Gabapentin and Drowsiness: What Users Say (Page 5)

• Gin...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 20, 2015

For Hot Flashes "I was offered gabapentin for nerve pain in my chest. Having had hot flushes and night sweats completely taking over and affecting so many areas of my life, after only a couple of days taking the gabapentin, the flushes stopped!!! I had been suffering for 3 years having gone through treatment for breast cancer at 45. Due to the amount of pain, my GP had me on 1x300mg 4 times a day. The downside was for the first 3-4 weeks (also because it was a high dose), I felt very drowsy, unable to concentrate, so also unable to drive. I was off work anyway, so was able to cope okay. This only lasted 2 weeks. My GP had discussed the side effects beforehand. I had been on 37.5 mg of venlafaxine 2x1 daily but didn't feel it helped that much. I live in the UK."

• Chr...
• December 19, 2016

For Pain "I am 27 years old. I have had kidney stones, while in labor, had a c-section, and was diagnosed with cluster headaches, the most severe pain you will ever know. But my chronic back pain takes the win. Those pains go away. I might be in excruciating pain for a couple of days, but my degenerative disc disease, sciatica, and adult scoliosis is non-stop pain. My doctor prescribed me gabapentin 300 mg 3× a day, but I have been on it for 2 months now, and all it does is make me want to sleep. It has not taken any pain away, and I have 2 kids. I can't sleep all day, even though my pain makes me want to stay in bed. I can't. My doctor has done the epidural steroid injection, no relief, but gabapentin just gives me bad side effects."

• lal...
• August 25, 2015

For Insomnia "Gabapentin helps me fall asleep, but I wake up always eight hours after I take it. It makes me feel a little groggy, but I use it for when I get sleepless nights. Fall in love, people, your insomnia will go away. Every time my soulmate is close to me, I sleep like a baby!"

• Anonymous
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 15, 2025

For Pain "I have been on gabapentin for sciatic pain for nine months. I was on 300 mg three times a day. It did help with pain and helped me sleep. I am now on 300 mg twice a day. Side effects are awful. Drowsiness and muscle weakness. It doesn’t really work anymore. I take my morning dose and within an hour or two the pain is back. Need to get off it but not sure what the alternative is."

• M R...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 7, 2014

For Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy "I take 900 mg a day. It makes the burning sensation in my hands and feet go away. But the pain in my shoulders and arms is still present, and the side effects are worse than the disease! I experience tremors, blurred vision, loss of memory, dizziness, and drowsiness. I'm a mother of three, and I can hardly function, but I do anyway. I still have very little use of my left side. If my neurologist thinks it's best, then who am I to argue? It does work. But for me, the side effects are a tad bit annoying for a full-time mom."

• HLC...
• June 26, 2015

For Bipolar Disorder "I just started 400 mg a day. It's only day two, but my first night sleep was amazing, the deepest sleep I've ever had. Woke up groggy and not feeling up to much, but I got better through the day, and now I've read comments saying other people felt loopy and groggy the first couple of weeks, so I hope it does even out."

• Sch...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• May 30, 2019

For Migraine "I was prescribed gabapentin and duloxetine for pain management. It just occurred to me, out of the blue, today that I have not had a bad migraine since I started taking 300 mg gabapentin 3 times a day. I can feel a kind of pressure in my head, but not pain. This drug is amazing! I have had migraines my whole life. Something else I noticed is that I get sleepier when the pain/pressure increases or if I get tense. If I am very sleepy, I take a couple of minutes to relax and take a couple of deep breaths. The sleepiness subsides a little. Only a little, but some days that is all I need."

• Ret...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 7, 2019

For Carpal Tunnel Syndrome "I was prescribed gabapentin for a pinched nerve, which was causing excruciating pain in my hand, wrist, and arm. The pain I was experiencing could be equated to perpetual frostbite. The first four days gradually brought me up to a daily dose of 600 mg per day. Four days into that, the gabapentin was still ineffective, and I was simply walking around in a stupor. It did nothing to relieve the pain, if anything, it seemed to me that it aggravated the pain even more. I slowly weaned myself off of it and replaced it with regular aspirin, two tabs twice a day, and I got more relief from that than I ever got from the gabapentin. I find this drug ineffective and detrimental to pain conditions."

• Blu...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 8, 2014

For Fibromyalgia "I have been taking Neurontin for about 3 months now for fibromyalgia pain. I am now on 600 mg 3X/day. I have not noticed any significant change in pain levels. The pain I have that is the constant daily pain may be slightly better, but the flares I experience have not improved at all. I experience a lot of fatigue with the fibro, but the Neurontin is making me so sleepy I can hardly accomplish anything during the day."

