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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Etizolam for gabapentin withdrawal

D

DementiaSavantPlus

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
262
It has been difficult to use a search engine for this query as the hits are dominated by info on gabapentin being used for WD from multiple substances, as opposed to what would help with gabapentin WD.

I am at the end of an 8-month long taper from gabapentin, the end of a 10-year prescription that peaked at a dose of 1,500 mg per day. I have started sertraline, which has helped with the general psychological interferences caused by making cuts in the doses.

I have heard mixed feelings here and there in regards to using benzos for this purpose. Does anyone have experience using (specifically) etizolam for gabapentin WD? I know that clonazolam has helped with it before, but I will not use something with such potency. I would be fine ending my taper as it is without an additional aid, but unfortunately I have upped my dose of gabapentin over the past 4 days. I still have enough to taper down if I can conjure the discpline. I do not want to request another refill, but I can if I have to.

Also, will the sertraline in any way interfere with etizolam? I know it is known to somewhat block the effects of many drugs.

Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
 
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I think this would be a bad idea. Etizolam is very similar to benzo's so you would start to get adicted to them.i would leave them off
 
Thank you. There are precautions and guidelines you can follow to prevent this but they are often easier said than done.
 
I don't think I would try this. As someone who abused the GABAnerge for many years, I believe that time is the only thing that truly helps with post acute withdrawal. Etizolam is also a powerful benzo, not a weak one in any sense, and has a relatively short half life, making it not well suited for tapering even on it's own.
 
How bad is gabapentin withdrawal? I didn't know there were even withdrawal symptoms from it...I am prescribed a low dose, for maybe a year, I'm prescribed two(2) 400mg capsules a day. But I guess I take anywhere from 0-maybe 8 a day..probably usually around 4 though. I kind of just pop one whenever I see the bottle because I never remember if I took it or not. Sometimes I go 1-2 days without any. For the last month or two I noticed sometimes I feel unmotivated, no energy, just an off feeling but I have been attributing that to my suboxone...do you think that could be from gabapentin withdrawal on days I don't take it? Damn it, I thought I finally found something that makes me feel good that wasn't going to be a problem getting off.
 
DSP...Back in 2005-06 I was enrolled in PM with a renowned clinic in the southeast. The doctor threw everything it seemed, to see what "stuck". I rejected most, because pain meds choke my bowels/bladder. A low dosage of Neurontin seemed to help. He insisted on titrating me up to 3600 mg per day (600 mgx6). I wouldn't take that dosage! Hell to the NO...We parted ways.

FF to early 2014...I enrolled in a local hospital PM clinic. I can't tolerate the pain meds, though I could use even the momentary relief. I surrendered to Neurontin again, but in very low dosage. I'm now "going rogue" and trying to experiment with vaping MMJ. It's just too many hoops and I'm tired of jumping!

Is it possible for you to lower dosage and "maintain" at that level? It sounds as though you are a CPP like me. If that's the case, please accept my heartfelt empathy. Intractable pain is all I know.

(((HUGS)))
 
Suboxozombie,
gabapentin withdrawal is very bad, and includes vertigo and vomitting as its worst symptoms. If you can go two days with only the mild symptoms you described, then you are either not prone to the withdrawal or haven't been taking it for long enough. The half-life is only about 5 hours I think, so WD will kick in very quickly and suddenly.

DixiChik,
I have been taking the med for anxiety and depression. I was very sensitive to it at first and it caused an almost better-than-MDMA and psychedelic effect. Now it only acts like a benzo with some stimulat attributes. I had been maintaining a 300 mg dose for about 2 months before I increased. I hope that I haven't been taking the higher dose long enough for my taper to have been "reset" as it were.
 
For me personally, gabapentin wd was the same mentally as oxy and low dose xanax combined ..... just took time to get thru it
 
OP, I wish you good luck. You are doing well by the sounds of it. :)

I urge you to avoid etizolam in this instance. You are withdrawing from Gabapentin in a safe manner, the slower the taper, the easier. If you throw a benzo in, you'll have to deal with a problem that is perhaps worse than Gabapentin withdrawal.

