u/PurpleNo8532

Hi! I've only started taking gabapentin this week, 100mg at night. I got it to help me relax and sleep better to help with my anxiety. I take it one hour before bed, and it makes me feel a little bit sleepier. I go to sleep, and then about 2 hours later I start waking up because a random body part twitches, like my fingers. Then fall back asleep, and my face feels tense. Fall back asleep, I got a cramp in my butt, etc. But also during these random wake ups and twitching, I feel slightly paralysed?

Is this normal? Do I need to get used to this medicine, is it like antidepressants that it has side effects at first and then calms down? Or does it mean gabapentin probably isn't for me?

Hi! I started tms yesterday, had my second session today for anxiety. Yesterday the treatment felt a bit funny, but not painful. When I got home, I felt tension in my forehead and jaw but it got better in a couple of hours.
Today the pulses felt sore, and I got really anxious during the treatment thinking something was wrong. I was told the place might just be a bit sore from yesterday. I've been so anxious the whole day now and got a worse headache as well.

Is it normal to be sore from it? I have chronic pain and tension in my head and neck anyway so I'm probably abit more sensitive anyway but just want to calm my anxiety a bit😭

Hi all! I have just been prescribed gabapentin 100mg but I have trouble swallowing capsules. Is it fine to open the capsules and mix the powder with a spoonful of yogurt or something? Does it taste absolutely horrible or is it going to burn my throat?

Hi! I've been struggling with swallowing difficulties and stuff getting stuck for almost a year now. After my gastroscopy a month ago, I haven't been able to eat any solid food as it triggers a cramp in my throat and esophagus. The cramp is so horrible that I can't even speak.

I have migraines and trigeminal neuralgia and super stiff neck, and as much as I don't like AI, I put it in my symptoms to Gemini and it said pregabalin may help. I tried amitirptyline for migraines and was hoping it would also help relax my throat but it somehow made it worse instead.

My barium swallow was fine and so was gastroscopy - it didn't show any damage whatsoever and all biopsies were negative. Sadly they don't do manometry tests in my country.
I tried diltiazem which helped the cramps in the esophagus but nothing for throat cramp. I feel like the problem is nerve pain and tight muscles that are triggered by solid food somehow. My throat also feels super dry, as are my eyes and nose, so was considering getting a blood test to rule out sjögren's syndrome as well.

I was wondering if anyone has had similar problems with a throat cramp and found help from pregabalin?

Hi!

I got my first Ajovy shot last week, but in addition to migraines I also have neuropathic pain. My doctor wants me to try pregabalin, but it mentions vertigo and dizziness as side effects...

I have only recovered from getting vertigo from trying venlafaxine for a few days a month ago, so I'm feeling very scared.

Has anyone taken pregabalin and what was your experience? Did it make your vestibular symptoms worse?

Hi!

My mental health has reached the lowest low and I'm considering EMDR therapy. I am slightly worried about triggering my migraines though.

Has anyone tried EMDR therapy and did it trigger any vestibular symptoms for you?

Hi!

I went to my neurologist today and she determined my migraines have turned chronic and gave me my first ajovy shot.

I am sooo scared of needles and that was also the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. I honestly can't imagine having to do this myself monthly?!

I haven't looked into ajovy before so no idea how it works. I've heard a lot about emgality in this subreddit but unfortunately it's not available in my country.

I feel so conflicted, I almost don't want it to work so I wouldn't have to inject myself monthly but also all I've done the past few months is stay home and cry because of my symptoms.

Could someone who has gotten their life back thanks to ajovy share their experience?😭

Hi!

The past year I have been dealing with acid reflux from stress and burnout and none of the anti acid medications or PPIs worked. This whole time I also felt like my throat was tight, like someone was actively choking me, and it was hard to swallow and a few times I had small grains like quinoa get stuck in my throat resulting in a coughing fit. It kept getting worse.

So I saw a gastroenterologist who recommended an upper endoscopy to check that everything was fine. I had it in sedation and she took some biopsies to rule out infections, cut out a small 2mm polyp, and everything came back clear. No scarring from acid reflux even...

I had the endoscopy 3 weeks ago but since then I have not been able to eat. I can only swallow liquids but I am so sick of liquids and pureed soup, it's making me depressed. Whenever I try to eat solid food, I can feel it get stuck in my throat, like my throat cramps up and holds the food stuck in my throat. Over the course of like 1-2 hours I can feel like the cramp is going down my esophagus slowly and giving me chest pain.

I have had a CT scan with contrast and the barium x-ray swallow test which showed everything was fine.

My gastroenterologist said she has never seen anyone have a reaction like this before.

