What would happen if I drank alcohol while taking Gabapentin?

Thank you for posting this. I had an episode like this as well. Don't remember a thing but I sure ticked off a lot of people.

OMG, had a few drinks after work, taking 600 mg. a day. Just started them about 2 weeks ago. Suppose to take 3-900 mg total a day thereafter. A friend had to drive my car home-this at 5 pm, fell down in my house, threw up, blacked out. I broke my toe, and couldn't make it to work the next day. Had no idea of what a azzz this pill makes of you when mixed with alcohol. I am so emba rrassed, just thankful that my friend was there when it happened. I remember paying our tab, walking out-then nothing. No more booze for me, and I love my wine. Do not drive on these, even after 1 or 2 drinks-I was clueless. A wake-up call I guess.

no sh*t!

I have been taking gabapentin for a short time, just upped to 200mg, and after 3 small glasses of wine over the course of 4 hours there is about 1 hour that I have absolutely no memory. Thankfully I was at home the entire time. I was told we planned Thanksgiving dinner and I don't remember any of that. I am female, in my 70s and used to this amount of wine, so this makes me think it was the interaction with gabapentin that caused the memory loss and drunken state. Will not do that again!!!!

75 year old male here.
I have been using 300 mg capsules of Gabapentin (2 @ nite, 1 in morning) for about a month. My normal drinking habit is one or 2 drinks/day. this might be beer or hard liquor (always consumed straight). So far, I have noticed no interaction at all but thanks to this site, I will be very wary.

I have drank on 3 separate occasions while taking gabapentin. Each time I just get a pretty gnarly headache, that's it. First time a bottle of moscato, second time a 40oz & a deuce, third time a 40oz & a bottle of moscato. I have an extreme tolerance for everything which makes for expensive habits lol.

I've been taking this medication for post shingles nerve pain for 4 months. At first it worked wonders for me but after a couple of months on 1 300 mg tablet the pain was getting worse not better. That's when the doctor upped my dosage to 2 tablets a day. I was used to drinking a glass of wine before dinner and a half of one with my meal...no problems. However, with the increased dosage I found my tolerance for my usual amount of wine was not the same. A few nights ago I went outside after dinner to plug in my Xmas lights and passed out on my front lawn. I think the wine also decreased the effectiveness of the drug. I haven't had any alcohol since the incident and am trying to get by with only the 1 tablet per day, Sound so far so good.

I never had any problems either, but everyone is different.

Do any of you that had problems with gabapentin and alcohol also have problems with benzos and alcohol?

I have mixed benzos with alcohol in the past to enhance the alcohol but it made me downright evil and do dumb things like driving (and blackout crashing).

I'm wondering if gabapentin will do the same as benzos or be better. Gaba feels a lot like a benzo to me. That is, they both feel like alcohol except without euphoria and I want the alcohol euphoria. However, I don't want to do stupid stuff like benzos+alcohol make me do.

I also took gabapentin and drank heavily to combat pain and had no adverse side-effects. I only WISH it had put me to sleep! Then I would have been unconscious of my pain!

I have taken Gabapentin 1800 mg for 2.5 years, for mood stabilization, and until recently never had a problem mixing it with alcohol. I only drink 1-3 times a week. 5-7 drinks and would normally feel a light hangover the next day. But the last few times I consumed the same amount, I would wake up 2-3 hour later, with flu like symptoms, fever and the hangover of a century. It really got me worried. Then I read this forum, and now I realize it is probably the combination of Gaba with alcohol. Problem is, Gaba work differently for everybody. Even the scientists does not know how it really work.

I'm glad I found this thread. My boyfriend was supposed to go to the bank to withdraw some money before picking me up from work. My last text response from him was at 1:30 pm, and he was to pick me up from work at 4. I waited 30 minutes for him to pick me up. I called and texted him multiple times with no response. I finally decided to start walking home. I checked my bank account and noticed the money I asked him to take out was still there. As I approached our house, I could see our car was sitting in the driveway, and I began to think the worst. I flew in the house screaming for him. I walked into our bedroom and he was curled up in bed, sleeping. I started crying and asking him what happened, if he was ok. He seemed like a completely different person, answering me with gibberish. I was so concerned and angry at the same time because I didn't understand how he could pass out and forget to pick me up.

Well, a couple of hours later, he finally woke up, and he had no recollection of what happened when I got home, or why he was asleep in the middle of the day. Come to find out, he finally recalled that he had taken a double dose of gaba (I believe he took a total of 1200 mg); he was having extra intense back pain (bulging discs) & had run out of his usual flexeril. He had 2 shots of whiskey after that. This was all right after we had texted each other, so probably around 1:45pm. He said he walked into the bedroom (doesn't remember why) and pretty much just passed out. I didn't get home until 5:30pm. He didn't completely wake up until 7pm. He said he was laying in bed for a while, trying to put everything together - why I was mad, crying, why I kept asking him if something was wrong. I seriously thought he might have hit his head, or had a stroke or something. So, now we have our own personal story of gaba-alcohol hell. DO NOT MIX THIS DRUG WITH ANY ALCOHOL. I'm actually grateful that he didn't attempt to drive that afternoon to get me from work. There's no telling what disaster could have happened had he been on the road.

Was on 900mg per day of Gabapentin and mixed with alcohol I was fine - just had to limit intake a bit as I was weary of the drug. Doctor put dose up to 1800mg on the Friday, two days later I had arrived in Hawaii for a holiday and had 3 x Mai Tai's. BOOM, I remember the cocktails. I remember arriving at the restaurant and starting my steak dinner. I remember nothing past then. However, I was found passed out in the bathroom by some other guest and ushered into a cab by my partner (thank goodness he was there as the restaurant wanted to call an ambulance). He got me back to our hotel where I was told that I vomited in the foyer on arrival and was apparently trying to take my jeans off to take a pee on one of the hotel lobby chairs (which I thought was the loo). My poor partner, no one would help him get me into the lift as no one wanted liability. I woke in the morning and still 5 days later I have no memory whatsoever of it. I am so embarrassed and am now alcohol free for the rest of my holiday (in fact, probably until I have my back surgery in two months time). Big wake up call and warning to anyone on Gabapentin. I just wished I had read this site first and I'm also surprised the doctor or the pharmacist didn't warn me that doubling the dose could have huge sided effects.

Same things happens to me after more than 1 glass of wine. Don't drink while taking Gabapentin.

I just started taking Gabapentin 3 days ago (2400mg / day) to help reduce cravings for alcohol. I absolutely love the effects of Gabapentin and the results so far. It has really elevated my over-all mood - maybe because I'm not obsessing over drinking. I have drank the past two days, but completely without the obsession for the next drink. Gabapentin really seems to have taken the "edge" off! In terms of the interaction between alcohol and the Gabapentin, I have not noticed any negative side effects while drinking. I did do some research before I combined the two, and I was reading some pretty bad stories of blackouts and severe nausea. On the first day I drank, I start VERY slowly - one beer, then a second much later than I would normally have had it, then a third - again after a while. My total daily alcohol consumption is down considerably since starting Gabapentin - which was the goal! I highly recommend this drug if you're drinking way too much, are unable to control your cravings and find yourself obsessing over drinking.