Seek help for breathing problems or extreme sleepiness — Label Decoder

Official label information

FDA has warned that gabapentin and pregabalin can cause serious breathing difficulties, especially with opioids or other CNS depressants, in people with lung disease such as COPD, and in older adults. Neurontin labeling describes potentially fatal respiratory depression in those settings.

Plain-language explanation

Breathing difficulty or inability to stay awake can be a serious sign, especially when medicines or substances that slow the central nervous system are combined. This is an urgent safety warning.

What this often means for gabapentin products

Watch for slow, shallow, or difficult breathing, extreme sleepiness, bluish or gray skin, or inability to wake someone. Those signs need emergency care. This site will not declare any opioid combination “safe.”

Ask your pharmacist

Ask which combinations on your list may raise this risk and what emergency plan to follow.

Caution: Call emergency services immediately for slow, shallow, difficult breathing or unresponsiveness.

Sources

FDA Drug Safety Communication: serious breathing problems with gabapentin and pregabalin — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
DailyMed: NEURONTIN (gabapentin) capsules, tablets, and oral solution — U.S. National Library of Medicine

This decoder does not diagnose, set a personal dose, or create a taper schedule. If two instructions conflict, pause and ask the dispensing pharmacist.