• Haz...
• June 25, 2018

For Pain "I was given this for pain during a bout of acute pancreatitis in the hospital. I also suffer from anxiety/depression and chronic pain. Within 4 hours, I felt no change in pain level, and my anxiety had kicked in really hard. After the second dose (within 8 hours of the initial starting dose), I experienced severe psychological effects. It gave me no pain assistance. Within 16 hours, I felt I was losing my mind between the anxiety, depression, and pain levels still running at 8 (for 3 days). It caused some somnolence but not enough to get over the pain level. They also had me on naloxone/oxycodone, which was not strong enough as it cancels itself out in larger doses. They seemed confused about the effective treatment difference between chronic and acute pain. I was in there for 5 days, four of them with pain levels above a 5. I was stopped on this drug within 48 hours due to obvious serious psychological side effects. I could not possibly recommend this drug."

• Bet...
• September 6, 2016

For Neuropathic Pain "I have a rare disorder: MALS (median arcuate ligament syndrome). Eating has been excruciatingly painful, and I have lost 30 pounds within the past five months. I was started on gabapentin, and the pain is now tolerable enough to keep enough down to have gained around ten pounds back. I honestly do not know what I would do without this medication. I also do not have the sleepiness that is warned with as a side effect, which is a big perk."

• Sam...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 27, 2024

For Restless Legs Syndrome "I have been on this drug for a little more than a month, and there are days when I feel a little weak. I started off at 300 mg, and it took the RLS away completely, and then within five days, the RLS came back. So my doctor upped it to 600 mg. It has completely taken away the RLS, and I take it at about 8 o'clock at night in order for it to kick in. I can feel that it makes me groggy, and I sleep at night better. I wear an Apple Watch, and it tells me that even my deep sleep has improved. I also have fibromyalgia, and I tend to be a light sleeper. If this weakness would go away, it would really be helpful. Other than that, I would completely recommend this drug."

• Anonymous
• August 16, 2009

For Pain "I have been taking this medication for nerve pain in my leg. I have a ruptured disc in my back, which is causing me severe nerve pain down my leg. Pain medicines do not work on me, so I had been suffering for a while. No sleep and lots of pain. Not good! My doctor put me on this medicine, and I can now function better. I have gotten much-needed sleep and overall feel a little better. There are side effects, though. I would stay very groggy and would lose some fine motor skills for quite a while after waking up in the morning. I found that if I lessened the dose, the effects were much less. I do have more pain throughout the day, but I am more alert and functional. I think the drug has helped me a lot."

• Anonymous
• November 29, 2011

For Fibromyalgia "I just took my first gabapentin this evening for my fibromyalgia. I am feeling extremely disoriented and groggy. I only took one and can't imagine taking 2 tomorrow, then 3 after that. It has helped with the pain, but I feel like I am not mentally clear. I pray this will finally be the miracle I have been searching for, for many, many years."

• SaM...
• May 20, 2011

Gabapentin for Migraine "I have been on Neurontin now for 10 days. My pain management doctor put me on it for pain as well as for my migraines. The dosage he has me on is 1 tablet 3 times daily. The tablet is 300 mg. I have experienced mood changes. I seem more agitated than I normally am. Hopefully, I get better at that. I always feel drowsy after taking it. I haven't had a migraine yet, but we shall see if I do anyway. It will be hard to tell since every 6 months I go and do radio frequency on the back of my neck. That is where they burn my nerve endings to help my migraines. So I hope all my pain goes away and I do not experience any freakish side effects. I wish everyone the best in taking this medicine, and I hope all of us will stay pain-free."

• af2...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 17, 2023

For Insomnia "I struggle with anxiety before bed, restless leg syndrome (RLS), insomnia, and 8-10 vivid and disturbing dreams per night that I can recall. The medications I have tried include trazodone (which caused hallucinations), melatonin (only works sporadically), prazosin (2 mg; initially effective but eventually stopped helping), hydroxyzine (25 mg; made me groggy in the morning and eventually lost effectiveness). I also self-medicated with Benadryl (100 mg for two months; caused hallucinations and I knew it was not good for me), lorazepam (after using it, I wouldn't remember anything from the prior day), and finally gabapentin. I started with 300 mg of gabapentin at night, increased to 600 mg, and eventually settled at 900 mg. It has been tremendously helpful for me. It eases my anxiety before bed, calms my RLS, and makes me feel tired. I still have occasional dreams, but they are not as frequent. If I do have dreams, I typically only remember one or two of them. I don't wake up feeling groggy, and I feel rested about 90% of the time."

