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Comment by gm-conspiracy | Hacker News Reader

Have you been prescribed and tried Gabapentin?

I have heard of that being used to treat neuropathy, but also anecdotes of it being abused recreationally.

Gabapentin is used for anti-seizure, I was prescribed it 25mg 3x per day. It definitely caused memory issues for me, I literally couldn't remember people's names. After taking it for a few weeks to ensure I wouldn't have another seizure, I was taken off of it. After about a day and a half it was entirely out of my system and I felt back to normal. Some people's results may vary, but I couldn't see doing any complex coding with that in my system.

Are you sure it wasn't either more than 25mg or a different drug? I'm not sure if doses that low are even used for humans (seems they are for pets), but certainly when prescribed for seizures daily doses would range from 300mg to several thousand mg.

I think it was 325 3x a day.

I think you may be misremembering the medication. I take 1200mg of Gabaptentin/day for ulnar neuropathy; I don't think that 75mg would accomplish anything.

And FWIW I code all day long.

Yes, I've tried various drugs in the class, gabapentin, pregbalin and baclofen. Unfortunately I can't tolerate the side effects - they make me feel like I am drunk, so I can't work, drive, or generally live normally. It's annoying, because most evidence says these are the best drugs for neuropathic pain :(

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