It’s great that the FDA didn’t approve the use of gabapentin, a non-hormonal drug classically used for treating seizures and pain, for the treatment of hot flashes. And this is especially true considering the dosage that was being recommended. Dosage that was trying to be approved to treat hot flashes was 1200 mg twice a day. Have you ever had to take this medication? It melts your brain. It reduces nerve root pain fabulously (when you need it) but it literally makes most people who take it feel off balance, walking and weaving drunk-like, and with a difficult time focusing and using the ole mind. It probably worked on hot flashes by making a woman so cognitively-disabled she wouldn’t remember she ever had them.
Yeah FDA
I have waited to be able to say this one day, and today’s the day – “Thank you FDA!”
Based on the FDA’s scrutiny, the drug looked like its benefit were not worth its risks. The drug’s issues on thinking, focus and memory as well as other central nervous system effects, compared to the only modest benefits of stopping hot flashes, made it a ‘drug bust’ and the FDA gave it a ‘no’.
The Pain of Shingles
The FDA did approve this drug (gabapentin) for treating the severe pain of Shingles. The pain following this viral infection of nerve roots (common name: Shingles – medical name: Herpes Zoster, aftermath from having Chicken Pox as a kid) is called postherpetic neuralgia. Dr. Perlmutter, a neurologist in Tampa Florida, that was on the Dr. Oz show in January 2012, has an alternative treatment for postherpetic neuralgia that I have seen work in shockingly short time, and it doesn’t dull the brain. It’s a combination of injecting HCG – a pregnancy hormone – along with vitamin B12. This is done daily until the pain leaves. It can take days to months to get rid of the pain. The one case I saw took two days and the woman had been suffering horrific pain for 5 months. This protocol has to be prescribed and administered by a medical doctor who is familiar with this treatment.