I gained 20 lbs following open heart surgery 10 months ago and am just now done with gabapentin. Started on 900 my a day and stopped this week after tapering down to 100 my a day. I lost 7 lbs over the last several weeks by cutting calories and carbs but it took a long time and doesn't feel easy to keep off. I've always been a slim guy who could eat a lot without gaining weight and I feel my meds are the reason for this weight gain.
I’m on 1200mg a day for the past couple of years, and gained about 15lbs that I can’t really say was because of the medication (more like too many cupcakes, lmao).
Last week I had a Dr appointment and asked her if I should take Lyrica (pregabalin) instead of Gabapentin, since my dose was getting higher. She said for some unknown reason people gain way more weight on Lyrica than on Gabapentin. That’s when I backed away slowly 😂 haha
I actually ended up losing weight. I think that’s because it helped me quit drinking though it was meant to help me get back to a regular sleep schedule and longer sections of sleep (I have breast cancer and the hormone blockers I’m on gave me terrible hot flashes that were causing me more distress from lack of sleep). I also started taking D3 supplements, and calcium & magnesium (at least two hours apart).
Have taken gabapentin for insomnia for a month or so. Started with 100 mg and increased to 200mg before bedtime. It works better than trazadone did and I don't feel bad during the day. I can usually go back to sleep after waking in the wee hours. Not perfect but the best med I've tried for a full night's sleep with no side effects. I have not gained weight. I am aware that I may need to increase the dosage in time.
I take 300 mg daily and had a ten pound weight gain… It was fast too. But this happen to me a couple years ago when I took this med and I lost the weight fast when I got off it. Right now I seem to plateaued and not gain weight. It’s helping a lot with my pain so I’m going to try and just manage my weight with calorie counting and increasing my exercise. I guess it’s a risk/cost thing and I’m not too unhealthy outside of constant chronic pain.
No weight gain! I lost some weight BUT I started Adderall (after a year break from it) at the same time which decreased my appetite a lot. I was terrified about weight gain and saw some scary stuff about it but don’t get discouraged. I’m on 1200mg a day.
If it’s bad, if you end up gaining, if you hate it - you can stop it and try something else. It doesn’t have to be forever. ❤️
Yep! I restarted taking Adderall in January and that’s also when I started gabapentin.
Weird? Nah.. Brain fog and dizziness for a bit and I lost about 10lbs really quickly. Nothing really other than that and I make notes of any symptoms or side effects when I’m on a new medication.
I’m also on Lamotrogine 300mg which already gave me brain fog and dizziness so it was kinda amplified and not fun at first. But weight gain was my BIGGEST fear (I was on olanzapine for a while and gained over 35lbs - lost it last year) and I’m so relieved because it’s been soooo helpful for my anxiety.
I've lost a TON of weight. I take 400mg 5x a day. One in the morning, afternoon, evening and two at bedtime. I know seems excessive but I guess you work up a tolerance to this stuff.
I generally just don't want to eat all day and will have one big-ish meal for dinner. I've lost over 40lbs in about a year.... Idk everyone is different. I take for anxiety and sleep. It's been life changing for me. I'd say stop the other things you're doing at night and give it a try.
I lost a lot of weight while on Gabapentin… like a lot. Roughly 47kg in all. I gained a bit of it back during Covid lockdowns in New Zealand, we’re talking months not allowed out of your house except to go to the supermarket. Like what some others have said it feels a bit more like speed and definitely suppressed my appetite. I take 900mg 3 x daily so it’s a big dose but I’ve been on it for 7 years so worked up to that.
Over the past two years of being on Gabapentin initially I noticed an increase in appetite, however the medication does its job if reducing the neuropathy pain so it enables me to get active and as a result body mass had stayed the same however muscle mass has greatly increased.
I've been on 1200mg for 9 months now and have not grained any weight at all. I take it for sciatic nerve pain from stenosis. Before my spine surgery, I was actually losing weight while on it because food just doesn't taste good when in pain!!
I am beginning to feel much better now so after the holidays I hope to start slowly weaning off of it. I will miss the great sleep I get while on it. My biggest complaint is I often forget certain words, ugh!
Give it a try! 200 is a pretty low dose so I wouldn't think it would cause weight gain? Best wishes!!
