Migraine

Hi

My son started having some serious side effects from neurontin. He has been completely off it since Tuesday.

Now he is having other side effects. He is still having mood swings and seems unmotivated. He is very jumpy and appears to have restless legs now. The restless legs started on Wednesday.

The doctor said to give it two weeks. I'm wondering if any of you have had side effects when getting off a drug? How long did those effects linger?

The good news is that he has had 2 days migraine free!!!!! I hope that lasts.

Jean Ann

Hi Jean Ann, I know some of our members have had side effect issues coming off some meds, especially Topamax or some of the SSRIs, that seemed to stick around a long time. I don't personally have any experience with this but someone should hopefully be by soon to share their experience.

Sorry to hear he's still having trouble with the Neurontin. I was on the generic (gabapentin) for about a month and it did not treat me well at all - it made me very twitchy, so I felt like I had an electric current running through me. I also often woke up at night completely unable to move for a few minutes, which I finally connected to the drug after I came off of it. None of these side effects stuck around very long after I came off of the gabapentin.

Hope Andrew starts feeling better soon and that his migraine-free streak continues!

We have some information on the drug; I don't know if it will help but I'll link you.

Neurontin

I took Neurontin 900 mg at bedtime for restless leg syndrome for about a year. It didn't help the rls nor did it help migraine prevention but let me tell you, it boosted the darvocet I took for migraine pain better than anything I've taken since then. I have no explanation for that.

It never really did much to help me so my neuro at the time stopped it. I stopped it cold turkey and didn't notice any problems myself. It made me drowsy in the mornings if I took it late in the evenings but that was the only side effect I noticed other than how well it helped the darvocet work.

Hope it gets out of his system in a hurry.

I didn't notice any lingering side effects when I quit taking Neurontin, but I wasn't taking it daily, either.

I can tell you that I remember ditching Serzone (which we tried in a far-fetched, disasterous attempt to stifle hyperthyoid mood swings). It did take a couple of weeks or so to really settle things out after I'd fully stopped it. It was a gradual thing.

A low tech suggestion for restless legs -- potassium, found in bananas, oranges, peanut butter, also available as supplements from the vitamin store or drug store. I take two every night before bed. So far, knock wood, haven't needed a prescription med. I get it as part of my fibromyalgia.

My daughter who's 20 just went off of neurontin. She was having some terrible mood swings and along with NDPH she was taking it for mood swings. She has now gone off all medications to see if things get better. She also mentioned the restless legs as well. She tried depakote years ago and it was not a good experience nor was topamax. It seems that with topamax you either have little in the way of side effects or you get the dopey side effects.

While I've never gone OFF Neurontin (or the generic gabapentin), I realize when I've even forgotten one dose because of the 'side' effects. I take it twice a day - I'm down to 300 mg in the morning and 600 mg at night. If I miss a dose, particularly in the evening, I'll get what I call the 'cold sweats' (freezing cold and yet sweating like a lawn sprinkler) and feel like my heart is pounding and the blood is rushing though my arms. I can see this as being similar to restless leg. I'll wake me up in the middle of the night from all this - no fun. I've also felt the same, although milder, when reducing my dosage - at one time I was taking 900 mg morning and night. I've had the doctor tell me not to quit cold turkey, but rather to reduce the dosage gradually as I try to wean myself away.

Hi Webcutey and welcome to the forum family. I look forward to seeing you around the forum, if you have any questions, just ask away!

Hi, Webcutey, we're glad you found us. Welcome to the forum.