... 800mg. 2x a day. I also take oxycodone 30mg. 3x a day, cymbalta 60mg., I have a plate in my neck on 4&5, dupreygens, ledderhosen, sjodgrens, and degenerated disc disease on lower lumbar. I need some input on a muscle relaxer. Have terrible spasms with connective tissue and cramps. All that pain works on your brain. Any books I can read?
Can gabapentin cause you to jerk? I have been on it for a few years and this just started. Take?
Question posted by lstrong50 on 9 April 2012
Last updated on 4 July 2018
Added 9 April 2012:
also have vertigo
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9 Answers
Jvbaylor1959
18 Sep 2016
Hi, I recently started gabapentin only 100mg three times a day. Also on baclofen 10 mg.I had cervical spine surgery in may 2016, plate and screws placed in neck. Pain has gone from 10-2.The gabapentin does seem to help but with the baclofen I have this terrible jerking. Not sure which med is causing the problem. The jerking is so bad im going to stop both meds.Very hard for Dr to fine suitable med for pain due to chronic kidney disease. These jerks are everywhere, can't hold anything in my hands. Need something for pain but what?
Scoobydoo68
12 Aug 2015
I just got on Gabapetin about a month ago and I was already having jerking all over plus falling. Now I have a plate and 4 screws in my neck c3.4.and 5 but I also have a false knee. I don't think the Gabapetin is the Lil devil that is doing the jerking... See a Dr to be sure. I drop stuff when my arms and hands jerk, also when I am asleep I get woken up by a strong jerking of my body. I am only 47 years old and this scares the crap out of me. Good luck to you.
Muffin2sweet
3 July 2018
I've been on Gabapentin for over a year an a half with OxyContin and I have fallen 50 times in the last year. Can the symptoms like that come on later like that? I would think they would start right away. I'm 45, I have bad neuropathy in my hands and terrible in my feet and it hurts to walk because of it. I have neuropathy because I have polycystic kidney disease and I'm a dialysis patient. I take OxyContin because I have 2 bulging discs in my low back and 2 in my neck. My kidneys are covered in cysts and they are the size of NFL footballs so they smash all my organs so I'm always in pain. I also take cymbalta for anxiety.
PaulaSL
24 May 2015
HI IStrong... I have the same 'jerks' from Neurontin... (gabapentin). knees feel like giving out, arms jerking and spilling water... very disturbing, so my Doc lowered my dose to 600mg. tid instead of 800 3x a day. Plus he added Soma... and its a big improvement. Good luck sister, I'll be praying for you. Stay Strong ✌ Peace, Paula
rosabettes
10 May 2015
My toe feel electric im on gabentin 2 a day cant any rest sleep with one f8ot on ground wat can I do forr some relief it drive me crazy
cattleman
11 April 2012
i got the same problem with jerking of the feet and other parts of my body, i only take 500mgs daily, i am also taking mirapex 0.25 at bedtime. dont know which one it might be from, but maybe it just goes along with rls.. let me know how you are doing with you problem
endlessPred
10 April 2012
Hello again. To find a doctor see a rheumatologist for the spine crumbling and a neurologist for the rest. You are in a major city and there will plenty of good docs. to find good ones, use the computer. Physicians are rated and a search in your state will get you to some top, well rated names. Then you are dependent upon what type of insurance, if any, you have. That will help to narrow it further. Around here we have HMO plans so the clinic and insurance plan are directly related. If you have insurance, your plan will also give lists of doctors they cover.
Finally start talking to people. People tend to know the good docs or the bad. Or check out the university hospitals or big hospitals and talk with their info people. There are many ways to get a good doc. Does take a bit of time. And when they tell you as a new patient it will take two months to get in, insist to talk with a nurse, tell her the whole thing and let her know that you are new in town and have this crisis. You will get in mighty fast. I don't take "no" for an answer. Hoping you don't either.
Be sure you have your old records with you, or have your former docs send them to the new doc. That way your history is complete and they don't waste their time with new tests that have already ruled out things, like the lupus or whatever.