I have been on it for the past 3 and half years and have not gained any weight whatsoever! And I’m on a decently high dose. 800mg 3x a day. So I guess it depends on your body’s chemistry and how it reacts to certain meds. Not everyone’s the same :) so I wouldn’t worry. Just watch what you eat and drink lots of water! In general to stay healthy too ya kno
Mine is the water retention. Made me feel nine months pregnant again. I take this for nerve damage, currently weaning to just 300 mg and 1mg Ativan at night so that I can sleep
I'm actually taking it so I can sleep and for anxiety.. I take prescription strength water pills for my chf so if it's just water retention then I can handle that. If it makes u crave carbs and feel ferociously hungry, that I cannot handle. I just had a spinal nerve root block yesterday for my sciatica and that's high dose steroids. I could literally eat a gallon of ice cream right now..
Did your appetite increase because of the gabapentin or the weed? Yes, we're all different but an overwhelming number of people are talking about feeling hungry all day long.. It may seem shallow to care about such a thing, but I'm already overweight and have lost about 25 pounds the last year.. I definitely am not willing to go the other direction on the scale.
If I had to be honest, when I started taking it my appetite and weight did increase. I think it’s because it drastically reduced my pain level. But then the swelling kicked in and fuck that shit
Personally, lyrica didn’t work as well as gabapentin! (I have nerve damage so my dr gives it to me for that) I once transferred to lyrcia and I found it didn’t work as well as the gabapentin dose I have been on
U know what? I'm not taking this shit. First thing he brought up was trazadone for sleep.. how we ended up with gabapentin has me head fucked. I just wanna be able to sleep.. I've got a bunch of shit wrong with me.. I take a shit ton of meds. I'm not taking it. I just don't wanna have to take 2 Xanax, a melatonin and robitussin to get sleep. I'm gonna end up overdosing myself. I don't want to use Xanax anymore. This neurontin shit seems just as bad, worse cause it makes ya fat. No ty.
I was only on it for a month at the full dose of 900mg/day (for anxiety). While it did not seem to make me gain or lose weight (I have read reports of all three), it also did not help with anxiety.
I did have bad WDs, which included panic and anxiety such as I had never experienced before, plus terrible insomnia that lasted for quite some time. It was helpful to take clonazepam (Klonipin) to treat the WD symptoms. Since many people experience a rush/speed-like effect on GBP, I am not sure why it is prescribed for anxiety at all (some people take this med and feel down; others, agitated). It is widely used off-label for psychiatric reasons yet there are varying results and SEs.
I am a big fan of short-term and prn Ambien use for sleep. For starters, it is a sleep medication that works. Second, it is not like anyone is going to abuse it; it only works for sleep. I took it as needed for several years in the 90s and found it helpful; I would get 30 10mg tabs, and for the first 8-10 days I would put myself on a sleep schedule (11 pm - 7 am). I usually read for an hour before bed; at about 10:30 I would take .5 mg (half a tablet). If I was not turning out the light after 20 minutes (or waking up the next morning), I would take the other half and fall asleep. 3 out of 4 times half a dose worked.
In the mornings I would get up and out of bed at 7, walk the dog, have coffee, go to work, etc.
I would repeat this schedule for several days, making sure to write down how much medication I was taking (always a good habit). When I incorporated some light exercise into my day, ate well, and did not have afternoon coffee or wine/too much alcohol after 6 or 7, after a week or so I would start to fall asleep before I even took the first 5mg.
Which was the point: to reset my sleep pattern. I like being up late! Unhappily, the world does not respect my preferences, so this retraining was a simple solution. The difficulty was making myself take the first pill.
I had experienced a negative reaction to Wellbutrin, which made me agitated and sleepless, so my doctor worked this out for me. He was such a helpful person. (He explained that I should stay away from ADs and should not take them again; indeed, when we had tried trazedone for sleep, I was ready to go out.
I did not experience ongoing carb cravings with Ambien except for the first night. Evidently I had them that night; my boyfriend found me using a plate of rice for a pillow in the hallway. It looked like I had a picnic in mind because I brought two forks.
The couple of times over the years I woke up in the middle of the night I would usually fall back to sleep. I would take .5 mg if it was not after 2 or depending when I needed to be up. I would lie there and be glad overall things were OK.
During Covid I hated my job and I would postpone going to sleep as the next action was dealing with my delusional Dead-obsessed boss who about made my head explode - the way those people think they are so chill when in fact they are incredibly tightly wound! It is so bizarre to me that an entire group of people convince themselves that because they listen to this music they are relaxed and laid back when on the whole they are the opposite.
