Bad News on Neurontin an Lyrica

sas-schatzi

http://fibromyalgiaresources.com/neurontin-lyrica-death-sentence-new-brain-synapses/

Big time negative impact on brain synapses.

sas-schatzi

http://medicalhealthnews.info/neurontin-lyrica-death-sentence-new-brain-synapses-saga-continue/

This subject is now in the common press. I did this thread in July. I didn't tend it as I have commonly done to threads.

All drugs have a consequence. ALL drugs.

The fact that synapses are interfered with is life changing. Synapses are the connecting point from one neuron to another.l If they don't connect a signal is interrupted. The DUH moment.

These drugs have a purpose. But if you lose your ability to think was it worth it.

marijen

I took gabapentin for six weeks last year and hated every minute. Quit because I had a long list of side effects, so glad it didn’t work out

GraceB1

I took gabapentian due to severe back pain many years ago. It helped a lot with the pain but I called it "my dumb pill". I my IQ dropped by 50 points. I could no longer add two digit numbers in my head. This is while I was working as a bookkeeper. It was very frustrating and after 8 months I was able to wean myself off.

dtad

Scary! Just reaffirms my belief that the less drugs the better!

sas-schatzi

Grace, For disability if you have a documented drop of 15 pts. in IQ, it qualifies for disability. I'm good for a lot of trivial pursuit things

Sorry you had the experience. How have you faired after it? What did your docs say at the time? Why did you have your IQ measured? Was the connection to Lyrica made initially or later?

marijen

A fifty point drop seems impossible to me

Anonymous

I took a low dose of Lyrica for sciatica for a few years. My pain increased during chemo, and afterwards I increased my dosage until I hit the loopy stage. I dropped the dosage a bit to a level that kept pain at a low level while I did rehab exercises. As my pain decreased, I weaned myself off Lyrica entirely, and now, I no longer take any pain meds.

I didn't have enough focus to work full time until a year after chemo. By that time I was back to a low dose of Lyrica. I have no noticeable loss in IQ (since Lyrica - since my youth, yes). A 50-pt loss is not impossible, but it is improbable. IQ has a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.

Was it worth it? Yes. I hate taking any medication, but the pain had become so unbearable that I could barely think.

sas-schatzi

Sernity, Typing with one eye closed. I Q as a twin in the catholic school system........... no real clue as they lost records and grades were changed so my twin wouldn't feel bad. Pissed. No clue what it really was. Made the point system for disability a tad harder. Actually, really pissed me off, b/c I knew the numbers were changed.

But back to the subject, If a drug can change synaptic transmission, Folks need to know this. Will I choose memory loss over muscle pain.?

sas-schatzi

Serntity-----------Great name. Based on your description, It's what you wish to attain. I'm me and my dog. Yes, The use of these drugs can work to reduce pain. But with the recent studies that this family of drugs causes synapse "failure", do you support their use?

That's actually a really bitchy question? If all else fails, and you know all the side effects, and you have horrible pain aaaaaaand all drugs that can control the pain have awful side effects or addiction------what do you do.\ I know what I have done. Opt out.

sas-schatzi

Serenity, That answer is unfair. I had polio. I have had life long pain. A few days in my life witout pain. On those days it was. "what" . So, I have no business commenting .

Anonymous

I'm sorry to see that you've had polio. Chronic pain can be debilitating.

To what do you attribute IQ loss?

It is essential we understand the risks in taking any drug. The links you provided are exaggerating the risks found in the cited study. This is the original press release where the main concern was the use of gabapentin in pregnant women where it could impact fetal brain development.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2009/10/study-pinpoints-key-mechanism-in-brain-development-raising-questions-about-use-of-antiseizure-drug.html

If I were pregnant with nerve pain, I would not take these drugs. If I were pregnant with epilepsy, I would need to discuss with my doctors.

My use of Lyrica had a positive outcome.