Neurontin and ALS? Head Injuries?

[Blubear]

I am soooooo glad that I ran across this thread!!!! My father has ALS and we do not yet know if it is familial or not. I have chronic pain with herniated dics, fibromyalgia and severe arthritis in my back. I have been on percocet, oxicontin, methadone and am now currently taking opana. The opana helps a little, and I was going to ask the doctor if I could try neurontin for pain again (since it is a non-narcotic) literally this week!!! I remember when my now deceased husband was taking it after a painful surgery and I tried it and it helped a lot. But with what I have read on this thread, I think I may have dodged a bullet!!! Thank GOD for this forum!!
Blubear

[AndyDJX]

My symptoms began within ONE WEEK of starting Elavil (otherwise known as Amitriptyline.) I am not a diagnosed PALS, but I have fasiculations, atrophy and weakness that has been getting worse slowly over the past 3 years.

I injured my neck, then started getting daily headaches so my doctor put me on Amitripltyline. After that I started to twitch and get fasiculations and parasthesia, within a couple months I was getting extremely fatigued muscles after exertion, i.e. I literally couldn't move my finger after playing baseball. Now 3 years later my thenar muscle has a big gap in it, the remaining muscle there constantly quivers, my feet catch on things all the time, my muscles still get VERY fatigued after exertion and I still twitch all over.

The docs say it can't be from my neck injury or the drug, but there is still part of me that has trouble believing the latter because I don't think they know exactly what's going on with some of these drugs. I never had neurologic symptoms before other than migraines, then a week after I go on it I starting getting this, whatever "this" is.

Another doc prescribed neurontin for eye issues and all my weird neurologic things, but I never took it.

[AndyDJX]

Also, I should note that I would never normally post outside of the "Do I Have ALS?" group because I have not been diagnosed (and most of me still believes that this isn't ALS, I just don't know what it is) but I saw this headline and about Neurontin and thought I would mention the fact that my symptoms started after taking a similar drug.

[Blubear]

I have been on neurontin and it worked great without any side effects. (not gonna take it now after reading this post however) Amitriptyline however, when I took it made me totally and completely out of it. My skin was yellow, my mouth was dry, I talked with a slur and I felt like I was living in a dream world. My daughter has the same reaction to it. I didnt realize that it was in the same family. Neurontin is actually to help seizures and then they discovered it helped pain, and the amitriptyline was an anti-depressant.....interesting though
Hugs, Blubear

[sadiemae]

My husband is on amitriptripyline at nite, no bad effects for him. I cut the dosage down without telling him, and his drooling increased, He is back on the whole dosage now, and drooling has reduced. His neuro prescribed it mainly to help with his sleeping problems and drooling, not so much as an antidrepressant, dosage is low. Lori (I am not an expert)

[BarryG]

I tried amitriptripyline for saliva control and I don't even know if it worked because I wasn't on it for long enough to find out. It would make me pass out if I got up too fast. I complained to my doctor and he measured my blood pressure and it was really low, so low that when I got up from laying down or sitting I would fall over. That was it for me, I'd rather drool!

[sadiemae]

My husbands blood pressure is way to high, in fact the Dr told us Friday that he was more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than ALS if we do not get it under control. Lori