What is the maximum daily dosage of Gabapentin?
Question posted by shanonpieroni on 23 April 2013
Last updated on 18 May 2023
49 Answers Page 2
What is the maximum dosage of neurontin I can take a day?
For every patient it's different depending on diagnosis, according to my Primary and pain specialist. Most say 3600mg. I'm on a much higher dose due to the fact I've been taking it for years and I have some serious medical problems and multiple diagnosis's. I would consult your PCP or pain management specialist. I hope this helps and please consult your doctors before titrating up to the common concensus of 3600mg.
I have been on 1600 x 4 daily for over 8 years. I built up to this level over previous 9 years starting at 300 x 3 at the beginning. I've been on maintenance level doses of meds for years and now they want to alter the one drug that alters the spasticity and stiffness I have. They say add Lyrica this has never been discussed with me by doctor. Now after all these years I'm notified to start cutting back by 800 half pill a day. No discussion with Dr. about why or reason it just came from nurse over phone. I was told if your body does not process it, it will pass remainder through your system and go out. I've being reading every article I can find to understand and learn why 3600 is a magic number. Every patient is different and every drug you take has a different effect on you.
If after many years you adjust and build up your tolerance for a drug that is helping you I don't understand why a sudden change except my radar goes up to insurance companies and guide lines they want to pay for. Everyone of us are different and it's between you and your doctor to what works best. None of us have chosen to be sick or ill but we deserve what works best.
My pain doctor has me on 4800mg daily. Albeit, most doctors say 3600mg. My PCP has issues with my pain doctor having me on such a high dosage. I was on 5600mg daily and my PCP called my pain doc voicing his opinion and lost that battle. They just dropped me 1-800mg tablet. My PCP is not happy but he claims 3600mg should be max dosage. I hope this helps!
I am on 600 three times a day..I was reluctant even to go on this...
So I am thinking I am going to up it to 600 4 times a day I have the 300 mg capsule
So how many hours a part can I take them if I sleep 8-9 hours a day every 4 hours I would guess.
Hi... This is simply in my own experience... My neurologist has me prescribed 800mg 3xs a day ... It wasnt helping the burning in my hands and arms.. So i just started taking twice that... Finally went back to dr... N he tried prescribing me lyrica... Medicaid wouldnt.cover it so my g.p. gave me like 15 boxes of lyrica.. Samples... Said take one 3 times a day... Burn kept getting worse n worse.. Couple months later i was taking 4 n 5 n sometimes 6 xs the amount.. Till i blacked out .. Or passed out in the back hallway at work
Stewie.. Ur the oy person ive ever heard talk about their hands n arms.. Im type 1 diabetic... My legs n feet r fine.. I turn 40 in 8 days
hi my first time on this site find it abit hit and miss on about gabapentin how most people say highest dose is 3600mg then some one say there on 14000mg aday sounds more like my dad takes more then your dad
I have 2 Hemangiomas (benign tumours) one attached to my L3 and S1), degeneration in my L5-S1, facet hypotrophies, bilateral pars defects with grade 1 anterolisthesis of L5 on S1, bilateral neural foraminal stenosis. (Pinched nerves?) Degenerative changes in L5-S1. So basically my spine is caving in on itself with help of two large hemangiomas (4.2 cm wide and the other they are guessing is 5.8 but it was on a side not quite fully seen during MRI) My Dr.just pulled me off tramadol which was the drug that got me out of bed and a good evening. I never woke up from the pain. I am in night 2 without tramadol and I woke up at 2:30am and I still haven't gone back to bed at 7am, She gave me 30 T3's and expects it to last a month, wtf?? She's read the MRI report- docs here are terrified to prescribe narcotics. I was on 3600mgd and I felt nothing so i'm upping it to 4800. She's trying to fast track me into the severe pain clinic but that could take over a year.
I also had my Wellbutrin upped to 300mgs, put on 2 mgs of Abilify, 2 mgs of Clonazepam, 1mg af bedtime. I am also on Lamictal (anti seizure drug).
It's not like I have a little arthritis for Pete's sake.
I did get extremely depressed and angry, I thought I should go to the hospital but within a day the Abilify worked amazingly!! I have a shrink to deal with this, he pays more attention but today I think I got through to her with a print out from a pain tracking program!! But still not adequate pain relief. My only other option is to heavily medicate with clonazepam, sleep all day.
I can't be alone with this am I?
Can I take 2 600 mg
I use a b complex combined with 2000mgs
Yes its 3600mg. I was told by PCP that it was 2400mg. Jerk.
Always check your medicine. Your doctor could be wrong!
1200 mg 3 time a day
From what I was told you can take up to 3200mg in a 24hr period any more than that your body will piss it out so most common dose is 800mg 4 times a day that's what I'm on & love it also was told there is no way to overdose on it because after 3200mg your body rids the rest... Hope this helps...
I am a quadriplegic and have been on Nerotin for 5years. I'm on 1600mg 3x's daily. I am functioning fine with that dose. However if I should be admitted into the hospital the 1st thing they do is decrease the doseage. Am I really being prescribed to high of a does by my neurologist???
After submitting, I see that I read your question wrong, and that they decrease rather than increase. Small decrease/increase when taking gabapentin doesn't change bioavailabilty to the body very much. Maybe the hospital pharmacy doesn't have the same size pills/capsules you normally use, so have to use a slightly different daily mg/d while there. Or their policy limits them from using an exception to the FDA guidelines. Or they have you on some other med temporarily in the hospital that is processed in kidneys, so trying to give the kidneys a little relief to compensate.