If all else fails there may be an urgent care clinic or even the ER. That will also get you the fast track to good physicians.
You go girl! this is your time to help yourself and your family.
lstrong50
10 April 2012
Hi, thank you for all the insight. I am not a person who takes no lightly so I will push until its right.
endlessPred
10 April 2012
Good for you. Keep,us posted with your progress. We do listen and sometimes you find some great friends here who understand what you are really going through. We really want each other to get the best help and know the best solutions.,but remember, we are the ones with chronic diseases, pain. People who are doing really well on whatever their doc gave them don't tend to show up here until problems arise. Plenty of known side effects here. Plenty of people just doing fine not here.
Mostly it is sharing knowledge. We become out own experts because we don't give up easily either. Welcome to the get tough group. We get through it. We get answers. We love to share. I know you will be doing a whole lot better soon. Karen
DzooBaby
10 April 2012
I would say your culprit is probably the oxycodone. Opioid medications can do this to some people. Some nights I jerk myself awake. I keep a water bottle on my night stand and I cant tell you how many times I have jerked out with my arm in the night and knocked off the nightstand-sometimes 3-4 times a night! My father takes morphine for pain ( back pain runs through my family-both mother and father have had multiple back surgeries and myself and both my older and younger brother suffer with back pain) and my mother says he does the same thing. He kicks out with his legs and arms. This is a noted side effect of opioid medications. It is called myoclonus. As the others have said, if it is new, you should see your Dr about it especially since you have a lot going on. It could be something other than a side effects so you want to be sure.
I know that mine is due to the OxyContin because I take it as needed and on the days that I have to take it more often, I tend to jerk more than days when I dont have to use breakthrough meds.
As to the muscle relaxant, there are many good ones to try. Valium is the best true muscle relaxant but most docs dont feel comfortable using it in the long term because it is addictive. Flexeril works well but with Sjogrens, it will dry your mouth even more so that may not be the best choice. There is Soma, Robaxin, Baclofen and Tizanidine which all work well. Skelaxin is another choice and may work well if the others make you drowsy. Skelaxin is designed to cause less drowsiness but some find it makes them a bit jittery.
A couple good books I have found for pain, one is called Effortless Pain Relief by Ingrid Bacci Ph. D. She goes through lifestyle changes to help relieve pain like changing your breathing, the way you stand, sit and sleep and the way you store stress. Another good one is Relief is in the Stretch (end back apin through yoga) by Loren Fishman MD and Carol Ardman but be sure that you clear it with your Dr before doing any kind of execise and stretching. Both books have valuable info in them and have helped some for me. -
endlessPred
10 April 2012
Hello. The muscle jerks, being new, means a trip to the doc. This can be a side effect of a medication or a new problem. If med related and not treated right away it can be permanent. If new, same thing. Since you have more than your share of spine and pain problems, please don't hesitate to get this checked soon. Hopefully this is something that has an answer. All the spasms, perhaps you mean joints are moving causing arms or legs to fling around, have a source. Doctor is the missing key.
Be sure you are up and moving around as much as you can. Stretching muscles helps me with reducing spasms. My doc says it is the quickest way for the body to correct the mixed up signals it is getting. I don't feel like walking cause it hurts. But she is correct and that little I do makes a difference.
Please pay attention to hippie chick, above. She knows the pain side. She knows each person has to work to find their solution. And we all pretty much agree that if you can get out of not taking a pill for something, you will be much better off. No magic pills, sorry. In fact side effects from pills can often be tougher than without.