In terms of effects, gabapentin doesn't really work on the GABA A or GABA B recepeptors, nor the benzodiazepine receptor, which is what etizolam works on- as you can see, there is no pharmacological reason for etizolam to relieve Gabapentine w/d. You might find that the etizolam simple works totally seperately to relieve some of the discomfort, but the two drugs are not interchangeable in terms of how they work in the brain. Seriously avoid that shit. If your w/d gets really bad, taking a SMALL amount VERY OCCAISIONALLY is acceptable (though I wouldn't), but do not take it daily.

Sertraline does not intefere with etizolam. I think there is the chance that sertraline may cause the etiz to be excreted more rapidly, or may reduce the effects through metabolic/enzyme inhibition, but they do not act together in the brain.
 
Thank you swilow, that is very helpful. Gabapentin does not directly affect GABA A/B but it does indirectly increase gaba levels. (There was a study on this, and it definitely shares an effect spectrum with things like phenibut). There is also definitely not a cross-tolerance between benzos and gabapentin, so they are still very different.

Using benzos in the past has helped me avoid gabapentin WD, but it has been hit and miss. The very powerful clonazolam has circumvented all withdrawals before, but its own withdrawals once gave me a seizure. I know I am answering my own question here, but I am still seeking further confirmation based on others using benzos in this way. It is a bit of a long shot I am aware.
 
You're doing it backwards. You use gabapentin to ease the withdrawal of other meds. Doesn't work so well the other way around, unfortunately. When my mother was going through withdrawal from gabapentin enacarbil (just think of this as an extended release, more bioavailable kind of gabapentin) the only think that helped her at all aside from more gabapentin was, oddly, magnesium. Zolpidem, zaleplon, lorazepam, none of those helped her at all. Whatever effect gabapentin has on the GABA receptors, it's not very important to how gabapentin actually affects your body. It's minor. Gabapentin also doesn't always give withdrawals (personally, I've never had them, despite having many opportunities in which I could have)... maybe that's why you sometimes had success and sometimes did not with the benzos.

On using etizolam to ease withdrawals, you could try it, but again, the effect gabapentin has on the GABA receptors is nothing compared to its other mechanisms of action. It's not why you feel terrible going off of it. You're not going to get any special relief out of etizolam, just the standard benzo relief. My understanding is also that clonazolam, powerful though it may be, is a more long-acting drug. Those are typically easier to get off of. If you had a seizure with clonazolam and I'm not wrong about that, I'm not sure that a short-acting drug like etizolam is going to be all that safe. They tend to be harsher on your body once the effects begin to fade. Maybe something like metizolam would be more appropriate. It's essentially etizolam but weaker and longer acting.
 
Thank you for the long and very informative response, Red Moon. You are right about the gabapentin withdrawals being actually very different than that of benzos due to the fact that its effect on GABA may be negligible. I noticed that there are many digestive/intestinal symptoms during the WD that do not correspond with benzo WD.

Based on this great community's responses, it's looking like etizolam may only distract me from the psychological effects of the withdrawal. However when recently trying piece together my complex history of benzo/gabapentin use, I recalled that etizolam did stop the dizziness and insomnia caused by the WD. I also know that I develop a quick tolerance to the hypnotic effects of etizolam specifically, which could be preventative to using it consistently enough for any substantial relief.
 
I have extensive experience of Lyrica WD, which is worse than Gabapentin WD as Lyrica is stonger.

Benzos will alleviate some of the symptoms, alcohol is even more effective as it hits more receptors than benzos. But if you really want to use GABAA agonists to ease the WD, be extremely careful not to get addicted to them! Lyrica and gabapentin WD are child's play compared to benzos and alcohol.

However, I will admit that when I suffered from extreme insomnia on Lyrica WD, I took a few pints of beer to help me sleep, at least 3-4 hours. If you are sure you can handle benzos, etizolam will help for the anxiety, but etizolam has a very short effect.