• Bla...
• March 28, 2017

For Peripheral Neuropathy "I am a 1.5 or latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA) diabetic with fibromyalgia and severe PN. I was given gabapentin 300 mg to start, and I am now up to 3 times a day. I get very drowsy from the medication, but without it, there is no way I can sleep or walk. It has been very helpful for me, though I am once again having troubles sleeping and wonder if an additional pain medication might help manage the gabapentin in relief or if perhaps I should try a different medication. I'm not sure if there is a tolerance level for gabapentin, but for small PN and nerve issues, it has been a very effective medication."

• Ano...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 3, 2021

For Alcohol Withdrawal "I had been drinking 4-6 drinks every night and binge drinking even more on the weekends for about 3 years due to situational stress/anxiety. When I tried to stop recently, I'd try to just have one but would sneakily chug 6 instead before I could curb the impulse. I was having regular hangovers, mood swings, and difficulty focusing. This was concerning, so I asked my psychiatrist what I should do. He told me to take 200 mg of gabapentin before bed (when I would usually binge) and to reduce my alcohol consumption to 2 light beers per night, then only 1 per night until I can go with just having one or two once in a while. So far, it's worked! I don't crave more and more booze when I take the gabapentin. Drinking one beer feels just fine, and I'm able to go without drinking at all if I want. I'd recommend giving it a go if you have a doctor who can recommend the right dose for you. The only side effect I have is morning drowsiness and some weirdly elaborate dreams at night."

• obv...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 14, 2017

For Migraine "Note: I rarely suffer side effects from medication except for drowsiness when taking multiple doses of opiate-based painkillers such as co-codamol in a single day. I started taking gabapentin for bad nerve pain in my shoulder. After 4 days, I was experiencing more side effects than benefits; migraines were just one problem. I also experienced: - jerky twitches in my arms and legs; - inability to form full sentences at first attempt (600 mg or more in a single day); - depression (have had and overcome before); - suicidal thoughts. It was the last 2 that did it for me, although the migraines were painful and the jerky twitches and speech issues annoying, seeing signs of previous mental health problems creeping in was enough for me to stop."

• Ano...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 3, 2016

For Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy "Originally prescribed for seizures, once I developed neuropathy, my dose was more than doubled (300x3 to 800x3). It works pretty well, though it has a bit of an odd sedation about it at the higher dose. It also makes me a bit clumsy. Overall, pretty good, not quite as good as painkillers, but without the nausea and tolerance problems of all that."

• har...
• November 9, 2011

For Pain "I've been taking Neurontin 400 mg, 2 tabs, 3 times a day, along with other pain medicines for bad back pain, and my elbow got shattered, and it burns so bad that I could barely stand it until I took the Neurontin. Now that stops the burning, but it does make you groggy, so I needed my dose lowered. It works great for my headaches also. I take blood thinners, so I'm limited to what pain medicines I can take, but this one is the best, I think, for the burning and the pain. It's a must to try it."

• dee...
• February 20, 2011

For Migraine "I've been taking gabapentin (400 mg) for 7 months now. I used to wake up with a headache every day and have a migraine a few times per month. Since I started taking gabapentin, I have not had a migraine, and only on rare occasions do I wake up with a headache. Even when I do wake up with a headache, it's gone within an hour. The only side effect I had was drowsiness during the day, but over time, that has gone away."

• Rub...
• May 30, 2016

For Bipolar Disorder "I started the once-daily Gabapentin last week and am now on 1200 mg/day. I was taking it for back pain and later realized it is also used for bipolar and anxiety problems, which I also suffer from. I don't feel much of a difference mentally, but I feel drugged during the day. It feels like I took a sleeping pill and am walking around doing my work, trying to keep my eyes open. I am not sure whether this is connected to the drug or it just happened for another reason. In fact, this drugged feeling happened to me twice before I took the drug, but now it happens every day. Not sure what's going on."

• Roc...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 16, 2024

For Restless Legs Syndrome "I was prescribed gabapentin for restless leg syndrome in 2005. I’m currently still on gabapentin. My doctor started me off with 100 mg once a day. After two months, it was increased to 300 mg three times a day. I found it helps tremendously. I am able to finally rest without having sudden kicking or jerking movements of my legs. However, I began to notice I was feeling extremely drowsy. I couldn’t sit up without falling immediately back to sleep. After others noticed the effect it was having on me, I stopped taking them three times a day and with my doctor's advice, I started taking them as needed. Other side effects I experienced are dry mouth, swelling in my feet and ankles. In all of that, the pill does work!"

• Cra...
• October 19, 2015

For Neuropathic Pain "My nerve doctor prescribed this awful medication for me without knowing exactly what is wrong with me. I took 300 mg at night and woke up feeling tired, drowsy all day, headache, sore throat, and I didn't even have the energy to take a shower. The side effects are not worth it. I stopped taking it after 5 days. I would rather deal with my pain than take this medication. Do not take this drug. It is awful."