I have been very anxious, but mostly because of how difficult this has been. I have lost so much weight over the past 3 weeks and I am genuinely scared of just slowly dying from malnutrition.

No one has any idea why this is happening and my GP just dismissed it as anxiety. I am already on an SSRI for anxiety (been on it for years), I've tried lorasepam but it doesn't help the swallowing, just gets rid of the anxiety I have about dying from not eating and I've even tried xanax but it didn't help at all.

I have now developed some fear of choking and eating by now, and my appetite is at a zero. But the physical sensation came before the anxiety about this all.

I used to be scared of swallowing pills as a child, but I'm 30 now and last year I was taking magnesium tablets the size of half my thumb with no problems. Otherwise I haven't had any trouble with eating previously!

Has this happened to anyone else? How do you fix this? I am so desperate and I feel like I am going crazy.

Hi!

The past year I have been dealing with acid reflux from stress and burnout and none of the anti acid medications or PPIs worked. This whole time I also felt like my throat was tight, like someone was actively choking me, and it was hard to swallow and a few times I had small grains like quinoa get stuck in my throat resulting in a coughing fit. It kept getting worse.

So I saw a gastroenterologist who recommended an upper endoscopy to check that everything was fine. I had it in sedation and she took some biopsies to rule out infections, cut out a small 2mm polyp, and everything came back clear. No scarring from acid reflux even...

I had the endoscopy 3 weeks ago but since then I have not been able to eat. I can only swallow liquids but I am so sick of liquids and pureed soup, it's making me depressed. Whenever I try to eat solid food, I can feel it get stuck in my throat, like my throat cramps up and holds the food stuck in my throat. Over the course of like 1-2 hours I can feel like the cramp is going down my esophagus slowly and giving me chest pain. When I feel like the food first gets stuck in my throat, my whole body seems to tingle as well.

I have had a CT scan with contrast and the barium x-ray swallow test which showed everything was fine.

My gastroenterologist said she has never seen anyone have a reaction like this before.

I have been very anxious, but mostly because of how difficult this has been. I have lost so much weight over the past 3 weeks and I am genuinely scared of just slowly dying from malnutrition.

No one has any idea why this is happening and my GP just dismissed it as anxiety. I am already on an SSRI for anxiety (been on it for years), I've tried lorasepam but it doesn't help the swallowing, just gets rid of the anxiety I have about dying from not eating and I've even tried xanax but it didn't help at all.

I have now developed some fear of choking and eating by now, and my appetite is at a zero. But the physical sensation came before the anxiety about this all.

I used to be scared of swallowing pills as a child, but I'm 30 now and last year I was taking magnesium tablets the size of half my thumb with no problems. Otherwise I haven't had any trouble with eating previously!

Has this happened to anyone else? How do you fix this? I am so desperate and I feel like I am going crazy.

Hi!

I have been trying out preventative medications but lately all of them trigger true spinning vertigo for me. 😭

Amitrityline didn't cause vertigo, but a lot of other problems.

I tried Venlafaxine - horrible vertigo from first dose, I could only take it for 3 days before I got other mild serotonin syndrome symptoms as well and my doctor advised me to stop. Took me 3 days after stopping for the vertigo to stop

I also tried Lacosamide as I am also in a lot of pain and my neurologist isn't sure whether it's the nerve pain or migraines exactly or how they interact. I took the first dose in the evening as the side effect was drowsiness, and I ended up sleeping with my hand on the wall for some stability because I got vertigo again. That was on Monday and I still haven't fully recovered from that vertigo, I've had to take Lorazepam daily to try to exist.

My next medication to try is Atogepant (Qulipta) and I'm terrified. I don't mind the usual slight dizziness, but if it starts spinning in my head.... I'm out. Has anyone had vertigo as a side effect for Atogepant?

My problem is that I get the worst vertigo when I lie down to sleep. I can't sleep on my back since my occipital nerves are so triggered and sleeping on my side triggered the worst vertigo, so I have been sleeping on my stomach. But not even that helps anymore! I believe it's all due to my neck problems - i have a neck hump, C4/C5 protrusion, straight "military" neck, and muscles so tight they caused occipital neuralgia. I am constantly in so much pain, I can't even brush my hair too hard. I can't get massages anymore as well as they trigger migraines.

So another question is, is anyone else's vestibular migraine triggered by their neck? Obviously I know vestibular system gets its signals from muscles as well so it would make sense. But how do you deal with that? Would atogepant help with this pain as well?

I'm so desperate I am considering botox already, but because my neck is so unstable and weak, I fear it would make me feel like a bobble head instead and increase dizziness.