Let us know what your doc says. Am happy to hear from you any time to see what they will do for you. It takes courage to reach out, so I know you will be on this solution very soon. Karen
lstrong50
10 April 2012
Hi, Thank you for your response. You are right that I must see a doctor. I am new to the Nashville area and have a family doctor I'm not to hip with. I think my jerking and twitching is a new problem because I have been on Gabapentin for a long time. This started about 5 months ago. No new meds were introduced according to my notes. I know there is no magic pill and frankly I'm sick of pills. Moving around does help, except it hurts. Having a Rizotomy ( radio frequency on nerves ) on my lower lumbar 3,4,and 5 Thursday, so moving around is limited for a few days. Not even sure what kind of doctor to see. I have so many issues. Was checked for Lupus and RA, thank god both came back negative. I am grateful for all the help. Will keep in touch. God Bless Linda
DzooBaby
10 April 2012
I have had several rhizotomies. They do help some or at least they hurt so bad while you are recovering that you THINK you're better! lol Be sure after you have it done that you keep icing the area for the first 24-48 hours religiously!! It will make a big difference and help reduce the inflammation. I had a numb buttock cheek for almost a year after one of mine but eventually the nerves find new pathways but even a few months of relief can be helpful and some lucky folks get years of relief. (I have never been that lucky but I hope you are one of the lucky ones!)
PaulaSL
24 May 2015
I have had the same side effects from Neurontin (gabapentin). It causes my knees to almost give out and my hands to 'jerk'. This is a few hours after I take it. Like when getting up to go to bathroom in the middle of the night... I'm very wobbly and 'jerky'. So my Doc lowered dose, and prescribed Soma along with lower dose of gabapentin. I read your post... yes, it's the gabapentin causing jerks... and I have talked to other people who are having trouble with the same thing after taking them. Lower doses of the Neurontin helped. Good luck. PaulaSL
Rudster69
5 July 2018
I just watched my good friend who has been on this medication for 5 months and today I was actually scared since he started jerking his legs uncontrollably and couldn't stand up because it would continue to happen, what should he do?
Inactive
10 April 2012
I don't understand what you mean by 'jerk'. Are you talking about restless legs, are your arms moving on their own? Not sure what you mean.
If you are sure your connective tissue is spasming, and I don't know how that is possible, but connective tissue can be inflamed, and to treat inflammation, the meds included for that are NSAIDS or corticosteroids. Also 30 mg oxycodones ar holding your pain don to a tolerable level? Seems to me you might like an ER form OxyContin, and yes people complain about it not taking care of the pain with the new formulation, I have taken both old and new oxycontin, and I find that to be true for me, but as everyone is different, you might want to try that. As to the Cymbalta, all of the pharmaceutical marketing attempts to get me to believe it does anything for pain, since I was on it and in terrible chronic pain, it helped some for my depression but nothing at all for my pain. I don't believe Lyrica will do any good either.
Neither did gabapentin, but then again, it works for some, not for others. My man had a BKA on the right, and does get phantom pain occasionally, and he takes 100 mg three times a day, and wouldn't stop takingit if you paid him. Just sayin'.
For your terrible muscle spasms, alot of people like Soma or carisoprolol, I prefer Robaxin 750 one or two four times a day. I never have to take that much, but it works better on me than Somas. Actually, I think somas cause RLS in me, but then again, I'm a weirdo. Might want to alk to your doc about the difference between nerve pain and muscle spasms, I have both and they are entirely two different types of pain, nothing seems to help my nerve pain.
Hope I helped and peace be with you,
Sweet Hippie
lstrong50
10 April 2012
Thank You imariani55 for reading my post. I was diagnosed with RLS. The jerking has to do with my arms, legs. I guess I would say that I have heavy twitching in my hands, neck, feet, shoulders, pretty much everywhere. I need to see someone about it. I just took yesterday Methocarbamol 750. It made me so sleepy. It did relax my muscles. Helped my feet from having contractions. My connective tissue is not spasming, The connective tissue between my ribs is very painful when touched. I cannot take NSAIDS because of problems in the past with ulcers. Thank you again. Peace Linda
cymbalta kills
27 Jan 2016
Have you ever tried lidocaine patches for nerve pain? Also, there is currently a class Acton law suit on the makers of cymbalta for not telling the public and drs how to safley taper off. If you are still taking it, please check out the fave book group, cymbalta hurts worse. Lidocaine patches are by perception only and are a non narcotic
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cymbalta, depression, peripheral neuropathy, pain, restless legs syndrome, back pain, fibromyalgia, hot flashes, gabapentin, oxycodone
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