Hi there everyone, I'm new here so please forgive me if I'm posting this in the wrong area, and feel free to move it to the correct one if so!

My question is as follows:

My mother was put on Neurontin for neuropathic (nerve) pain after suffering for several months with a shattered lumbar disc. Eventually she was admitted to hospital and had surgery to remove the disc, after being on 900-1200mg/day of Neurontin for three weeks. After a further week they started to reduce the neurontin, first to 600mg/day, then a fortnight later to 300mg/day then the final week was to be 200mg/day.

She was discharged from hospital a week after the operation and took the medication, under my care, as instructed. However, after three weeks her progress seemed to stop, if anything it reversed, as she was getting weaker and starting to feel suddenly very hot or very cold, with the thermometer showing no change in temperature either way. When she started suffering fainting spells I took her back to hospital, where they kept an eye on her for a few days, and said she was suffering withdrawal symptoms from the Neurontin. After a few days they discharged her again, and I'm looking after her again.

She is still very weak most of the time, making it to the bathroom is almost all she can do before she collapses onto the bed again. She is nearly 50, and prior to the back operation and injury was in very good health, very fit and active. The symptoms are very stressful for her and for me, and I would like to ask if anyone has experienced this before, or knows anything about it, and could therefore be able to give me some kind of timeframe for when she should be getting back to normal. At the moment she barely has the energy to lift a spoon of food to her mouth, though when she does get a little back she can walk for five or ten minutes, but then she goes down again. I think it would help her and me if we knew how much longer this will go on for.

Thanks very much!