Gabapentin-The Popular but controversial anti convulsant drug may be zeroing in on the Pathophysiology of disease

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Dr. Michael Binder

North Shore University Health System, USA

: J Pharm Drug Deliv Res

Abstract

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In recent years, the anticonvulsant drug gabapentin has skyrocketed in popularity both among prescribers and illicit users. This presentation will offer a neurophysiologically-based explanation for gabapentin’s sharp rise in popularity and explain how the drug’s mechanism of action is shedding light on the root cause of nearly every medical and psychiatric illness that can be triggered or exacerbated by stress. Correspondingly, it will discuss the logic of using gabapentin and other relatively safe anticonvulsants, both alone or in combination, to treat a wide range of psychiatric and substance use disorders. It will also discuss the rationale of using anticonvulsant drugs in an entirely new way—in the prevention of both psychiatric and a wide range of chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, cancer, dementia. Included will be a simple, objective means by which to determine which persons are at an elevated risk of developing these conditions and the mechanism by which Neuroregulators (anticonvulsants and other brain-calming drugs) combine with healthy lifestyle changes to reduce that risk. In an era of smartphones, wearable devices, and a growing public desire to prevent rather than react to illness, the ability to use resting vital signs to identify the fundamental driver of both mental and physical illness combined with the ability to therapeutically modify the genetically-transmitted vulnerability trait could usher in history’s greatest campaign in the fight against sickness and disease.

Biography

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Michael Binder is a board-certified adult and adolescent psychiatrist with nearly 30 years of experience treating a wide range of psychiatric disorders. He is also a neuroscience researcher with a focus on identifying the mechanisms by which psychiatric symptoms develop and the means by which psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy combine to help alleviate symptoms. When gabapentin first became available, Dr. Binder began using it in treatment-resistant patients.