Neurontin?? and question about seizures...please help - Epilepsy Message Board

alexiwildchild · 08-14-2007, 04:40 PM

hey everyone! i have a few questions. i have been having dizziness/weird visual problems all day every day for about 9 weeks now. been to ENT and neruotologist and was referred to a neurologist, as they suspect something central nervous and not related to an inner ear problem due to constant headaches, balance issues, and the weird dizzy/visual problems. i saw the neuro yesterday and he scheduled me for an MRI and an EEG this week...i've never had either one. he also prescribed me Neurontin, as he thinks i may be either experiencing migraine associated vertigo, possibly MS or seizures that i don't know about. he also did a b-12 blood test, which i won't have the results til tomorrow.

questions are:
1)has anyone here taken Neurontin? how long did the drowsiness last? did you have any weird side effects other than that? i am on a 300mg/day dose to be taken at bedtime-and i know why today...geez, i could sleep all day.

2) can you have seizures and not even know it? would that cause weird shaky/wavy vision problems to have all the time?

i am so confused and am really worried about all this. i am worried about flipping out in the MRI tube also...ewwww.

any info would be greatly appreciated! hope all is well

neurowreck · 08-14-2007, 05:21 PM

I've been on Neurontin for almost 11 years, and after the initial drowsiness, I'm fine with it. I take 600mg twice a day. It's prescribed for another disorder with my autonomic system, but many of my meds are dual purpose, and seem to work fairly well together.

You can have seizures and not know it- ask someone close to let you know, so you can start to identify the feelings before and after. Those will help the doc as well.

Getting settled on a med can be a long road of different ones, but I got fairly lucky.

TopamaxKillsMe · 08-14-2007, 06:20 PM

I've never been on neurontin but my mother had a terrible experience on it. She was on it for neuroopathy. She had these intense cognitive side effects where she had to be hospitalized, she eventually went psychotic and had to be hospitalized. The nuerontin was determined to be the cause of all that wacky behavior. I have been on Topamax, which I found out is in the same "family" as drugs as Nuerontin and I have had similar cognitive side effects.

All I can say is be careful on this medicine. If you start to feel ANYTHING odd (memory, anxious), get on the phone w/ your doctor. Do as much research as you can about Neurontin. I know a lot about Topomax, not so much about Neurontin aside from my mom's experience. If you don't feel comfortable taking it, remember you have options.