And also sorry I just need to rant for a second as well, but I am just in so much pain and one physio said that as long as the pain is there it means my muscles and nerves are irritated and my vestibular system gets wrong signals and I won't be able to get stable and live my life until the pain is under control. 😭 I had an upper endoscopy two weeks ago to check how my stomach is doing from all NSAIDs but I haven't been able to properly eat since then as well. I feel like the nerve pain has spread down my throat or maybe it's because of my neck, but food keeps getting stuck in my throat and I keep getting cramps in my throat and esophagus so I can only eat liquid food.

And now also dealing with vertigo as medication side effects, it has been absolutely debilitating. I had done so much vestibular rehab work and I had it pretty much under control as my last vertigo bout was in March. But this has made me feel like I'm back in the beginning. I can barely look at my phone again because it makes me feel sick, when in June I could already use my computer for the first time since March.😭 I don't know where to get the mental strength to keep going when my body is so weak and fighting against me. Especially now when I am struggling to eat and whenever I try to sleep, I'm met with vertigo. 😭

Tere! Ma ei tea kas sellist asja isegi eksisteerib, kuid otsin meeleheitlikult head psühhiaatrit.

Senini olen sattunud ühe juurde, kes kuulas mu probleeme 5 minutit, kirjutas 3 tugevat rohtu, ja siis pidas pika monoloogi ja lõpus soovitas enda koolitusi, ning teine psühhiaater oli ehmunud, et tean erinevaid antidepressante ja ütles, et tean sama palju kui tema (mis on hirmutav, sest varem töötas ta Seewaldis ja loodaks, et need arstid ikka teavad natuke rohkem).

Mureks on läbipõlemine, ärevus, depressioon. Perearst tõsiselt ei võta ja ise enam hakkama ei saa mitte kuidagi.

Kui kellelgi on olnud häid kogemusi kas psühhiaatriga või mingi keskusega, võtaksin kõik soovitused soojalt vastu. Selline psühhiaater võiks olla, kes päriselt kaasa mõtleks ja vaataks sind tervikuna kui inimest.

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone has tried lacosamide or atogepant?

My body didn't like amitriptyline nor venlafaxine, so my neurologist has recommended trying lacosamide and if that doesn't work, then atogepant. I asked for something with less side effects than the antidepressants. 😭

I'm one of the unlucky ones with constant non stop horrible pain which triggers the vestibular symptoms, so he said to try lacosamide first as it should take the pain away faster. Lacosamide is also significantly cheaper than atogepant, so seems logical to try it first.

I realise lacosamide is quite a new medication though - my neurologist said only 5 of his patients have tried it but it has worked really well for them when nothing else has.

Has anyone tried lacosamide? Any success stories?
Or how has atogepant worked for you?

Hi all! I took my first dose of venlafaxine (37.5mg) for VM and PPPD yesterday around noon, and throughout the day I got the usual slight nausea and stomach ache and slightly increased anxiety, but then I woke up at 2am with head spinning vertigo. I haven't had true spinning vertigo like this for months. 10 hours later I'm still spinning!😭

It has just taken me back to February when this all started and I had vertigo for a whole month and it's almost a trauma response, I just keep crying from fear. My GP said to continue with venlafaxine if possible and that it should subside, but would love to know if this happened to anyone else? I'm terrified of taking my second dose!

I knew dizziness could be a side effect of starting this, but has anyone else gotten really bad vertigo? And if so, did it get better in 2 weeks?

I have such high hopes for this medication to help with my anxiety, VM, and PPPD so I'm considering just taking lorazepam for the first week to help with the vertigo.

Please no horror stories about venlafaxine - I have put this off for over a month.

Hi! I'm supposed to switch from escitalopram to venlafaxine and I was wondering if anyone's done the same?

I've been on 10mg escitalopram for 7 years but need to switch to venlafaxine now due to chronic pain/vestibular migraines/vertigo/increased anxiety.

I've asked my neurologist, psychiatrist and GP the best way to do the switch, but everyone's got different opinions. I think the one that has made sense to me the most so far has been to start 37.5mg venlafaxine and remain on escitalopram 10mg for at least a month so I don't confuse the withdrawals and side effects. Then the second month drop escitalopram to 5mg and remain on 37.5mg venlafaxine for another month and then increase to 75mg... Another doctor said she sometimes recommends opening the 37.5mg capsule and taking 1/3 of the beads the first week, 2/3 the second week and the whole capsule the third week for a smooth beginning.

