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[Hollysmum]

 Hello!  My doctor told me about this forum, and how helpful and supportive it is - it certainly looks that way!  I will be 49 on Saturday, and have been "suffering" from potential menopausal symptoms for about three months now, so a novice, really!  The hot flushes were seriously awful, hence my visit to the doctor, and I've been taking gabapentin for nearly four weeks now.  Whilst the flushes have subsided to virtually none a day, I've started to put on weight at a frightening rate - my husband and I did Slimming World and lost nearly seven stones between us, and I really don't want to be putting it back on like this.  Does anyone else have this experience of gabapentin?  If so, did you continue with it, or go back for further advice and a potential alternative?  I think, too, that I have another side effect - I always feel as though I've been through a thorough workout at double time, as my muscles ache and ache, and I really feel like an old woman!  I barely crawled through my regular Zumba class yesterday evening, whereas I normally bounce around quite happily.  I'm an annoyingly cheerful person normally, but these last couple of weeks I could quite happily just curl up with my cat and ignore everyone else.  Of course, people expect you to carry on as you normally do, and some get irritated when you don't show your usual enthusiasm for things, or accuse you of being miserable (only some, who just don't understand), and I have found myself experiencing this absolutely white hot rage, boiling up from somewhere inside, and usually over the most everyday niggles that I would generally just brush aside.  Initially, I found myself raging against my poor husband, who was left standing dumbfounded on more than one occasion at my outpouring of expletives!  I truly do believe that you become capable of doing terrible things at times like this, and I had to tell myself that this was not my normal state of mind and that it would pass, as it did, of course.  Thankfully, these feelings of white hot rage have subsided quickly, prior to me starting on the gabapentin.  I've chosen, with my family, friends and colleagues, to make light of what's happening to me, because I can't stop it happening, and therefore I shall blame my hormones for virtually anything, if I think I can get away with it!

[Teapea71]

Welcome Hollysmum,
                            Gabapentin is renound for weight gain and is usually prescribed for neuropathic (nerve) pain. It is certainly not a first line treatment in treating menopausal symptoms  Did your GP do any bloods to check your FSH and thyroid function etc?? Are you still having a periods? Lethargy, irritability and anxiety are common (peri)/ menopausal symptoms and you are definately in the right age bracket!! Is there any reason why your doctor wouldnt prescribe HRT??? Sorry to ask so many questions...just helpful to get a better picture of your problems. You will find the forum very informative...lots of good advice too from those in the same boat...keep your chin up!!
x Teapea71

[Hollysmum]

Hello Teapea71!  Yes, I'm just waiting on the results of my blood test - I've had a week away on holiday, so will be chasing him this week.  I'm not lethargic, generally, and the irritability really only seemed to last for a couple of weeks (swearing loudly at poor hubby etc!).  No periods since June, so far (yay!). My doctor said that it's not now the norm to instantly prescribe HRT, which I feel is a good thing, since everyone's different, and he said that he wanted to try the gabapentin first, and to report back to him if I felt that it wasn't right for me.  Other than eliminating the hot flushes, I seem to have more symptoms with it than without! 

[Hurdity]

Hi Hollysmum



Unfortunately your doctor is mistaken and outdated in his view of HRT.  Your menopausal symptoms are a result of oestrogen deficiency and the best treatment to treat this is to replace the oestrogen. It's great your doctor recommends this site but strange that he hasn't read all the information and latest papers which should change his view

If you read the information on this website (all the headings and sub-menus on the left) there is a wealth of information about menopause, HRT and treatments. You will see that Dr Currie, the gynaecologist who founded the site, actually would prescribe HRT as first line of treatment for menopausal symptoms, unless there is a good medical reason why not.

Of course we are all different but it should be your decision. I for one would be horrified if my doctor prescribed some strange drug designed for another use, for menopause!

Because of your side effects especially I would urge you to give yourself a crash course in menopause and HRT and seriously consider it!

If it is the risks you are worried about - these have been overplayed and Dr Currie presents the latest summary of thinking which says that for all women under 50  and those between 50 and 60 and having symptoms, the benefits outweight the risks.

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/balance.php

Hurdity x

Edit - typo correction - I'm a bit intolerant about mine when I see them!

[Taz2]

Hi Hollysmum - welcome from me too.

We had a thread about Gabapentin running before http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php'topic=22453.0 which may be helpful.

Taz x

[Hollysmum]

Hi, Hurdity and Taz2!  Hurdity - I like your approach - no messing!  I'm definitely going to ask about HRT - I don't like taking any medicines, really, but I don't see this as a medicine, as such.  Gabapentin certainly is, and I did have a bit of a "Woah!" reaction when he suggested trying it, especially when he said that it's normally prescribed for seizures or neuropathic pain!!  As long as my blood test is A-OK, I don't see why I shouldn't go for HRT.  I, too, tend to feel that any perceived risks are over-played, and not just with regard to HRT.  I really don't want to ache all over for the better part of every day, and I don't want to regain the weight I so laboriously lost (since it seems the entire health profession considers that being overweight is the cause of every disease and condition known to man...!).  Thank you, Taz2, for the link - I shall look at this with great interest prior to returning to my doctor.  I think I'm going to enjoy this Forum!

[Joyce]

Hi from me too.

Been on HRT for number of years. Had a break a few years back, but it was hell. I joined this forum around that time. GP put me back on HRT. I'd read all the blurb about HRT but decided that life quality was by far the most important thing.

I've been on Gabapentin, but for neuralgia. I did put on a bit of weight, I was warned about it. However, came off it a few months later. Weight didn't fall off, unfortunately. Put on about half a stone.

[Hollysmum]

Hi, Cubagirl!  I think that the "experts", in whatever field, are always far too quick to scaremonger us into not trying things - when you examine their figures properly, you nearly always find that the percentages of risk are far, far smaller than we're led to believe.  I, too, believe in quality of life - we only get the one (that we know of for certain), after all.  I would like to bet that if it were men who had to go through menopause, a solution to all symptoms would have been found at double quick speed years and years ago!

[Taz2]

I think that a "cure" has been found in HRT but, unfortunately, there are risks associated with the length of time the body is exposed to oestrogen but - as you say - it's about quality of life. I have a neighbour currently dealing with the final stages of oestrogen-receptive breast cancer. She used HRT but after much consideration she is still pleased that she had eight years of "living" while taking it as her life before then was pretty miserable. Her children, however, are really sad that she may have shortened her life due to using it. She's 57 and her motto is still "life is what you make it".

Taz x

[Hollysmum]

Exactly, Taz  - I look at my mother, who has Alzheimer's, and wonder what she ever did to deserve that, and what might have caused it, and indeed, am I more likely to get it because she's got it, but you just can't go through your life wondering and waiting to see.  Your neighbour's clearly a very brave lady.