Gabapentin and Autism

[The Pandector]

I have been dealing with as-yet undiagnosed pain and discomfort and have been given gabapentin as an ‘in the meantime‘ measure. I’m not here to discuss my condition or gabapentin in general; I have researched all of that and hope to focus this thread on a particular question.

When I read about this drug and how it works, I have to wonder if it doesn’t accidentally collide with the basic chemistry of autism. Not necessarily in a bad way, either. I don’t want to sway the conversation by saying too much. I would like to know if other autists here have experience with the drug, and what consequences they experienced.

Help, anyone?

 

[tree]

Although I am not diabetic, last summer my feet started feeling
very bad/wrong. Was prescribed gabapentin.

Minimal dose. One hundred mg, once a day at first. After a couple
months, two hundred mg, once a day.

To begin with I supposed taking it with my evening vitamins would
work, but that was a problem since later when I was eating supper
I would go unconscious with food in my mouth and wake up choking.
So I learned to take the gabapentin with the last few bites of my
supper.

The mental side effects were bothersome. Blanking out while talking.
(I'd be conscious, but have no idea at all what I had been saying.)
That has worn off.

The other effect has been to slow my ability to think. I was used to
a pretty constant pool of words and narration as my normal condition
in my head. The best way to describe the effect of the medication seems
to be "It made me too smooth."

My will to achieve was reduced. *Meh, I can do that tomorrow* instead
of *Yeah, I will start that right now.*

I have had to work at having words in my head.
For example, what I do when I go for a walk, is set myself a goal of
developing a list on a topic. I carry paper and pen with me, writing
as I walk. Pre-gabapentin this was very easy. With gabapentin, and
effort this is possible again.

 

[The Pandector]

Although I am not diabetic, last summer my feet started feeling
very bad/wrong. Was prescribed gabapentin.

Minimal dose. One hundred mg, once a day at first. After a couple
months, two hundred mg, once a day.

To begin with I supposed taking it with my evening vitamins would
work, but that was a problem since later when I was eating supper
I would go unconscious with food in my mouth and wake up choking.
So I learned to take the gabapentin with the last few bites of my
supper.

The mental side effects were bothersome. Blanking out while talking.
(I'd be conscious, but have no idea at all what I had been saying.)
That has worn off.

The other effect has been to slow my ability to think. I was used to
a pretty constant pool of words and narration as my normal condition
in my head. The best way to describe the effect of the medication seems
to be "It made me too smooth."

My will to achieve was reduced. *Meh, I can do that tomorrow* instead
of *Yeah, I will start that right now.*

I have had to work at having words in my head.
For example, what I do when I go for a walk, is set myself a goal of
developing a list on a topic. I carry paper and pen with me, writing
as I walk. Pre-gabapentin this was very easy. With gabapentin, and
effort this is possible again.

Thank you, @tree. Interesting to hear. I have executive issues and don’t need to lose motivation. I’ll carry your ‘too smooth’ comment with me as well, as such things can be difficult to describe.

 

[Rodafina]

I was prescribed gabapentin when I started getting serious about sobriety. It was prescribed to help with drug cravings.

Well, it turned into a whole new drug for me. I started off, like tree with 100mg, slowly working up to 300 mg prescribed. But my addict side took over and pretty soon I was taking 900 mg or more a day because it definitely made me feel stoned - extremely sleepy, dozing off mid sentence, relaxed, minimal anxiety or care, because my brain functioning was quite slow. It was a quick substitute for drugs and alcohol for me and I was misusing it almost immediately. Luckily, I had the fortitude at that time to tell my psychiatrist and we quickly removed that from my regimen.

 

[tree]

The doctor was stunned and frustrated with my account
of the side effects I experienced. I felt bad for him because
I know he is motivated to help people and the stuff really
messed with my usual mental condition.

He said that neuropathy doesn't kill anybody and that I didn't
have to take the medication. I said I would continue with it
since it was reducing the stupid fake messages my feet were
sending me. I supposed that the side effects would lessen
as I became habituated to the medicine.

The side effects have lessened.
I am still quieter in my head than what I'm used to, and I have
to make a point of setting goals for what I want to do, but the
situation currently is less *meh* than last fall.

 

[The Pandector]

I was prescribed gabapentin when I started getting serious about sobriety. It was prescribed to help with drug cravings.

Well, it turned into a whole new drug for me. I started off, like tree with 100mg, slowly working up to 300 mg prescribed. But my addict side took over and pretty soon I was taking 900 mg or more a day because it definitely made me feel stoned - extremely sleepy, dozing off mid sentence, relaxed, minimal anxiety or care, because my brain functioning was quite slow. It was a quick substitute for drugs and alcohol for me and I was misusing it almost immediately. Luckily, I had the fortitude at that time to tell my psychiatrist and we quickly removed that from my regimen.

