{"id":11432,"date":"2024-08-17T09:02:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T09:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=11432"},"modified":"2024-08-17T09:24:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T09:24:15","slug":"the-painkiller-used-for-just-about-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=11432","title":{"rendered":"The Painkiller Used for Just About Anything"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In huge numbers, older people are taking gabapentin for a variety of conditions, including itching, alcohol dependence and sciatica. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d one expert said.<\/p>\n

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Mary Peart, 67, a retired nurse in Manchester, Mass., began taking gabapentin a year and a half ago to reduce the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia. The drug helps her climb stairs, walk her dog and take art lessons, she said.<\/p>\n

With it, \u201cI have a life,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I forget to take a dose, my pain comes right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jane Dausch has a neurological condition called transverse myelitis and uses gabapentin as needed when her legs and feet ache. \u201cIt seems to be effective at calming down nerve pain,\u201d said Ms. Dausch, 67, a retired physical therapist in North Kingstown, R.I.<\/p>\n

Amy Thomas, who owns three bookstores in the San Francisco Bay Area, takes gabapentin for rheumatoid arthritis. Along with yoga and physical therapy, \u201cit\u2019s probably contributing to it being easier for me to move around,\u201d Ms. Thomas, 67, said.<\/p>\n

All three are taking the non-opioid pain drug for off-label uses. The only conditions for which gabapentin has been approved for adult use by the Food and Drug Administration are epileptic seizures, in 1993, and postherpetic neuralgia, the nerve pain that can linger after a bout of shingles, in 2002.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But that has not stopped patients and health care providers from turning to gabapentin (whose brand names include Neurontin) for a startling array of other conditions, including sciatica, neuropathy from diabetes, lower back pain and post-surgery pain.<\/p>\n

Also: Agitation from dementia. Insomnia. Migraines. Itching. Bipolar disorder. Alcohol dependence. Evidence of effectiveness for some of these uses is thin.<\/p>\n

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In huge numbers, older people are taking gabapentin for a variety of conditions, including itching, alcohol dependence and sciatica. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d one expert said.Mary Peart, 67, a retired nurse in Manchester, Mass., began taking gabapentin a year and a half ago to reduce the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia. The drug helps her climb stairs, walk her dog and take art lessons, she said.With it, \u201cI have a life,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I forget to take a dose, my pain comes right back.\u201dJane Dausch has a neurological condition called transverse myelitis and uses gabapentin as needed when her legs and feet ache. \u201cIt seems to be effective at calming down nerve pain,\u201d said Ms. Dausch, 67, a retired physical therapist in North Kingstown, R.I.Amy Thomas, who owns three bookstores in the San Francisco Bay Area, takes gabapentin for rheumatoid arthritis. Along with yoga and physical therapy, \u201cit\u2019s probably contributing to it being easier for me to move around,\u201d Ms. Thomas, 67, said.All three are taking the non-opioid pain drug for off-label uses. The only conditions for which gabapentin has been approved for adult use by the Food and Drug Administration are epileptic seizures, in 1993, and postherpetic neuralgia, the nerve pain that can linger after a bout of shingles, in 2002.But that has not stopped patients and health care providers from turning to gabapentin (whose brand names include Neurontin) for a startling array of other conditions, including sciatica, neuropathy from diabetes, lower back pain and post-surgery pain.Also: Agitation from dementia. Insomnia. Migraines. Itching. Bipolar disorder. Alcohol dependence. Evidence of effectiveness for some of these uses is thin.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11434,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11435,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11432\/revisions\/11435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}