“yep, big no for me on gabapentin - eye issues from it. Also totally ineffective for me during the 10-12 days I was on it until my eyesight was so blurry I thought I was going blind.”
A-ha! I just finished a round of gabapentin (prescribed for back pain) and toward the end I noticed my eyesight getting blurry and couldn’t figure out why. I thought it was excess FReeping.
I also have to watch uveitis/irits as it is but one component of the non-rheumatic immunological condition(s) that I have (AS/PsA). I’ve failed a number of prophylactic migraine meds as a result of eye-related side effects.
Sometimes side effects can be lived with for long enough to “get over/past them” as the body adjusts, other times they can’t. In cases like mine where I can’t distinguish if it is uveitis flares or the meds and I have to go get yet another vision screening/checkup and fight with my insurance about it, well you get where I’m going with that.
Understanding the root of my chronic pain was key to getting back to somewhat normal. My low back pain was mainly caused by my hips (FAI and labral tears) as well as axial disease in the SI area, and to some extent my neck (C5-7 have been surgically fused for about 15 years now). It was the slow speed at which I was healing from surgeries and injuries that drove my podiatrist (of all the docs I was seeing) to insist I needed to see a good rheumatologist. I’m glad she was paying attention to things other than just my feet (the striped appearance of my fingernails and toenails was one thing she mentioned).