Reply to Jessicah

Everyone is different; your reaction could be different then mine. So this is only what I experienced.

1). Absolutely NO side effects except very little light-headed feelings ( like a 6 Oz glass of wine would give). This went away in a day or two.

When I was in my 20’s a doctor over prescribed cortisone for/to me. This caused me to have suicidal thoughts. I love life and this was so out of character for me that I vowed never to take, smell or hold cortisone again 🙁

For decades when asked “Are you allergic to any medications?” I would write ‘Cortisone’. Then 5 years ago when I was 54 I broke my foot (On a tread mill ???). The podiatrist started questioning me about my allergic to cortisone statement because he wanted me to use cortisone. I was embarrassed and reluctant to tell him why. He came right out and said “you had goofy thoughts, didn’t you?” I replied yes and he stated “you were probably overdosed, let me try.” He did and it instantly relieved the pain. I no longer write “allergic to cortisone.” But, that experienced scared me enough that when I read Gabapentin and Lyrica could cause suicidal thoughts I said NO WAY am I going to use it !

Then the CIDP pain started. I tried the Gabapentin out of desperation and have finally got some relief from most CIDP pain. I can even sleep for 6 to 8 hours without waking every 15 minutes from pain. Now I keep some in my car (just in case) I take 300 mg every 5 hours. It is the only thing that gave me full relief from pain. I intend on trying Lyrica in the future. Alcohol is not recommended to be used with it. The only reason “WHY NOT” I could find is it may make the euphoric state a little more intense. I’m a heart patient and I have 2 to 3 glasses of dark red dry wine (Merlot, Cab, Burgundy, etc.) in the evening. I make sure I tell ALL my doctors this and so far not one has admonished me to stop the wine. I have read where others on this forum use Gabapentin for the same reasons. This is not a recommendation, it’s just my experience. Hope this helps.