Gabapentin for anxiety!?

[Danath]

I mentioned Pregabalin to the doctor today as i dont seem to be getting anywhere on prozac and ive not gotten very far on a few other antidepressants either,. he said that pregabalin was a marketing con and in fact is simply a more expensive version of gabapentin.

now ive never heard of gabapentin being used for anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, to my knowledge it was for neuropathic pain and nerve damage.


opinions, ideas or experiences would be much appreciated.

Dan

[KK77]

I've been on gabapentin and pregabalin and there is definitely a difference. Gabapentin helped with pain but did nothing for anxiety, whereas pregabalin did. They are related compounds but doctors don't like prescribing pregabalin because it's expensive.

I think it's time you changed your doctor Dan.

[Danath]

well this was what the doctor said, that pregabalin was very expensive. I pointed out that it didnt come out of his pay packet which appeared to annoy him somewhat, he said that it could, as he is monitored on the costs of what he prescribes. there ARE studies I see for use of Gabapentin as an anxiolytic, but you'd think by now they'd have licensed it for that use if it was any good surely.

I cant help but feel that I got gabapentin because the other drug was felt to be too expensive.

having said that the amount of money that has been wasted giving me medicines willy nilly that ive found ineffective was fine by them for some reason.

[Danath]

really noone else heard of this one?

[KK77]

You won't find many people that use gabapentin for anxiety. It has been used "off-label" for such things as anxiety but hasn't shown any compelling efficacy. In fact, the makers of Neurontin (Pfizer) have paid out millions in fines for promoting this drug for so many unlicensed uses.

As I said before, I would see if the gabapentin helps (though I doubt it) and if not see another doctor that's willing to try you on pregabalin.

After giving you buspirone for 2 weeks only I would have given him the axe (in his head).

[Danath]

im very confused at the moment med wise,, im 2 days off fluoxetine, 2 days into gabapentin, and occasionally taking flupentixol since ive got bugger-all else if it gets worse.

any advice would be appreciated :(

though im gonig to change my doctor tommorow i think, however, the process will take abotu a week i think.... dont know what to do with meds in the meantime.

[rckclmbr]

my psychiatrist and i tried gabapentin for awhile, but it did absolutely nothing for my anxiety or my depression. if anything, it may have made them a bit worse.

but, apparently it really does help some people (even though this is an off-label use).

[Danath]

I'm not convinced, and i think im going to stop taking it.

[rckclmbr]

i'm sorry it didn't work for you either. i hope you can find something that does! (and when you do, tell me, because i haven't found it yet!)

[Danath]

well i had only given it 3 days, but i cant see something thats designed for neuropathy working for anxiety. and if its good for anxiety why isnt it indicated as such? I'm not having all those side effects for something thats really unlikely to do what we want it to do.