Gabapentin; Used For Anxiety?

[Spekx]

So I was just prescribed Gabapentin to treat my anxiety, but being the nerd that I am I looked this up and it looks like this is primarily used to treat bi-polar disorder...wtf....shouldn't somebody tell me if I am bi-polar?

Are other people who are not bi-polar taking this medication for anxiety?

I am wondering if my psychiatric team is hiding something from me.......

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Well, actually it was developed to treat epilepsy and is also used for nerve pain. (My dad was offered it but opted for a neurectomy instead.)

Gabapentin is used for a lot of disorders and symptoms. It doesn't mean you are bipolar.

 

[falling_wave]

I used to be on it and I don't have bipolar. Mood stabilizers are used to treat bipolar a lot of times but they can be helpful weather or non you have bipolar if you are are getting stuck or rapidly changing moods. This could be anxiety, depression, disengagement, whatever. The meds just make things more even. Gaza pent in is primarily an anti-seizure med but helps also with mood and chronic pain. For some it al so helps with sleep. I had a lot headaches with my mood anxiety symptoms at the time and trouble sleeping so that's why they prescribed it for me. Maybe look at off label treatment because docs prescribe off label a lot. If you think you have bipolar you can always ask though. I doubt if they will withhold.

 

[Nighthawk]

I don't have Bi polor and I was on 2400 mg of Gabapentin a day for almost 1.5 years. I have just recently started weaning off. With my Dr. concent. It helped me with Anger and nerve related pain.

 

[Chava]

Okay, I'm a nerd too so I looked too when it was prescribed to me (maybe looked a little further?). Gabapentin is an anti-convulsant medication (seizures, as already noted) but is commonly prescribed for pain. I take it for pain. It also mellows me out a bit, though I'm not sure if it's helpful that way or not. I might actually be more spacey and disconnected sometimes. But yes, it's also used off-label for anxiety. I haven't come across it used for bipolar, but I suppose that's possible. Do you think you have bipolar or are you paranoid your docs think you have it? Sounds like you have anxiety and they prescribed an atypical anxiety med, that's all. But you should ask why if you are interested, especially if you haven't gone the traditional SSRI route first.

 

[SabrinaB]

Being a nurse, the nerd label surprises me. I think everyone should, and would want to, be familiar with all medications prescribed. This includes the reasons for taking them, risks versus benefit, side effects and precautions.

Kudos for looking it up! I'm impressed with the degree of self-determination most members of this community possess. Too often patients are passive participants in their care. It's inspiring to meet so many smart, involved ones here!

 

[Chava]

@SabrinaB I was probably being sarcastic because I'm not sure what kind of 3 second search tells you that gabapentin is for bipolar. I do think it's good to get more information. Gabapentin is interesting...not in the typical "pain killer" class but more helpful for my pain than tramadol. But my doctor has encouraged me not to google search a med when it was really my last option before surgery (she knew I'd just run into the bad reviews and wanted me to find out for myself if it worked for me).

@Spekx ..take it as prescribed and see if it helps. It made me initially really relaxed (I do not have bipolar though I do tend towards a little manic sometimes).

 

[Spekx]

@Chava you said "I was probably being sarcastic because I'm not sure what kind of 3 second search tells you that gabapentin is for bipolar" Perhaps you didn't look up psychiatric uses for Gabapentin, I don't really know.

From a website I am not allowed to link because of spam prevention rules.....

"Common psychiatric uses include: bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, insomnia, alcohol detox, and cocaine addiction."

From a website I am not allowed to link because of spam prevention rules.....

"Doctors that prescribe Neurontin do so only if the patient has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Neurontin is not a bipolar disorder treatment. Rather it is a supplementary drug for those that are being treated for depression but need an additional treatment to overcome some of the anxiety associated with that depression."

From a website I am not allowed to link because of spam prevention rules.....

"Gabapentin (Neurontin, Gabarone) is widely used in the treatment of a variety of neuropathic pain, including peripheral neuropathies, restless leg syndrome, and bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders."

Which I would be willing to accept as an anxiety medication until I read this.....

From a website I am not allowed to link because of spam prevention rules.....

"Neurontin may be effective in helping to control anxiety, but this has not yet been proven by any major studies. However, because it’s not addictive and is different from the SSRI’s, doctors will often try it in the treatment of anxiety especially in people with bipolar disorder."

Need I continue to go on?......this is on hundreds perhaps thousands of websites regarding psychiatric uses for Neurontin or its generic form Gabapentin.

To say that you know of no websites that state this make me think you didn't bother to look it up yourself. If you don't know the answer to my question please refrain from answering it........I always take my prescriptions exactly as instructed to by my doctors, and I always will. Taking my medication wasn't the question.......

 

[Chava]

Sorry I was sort of snarky yesterday. It's all me.

But, if you are so concerned just ask your prescribing doctor. Did typical SSRIs just not work or did you skip that route? Gabapentin can absolutely be an alternative to anxiety meds. My doctor will not give me benzos because I would eat them like candy. I'm on gabapentin for pain but I seriously think it might be my winning anxiety med. I don't think of myself as having anxiety, but I'm massively scattered and spend whole days extremely distracted and sort of edgy. My doctor just increased my dose a bit. Yay.

I spent plenty of time looking up gabapentin, but not in relation to anything at all. If you just type "gabapentin" into google you come up with a long list of descriptions as an anti-convulsant that's also used for pain.

Anyway, call or message your doctor because if you have bipolar, you should know. And you shouldn't have to guess or wonder. For now, it's probably totally fine to believe it's an anxiety med. Because...it is...several off-label uses for this little wonder drug.

 

[Spekx]

It's not all you........I am irritable all the time.......my psych team is still trying to "balance" my meds.

 

[joeylittle]

Gabapentin is actually primarily used as an anticonvulsant, for nerve pain caused by shingles, and for restless leg syndrome.

Off-label it is used for anxiety comorbid to bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety, bipolar, insomnia, substance abuse disorders, and a handful of other things depending on where you look.

And no, it doesn't have tons of data backing it up. It theoretically makes a great deal of sense, but the studies have been lukewarm. I've been on a couple of different anti-convulsants, they really can help (in my experience), but they are strong, and it's really helpful to keep a side-effect diary.

 

[Chava]

@joeylittle gabapentin is pretty subtle. Is that one you had tried? It seems to be taken in pretty large doses. I'm on a very small dose and so far it's helpful for pain (not perfect but helpful enough I can function better and take better care of myself). It also relaxes me some and seems to be helping my attention. And I sleep better. And no side effects. My doctor knows it is helping for pain, but if I added this last part (still just in early observing phase), she'd say "GREAT!" because typical mood drugs have not worked well for me and I'm so sensitive to side effects...I'm really just very whiny about meds. But this one is subtle and very easy for me to take.

After this post came up I did look it up for bipolar...yes, mixed. And pretty high doses seem required. But whether for that, or for anxiety, what is helpful is that it isn't contraindicated by so many meds. I have to be really careful and high maintenance on my timing of my other pain and sleep meds. Gabapentin can be taken with any of them, and any time really. Anyway, I appreciate that the gabapentin is very subtle and I still feel like myself.

@Spekx ...good luck with the med balancing. Hope you and your team find a good fit for you.