He keeps in contact with shipmates-and helps new vets get their benefits. He has bad days where he thinks that he's covered with white ants that are biting him-that why he burns himself-trying to get rid of the ants-also for the cutting. That was caused by the medicine-the skin creeping-mostly on his arms, and his mind is trying to give a logical reason for this sensation. He used to go catatonic-the meds he's on helps him a lot. If he seems off-he doesn't drive-He gives me the keys. I ride with him once a week to make sure he's driving OK.
My son went to a Wounded Warrior camp out in July They began cooking for over a 100 people-and it was bad- My son walked up-said if you do this-you need this much water and coffee grounds to boil this much coffee. He ended up sitting in a chair- going over menus, giving cooking instructions, supervising, and giving brief demonstrations on how to cook a certain food with electric. They sent him a certificate of thanks and a small award-after the first meal-they gave him a staff cap and badge which he keeps. He shot the 50 caliber machine guns and was the cook on his cutters.