New Form of Neurontin (Gabapentin) More Effective for Fibromyalgia?

[Cort]

It's not much of a study - open-label, single-arm, no placebo and small. It does suggest that the extended release form of Neurontin might be better than the normal form. Neurontin is the anti-convulsant Lyrica was developed from. Apparently the manufacturers felt there was still some life in the old drug as they've developed a new form of it.

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26059271?dopt=Abstract&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Pain Pract. 2015 Jun 8. doi: 10.1111/papr.12319. [Epub ahead of print]The Effect of a Novel form of Extended-Release Gabapentin on Pain and Sleep in Fibromyalgia Subjects: An Open-Label Pilot Study. North JM1,2, Hong KS3, Rauck RL1.

We assessed the efficacy and safety of extended-release gabapentin in a 15-week, open-label, single-arm, single-center study in patients with fibromyalgia (FM).
METHODS:

Subjects with documented diagnosis of FM were allowed to participate in the study. We opened enrollment to those who have tried and failed gabapentinoids such as gabapentin or pregabalin due to side effects. Subjects with autoimmune conditions, and or taking opioids for management of their FM pain, were excluded from the study. Subjects were given an extended-release gabapentin starter pack and treated for total of 12 weeks. The primary study endpoint of pain relief was measured using Numeric Pain Rating System (NPRS) scores, and secondary study endpoints were measured with Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Patient's Global Impression of Change (PGIC), and Medical Outcome Sleep questionnaires (MOS).
RESULTS:

A total of 34 subjects were enrolled and 29 subjects completed the starter pack (85%). Patients reported significant pain relief on NPRS by end of 4 weeks (P < 0.0001) on NPRS. Subjects also reported similar magnitude of improvements in FM and its impact on daily life by end of 4 weeks on FIQ (P < 0.0001). Survey of MOS showed our subjects reporting improved sleep quantity (on average, 1.2 hours over baseline) with gradual and statistically significant improvement in quality. Improvements in primary and secondary measurements were reflected in PGIC, with significant improvement in patient's impression of FM by week 8.
LIMITATIONS:

Small sample size, geographical bias, relatively short duration of treatment, and single-arm study without control group.
CONCLUSIONS:

Extended-release gabapentin relieved FM pain symptoms and improved quality-of-life for the FM subjects studied. Subjects reported improvements in both quantity and quality of sleep.
© 2015 World Institute of Pain.
KEYWORDS:

Fibromyalgia Impact

 

[JennyJenny]

I wonder if it will be better. At least they can now bill more for a new drug. I use Gabapentin and it saved my life although too late to keep me from becoming disabled. It helps me from going into seizure like activity in my sleep. It is much more than RLS, more like my whole body going into convulsions.

 

[Dee4dogs]

Gabapentin didn't help me with CFS or FM. It was prescribed along with pain meds for herniated discs. The only thing it did was take away the tingling feeling in my hand. I gained A LOT of weight on it and I didn't it useful so I went off of it.

 

[Cort]

If its the same drug i think all its goung to do is help with convenience of taking 1 pill a day vs multiple times like gabapentine now.

interestingly my chemist today said lyrica will be generic soon, so guessing they will do something similar or a new drug but in same class as lyrica and gabapentine will come onto the market .

Ha! Lyrica is going generic. I heard that - I imagine drug companies are going to be all over that and Pfizer is going to take a big hit. I imagine we will see a new formulation...

 

[Cort]

Gabapentin didn't help me with CFS or FM. It was prescribed along with pain meds for herniated discs. The only thing it did was take away the tingling feeling in my hand. I gained A LOT of weight on it and I didn't it useful so I went off of it.

If you gained weight on Gaba you probably would on Lyrica -the updated version of Gaba - that's a common side-effect unfortunately. Did the weight come off easily once you got off the drug?

 

[Dee4dogs]

If you gained weight on Gaba you probably would on Lyrica -the updated version of Gaba - that's a common side-effect unfortunately. Did the weight come off easily once you got off the drug?

