Back to the drawing board

Remember how when I went to the doctor and he prescribed this drug named Neurontin and at the time the doctor assured me that there were no "real" side effects from taking this drug? Well, I'm not so sure of this assurance. I've been taking it regularly and initially taking one pill three times a day was doing the trick nicely. Almost all the facial pain went away...for about 2 weeks. Then little by little the pain started coming back. But that didn't particularly concern me because the doctor said that I could increase the dosage and increase it significantly, if need be, because, after all, it's a very safe drug with no "real" side effects. So over the past few weeks I've been increasing the dosage with last week my highest dosage being 900 mg, three times the originally prescribed dosage. This past week, even this highest dosage wasn't completely alleviating the pain. I have to admit that I began taking two Advil every day to help with the pain. I planned on calling the doctor on Monday to let him know that I had significantly increased my dosage, so that when it came time to renew it, a red flag wouldn't go off and I'd be reported to some drug agency as the latest junkie in town.

Last night, upon returning home from a lovely evening of food, wine, and friendly banter with our best friends, I noticed when I took my sandals off that there was a large imprint from the sandle and a slight bulge where the pressure of the leather of the sandal had not been. In other words, I was swollen. I wrote it off to sitting without moving for a while and possibly from drinking wine. This morning I still felt a bit swollen, but ignored it as denial is my favorite defense mechanism. However, by this evening my feet and calves felt like I had just gotten off of an 18 hour airplane flight and my hands felt and were so swollen that I couldn't remove my wedding rings. In my normal state my wedding rings are quite loose and come off easily. So I could deny it no longer. I know that edema can be a sign of a heart problem or high blood pressure. I pondered what could possibly be causing such sudden swelling. I did't feel like I had high blood pressure, wouldn't I have a headache? Not necessarily...it is the "silent killer" after all. I told myself, "you must get a grip. It's not high blood pressure. You've never had a history of high blood pressure. Think, it has to be something else." Then it occurred to me. Thank God for Google! I put in the search term "side effects and Neurontin." I clicked on the first medical journal article and what do I see listed as the #3 side effect...peripheral edema. Peripheral edema does not seem like a benign effect. I can't see any good coming from having and living with peripheral edema. So it's back to the drawing board. No more Neurontin for me. The experiment is officially over and it was a dismal failure.