Yeeks! Not a raving review. I’m not looking for a buzz. But very helpful that now two people have commented on being conscious of slowed brain activity and dropping off. Good on you for getting out from under it quickly.

 

[The Pandector]

The doctor was stunned and frustrated with my account
of the side effects I experienced. I felt bad for him because
I know he is motivated to help people and the stuff really
messed with my usual mental condition.

He said that neuropathy doesn't kill anybody and that I didn't
have to take the medication. I said I would continue with it
since it was reducing the stupid fake messages my feet were
sending me. I supposed that the side effects would lessen
as I became habituated to the medicine.

The side effects have lessened.
I am still quieter in my head than what I'm used to, and I have
to make a point of setting goals for what I want to do, but the
situation currently is less *meh* than last fall.

Thanks for the follow up. Very interesting that your doctor was so surprised by your reaction. As I suggested, I have to wonder if gabapentin has an unusual impact on autistic people.

It doesn’t sound as though you’ve developed any appreciation for it being ‘quieter’ in your head, rather that it’s a mild impediment you must cope with.

 

[tree]

It doesn’t sound as though you’ve developed any appreciation for it being ‘quieter’ in your head, rather that it’s a mild impediment you must cope with.

Exactly.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

That's the one drug that was given in the hospital. as my leg was kicking after my stroke, knowing what I know this drug almost put me in a wheelchair really pissed at the stupidity of some doctors. Even after I told them I had transverse myelitis previous to my stroke. I had to figure this out for myself. Fortunately, puzzles are my strength. And I am brighter then many of the doctors that treated me. It took months of physiotherapy.to get back to some sort of normally. I'm not impressed with the medical community. The Ability memorizing a huge number of facts does not impress me.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I was prescribed gabapentin for nerve pain after my broken ankle was fixed surgically. I got a higher dose than the doctor wanted because of a mix up in the prescription.

The gabapentin took care of the ankle pain AND significantly reduced my chronic pain and the number of flares. It reduced the amount of times I had to take pain medication.

I take 1500mg daily. My primary care doctor continues to prescribe it for me.

Some people get a high from it, but not me, unless you count the joy of reduced pain.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

When doctors other than family doctors seen the prescription, they all asked one question, are you in pain and my answer always was no why you ask. urologist neurologists. That got my curiosity. up I was slowly losing. The ability to walk which I just had regained after physiotherapy in the hospital. I was pissed after I figured it out.

 

[AspieChris]

I got Gabapentin for a severe spine injury. I ended up with 20 screws in my lower back. Gabapentin would hit me in higher doses like drinking 10 shots of tequila. It was kind of nice to ‘disappear’ for several hours, but it came with a hangover the next morning that left me with a chemical taste in my mouth. Pregablin came later. It’s Gabapentin’s big brother. Both are prescribed commonly to diabetics for nerve pain, that’s also what I was prescribed it for. Both are commonly abused just like alcohol. They numb the nervous system but you don’t have to smell like a drunk. Not something good for anyone prone to addiction or drug abuse. It is commonly prescribed in Europe for psychological issues and is the most commonly abused drug in British prisons from what I have read.

I have taken soooo many drugs over the years because of permanent nerve damage in my spine. Gabapentin and Pregablin are the only ones I would be scared to use recreationally. I still have bottles full of both and haven’t touched either in years.

Getting off that crap was hard. Scrambled brains, thoughts of suicide, severe insomnia, nerve pain EVERYWHERE. Not something to take lightly. The withdrawals only lasted me a few days but it was truly miserable.

 

[AspieChris]

I was prescribed gabapentin for nerve pain after my broken ankle was fixed surgically. I got a higher dose than the doctor wanted because of a mix up in the prescription.

The gabapentin took care of the ankle pain AND significantly reduced my chronic pain and the number of flares. It reduced the amount of times I had to take pain medication.

I take 1500mg daily. My primary care doctor continues to prescribe it for me.

Some people get a high from it, but not me, unless you count the joy of reduced pain.

Tolerance builds extremely fast with both Gabapentin and Pregablin. Whatever got a person high on Monday won’t feel like much by Wednesday. They probably would need to double the dose every 2-3 days to continue getting high if that were the goal. 1500mg per day is a lot but I have spoken to addicts who take several times that amount.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I have never got high in my life to me it was a stupid drug, could not get off it quick enough. no after affect when I stopped taking it.