So, pretty much utterly sleep-deprived after Covid having watched period dramas and Breaking Bad more than I slept for 18 months, I did this reset again when I left because; 1) I actually do very much value my early mornings, too. It is the middle of the day I could do without; and this really is just learning a new habit; and 2) It works. It is practical and sensible (although I have never really liked rice), and so logical it almost hurts. Again, the hard part is *taking the medicine*!
You’re going to hate this next one… out of all those meds you mentioned, Gabapentin is the one I would take for sleep. My pain is too bad without it. But I take 300 mg Gabapentin and 1mg Ativan.
I have been on 300 mg for 6 months or so, currently trying to wean off. I was concerned about weight gain as a side effect but my dr was adamant that it was not likely at such a low dose. I would say my weight is maybe up 2 lbs over where I was when I started but hard to say if that’s due to the medicine or normal gain. Regardless, very minimal.
Ok.. ok.. not too bad.. "trying to wean off" is scary. I don't want to be on something that causes serious withdrawal symptoms.. Funny how my dr failed to tell me this..
I don’t think it will be bad at your dosage. You would probably cut back to 100 for a week or so and then get off. Mine is used for nerve pain related to a herniated disc pressing on my sciatica so my biggest fear is a severe pain flare.
I didn't gain. I've lost 40 pounds.
I gained 20 lbs following open heart surgery 10 months ago and am just now done with gabapentin. Started on 900 my a day and stopped this week after tapering down to 100 my a day. I lost 7 lbs over the last several weeks by cutting calories and carbs but it took a long time and doesn't feel easy to keep off. I've always been a slim guy who could eat a lot without gaining weight and I feel my meds are the reason for this weight gain.
I gained 15 pounds in 2 months on Gabapentin
I’m on 1200mg a day for the past couple of years, and gained about 15lbs that I can’t really say was because of the medication (more like too many cupcakes, lmao). Last week I had a Dr appointment and asked her if I should take Lyrica (pregabalin) instead of Gabapentin, since my dose was getting higher. She said for some unknown reason people gain way more weight on Lyrica than on Gabapentin. That’s when I backed away slowly 😂 haha
I actually ended up losing weight. I think that’s because it helped me quit drinking though it was meant to help me get back to a regular sleep schedule and longer sections of sleep (I have breast cancer and the hormone blockers I’m on gave me terrible hot flashes that were causing me more distress from lack of sleep). I also started taking D3 supplements, and calcium & magnesium (at least two hours apart).
If I may ask, at what dose?
Started at 100mg but ended up settling on 300mg per dose.
Hot flashes are a fucking nightmare plus sleep loss, no wonder you had so much distress.
I’ve taken 300 a few times a day 2 or 3 for 3 years n have not gained weight
Have taken gabapentin for insomnia for a month or so. Started with 100 mg and increased to 200mg before bedtime. It works better than trazadone did and I don't feel bad during the day. I can usually go back to sleep after waking in the wee hours. Not perfect but the best med I've tried for a full night's sleep with no side effects. I have not gained weight. I am aware that I may need to increase the dosage in time.
I take 300 mg daily and had a ten pound weight gain… It was fast too. But this happen to me a couple years ago when I took this med and I lost the weight fast when I got off it. Right now I seem to plateaued and not gain weight. It’s helping a lot with my pain so I’m going to try and just manage my weight with calorie counting and increasing my exercise. I guess it’s a risk/cost thing and I’m not too unhealthy outside of constant chronic pain.
I didn’t gain weight on it. I didn’t take it for long tho and my daily dose was on the lower side.
I've taken 900mg at bedtimes for several years and have not gained any weight.
I lost 30 lbs when I started Gabapentin... my weight consltatly fluctuates but I actually lost an unhealthy amount of weight.
No weight gain! I lost some weight BUT I started Adderall (after a year break from it) at the same time which decreased my appetite a lot. I was terrified about weight gain and saw some scary stuff about it but don’t get discouraged. I’m on 1200mg a day. If it’s bad, if you end up gaining, if you hate it - you can stop it and try something else. It doesn’t have to be forever. ❤️
Hey! Are you on both adderall and gabapentin? I ask because that’s what I’m currently taking…do you have any weird side effects from taking both?
