Why is the Veterans hospital prescribing Gabapentin?

I have cronic lower back pain that shoots down my legs, The veterans hospital is passing out Gabapentin, which is a seizure medication, and it does nothing for my pain. In fact it makes it worse, due to the side effects, Ie makes me sleep, lay in bed untill my back completly locks up putting the pain level up to a 10, I have already discussed this issue, the sent me more Gabapentin, What a joke..while I am on a long waitng list for testing.....be all you can be...right

Okay....first of all, you are right. Gabapentin was developed to help people who had seizures. Then it was discovered that it was extremely helpful to people who were suffering from pain from pinched nerves or some other type of nerve impingement. The fact that your pain radiates down your legs tells the doctors that nerves are involved. That is why they prescribed the Gabapentin. It is a wonderful drug and has made life bearable for many people. It is almost always prescribed along with a strong pain medication. I can not imagine them prescribing Gabapentin alone. That does not make a great deal of sense. Another thing to check is how strong is the Gabapentin? Some docotrs will gradually increase the dosage but you need to be taking about 300 mgs, three times a day. If you are on less than that it could be another reason why it is not helping.
You need to talk to your doctor. Don't try to be stoic, tell them how much pain you are in and insist that they do something for you!
Good luck and I hope you get better soon.
Blessings
Lady T~

Medications are commonly used off-label, meaning that they are applied for reasons other then what they were originally created for. Gabapentin is a seizure medication available for the last 15 years and has been widely used to treat nerve pain. Shooting pain from the back can sometimes be nerve related.

Gabapentin is also named Neurontin.
It is used for nerve pain as well as seizures.
If it's not working for you, then don't take it.
Call the veterans hospital and ask to speak to a supervisor or the medical director.
Tell them if you don't get treatment, then you will contact your lawyer and file a law suit.
Good luck.

The answers you have already are correct. Gabapentin allegedly helps interrupt nerve pain but it doesn't work for everyone. If it is not helping stop. I can relate to chronic back pain as I severely injured my back just out of nursing school 30 years ago. I have no feeling in my lower right leg and often get shooting pains into that leg. I have found that the best control I have over my pain is to strenghten the core back muscles. You need to talk to your Dr. about better pain management and perhaps some physio. No one has to suffer with all the treatments for chronic pain. My heart goes out to you.

Have a little faith in the VA, any hospital or dr could have prescribed you this. it's possible your dr might have saw something to make him think you could be having seizures, or maybe gabapentin is used for more than one ailment (after all viagra is prescribed for babies with heart problems, since an erection is actually a side effect). so talk to your dr. there are some adjustments that obviously need to be made, ask him why he put you on this med. and if it's that bad, why are you still taking it? dr's orders are best but you know your body and if you are sure it is that specifically hurting you, then you know not to take it!