Hair loss with Gabapentin/Neurontin

Has anyone noticed hair loss or lack of regrowth with dogs {or humans!} taking Gabapentin/neurontin?

Teddy has some issues with his coat, he is neutered now so I expected him to have a fuller coat, instead his coat has actually changed over the last few years, he doesn't seem to have much regrowth where it has been cut previously and where his harness rubbed. He's jsut had a hair sample checked and they didn't find anything. He has some flaky skin and a slight smell.

He is on a good diet and supplemented with Viacutan so I don't think it's dietary.

I am now on Gabapentin too and notice hair loss myself - not "clumps" fortunately, just lots of hair coming out, so it made me wonder if there is a connection?

That is a good question! Ilsa's been on it for a week and has been shedding like crazy! I thought it was maybe the weather or stress from the mri and vet's visit.

I'll be reading the responses too.

Jen

My daughter had hair loss on a different epileptic drug but only once we noticed a lot of hair in the bath. It never happened again.

This site does state hair thinning and loss may occur with drugs in anti seizure category.

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/restless-leg-syndrome/medications.html

Sometimes when looking for drug side effects you have to, unfortunately, search multiple sites to get most of them.

Thank you for the replies and especially to Frecklesmom for PMing some more links too - it appears that hair thinning and hair loss is not uncommon with Gabapentin

I guess that's better than the pain though, and at least now we know what's causing it...

Geordie's coat has never been as thick as India's and Chocolate's, but a few months ago I started noticing his coat hasn't been as long and thick as it used to be. I didn't connect it to his Gabapentin, but thought it might be his diet. I've always suspected that Geordie has an enzyme related problem, and I read about raw wheat germ, which contains enzymes and vitamins. Several weeks ago I started adding one teaspoon of raw wheat germ to our dogs' morning meals. Now I'm seeing Geordie's coat is shiny and coming in thick like it used to be.

Also, a few weeks ago we asked the vet for Panacur for all 3 dogs, as their coats were looking a little dull. I didn't see any worms in their stools, but I just wanted to make sure they are worm-free. This may have contributed to the improvement of Geordie's coat as well.

In reading about wheat germ, it appears that wheat sensitivities/allergies are mostly related to the starch of the wheat, but not the germ. I've found that India can eat wheat germ and not have yeast around her mouth like she does if she eats brown rice, wheat flour, sweet potato, etc. Both Colin and I have been adding raw wheat germ (toasted wheat germ destroys the enzymes) to our cereal, and I've noticed my skin is healthier. We store the wheat germ in the freezer to keep it as fresh as possible.

That's really interesting Cathy, thanks. I should get some for myself.

My girl had awful skin , I put it down to stress from the sm. & perhaps biting herself so much started an infection.