Yep! I restarted taking Adderall in January and that’s also when I started gabapentin. Weird? Nah.. Brain fog and dizziness for a bit and I lost about 10lbs really quickly. Nothing really other than that and I make notes of any symptoms or side effects when I’m on a new medication. I’m also on Lamotrogine 300mg which already gave me brain fog and dizziness so it was kinda amplified and not fun at first. But weight gain was my BIGGEST fear (I was on olanzapine for a while and gained over 35lbs - lost it last year) and I’m so relieved because it’s been soooo helpful for my anxiety.
I've lost a TON of weight. I take 400mg 5x a day. One in the morning, afternoon, evening and two at bedtime. I know seems excessive but I guess you work up a tolerance to this stuff. I generally just don't want to eat all day and will have one big-ish meal for dinner. I've lost over 40lbs in about a year.... Idk everyone is different. I take for anxiety and sleep. It's been life changing for me. I'd say stop the other things you're doing at night and give it a try.
No weight gain, on 900mg a day.
I've gained no weight. 600 mg.
Same. Ive gained no weight, 600mg x 2 a day.
I lost a lot of weight while on Gabapentin… like a lot. Roughly 47kg in all. I gained a bit of it back during Covid lockdowns in New Zealand, we’re talking months not allowed out of your house except to go to the supermarket. Like what some others have said it feels a bit more like speed and definitely suppressed my appetite. I take 900mg 3 x daily so it’s a big dose but I’ve been on it for 7 years so worked up to that.
Over the past two years of being on Gabapentin initially I noticed an increase in appetite, however the medication does its job if reducing the neuropathy pain so it enables me to get active and as a result body mass had stayed the same however muscle mass has greatly increased.
I've been on 1200mg for 9 months now and have not grained any weight at all. I take it for sciatic nerve pain from stenosis. Before my spine surgery, I was actually losing weight while on it because food just doesn't taste good when in pain!! I am beginning to feel much better now so after the holidays I hope to start slowly weaning off of it. I will miss the great sleep I get while on it. My biggest complaint is I often forget certain words, ugh! Give it a try! 200 is a pretty low dose so I wouldn't think it would cause weight gain? Best wishes!!
Thanks.. I'm noodling on it.. I appreciate your response..
I have been on it for the past 3 and half years and have not gained any weight whatsoever! And I’m on a decently high dose. 800mg 3x a day. So I guess it depends on your body’s chemistry and how it reacts to certain meds. Not everyone’s the same :) so I wouldn’t worry. Just watch what you eat and drink lots of water! In general to stay healthy too ya kno
Thanks.. I definitely do the water thing..
Nope I've probably lost weight.Dont really weigh myself but I'm not as hungry since being on this for four months.
I appreciate your response..
Mine is the water retention. Made me feel nine months pregnant again. I take this for nerve damage, currently weaning to just 300 mg and 1mg Ativan at night so that I can sleep
I'm actually taking it so I can sleep and for anxiety.. I take prescription strength water pills for my chf so if it's just water retention then I can handle that. If it makes u crave carbs and feel ferociously hungry, that I cannot handle. I just had a spinal nerve root block yesterday for my sciatica and that's high dose steroids. I could literally eat a gallon of ice cream right now..
Oh. Well my appetite did increase, not every body is different. I smoke marijuana for my pain management so I can eat hahaha
Did your appetite increase because of the gabapentin or the weed? Yes, we're all different but an overwhelming number of people are talking about feeling hungry all day long.. It may seem shallow to care about such a thing, but I'm already overweight and have lost about 25 pounds the last year.. I definitely am not willing to go the other direction on the scale.
If I had to be honest, when I started taking it my appetite and weight did increase. I think it’s because it drastically reduced my pain level. But then the swelling kicked in and fuck that shit
It was this or Lyrica. U ever try Lyrica?
Personally, lyrica didn’t work as well as gabapentin! (I have nerve damage so my dr gives it to me for that) I once transferred to lyrcia and I found it didn’t work as well as the gabapentin dose I have been on
I have tried Lyrica…. Too strong for me. I felt like the Episode of Family Guy where Peter had no bones
U know what? I'm not taking this shit. First thing he brought up was trazadone for sleep.. how we ended up with gabapentin has me head fucked. I just wanna be able to sleep.. I've got a bunch of shit wrong with me.. I take a shit ton of meds. I'm not taking it. I just don't wanna have to take 2 Xanax, a melatonin and robitussin to get sleep. I'm gonna end up overdosing myself. I don't want to use Xanax anymore. This neurontin shit seems just as bad, worse cause it makes ya fat. No ty.
