What would happen if I drank alcohol while taking Gabapentin?

Don't take gabapentin with alcohol. It almost cost me my life. I wasn't taking it for very long, I have about 3 glasses of wine. I became violent and suicidal. If I had a gun I probably would have shot someone or myself. I blacked out for the majority of the night but people tell me the things I said and did and I am mortified beyond belief. Don't combine these two!! Really you are risking your life if you do!!

I. have been taking Gabapentin for years now. used to drink quite a lot. dont drink at all now since being on these tablets. Dont need to.And if it makes you so ill why bother.

My husband has been taking gabapentin (300mg 1x a day) for nerve pain. He is also taking Percocet recently. He is also drinking. I read some of the posts about personality changes with people taking just gabapentin and I'm afraid that the combination of all 3 things are making my usually sweet husband a completely different person. He is depressed about his life and blames me for everything that he believes is bad. In reality we have a very nice blessed life. When he's not abusing the gabapentin (by not drinking) he is a calm and loving person. I don't want him to have nerve pain, I just want him to be smarter and not drink when he's on the gabapentin. I don't know what to do! I've told my husband, you either need to take your meds or drink. You can't do both. If I speak to his doctor he might take him off meds that he needs. I really don't think he needs to continue to take the Percocet, I think he enjoys the feeling of all 3 things, being in a daze. I don't feel the same about it though! This is really hurting our marriage. Does anybody have any ideas? Thank you.

I hear ya, Jo

WTF?? You had 5 or 6 glasses of wine and didn't expect to have any affects? Use your brain! When you're on a medication like this, take it easy. Just have one drink. And sip slowly.

taken 6 so far with lots og gin...

I myself also found out the hard way that this medication does not mesh well with alcohol. Unfortunately it took me a couple times to finally realize this! Today I am sick as hell from my night out and being that I used to never throw up from drinking, the only feasible explanation is that it's happening because I'm on gabapentine. The first time this happened I thought I ate some bad fish or something. I had a few drinks, came home and ate my food and then woke up around 3:am violently throwing up for like 3 hours and had almost like a migraine headache. Now this time there's no reason for this to have happened other than the med. I can honestly say that alcohol doesn't even taste the same since I started the med so I really don't drink a whole lot when I do. ..my advice is that if you feel like you need to live and learn then try it but if you can't handle being really sick, don't even chance it!

If you want to find this out the hard way, assume you're one of the half who don't go mad and act out of character when combining gabapentin and alcohol. I hadn't seen any of this and have been taking gabapentin for pain/sciatica for six years. I'd had a few drinks before but have always had awful hangovers and rarely have the urge to get drunk, though I've been fairly drunk without taking the gabapentin "while drinking" before. I was up at my parents' place with my kids for the weekend and drank around a bottle of red wine over a 6 hour period. I remember going to get a glass of wine then remembering I hadn't taken my tablets, went upstairs and woke up in hospital with my nose mashed into my face, bruises everywhere, a large chunk of flesh missing across the inside of my lower lip and a number of injuries indicative of having been restrained dotted about my person. I may have double-dosed by accident. I can't remember a thing from the night so not beyond possibility I could have forgotten I already took them...

When I woke up (in hospital, waiting for stitches) I thought I'd been in a fight and must have gone out later in the evening. The latest I could remember it being was 5PM when my kids came back from the cinema. Well, it was far worse than that. I can only thank God the kids were in bed by the time it was really out of hand. Apparently, I was acting weird for a bit, then became very agitated, started kicking my brother (who is a martial arts expert), then hit my (nearly) 70 year old father for no reason. I have a good relationship with my Dad and brother and had no provocation. There's a load of other stuff and I know EXACTLY what I did because my entire family witnessed it. I'd just tried to go upstairs - everyone was worried I'd wake the kids or worse and stopped me thank goodness - when I decided to have another go at my Dad. He then tried to calm me down for a bit before I had another lunge at him and he busted my nose. Personally, I would have ripped my testicles off if I'd been him.

So, I assaulted a pensioner, scared an entire family, woke up in hospital needing stitches, mildly concussed - so evidently also got beaten up by a pensioner. Does anyone really want to take that risk? The alcohol alone would have seen me going to bed with a headache, not turning into some psychotic evildoer with total amnesia of the night's events. Very fortunately for me, my wife found my gabapentin strewn on the floor in the bedroom where my kids could easily have got them and my family looked up this thread so are not presently plotting to kill me. Guilty doesn't even begin to describe the feeling.... DON'T MIX THESE DRUGS.....

I have been on Gabapentin for about a month now. I have had experienced restless leg syndrome, but it doesn't happen all the time. I was at a stage of my life where I was drinking a lot. By a lot, I mean 1 bottle of Whiskey a day. If I continued on this road I was going to kill myself with the drinking. I was recommended Gabapentin as an off label remedy that it might make me not want to drink as much. I also suffer from some anxiety, especially in social situations. Since I started taking Gabapentin, 600mg in the morning and one 300mg pill in the afternoon, it has greatly decreased the need for me wanting to drink. Also, I feel more clear minded, I am able to concentrate more on work and actually have become more productive. Anxiety levels have gone down and I find myself handling social situations easier. I was curious to how alcohol interacted with this medication so I decided to have 1 beer. Mind you, normally I can drink 1 beer in a couple minutes or less. While on this medication I found myself drinking the beer alot slower. It actually took me about 1 hour 20 mins to drink it. It was enjoying the beer, but I didn't have the urge to drink it that fast. I was completely satisfied drinking it during the length of that time. Again, normally 1 would drink that beer really fast already thinking I want to order another one. This was not the case this time. After 1 hour 30 mins, I felt the effects of the beer. It did feel stronger, felt like I had 2-3 beers but I felt buzzed, not drunk.. was able to function. I decided to have beer #2 at about 1 hour 45 mins in and that beer took me about 1 hour 30 mins.. I actually didn't finish it. I was completely satisfied with the amount of drinks I and now I felt really buzzed. So yeah, be careful how much you drink on this because it intensifies the alcohol greatly. In my case I had no urge whatsoever to continue drinking. It's like I felt "full" after 2 beers. Gabapentin can be great if you treat it with respect.

I guess you are one of the lucky ones.

It caused me to feel like I was dying.

When I decided to have a drink I was already in a foul mood and I was depressed, so my mindset was not the best. I decided to have a drink and didn't consider the fact I had just taken my gabapentin. Within 2 minutes of drinking the alcohol I had trouble breathing. My bowels were not at all happy. It was a bad experience akin to drinking far too much. It felt like I had overdosed on alcohol, and my stomach felt like I had consumed much more alcohol while I had actually only consumed one drink. When the alcohol started to calm down, the hangover was immediate and long lasting.

I had problems walking, talking, I became depressed and irritable, and I wasn't sure if I would be OK. I passed out and was half way surprised to wake at all. It was one of the worst medicine mistakes I have ever made. I will not drink alcohol with gabapentin again. I strongly suggest nobody do it. I was on a higher dose of gabapentin, but regardless I can't imagine it being any better on a lower dose.

I take 1800 mg daily and can say with my neuralgia and working 2 jobs it's not enough I pour down a six pack nightly without no problems. No black outs, no bowel problems, No hangovers, nothing to whine about at all. When on Lyrica NOW that was a problem, MAJOR PROBLEM!!! To THE POINT I ENDED UP IN JAIL!!!!!!

Sorry that happened. I stopped gabipentin after being arrested.now my lawyer is pledingnot guilty for me.my docs didn't even warn me

Hi, did this drug help your wifes fibro?

Haha you really helped me out with your statement. I drink beer a lot on neurontin and its pretty great lol