Posted on 05/23/2022 2:14:38 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
The drug gabapentin, currently prescribed to control seizures and reduce nerve pain, may enhance recovery of movement after a stroke by helping neurons on the undamaged side of the brain take up the signaling work of lost cells.
Results showed that daily gabapentin treatment for six weeks after a stroke restored fine motor functions in the animals' upper extremities. Functional recovery also continued after treatment was stopped, the researchers found.
The team previously found that gabapentin blocks activity of a protein that, when expressed at elevated levels after an injury to the brain or spinal cord, hinders re-growth of axons, the long, slender extensions of nerve cell bodies that transmit messages.
The primary treatment focus after an ischemic stroke is re-establishing blood flow in the brain as quickly as possible, but this research suggests that gabapentin has no role at that acute stage: The recovery results were similar whether the treatment started one hour or one day after the stroke.
Instead, the drug's effects are evident in specific motor neurons whose axons carry signals from the central nervous system to the body that tell muscles to move.
After the stroke in study mice, neurons on the undamaged, or contralateral, side of the brain began sprouting axons that restored signals for upper extremity voluntary movement that had been silenced by neuron death after the stroke. This is an example of plasticity, the central nervous system's ability to fix damaged structures, connections and signals.
Compared to control mice that did not receive the drug, mice that received six weeks of daily gabapentin treatment regained fine motor function in their forelimbs. Two weeks after treatment was stopped, researchers observed, functional improvements persisted.
Gabapentin also appeared to have an effect in the stroke-affected brain on non-neuron cells that influence the timing of message transmission.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
This appears to work if started a day later, as well.
I have to take it daily.
It’s a good drug.
That’s what I pay for 30caps of 300mg Gabapentin. Been on it for Peripheral Neuropathy in my feet for 3yrs. It works? Meh...
Hated this stuff. Took it for nerve pain a decade or more ago. Lasted a few weeks and I couldn’t stand it. Been taking steroids and otc pain killers.
I took Gabapentin for six weeks when I developed migraines in 2010. It’s a great drug for most people, but some have bad nightmares while taking it, like my sister did.
I was having a bad migraine every other day, but the gabapentin stopped them cold. It put me to sleep quite well, knocking me out within an hour after taking it.
The downside was that I had constant low-level vertigo. I had dreams where I would be going around a bend, down a rough-water river. Sometimes the dream changed to stopping on the lip of a waterfall, still rocking in the rough water.
$957.99 for thirty day supply-Cash price
Thank goodness for insurance. It brings it down to $10.
However, the high cost forces you into the medicare insurance “donut hole” part way thru the year. Then you end up paying 25% for all your drugs for the rest of the year.
ping
Just pay cash for the drug and use the Goodrx discount.
I also take it daily. And I feel it when I forget to.
A wonder drug for some and does nothing for others. But worth a try!!
the assess at the FDA are planning to turn it into a scheduled drug
Evidently some fools get a ride off it
I tried to explain that there are druggies that get a ride off of any pill that passes their tonsils.
We found out about the donut hole last year. My doctor gave me your advice for this year. Thanks. I hope that helps others though.
If you have a Sams Club or Costco, you can ask them for their member price, without any discounts or insurance applied. That can actually be cheapest, especially if asking for a 90 day supply vs. 30.
Me too. Neurologist put me on it for nerve damage in my foot. Helps a lot.
Darn fine sleeping med too!
BTTT!!!
For me Gabacrazy was one of the worst. The textbook definition of “Crazy Pill”. And we need to double or triple the dose to see if its really gonna work for you.
No thanks and I hope I dont have a stroke!
Bkmk/gabapentin
I take OTC (cheap) Gaba several times a week for tinnitus. It seems to be helping.
I agree with the Meh...
I have peripheral neuropathy but also vascular disease. The pain is muscular from lack of enough oxygenation and I keep having to get stents to open up the vessels. But the gabapentin does help to take the edge off the pain. I can walk slowly but very little distance. It helps a little.
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