 

[Richelle-H]

I was prescribed Gabapentin back before Covid for peripheral neuropathy (tingling in my hands and feet). I was started out at a dosage of 300mg/day. While it helped a bit, it was not as palliative as I had hoped. Upon further investigation into the drug, I decided it was too low a dose to do what I needed it to do, so I talked to my doctor and got the dosage increased to 900mg/day.

The result was a touch better, but I am still cursed with some troublesome neuropathy in my fingertips and toes, which is much better than it used to be. The tingling and numbness, at its worst, affected my palms and the soles of my feet.

It is a drug that is issued for a number of conditions having to do neuropathy of varying sorts and degrees. I have never had an issue with it and continue to take it as it it one of the drugs I take by prescription that I do not have to pay for and I get a three month supply on each refill.

I should say that it is the one drug in my daily regimen that I asked to have prescribed for me. It was not suggested by my physician. I was being driven slightly psychotic by the neuropathy, which started out in the index finger and thumb of my right hand and weirdly the extreme right corner of my mouth (both upper and lower lip). Over the last few years, it has progressed a bit and at times the tingling edges toward numbness. All of this, of course, could be that I have been slowly moving toward type II since this all started and that is probably a contributing factor, but not the only source.

SO, in summary, I have been taking it now for about four years and have as yet had no issues with it. The weirdest thing to me is that I have to show my ID at the time of pickup. I understand that at very high doses it can give people some sort of buzz, but I do not experience that even when I have forgotten and dosed myself with 1200 mg by accident (hey, I am old enough to use a mental lapse as an excuse, but I actually did it as more of an experiment).

The bottom line, as it is with any drug: Everyone's experience with a drug is unique to their neurology and while we share similarities the results are dependent on how our body and mind reacts.

May the drug help you at least as well as it has helped me.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

You can't pay me to use this drug again I like being able to walk. it did for me was cause me to lose respect for doctors.

 

[The Pandector]

I was prescribed gabapentin for nerve pain after my broken ankle was fixed surgically. I got a higher dose than the doctor wanted because of a mix up in the prescription.

The gabapentin took care of the ankle pain AND significantly reduced my chronic pain and the number of flares. It reduced the amount of times I had to take pain medication.

I take 1500mg daily. My primary care doctor continues to prescribe it for me.

Some people get a high from it, but not me, unless you count the joy of reduced pain.

Good to know. That does seem like a high dose, they started me with 300mg but said I would want to double that in several days. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[The Pandector]

I got Gabapentin for a severe spine injury. I ended up with 20 screws in my lower back. Gabapentin would hit me in higher doses like drinking 10 shots of tequila. It was kind of nice to ‘disappear’ for several hours, but it came with a hangover the next morning that left me with a chemical taste in my mouth. Pregablin came later. It’s Gabapentin’s big brother. Both are prescribed commonly to diabetics for nerve pain, that’s also what I was prescribed it for. Both are commonly abused just like alcohol. They numb the nervous system but you don’t have to smell like a drunk. Not something good for anyone prone to addiction or drug abuse. It is commonly prescribed in Europe for psychological issues and is the most commonly abused drug in British prisons from what I have read.

I have taken soooo many drugs over the years because of permanent nerve damage in my spine. Gabapentin and Pregablin are the only ones I would be scared to use recreationally. I still have bottles full of both and haven’t touched either in years.

Getting off that crap was hard. Scrambled brains, thoughts of suicide, severe insomnia, nerve pain EVERYWHERE. Not something to take lightly. The withdrawals only lasted me a few days but it was truly miserable.

That is serious stuff. Leaves me suspecting that Gabapentin isn’t as habit forming as Pregablin. I sure hope so.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Gabapentin was originally used in seizure disorders. It is effective in preventing partial seizures. Doses are up to 2400 mg/day, divided dose. I knew this because of my work. The relief from seizures is demonstrable.

Also, gabapentin is used for the neuropathic pain in shingles, again learned because of work. Relief from shingles pain is a blessing.

The common use now for neuropathic pain is widespread.

I was not concerned with a dose of 1500 mg/day. I have been stable on this does for three years. I have no interest in increasing the dose.

It’s important to remember that a drug is just a drug. It is not good or bad in and of its self.

Different people have differing reactions to drugs. Autistics especially have atypical responses to many medications. For example, anti-histamines, commonly used to combat allergy symptoms and so safe they are available over the counter, make me suicidal.

 

[Tom]

I take it for nerve pain but doesn't help much. I think I am at too low a dose (600mg). I'm pretty used to it. No loopiness I detect but maybe more tired.