No, the weight didn't come off easily when I stopped taking it. It's been over 4 months since I stopped taking it and I'm now paying a lot of attention to reducing my carb intake to loose weight. I had always been a thin person who never really had to be too concerned about dieting too.
I had also tried Lyrica several years ago. After I believe was the 2nd week of taking it, one day I became extremely tired. It felt as if my blood pressure plummeted and had to go to sleep. It was a scary experience, after that I discontinued taking it.

 

[Roseann]

Wondering when this new drug would be available for use? I take Gabapentin throughout the day, and would be interested in taking some kind of medicine that wouldn't need to be taken so frequently.

 

[Bertiedog]

I know this is an old thread but wanted to post of my experience with Pregabalin. I do suffer with ME/cFS but I am only moderately affected. However I have horrendous migraines that have recently gone out of control, arriving daily no matter what I do.

It was with a feeling of desperation that last week I tried Lyrica 25 mg and within an hour or so I could feel the pain which had been there for days start to lift a bit and became bearable so that I didn't need anymore painkiller until the next day. That morning on waking the pain was worse which is the usual pattern, its like sleep has a very bad effect on me - so I took another 25 mg Lyrica together with 50 mg Triptan and a Paracetamol.

Actually it was a mistake to take it with the Triptan because I felt completely drugged up for several hours but gradually after several hours, the pain lifted and stayed away for the whole of the day. (What a relief). On the next 4 mornings I have taken the Lyrica and every time within about 3 hours all pain gone and today no painkiller at all just the Lyrica, something i haven't been able to do for weeks.

To say that I cannot quite believe it is a massive understatement.

Finally I would like to add that I think I know of why it works for me as I looked up Wicki how the drug works and found it enhances the enzyme GAD which converts glutamic acid into GABA so instead of the excitory glutamate one gets the calming GABA (to the brain). I know that I am homozygous for 2 SNPs on the GAD1 enzyme so could this be the reason why this drug has worked so fantastically for me?

 

[Cort]

I know this is an old thread but wanted to post of my experience with Pregabalin. I do suffer with ME/cFS but I am only moderately affected. However I have horrendous migraines that have recently gone out of control, arriving daily no matter what I do.

It was with a feeling of desperation that last week I tried Lyrica 25 mg and within an hour or so I could feel the pain which had been there for days start to lift a bit and became bearable so that I didn't need anymore painkiller until the next day. That morning on waking the pain was worse which is the usual pattern, its like sleep has a very bad effect on me - so I took another 25 mg Lyrica together with 50 mg Triptan and a Paracetamol.

Actually it was a mistake to take it with the Triptan because I felt completely drugged up for several hours but gradually after several hours, the pain lifted and stayed away for the whole of the day. (What a relief). On the next 4 mornings I have taken the Lyrica and every time within about 3 hours all pain gone and today no painkiller at all just the Lyrica, something i haven't been able to do for weeks.

To say that I cannot quite believe it is a massive understatement.

Finally I would like to add that I think I know of why it works for me as I looked up Wicki how the drug works and found it enhances the enzyme GAD which converts glutamic acid into GABA so instead of the excitory glutamate one gets the calming GABA (to the brain). I know that I am homozygous for 2 SNPs on the GAD1 enzyme so could this be the reason why this drug has worked so fantastically for me?

That's great news Bertiedog.

Lyrica is one of those drugs I think which works very well in the right person and not very well (has bad side effects in others). Congrats on being one of those it works well for. A new version of Lyrica is being tested by the way (mirogabalin) which may be more powerful and with fewer side effects. May it be so!

 

[Bertiedog]

I am pleased to say that this very low dose of Lyrica is still working for me. Quite often I still need to take one paracetamol but not always. Only once in 2 weeks have I needed 50 mg of taipan to get rid of a migraine but it was gone after 3 hours. I feel like this drug could change my life!