Gabapentin (Neurontin)

[Pleasure_Paulie]

Thanks Paulie, i could try that. The pain is not unbearable or anything. I'm just a bit scared for long term use that it could get worse.

Generally you want to stick on a drug such as Gabapentin for about a month to evaluate its therapeutic effect. 200mg and 100mg (some people take 800mg or more) is a very low dosage for as well, but if the side effects are not tolerable work with your doctor for something else; if your doctor offers Lyrica you will see the dosages are much lower at 75mg as the drug is much more potent.

 

[efferent]

I have been on Gapapentin for 1 month now. Ramped up from 300mg /day for a week to 600mg /day for a week followed by 900mg /day now. I have had no effect on T so far. I am supposed to call my Doc next week who had told me that the dosage may need to be increased as for some people, the dosage needs to be higher than 900mg for it to have a significant therapeutic effect. I will report back once if the Doc and I decide to increase dosage and/ or duration of treatment with Neurontin.

 

[just1morething]

Gabapentin plus Klonopin used to work good for me until I fell asleep. Dr. Shulman had an article on it. I'm on Lyrica 75mg x 2/day for some spinal pain problems. I will probably up it to 150mg x 2.

 

[just1morething]

FYI - Lyrica discount card. My monthly co-pay dropped from $150 to $25 for 60 capsules.
https://www.lyrica.com/download-co-pay-savings-card

 

[JasonP]

I think I started on 300mg Gabapentin + .5mg Clonazepam and titrated up to 900mg Gabapentin + .5mg Clonazepam
Both at 3 x/day. Worked very good for some time until your brain grows resistant or tolerant to it. It is worth trying but will make you quite tired when you start, at least it did for me. I was still getting awakening hissing though after a quiet day.

Neurontin has seemed to help me at reducing klonopin usage but I don't find it reducing my tinnitus. Klonopin stopped lowering my tinnitus on its own and I found that if I take it sometimes in the afternoon it can make my tinnitus louder. However, I found that if right before I go to sleep I combine maybe 1mg of melatonin with .125 of klonopin (taken at the same time), my tinnitus can be lower the next day. At least that is the way it is right now. I hope it doesn't stop working. That is the ONLY way so far that I have been able to get klonopin to work again.

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

A new clinical trial has completed in Iran with with results according to the BTA's Q1 update https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/2017-quarter-1

Clinical study source - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28393057/

"After 6 weeks' treatment, the VAS significantly decreased in both groups (P<0.001), but the reduction was significantly greater in the gabapentin group compared with control (P<0.001). Forty-nine patients (89%) in the gabapentin group and 28 control patients (58.3%) responded to treatment (≥30% reduction in VAS), with the difference between the two groups being statistically significant (P<0.001)."

I might note: This was a double blinded and randomised trial to give it greater credibility too.

 

[Gl0w0ut]

My psychiatrist prescribed Gabapentin (300mg) a day to treat my anxiety and depression. Today was day one and so far my tinnitus has spiked in response to the drug, which is odd considering it's Gabamanergic, which should make it quieter.

I'm concerned that continuing it will result in a permanent spike, assuming it hasn't already happened. What experience do those of you have used the drug have?

 

[Red]

I've been using gabapentin since before tinnitus. It's used to treat my chronic pain and I'm surprised that it treats anxiety and depression because I still have both of those things. Actually, I have both of those things to such a degree that I sure wish I could get help with them.

I dislike reading people around here pursuing gabapentin as a means to treat tinnitus. Not because they shouldn't talk about it and not because I believe they shouldn't do it… But because it makes me wonder about what might my gabapentin's relationship with my tinnitus is. It makes me wonder if my tinnitus is actually worse and I just don't know it.

(Oh, yeah, in case you didn't know, some people around here actually take gabapentin to make the sound of their tinnitus lesser. A bit of the opposite of what you are experiencing but everyone's bodies are different)

 

[Dana]

My tinnitus was also worsened by gabapentin, so people who experienced the same thing should not feel that they are weird, as it happened to others.

 

[Gl0w0ut]

My tinnitus was also worsened by gabapentin, so people who experienced the same thing should not feel that they are weird, as it happened to others.

Did it ever go back to baseline or get better?

 

[Dana]

Did it ever go back to baseline or get better?

Not that it got worse, but had gotten waaaay worse, so what I did was to quickly take Rivotril made by Roche, the med that saved my life. After I took Rivotril the tinnitus got lower, so after Gabapentin tinnitus did get lower, but not naturally.

Whether Rivotril saved my life or buried me even deeper, remains to be seen. You know that benzos have a bad reputation. But so far this med has bought me time.

 

[Shem]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but as info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735419/

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

I'm trialling Gabapentin at the moment and on 300mg a day which is a low dosage. So far it's had a very strong improvement to my mood and I've slept much better. I don't think it's made a huge difference to the tinnitus volume but I'm still at a low dosage. I'm occasionally mixing with .25mg (low dosage) of klonopin as well to see if that makes any difference.

Side effects have been minimal so far, maybe a slight sexual change in libido and you feel slightly more tired but the mood boost overcomes that and it's likely to decrease with time.

I will keep increasing the dosage and see what happens. So far it's a lot more tolerable than Lyrica (the newer version of Gabapentin) that I took for a while.

 

[Alue]

I'm trialling Gabapentin at the moment and on 300mg a day which is a low dosage. So far it's had a very strong improvement to my mood and I've slept much better. I don't think it's made a huge difference to the tinnitus volume but I'm still at a low dosage. I'm occasionally mixing with .25mg (low dosage) of klonopin as well to see if that makes any difference.

Side effects have been minimal so far, maybe a slight sexual change in libido and you feel slightly more tired but the mood boost overcomes that and it's likely to decrease with time.

