Medications play a crucial part when treating pains and discomforts. Numerous medicines in terms of drugs and treatments are offered to serve you to manage or to overcome your pain and discomfort. Anyway, response to drugs and treatments is different from one patient to another. Gabapentin is a drug which is used as an anticonvulsant medicine prescribed by doctors to manage seizures. This uses to treat patients suffering from epilepsy and some neuropathic pains. Like every medication, this drug also has positives and negatives too. Let us go deep to find out on this drug and its characteristics and see what are the long-term effects of gabapentin.

What are the long-term effects of gabapentin – Let us know about gabapentin in detail!

As I stated earlier, Gabapentin is a drug taken at anticonvulsant or antiepileptic situations. And it is prescribed with other medicines to avoid or control seizures. Another function of it is, acting as a relief for nerve pain following shingles. With this assistance, there can be some problems too. The brand name of gabapentin is Neurotonin. Gabapentin is an oral drug. It is taken through the mouth, with or without food. This oral drug is manufactured with several formulae such as capsules, tablets, solutions or even suspensions too. Actually; this is not an OTC[over-the-counter] drug. Without having a prescription from a qualified doctor, there is no way to purchase this drug. It is a safe medicine up to a certain degree if somebody takes it according to the dose prescribed by a doctor. Anyway, sometimes people have to face for several side effects too.

There are some negative side effects after taking this medicine for one time. Also, there can be long term side effects of gabapentin, due to a result of using for a long time. These have a variety of range. Therefore; it is possible to categorize from discomfort to serious physical side effects. Sometimes, this situation influences one’s total health condition for a long period of time.

Side effects of gabapentin

There are several common minor side effects due to the long-term use of gabapentin, these do not require treatment. The following are the minor side effects.

• blurred vision
• dementia
• delusion
• cold
• hoarseness
• lower back pain
• swelling of legs and shaking

But, there are about common side effects, which require the attention of a doctor. They are uncontrollable or continuous eye rolling movement and unsteadiness. But, if it is a side effect for children, you must go for a doctor. Types of effects can cause for children such as problems in behavior such as aggressiveness, feeling anxious, the difference in normal school performance or concentration, rapidly mood changing, overreacting or crying etc.

There are many serious long term side effects by taking gabapentin for a long period of time. Studies have revealed that there can develop fatal toxicity for the people who already have kidney diseases. Not only that but also there are serious side effects of gabapentin such as loss of memory, muscle weakening and some failures in respiration.

More about the side effects of gabapentin…

There also can have some rare side effects of taking this drug such as black color stools, sore throat, cough, fever, pain in the chest, shortening of breathing, abnormal bleeding and depression too. But, some rare side effects require medical treatments too. These are an earache, bloating, feeling of burning or etching in eyes, change in eyesight, constipation, frequent urination, dry skin, problems in sleeping and vomiting. And, there can be side effects due to drinking alcohol together with the drug.

There is a huge discussion in the society whether this medicinal drug causes any harmful effects to the fertility of both man and woman. It is pretty hard to make a proper conclusion as there are not enough studies or researches in order to prove whether this medication makes an influence on men’s or women’s fertility. As few results suggest that this drug does not induce any significant harm to the morphology of sperms. That means no mutagens occur in male germ cells, thus no adverse effect on male fertility.

And, there is no sufficient research data to prove that this drug is safe or not to use while pregnant. Therefore, if you are pregnant or hope to get pregnant, it is better to discuss with a doctor, before having gabapentin. Also, no pieces of evidence to prove that is this passing to breast milk or not and effects on breastfeeding babies.

Safe use of gabapentin

The initial dose of this drug for seizures is 300 mg three times a day, for patients older than 12 years. But, there can be side effects of gabapentin 300mg, while having this dose for a long period of time. If you take the recommended dose by breaking a tablet, please make sure to take the other half for the next dose. It is important to store the medicine at room temperature and away from direct sunlight and moisture. If you are having some signs such as a hive, difficulty in breathing, face, lips, tongue or throat swelling; these can be allergic reactions after taking gabapentin.

It is necessary to take immediate medical treatment, as this can affect several parts of your body. It is better to discuss with your doctor frequently about your changes after taking the drug.  Please do sure to report any new or worsening symptoms caused by having this drug. And, you should not terminate taking gabapentin, just after you observe that you are comfort or fine. A well-qualified doctor should make this decision as he or she has the knowledge in terms of medicine and patients’ clinical history. If your doctor decides to shift to another brand and type of the drug, your dose can change too. So, inquire and discuss with a pharmacist if you go through any kind of trouble.

Conclusion

While having doubt that what are the long-term effects of taking gabapentin, it is necessary to follow all the directions described in the label of the prescription. Also, it is important not to take this drug in smaller amounts or larger amounts or even for a longer period of time, than it is recommended by a doctor. Misuse and overdose of the drug can lead to long term side effects and your body will adapt not to respond for the drug.