I'm going a trip I need a question I have 300 mg gapapentin will that mess me up if take 400 mg I'm afraid of 400 because I take 300 once a day can someone help me on that question
As always, you should have a dr/pa/np make dosage changes. I am always hesitant to make med changes right before a trip, so I understand. If you are taking gabapentin, you probably have a condition you don't want to risk any negative changes. Just a comment from my experience, gaba has a shorter half life, so many dr's spread out the daily dosage to 2-3x per day. i.e. three 100mg capsules. However, maybe you were prescribed that to just give benefit at certain time of day or night. I don't think they make 200mg, so am guessing you are prescribed 400mg for a particular time of day. For me, I went through many increases like yours and didn't really notice anything (after going through some of the negatives the first time gaba was prescribed). I was moved up to 3600mg/d. Remember to avoid grapefruit and its juice while on gaba.
I think u won,t have any problem using the 800mg at least once 3hrs before going 2 bed it work,s 4 me.
Don,t b afraid i take 2 times a day 300mg an one 800mg 3hrs before bedtime,let me know how u feel.
I use gabardine 600 3Xs day for severe spine deterioration Nerve pain, it works great also is used for shingles (severe nerve pain condition)as spine got worse than just nerve pain 60mg oxycontin ER added. I can walk and function normal now. Does anyone get a bad diarrhea from Gaba?
Ok.
After reading through other replies I am confused and mildly pissed off.
I am prescribed 3600mgs (600mgs 3x) but regularly take uowards of 6000 mgs for the neuropathy in my feet.
I have told both Drs that have prescribed the med for me this and both told me that 3600 is the most one should take due to the possibility of seratonin syndrome, yet I have seen (here) that a couple of people are prescribed 5000-6000mgs.
1st off, wtf???
2ndly, where can I find these doctors?
Also, does anyone know of any other medication (besides lyrica, which doesn't work for me) for periphreal neuropathy?
Peer reviewed journal articles and studies can have conflicting information, or if not read thoroughly enough can be read out of context, or can be just plain misread. I have read many articles or studies about gabapentin. One included that lower dosages might actually provide more benefit than higher dosages. Might also have more side effects too. Another one said in their study that 90% do not need to go over 1800mg. Another one said that anything over a certain amount is just passed through urine out of the body. These articles or studies are not FDA regulations or approval, but studies that might or might not influence the FDA.
Since healthcare professionals and insurance companies are going to follow the FDA, it makes sense to first learn info directly from the FDA.
In the main neurontin (gabapentin) pdf from the FDA, it states the bioavailability (amount that can be used by the body) decreases in percentage as the dose increases. Doing the math, 4800mg doesn't give much more to the body than 3600mg (1296mg vs 1188mg). 1200mg gives almost identical amounts to the body as 900mg (564mg vs 560mg). However, the 1200mg would use 4 capsules instead of 3 which might be a benefit for spacing dosages in some situations.
From my experience, the higher dosages have a risk because taking that many pills per day increases the chance of mishandling meds. i.e. 4800 mg is 16-300 mg capsules. Plus you're likely to be taking several other meds. It is very easy to mess up taking meds when having that many pills, especially since gabapentin needs to be spread out throughout the day.
From what I read, dosage is going to be based on your renal function. Good renal function is normally going to have a max dosage of 3600mg. Lower renal function, lower dosage. It appears there's some difference on condition as well. Postherpetic neuralgia might be different than post operative pain or epilepsy. It seems to say everywhere with gabapentin's 5-7 hour half life that daily dosages need to be spread out through the 24 hours.
You can find the FDA gabapentin info by going to fdadotgov, then search for neurontin, then choose the most recent pdf title Neurontin Neurontin Neunontin (3x). For dosage info, search pdf for table 6.
Don't be upset. If you take over 3600mg per day, 1200mg 3x a day, your body can absorb with plenty of fluids. Anything over that about just gets dispelled out of your system through urination.
I have been taking Neurontin for 9 years for chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy. First tried Lyrica when I got to the point of struggling to walk. I got no benefit maxed out so switched to Neurontin. Needless to say I maxed out at 4800mg for a few years. Then a dr friend who was a pharmacist before getting his MD recommended I back down to 3600mg/day as that was the maximum efficacious dose in the literature. 4800 was the maximum allowable per day. So I tried and have seen no difference, so I'm still on 1200mg TID. I walk, do stumble some, still have problems with pain and numbness, but I walk. Biggest issue for me is heat. Sleep with feet uncovered, and very selective on shoes I can tolerate. But had all these same issues on 4800mg/day as well. I do take opioids on occasion when I need them, but I'm taking fewer now than ever.
I only take 1100 mgs of Gaba per day for leg spasms and neural fasciculation. This stuff worked wonders for me as I have been suffering for almost 43 years, never sleeping more than 2-3 hours at a time, at night. I also developed peripheral neuropathy. I started taking 1800 mg of Alpha Lipoic Acid, an otc supplement. It took almost 6 months but my neuropathy is 98@ gone. Since I have been on gabapentin for 2 years now, I don't think the gab's suddenly reversed the neuropathy. It worked for me so It's worth a shot. Worst that could happen, - nothing - its just a supplement, but it seems to work, at least it did for me.
I've been on this drug for years and it has helped me tremendously above and beyond any amount of pain medicine could ever do. I started out with 1800 milligrams a day 3 times a day 600 milligrams. Then they switched me all the way up to 3600 milligrams and this seems to be working for me. I've tried the lyrica and the lyrica seems to make me too tired.
Related topics
Further information
- Gabapentin uses and safety info
- Gabapentin prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Gabapentin (detailed)
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