GABA rx withdrawal & much more…
I feel like I did have withdrawal symptoms from gabapentin and I was just taking it for a little over a month, 300mg tid (3x/day) & honestly the initial reason I was interested in quitting was because I no longer could feel ANY of the wonderful good feelings that opiates provide. I learned about the other awful things after I decided I wanted to quit taking it. I couldn't feel the good feelings from opiates, like I mentioned: not from my rx for Norco, not my rx for MS Contin, & I wasn't able to feel anything when I was given IV dilaudid in the ER. I even bought some heroin & while I felt absolutely nothing, it did still make me nod. I have a very high opiate tolerance myself, but I know for damn sure what I should be feeling when I should be feeling it, etc.
I am trying not to use heroin for a few reasons; mainly because it's really expensive here for mediocre quality stuff, plus I had a friend a 2-3 years ago die of endocarditis & even after having his open heart surgery, the infection must've spread to his lungs. He was only in his early 20’s. Then there's how it affects my 11 year relationship with someone who has never & would never use heroin; I'm happy he's not used it, because I would actually be pretty upset if he used it or any drug that changed much about his/our life. I actually dumped my previous boyfriend because his drug use was escalating & I told him to choose me or drugs (I was pretty anti-drug at one point), but he chose drugs. It was best to be away from him anyway, he was a very horrible boyfriend. (I'm gay in care there was some confusion, not that it's relevant, but anyhow...)
So yeah I'm kinda backwards in that I wouldn't stay with a guy who used drugs excessively, yet I've been using heroin enough to damage our finances severely over the past 7 months, but I am trying to quit. I guess if I was with someone who's trying to quit I would probably work with him on that. But after 10 years of being together, having joint bank accounts, he removed me because I was having problems spending money earmarked for bills on heroin. That was almost a year ago. It sucks. I'm already legally disabled for other reasons going back many years.
Anyway, yeah I really haven't had a problem going through opiate withdrawals-I can take them easily really (so far), but the horrible apparent gabapentin withdrawals were so terrible that on what would've been the 9th day in a row of not taking gabapentin after a little over a month, & I had very severe muscle contractions that consisted of one powerful flex (contraction) that lasted longer than the period of time I had quit taking it. I started taking it again to try to get relief & it took many days for the spasm to reduce, though they never went away. I was also having quite severe electrical shock feelings that I am pretty sure was related to seizure activity, I've had a seizure once before so I know what they feel like, & that's what it was. It was very scary. I can't believe they prescribe the stuff (gabapentin).
I told my doctor about it, & what I've read about other people’s experiences online. He said he's never heard of withdrawals from it & told me if I wanted to I could just take one a day while switching to Lyrica (Pregabalin). I was already just taking one a day because I really didn't want to be on it at all but also didn't want to experience the painful withdrawals that I didn't expect or know about.
That being said, I do think it helped a little with my nerve pain- I have severe nerve damage after suffering rhabdomyolysis from remaining in an unfortunate position on the floor which happened to cut off circulation to my muscles for a period of time long enough to basically cause my muscles to break down & die inside my body. It also happened to put pressure on my nerves in the exact same spot on both my legs on both my nerves just below the outside of the knees & just below the outside of my ankles. This caused paralysis in my legs below the knees. I regained a little movement in my right foot the following day in the hospital, but not much. Now, after two months, I regained most of the movement in my right leg & foot/ankle, but I lost quite a lot of flexibility & muscle tone/mass, & it's really weak. I still have a lot of progress to make in my other (left) leg/foot/ankle. I can only slightly move my toes, only down, only about half a centimeter, only able to use one muscle in my foot/ankle moving it slightly in, very weakly. I've lost a lot of muscle mass/tone in both my calf muscles- a lot of muscle atrophy.
I use AFO braces (ankle-foot orthotics) for hobbling around my house, beyond that, I use a walker as well, or a motorized scooter when provided at a grocery store or something. Though I was at a grocery store last week & some bitch mocked me for using it because I am fairly young, 33 years old, & I may have looked like I was just using the motorized scooter just to joyride in it. I cussed that bitch out nice & proper, my 80 year old grandmother was with me and she gave her a piece of her mind as well, then the store's pharmacist person came out and apologized to me after asking what happened. But it was pretty humiliating. I already have severe social anxiety I was taking a large amount if Ativan (legit rx) daily for almost 10 years from it, & it has kept me from being able to work for a long time.
Anyhow, I've found that my morphine & Norco prescriptions do far more for my pain than the GABA drugs, *if* the doctor prescribes enough, & he wants to, but has to be aware of what the other doctors think because he works with many other doctors at the community health place (like family practice) but "enough" pain medication in my case is a lot being that I'm so exposed & tolerant to opiates, & since they're aware I've used heroin years ago & because that was how I injured myself two months ago ('fell out' on the floor in the kitchen, real classy-like), I'm lucky that he even agreed to put me back on morphine & Norco. (They took me off of it for a while after being in the hospital, mostly because my doctor needed to have the other doctors collaboratively agree that I needed to have severe pain control.) Still, my doctor is really reasonable about pain meds, but most doctors there are very, very conservative. I go to the Family Practice place here & I'm in Texas, so it's a crapshoot to get a doctor that's willing to prescribe narcotics, even when they're VERY needed. It's ridiculous.
My psychiatrist actually discontinued my Ativan (benzo) prescription without titrating me off of it, & I was taking 2mg of Ativan 4x's a day (8mg/day w/legitimate rx) for over 9 years. But after the ONE drug incident after being clean (as far as they knew) for 14 years, he took me off of that massive dose cold fucking turkey. I was furious. He said it would be at least a year before he would consider putting me back on it. I was taking it for severe panic attacks & persistent insomnia.
Since I've been off if it, I've been to the ER for chest pain, have been having panic attacks that feel like heart attacks at least once a day, my resting pulse has been between 95 (right after waking up before I get out of bed) up to & beyond 130 even when at rest when I've been seated for an hour. What's even more ridiculous is that my psychiatrist who had been prescribing me the Ativan had mentioned to me *more than once* that I should never quit taking the Ativan because I could have a seizure & die. Then he goes & does exactly that.
Too bad that I can't much complain as he's really the only psychiatrist that takes both my Medicare & Medicaid supplement (that may not be the case anymore as the Affordable Care Act has required mental health to be covered by insurances now...) & he is part of the Family Practice type place that I go to. But I am considering firing him, for having done that to me. But I don't want to make myself look bad because that would surely be in my medical records and who knows what this ultra-conservative doctor who doesn't even own a television would write about the whole situation. He would probably remark that he thought I was malingering. I don't need that.
Wow did you actually read all this? If you did, you're quite a trooper. I've just had a lot of shit happening to me & I have a lot to get off of my mind. Sorry it's so long & somewhat off-topic from the original subject.