Potentiating gabapentin

[xtcgrrrl]

I know there's a megathread about gabapentin, and I read it, but I'd like to know if there's anything I'm missing? How do YOU potentiate gabapentin? What is your strategy? If I am posting in the wrong section I apologize. I'm a newbie here.

To clarify, I take some Aleve and drink a little coffee to potentiate my gabapentin. I also stagger the doses, taking 300 or 600 every half hour. I might also drink one of those little 5 hour energy bottles because gabapentin has a tendency to make me tired. Can anyone tell me anything new that I haven't heard that I might try? Thank you for your input.

 

[Toz]

Take 500mg naproxen 2 hours before. It increases bioavailabilty by something like 20% if I remember correctly. Stack doses on top of each other, don't take everything at once, bioavailability decreases as the dose increases.

Benzodiazepines will potentiate gabapentin alot.

edit: oh yea aleve is naproxen, nvm lol

 

[pasha]

Here's a more helpful thread to your question than the megathread.

Maximizing Gabapentin Bioavailability.

 

[Sublime619]

Stacking it is the way to go, you're probably not taking enough though. I take it to help with wd's, I take 1200mg and then an hour later ill take another 600-900mg and it gets me feeling great. For me its only at night and to help me sleep, but before I fall asleep, I feel great. It does take about 11/2-2 hours to kick in and you build up a tolerence to it ridiculously fast so keep that in mind. Also, try smoking some marijuana if you can, it really helps potentiate it, atleast it does for me.

 

[Predecessor]

1. Take 2 alieve pills 30 min prior
2. Only eat protein throughout the day / chocolate
3. Drink only carbonated drinks
4. Stagger your dose (300-400mg) every 10 minutes until desired dose is reached

This has yielded the best results thus far.

 

[tyrael]

I know there's a megathread about gabapentin, and I read it, but I'd like to know if there's anything I'm missing?.... I take some Aleve and drink a little coffee to potentiate my gabapentin.....

Gabapentin is a depressant - As far as I understand it, caffeine has a wide pharmacological profile (read: effects many systems) however in general caffeine is a stimulant - I can't really see how it could potentiate Gabapentin (to over simplify; your dosing a stimulant with a depressant). I would understand taking a stimulant to combat the tiredness which comes with Gabapentin. Regardless...

You have a few option in modifying the (perceived) effectiveness of Gabap. and another chemical interaction. To generalise, these can be divided into 4 type of drug-drug interact;

Addition: The combined effects of both drugs equal the sum of each drug's effect alone (a 1 + 1 = 2, situation).
Synergistic: The combined effect is greater than the sum of each individual (1 + 1 = 6)
Potentiation:* The action of a drug at dose x (which may not normally produce an effect, or an inadequately desired level) combined with another enhances the initial drug's action (usually on pharmacological level. Such as the combination of two GABAergic drugs).
Antagonism: The combined effect of a drug actually reduces the efficacy of another drug [forget this for now. It's not what you're interested in.]

Gabapentin works on the GABAergic neurotransmitter. So, (in general) any other drug which also works on this system would potentiate one another; benzos, other z-drugs, alcohol. Be very careful going down this path! Without knowing what you're doing, correct dosing, your body (bio-variability), exactly what combination, etc....this could easy cause an OD.

The use of (2nd generation) anti-histamines - which often have the side-effect of drowsiness - can produce an additive effect (relatively safe). The ones I'm referring to are Phenergan (Promethazine) or Restavit (Doxylamine), just as examples.

Additive effects of alcohol and Gabapentin - use with caution! Don't go crazy, lowly titrate your dose until you're at a comfortable level. Always remember: you can always take more, never take less (once ingested)!

Opiates (not recommended due to the higher risk of addiction potential), also having a depressant effect, will create an additive effect.


..... aaaaaand I've just saw baooozs (I should actually read post, right?!?! lol). Well I hope you've gain at least some information from my post



* People - especially on here I've noticed - don't in fact use the above terms technically correctly. On BL the word "potentiation" seems to be a "catch all" for all of the above drug-drug interactions, which really aren't the same thing. Using high level definitions of these words (using descriptors as I have) aren't really a problem in most cases, however technically on a pharmacological level each type of interaction actually have different method of action within the body.