My husband who doesn’t have PD was put on a low dose of Gabapentin for another reason and within one week had a major change to his personality experiencing bouts of anxiety, extreme sadness and sometimes anger. As soon as he stopped taking it he returned to his own level personality. I agree that research is vital and being your own best advocate.
🌈TheaD

We all experience it especially us who have had it awhile

Many people with parkinsons have different forms of cognitive issues. For me short term memory seems to be affected. Executive function seems to also go with it. I definitely am not as sharp as I use to be. I use to work with a consulting firm teaching problem solving a long time ago. When I was first out of college my father had a international consulting firm that developed quality circles ( problem solving) teams within large corporations . We would teach these teams which where made up of factory floor personnel and top management to solve complex problems using a 10 step problem solving process. The reason I bring this up is because complex things can be solved or understood by breaking it down into small pieces. Identify the root causes and then work on solutions to each piece individually instead of the whole overwhelming problem. Gabapentin does affect memory and cognitive thought processes according to many research articles as well as what I find most important personal reviews of people who have taken gabapentin. Gabapentin effects everyone differently one good and one bad . Parkinsons affects two parts of us. The physical being and the mental and spiritual one. The medicine that is prescribed to help one side in some cases effects the other negatively. The Mayo Clinic suggest valium among a few other things to help with dystonia. Valium has been around forever and patient reviews are very high. I personally know people that have found partial relief using valium realizing there are no complete fixes for a progressive misunderstood disease. The brain part is kind of like exercise. Do you like crosswords ,word search, sudoko or brain teasers . There is a lot of research on the brains elasticity and ability to create new neural pathways. There are clinics ( non drug) that help with understanding this. I personally spent over a year and half at one overcoming some super major screwed up neural pathways. They helped alot but honestly did not cure anything just gave me an understanding of how you can reprogram the brain , strengthen the brain , and best of all know I can do it. There is one glitch the progressiveness of parkinsons which does make it a constant battle to overcome a disease which wants to take so much of us mentally as well as physically. I know what decision I would suggest and I think I have but like everything in this world we are all individuals and what is good for one may help another or have to be tweaked to fit you properly. I truly hope that you find answers to your questions ! Best wishes !!

I've read that anywhere from 30-70% of PD patients experience cognitive decline. It can be minor (losing words) to major (dementia or psychosis). I don't know if gabapentin makes it worse. Carbidopa doesn't seem to affect it, unfortunately. Losing executive function seems to be really common, even in the fairly early stages.

I think I would suggest reading a bunch of patient reviews on gabapentin !! They are not hard to find. Example would be patient reviews gabapentin and memory loss. Gabapentin withdrawal forums. Everyone has to make there own decisions with their doctors and their own research. I have been suggested for seven+ years to take gabapentin and have not . I have used alternative drugs to help with dystonia. For me the side effects and friends reviews I know have just made it not something I could use. Everyone needs to do their own research but I would suggest reading about this drug. You get the best understanding by looking at many reviews and studies. The information out there is sometimes scary. Parkinsons causes many things that are bad and many are ambiguous but so does different medications that help somethings but also cause side effects that out way the benefits . RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH !! Best to you , hope things go well for you !