Dealing with Chronic Pain

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Gabapentin is FDA approved to treat seizure disorders and the nerve pain syndrome often linked to shingles.

It is often prescribed off label for chronic pain conditions and viewed as a safer alternative to opioids.

Prescriptions for gabapentin in the U.S. per 1,000 people more than doubled from 2010 to 2024.

New research links gabapentin prescriptions for chronic back pain with higher risks for dementia.

Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant medication that is FDA approved for the treatment of seizure disorders and postherpetic neuralgia—a chronic, often debilitating, nerve pain syndrome often linked to shingles. It is classified as an anticonvulsant and a GABA analogue, meaning it mimics the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which normally reduces nerve excitability. An extended-release version (gabapentin enacarbil) is approved for restless legs syndrome.

Gabapentin works by calming overactive nerve activity in the brain and nervous system, primarily through interactions with calcium channels. However, it is also frequently prescribed off label for a variety of chronic pain conditions and generally viewed as a safer alternative to opioids. As a result, over the last 15 years, prescriptions for gabapentin have increased dramatically. This coincides with burgeoning awareness of and concern about the opioid epidemic that began around this time, and subsequent to the significant relaxing of opioid prescribing standards to include chronic pain conditions.

A September 2025 report by CDC researchers in Annals of Internal Medicine documented........

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