I will keep increasing the dosage and see what happens. So far it's a lot more tolerable than Lyrica (the newer version of Gabapentin) that I took for a while.

From everything I've heard, Gabapentin seems to be better tolerated and have fewer side effects than Lyrica. I often take Gabapentin before bed, it seems to improve my sleep and often have a better day after.

Lately, though, I've been wondering if it's doing more harm than good. I've noticed a gradual worsening (a new tone that's popped up and has gotten louder). It could be due to previous noise exposure or a spike, etc. I don't know.

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

From everything I've heard, Gabapentin seems to be better tolerated and have fewer side effects than Lyrica. I often take Gabapentin before bed, it seems to improve my sleep and often have a better day after.

Lately, though, I've been wondering if it's doing more harm than good. I've noticed a gradual worsening (a new tone that's popped up and has gotten louder). It could be due to previous noise exposure or a spike, etc. I don't know.

It seems to be much better tolerated than Lyrica which is a much more potent drug; but I am on a low dosage. I am defiantly sleeping better. What dosage are you on? As for working out if its Gabbapentin or a noise exposure, I guess wait to see if it settles down on succession of the drug. I have not noticed any new noise, but I'm only on 300mg.

 

[Alue]

It seems to be much better tolerated than Lyrica which is a much more potent drug; but I am on a low dosage. I am defiantly sleeping better. What dosage are you on? As for working out if its Gabbapentin or a noise exposure, I guess wait to see if it settles down on succession of the drug. I have not noticed any new noise, but I'm only on 300mg.

I think it was the noise exposure not the Gabbapentin. I'll take 300mg before bed occasionally, none during the day. I've been taking it for a while now with no problems. Two weeks ago I worked around some noisy equipment with earplugs in, and I think it was too much for my ears.

I'm currently debating asking my ENT for IT steroid injection for the worsening, but I don't know if that would be overkill... I know it's a shot in the dark with limited evidence for its efficacy.

 

[Robert Grant]

I take 600 milligrams of Gabapentin 4 times a day it does no good for this hearing stuff

 

[just1morething]

Try adding Klonopin and see if it helps.

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

I'm taking about 600mg now. The side effects are more pronounced for me now. I've noticed slightly elevated levels of anxiousness and aggression; though manageable.

My tinnitus is still there; though I would say it's overall intensity has "slightly" reduced so it's easier to ignore during the day. It's not enough for me to say its definitive casual link; I could just be having a quiet day too!

 

[TomK]

Gabapentin was prescribed for nerve damage in my back, it helps greatly and it also lowers my acoustic trauma induced tinnitus!

600mg of Gabapentin every eight hours, yeah.

 

[Carltonr]

Three days. So yes it can be random. But it had been present for 24-7, every day, all day, up until I started the gabapentin. Day 1 was about a 50% reduction from the 2mg klonopin baseline. Day 3 was virtual absence.

@Ryan O
I have been following your posts in this thread, are you still T free?

Happen to see this thread just now. It is almost two years since but could not find your response then. I would like now to repeat Sonic17 question "are you still T free?"

 

[Arseny]

I have tried it a couple of times and experienced an additional sound after taking it.
Discontinued it in a short time. I think this sound has gone away. I have experienced several reoccurrences of this sound so it's hard to tell.

One positive thing that I've noticed is that it alleviated some burning pain from hyperacusis and made some sounds like YouTube videos on the phone less shrilling.

So if you're experiencing hyperacusis in form of neuropathic pain it's worth it trying Gabapentin. However if you notice an increase in tinnitus it's better to stop taking it since it has tinnitus and vertigo as a side effect.

 

[just1morething]

Gabapentin was prescribed for nerve damage in my back, it helps greatly and it also lowers my acoustic trauma induced tinnitus!

600mg of Gabapentin every eight hours, yeah.

That's quite a high dose. I have 300mg pills.

 

[Quiet please]

Made it much worse. Much!

 

[just1morething]

Made it much worse. Much!

Did the concoction work for you at all from another thread?

 

[Quiet please]

@just1morething
The Turmeric & Ginkgo experiment?
No, not after a while. It seemed to in the beginning like so many things. After a while, the tinnitus got louder. Had high hopes only to be dashed again.

 

[Alue]

Made it much worse. Much!

How long did you take it and what dosage? Was it a spike in loudness or new tones? Did it go away?

 

[Quiet please]

@Alue
I only took for 4-5 days. The spike was unbearable. My fault I neglected to look it up. Once I did, I saw it listed in the PDR as oxotoxic & can cause Tinnitus or make it worse. This drug was prescribed by my ENT & I'm upset he apparently ignored the warning. Not everyone is sensitive to it, but I was. It took almost a week of unrelentingly screeching to subside.

 

[Alue]

@Alue
I only took for 4-5 days. The spike was unbearable. My fault I neglected to look it up. Once I did, I saw it listed in the PDR as oxotoxic & can cause Tinnitus or make it worse. This drug was prescribed by my ENT & I'm upset he apparently ignored the warning. Not everyone is sensitive to it, but I was. It took almost a week of unrelentingly screeching to subside.

It does have ringing in the ears listed as a possible side effect, but I don't think it's ototoxic. I haven't seen any credible sources saying it is.

Sometimes I do wonder, though. I often take a single dosage of 300mg before bed. It helps me get a good night's sleep, but the tinnitus may seem a little louder after I take it then quieter in the morning after because I'm well rested.

 

[linearb]

I do not endorse this for anyone else; the path I walked here is a bit strange. However, the combination of Klonopin, Gabapentin and high-dose THC which I've been doing for 9 months now has been a significant game changer in my quality of life, after a decade or so of intrusive tinnitus.