Hi I had injured my right foot while playing cricket couple of months back and CT scan revealed a minor metatarsal fracture which was treated by putting on a fibreglass cast. However I was unable to walk and then my doc guessed I also had a soft tissue / nerve injury in the foot and prescribed gabapentin. After about a week of taking 100mg gabapentin twice daily, my pain has reduced substantially and I am now able to walk properly.
What I want to know is that does gabapentin TREAT a nerve injury or only reduce the pain till the time one is taking the medicine? Will the pain come back once I stop taking it?
It only treats nerve pain. If you stop taking the meds the pain will come back very quickly.
Your injury may or may not heal with time; if it does heal it is not from the gabapentin.
I am prescribed 900 mg of gabapentin for nerve damage to my arm. It really eases the pain but doesn't treat the injury. I would take extra care to rest your foot as although the meds are reducing the pain, they're not contributing towards healing your injury.
So the gabapentin is not doing anything to treat the nerve damage?
ok thanks - I guess I need to be more careful with my foot.
I had shingles in October 2012 and seem to have retuned with pain in middle of back. I have been prescribed 400gm gabapentin one at night, I am concerned about side effects,is this a very high dose and should I be concerned?
Hi Lorraine
400mg is not a high dose. Typical max dose is 3600mg per day. Only be concerned if the side effects are particularly bothersome. In fact, 400mg is more of a starter dose. I suspect it has been prescribed to help you sleep better. Just see how it goes.
All drugs have side effects. Just need to weigh that against the pain relief benefit.
Thank you for that very reassuring, hopefully it will help with my shingles problem too.