Robert Shearing 3598
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This is Dr. Shearing, Medical Director of Pain Management North.
We've spoken in a previous video about Gabapentin and how it can be a very effective medication
for various categories of neuropathic pain, including diabetic neuropathy, including postherpetic
neuralgia. But it's an interesting medication in terms of its side effect profile. It can
cause some side effects that are not unusual in pain medications, like headaches, and dizziness,
and sleepiness, and those are pretty common. But it can also cause relatively unusual side
effects, like peripheral edema for example - that's swelling up in the legs. That's not
a typical pain medication side effect and relatively common with Gabapentin.
The other thing is that it's been found over time to have some abuse potential, even though
it's not a scheduled medication under the Controlled Substances Act. There have been
prisoners and others that have gotten their hands on this medication and abused it. They've
found that in addition to relieving pain, it can also make people less anxious and more
talkative, kind of like some recreational drugs out there.
So Gabapentin is very useful but as I said, an unusual side effect profile. Another thing
that it can do is it can somewhat decrease the effectiveness, the pain relieving effectiveness
of some of the opiate pain medications, and that's another thing to watch out for. So
like all medications, people respond differently. It may or may not be a good medication for
you.
That's all for now. This is Dr. Shearing with Pain Management North.
Hi, this is Dr. Shearing again, if you'd like more pain management videos like this one,
please go to our website, at www.PainManagementNorth.com and sign up for our email list. Or you can
go to our Facebook Fan Page at www.Facebook.com/PainManagementNorth or go to our YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/PainManagementNorth.
Thanks for watching.