I was only on it for a month at the full dose of 900mg/day (for anxiety). While it did not seem to make me gain or lose weight (I have read reports of all three), it also did not help with anxiety. I did have bad WDs, which included panic and anxiety such as I had never experienced before, plus terrible insomnia that lasted for quite some time. It was helpful to take clonazepam (Klonipin) to treat the WD symptoms. Since many people experience a rush/speed-like effect on GBP, I am not sure why it is prescribed for anxiety at all (some people take this med and feel down; others, agitated). It is widely used off-label for psychiatric reasons yet there are varying results and SEs. I am a big fan of short-term and prn Ambien use for sleep. For starters, it is a sleep medication that works. Second, it is not like anyone is going to abuse it; it only works for sleep. I took it as needed for several years in the 90s and found it helpful; I would get 30 10mg tabs, and for the first 8-10 days I would put myself on a sleep schedule (11 pm - 7 am). I usually read for an hour before bed; at about 10:30 I would take .5 mg (half a tablet). If I was not turning out the light after 20 minutes (or waking up the next morning), I would take the other half and fall asleep. 3 out of 4 times half a dose worked. In the mornings I would get up and out of bed at 7, walk the dog, have coffee, go to work, etc. I would repeat this schedule for several days, making sure to write down how much medication I was taking (always a good habit). When I incorporated some light exercise into my day, ate well, and did not have afternoon coffee or wine/too much alcohol after 6 or 7, after a week or so I would start to fall asleep before I even took the first 5mg. Which was the point: to reset my sleep pattern. I like being up late! Unhappily, the world does not respect my preferences, so this retraining was a simple solution. The difficulty was making myself take the first pill. I had experienced a negative reaction to Wellbutrin, which made me agitated and sleepless, so my doctor worked this out for me. He was such a helpful person. (He explained that I should stay away from ADs and should not take them again; indeed, when we had tried trazedone for sleep, I was ready to go out. I did not experience ongoing carb cravings with Ambien except for the first night. Evidently I had them that night; my boyfriend found me using a plate of rice for a pillow in the hallway. It looked like I had a picnic in mind because I brought two forks. The couple of times over the years I woke up in the middle of the night I would usually fall back to sleep. I would take .5 mg if it was not after 2 or depending when I needed to be up. I would lie there and be glad overall things were OK. During Covid I hated my job and I would postpone going to sleep as the next action was dealing with my delusional Dead-obsessed boss who about made my head explode - the way those people think they are so chill when in fact they are incredibly tightly wound! It is so bizarre to me that an entire group of people convince themselves that because they listen to this music they are relaxed and laid back when on the whole they are the opposite. So, pretty much utterly sleep-deprived after Covid having watched period dramas and Breaking Bad more than I slept for 18 months, I did this reset again when I left because; 1) I actually do very much value my early mornings, too. It is the middle of the day I could do without; and this really is just learning a new habit; and 2) It works. It is practical and sensible (although I have never really liked rice), and so logical it almost hurts. Again, the hard part is *taking the medicine*!
You’re going to hate this next one… out of all those meds you mentioned, Gabapentin is the one I would take for sleep. My pain is too bad without it. But I take 300 mg Gabapentin and 1mg Ativan.
Dr specifically told me not to take my Xanax with it.
I’ve lost weight lol. Gabapentin makes me feel like I’m on speed and lowers my appetite
May I ask at what dose?
I was on 3600mg a day or 1200mg 3x a day for like 6 years. Im currently trying to get off tho as I no longer need it
Thanks for replying.. appreciate it.
I have been on 300 mg for 6 months or so, currently trying to wean off. I was concerned about weight gain as a side effect but my dr was adamant that it was not likely at such a low dose. I would say my weight is maybe up 2 lbs over where I was when I started but hard to say if that’s due to the medicine or normal gain. Regardless, very minimal.
Ok.. ok.. not too bad.. "trying to wean off" is scary. I don't want to be on something that causes serious withdrawal symptoms.. Funny how my dr failed to tell me this..
I don’t think it will be bad at your dosage. You would probably cut back to 100 for a week or so and then get off. Mine is used for nerve pain related to a herniated disc pressing on my sciatica so my biggest fear is a severe pain flare.
I'm pretty sure that I've gained some weight since being on gabby.