Also remember that gabapentin nor Lyrica WD is not dangerous, it may feel horrible but the WD doesn't last very long. You will quite soon feel better. Try to be active, try brisk walking, cycling, anything that keeps your mind occupied.

For sleep on Gabapentin/Lyrica WD, mirtazapine + melatonin is effective. That combination is heavily hypnotic, and you can safely take them for a while until you can sleep normally.
 
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I must say, I'm noticing some distinct cross tolerance between pregabalin and temazapam. Or maybe temazapam has always sucked balls.
 
I successfully used clonazolam to stop a 3000mg/day gabapentin Rx. However, it was more or less me just spiraling into a several year long benzo addiction, and I actually didnt even notice that I had stopped taking my gabapentin. It wasn't necessarily a conscious decision to stop them.. I was just too loaded 24/7 to remember to dose.

Fast forward to now- I'm clean, Rx'd Subutex & gabapentin 2400mg/day. However I must frequently take more of my gabapentin to combat my crippling GAD & panic attacks, as my doctor refuses to Rx any type of benzo. Now, this month my usual connect who' gets me extra gabapentin can't come thru (I think I've permanently broke my GABAergic system!)

So, I'm actually trying this regime in a few days, drop down to maybe 600-800mg gabapentin a day and supplant that with 4-10mg of etizolam a day for 3-5 days (dosage may be adjusted up or down, I haven't taken etizolam in probably 5 or 6 years), then back to my usual gabapentin for a few days, then switch again. It's really the only option I have to avoid gaba w/d's (I tend to get severe panic attacks, anxiety, sweats, insomnia, and confusion that is not entirely unlike delirium- I WISH I were one of those types that didn't experience withdrawal from this med!).

I would go back to the true and tried clonazolam but I can't risk failing a drug test on the 20th (for my sub doctor); if it's still in my system by then. Etizolam clears much more rapidly, if even tested for at all...

I'll let you know how my experiment works out...
 
^Aren't you just risking an etizolam addiction as before? All the best though <3
 
Yes, I most certainly am risking it. But I have no choice. I was forced to go cold turkey off of 3000mg gaba & 4-6mg bupe on a trumped up PV, was out 9 days later... But the experience left me with exasperated seizures.

I can't risk that again, if my family and buds im living with were to think I was in withdrawal from something, or on something, I could potentially lose them all ( THANKFULLY I'm finally off probation & shit tho!)

I know taking etizolam risks this, too, it may just prolong the withdrawal or intoxication may be more apparent. But it's a calculated risk on my part. I was plugging 5-15ml of 2m2b daily for the past 8 months, I did a 2 day wean- threw out the remaining 50mL I had, & got off it. I did have one violent seizure, but otherwise ive stayed "quit" since Sept 8th & not going back. I don't miss it, despite being quite fond of the effects.

So I have confidence, I've grown up quite a bit since my previous reckless benzo episodes. I guess only time will tell if I'm lying to myself, eh?
 
^For what its worth, I recently swapped pregabalin for diazepam so I get you. I would rather be on benzos and taper from them rather than go through extended pregabalin withdrawal. The feeling of everything being totally fucked they pregabalin wd induces is not something I could handle long term but I had to come off pretty high daily doses cold turkey for medical reasons. And also, being high on pregabalin made me do stupid shit. :|

Best :)
 
Hey! I am no expert at all but maybe i have some ideas that can help you.
First of all, you are NOT crazy! It may seem so and it can feel so real, but it is not.


Lyrica is said to stop new synapses from forming. Maybe that is why it takes so long to recover from.
Both ashwagandha and bacopa stimulates dendrites and axons to grow in the brain. So this could be of some help.


Ashwagandha
Bacopa monnieri


Check out examine.co* and pubmed


There are many reliabel sources. And remember that there is always HOPE!


If it doesn't work we must ask Elon Musk for help :)


Take care and hang in there.


And sorry for my english, it is not my first language.
 
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