Lovely Side Effects

I have a dilemma...

I have just discovered something about my favorite meds.  Something that is not good.

If any of you have read my other posts, you know that I live with a lot of pain and tend to be pretty tired.

My psychiatrist prescribed Gabapentin to help with my depression (associated to my bipolar).  I have not seen a positive effect on the mood but I had seen such a positive effect on the pain and the sleeping that I have to say I love this pill.  It takes at least 50% of my pain and exhaustion away.

Because I've been telling my psychiatrist that I have not been seeing any effect on my moods, I have been telling her I am still very depressed, even mentioned last time that I was tired of waiting for things to get better, that I was thinking about ending it more and more, she has been increasing the dosage.

I had run out of pills recently and I noticed that yes the pain was bad, I had headaches, I was feeling really awful physically, could not sleep, BUT the suicidal thought went away.  Even though things were worst, technically.

I also noticed that while on Gabapentin I don't seem to have IBS, and when I forget the IBS comes on full force.  This morning I decided to go see if Gabapentin has some effect on the digestive system, more specifically an effect similar to bran.... if you know what I mean....

On Wikipedia, I did find this reference:

Gastrointestinal side effects of very high doses of gabapentin are extremely common. Profuse diarrhea is common with doses of gabapentin exceeding 4800 mg at a time, or perhaps more over the course of a day. It is likely that the large quantities of binders and fillers in gabapentin tablets cause diarrhea, although the sheer volume of the alkaloid itself needed to produce recreational effects may irritate the GI tract causing the diarrhea

I don't have profuse diarrhea, nor am I at anything near 4800mg.  Just so you know... but there is a correlation to "regularity"

While reading I also saw these passages:

Negative

Gabapentin has been prescribed in the mental health context. Numerous trials show that it is not effective alone as a mood-stabilizing treatment for bipolar disorder and so has no therapeutic advantage in having fewer side-effects over better established bipolar drugs such as lithium and valproic acid. Gabapentin is useful in the treatment of anxiety associated with bipolar disorder, but has limited usefulness in disorders such as social anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in treatment-resistant depression, and for insomnia.^[22][23]

Also:

Suicide

Gabapentin has been associated with an increased risk of suicidal acts or violent deaths.^[31] In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning of an increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in patients taking gabapentin, along with other anticonvulsant drugs^[32] modifying the packaging insert to reflect this.^[25] In July 2009, the manufacturer of gabapentin (Pfizer) went to trial regarding the association between gabapentin and the increased risk of suicide.^[33] 

Furthermore:

Although some small, non-controlled studies in the 1990s – mostly sponsored by gabapentin's manufacturer – suggested that gabapentin treatment for bipolar disorder may be promising,^[18] other more recent and better controlled studies have found it to be no more effective (and in one study, slightly less effective) than placebo.^[55] Subsequent to the corporate acquisition of the original patent holder, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer admitted that there had been violations of FDA guidelines regarding the promotion of unproven off-label uses for gabapentin in the Franklin v. Pfizer case. In addition, the FDA black box warning states: "Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), including Neurontin, increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior in patients taking these drugs for any indication."^[56]

I know, Wikipedia cannot be taken as a "reliable source" This information is also confirmed by Drugs.com, rxlist.com and the FDA.  Starting to look pretty valid to me.

So this medication has been the only one so far that has helped with my fibromyalgia more than hindered but it may be the factor to me recent suicidal tendencies.

She has started me on small doses of Abilify.  I fear this will make me gain even more weight.  The Abilify may help take away the suicidal factor..  Mind you it has also been linked to increased suicidal thoughts...

Can nothing help the depression and pain????


Thanks for reading...