Americans are increasingly misusing the nonopioid, nonaddictive painkiller gabapentin in conjunction with opioids and alcohol in areas of the U.S. already racked by the opioid crisis, according to a report from NBC News.
Here are three things to know.
1. Gabapentin, commonly prescribed to treat nerve pain and seizures caused by shingles, enhances the effects of opioids and alcohol when taken together. Gabapentin also increases the lethality of these drugs. One 2017 study found gabapentin taken in tandem with opioids increases the risk of overdose by 49 percent.
2. Ohio police have documented a sharp rise in the rates of gabapentin misuse over the last several years. Recent reports have suggested 300 milligram pills were sold on the streets of Athens for just 75 cents apiece. In 2016, rising rates of gabapentin misuse spurred Kentucky to become the first state to classify the medication as a Schedule 5 Drug, meaning its prescription requires documentation on the state's prescription drug monitoring program, according to NBC News.
3. James Patrick Murphy, MD, a Louisville, Ky.-based pain specialist, told NBC News the gabapentin problem is similar to the opioid crisis in that they both stem from overprescribing.
"It got prescribed so much that everybody taking an opioid for chronic pain was also taking gabapentin," Dr. Murphy told NBC News. "[S]ome people will take a valium with opioids, and some people will take a handful of gabapentin. The sad thing for patients who do well on gabapentin is that this will make physicians less likely to prescribe gabapentin."
To read the full NBC News report, click here.
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