I am terrified of the switch since I've been on escitalopram for so long and it is a familiar medication. So would be very helpful to hear success stories from anyone doing this switch!

has anyone gotten very bad depression whilst on amitriptyline?

i have been taking 10mg for about a month for migraines and whilst i am going through some things anyways, lately i've had thoughts i've never had before. suddenly my career and life which i have worked towards for 10 years is meaningless, the flat i've stayed in for years doesn't feel like home, i feel desperately lonely despite always liking being alone and single, i feel like life has no meaning really.

i have also been going through burnout and having a bad time physically and mentally the past few months, but i've never had these thoughts before. i took amitriptyline last year as well for about 6-7 months and during it i started not doing anything, just stayed at home most of the time, i was tired, but i didnt have depressive thoughts... i've always had anxiety and i'm taking escitalopram for it but i've never experienced depression like this.

has this happened to anyone? i'll be talking to my therapist and different doctors as well, but i was wondering if amitriptyline could be a contributing factor?

such a shame if this has happened to anyone else too because it helps with my tension headaches so much!

Hi, bit if a long post as I've been stalking this page for a while now and people here seem to know a lot and I am panicking.

I've been struggling with vertigo and dizziness since having BPPV in February which was probably the result of stress and burnout and low vitamin D levels. The BPPV was cleared in February but I then got motion sickness, rocky boat feeling, tension pain, sensitive eyes and nausea. I haven't been able to look at a computer screen for longer than 5 minutes without feeling unwell since February... I have luckily not had the room spinning since BPPV was resolved though.

My MRI showed some non specific lesions which I've been told are probably caused from my previous migraines. An ENT, an audiologist and vestibular physiotherapists have checked my ears and have ruled out any hearing and inner ear issues/remaining BPPV.

It seems that as no one has been able to identify a clear diagnosis, I've been thrown into the vestibular migraine pot (instead of PPPD - another clueless diagnosis imo) because I have had migraines for half of my life. Also possibly a little bit of cervicogenic dizziness because my neck muscles are so tense they have caused a very small protusion in C5. I also have very minor nystagmus going up which apparently goes with vestibular migraines.

I don't understand however how I have supposedly had a migraine for 3 months every day so I am a bit sceptical about this diagnosis. I was incredibly stressed and stuck in fight or flight for a few months prior to all of this, but still, surely I'd have better days too. Maybe I also don't want to believe it's something permanent!

For treatments, my first neurologist recommended to restart taking amitriptyline (I took it last year for tension headaches from tense shoulders and neck and it helped a few months). I have been taking it for three weeks now, just increased from 5mg to 10mg. In the last two weeks I've been told by another neurologist and an ENT that Venlafaxine is commonly used for vestibular migraines. From googling and searching on here, it seems to be a good option for vestibular migraines and even PPPD if maybe I have that instead.

My problem however is that I am already on escitalopram 10mg and have been on it for 7 years. I am now also taking amitriptyline 10mg. One neurologist told me to start taking Venlafaxine 37.5mg anyway as a THIRD antidepressant and when I asked about serotonine syndrome she brushed it off. Today I saw another neurologist who told me to stop taking amitriptyline, and once done, start introducing venlafaxine and then in 3 months taper off escitalopram because venlafaxine covers both what escitalopram and amitriptyline do (makes sense). An ENT even told me that she sometimes recommends opening the capsule and start taking 1/3 of it for a week, 2/3 the second week and then third week the full 37.5mg.

I am absolutely terrified of serotonine syndrome and changing my anxiety medications though. I have also heard some scary stories about venlafaxine side effects and because my nervous system is super sensitive right now, I just know I'll get all of them. I already feel so unwell, I have daily nausea and functional heartburn from all of this. I have lorazepam as a rescue anxiety medication, but I took too many during my vertigo episodes that it gave me terrible acid reflux so can't even use that.

Long story short, has anyone tried venlafaxine and found absolute relief from it? I want to know if it is worth messing up my whole summer trying to change these medications. My migraines are triggered by heat and both escitalopram and amitriptyline make me sweat and heat intolerant so switching it all up gives me so much anxiety. But if venlafaxine is as good as the google AI overview says, it would be worth a try...

I have also started taking vitamin D, B vitamins, and magnesium glycinate daily. Last year I took magnesium glycinate and coQ10 nightly for tension headaches, idk whether to incorporate coQ10 for vertigo/vestibular migraines as well? Has anyone found help from supplements/vitamins?

Sorry such a long post but my quality of life has dropped to a fat 0 in the past months and none of the doctors seem to really care. I've had to move back in with my parents because some days I feel so unwell. I'm so anxious now and I just want to feel normal again and be able to go back to work. My worst symptom is not being able to look at computer screens and none of the doctors have an explanation for it but I have an office job and need my eyes to work!!

Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated :(
Also this is my first post on reddit so if I've made any mistakes I apologise!