Bipolar Disorder Medications: Kaiser sues Pfizer over Mis-representation of Gabapentine (Neurontin)

It amazes me that Gabepentin (neurontin) is still prescribed for bipolar disorder. It’s used in jails and by health care professionals who might not know the facts.  I wrote the blog below in 2012. How is it possible that four years later, the drug is still being used for people with bipolar disorder? I’d like to hear your experiences.

Here is a very interesting article regarding the drug gabapentine. Known mostly by it’s brand name Neurontin, the drug was touted as a medication for bipolar disorder.   In reality, it often caused suicidal episodes – even though it took doctors a while to catch onto this. I was given Neurontin in 1998- it was my 22nd drug and by that time I had so many drugs in my body, this one only made things worse.  I became immediately and dangerously suicidal. No one believed me then!

As you all know, I believe in drug therapy for bipolar disorder.  I took Lamictal (lamotrigine) for many years and it improved my life. But we have to be very careful- Lamictal and Neurontin are in the same family of anti convulsants- which proves that medications are not alike just because they are under one family.

Click here to read the article about the Kaiser Lawsuit over Pfizer’s mis-representation of the drug Neurontin.

Julie

PS: Do you feel that we are often just guinea pigs at the whim of drug companies? We need the drugs and many of us love our drugs for how they help us get on with life, but I wish we were more respected as human beings instead of money generating machines.

   A salad of Neurontin!

Related posts:
Generic Bipolar Disorder Medications
Bipolar Disorder Medications: Mood stabilizers Lithium, Depakote, Tegretol, Lamictal
Bipolar Disorder Medications – Lamictal Side Effects