I would say being on it for four months you might be ok quitting cold turkey, especially since you say that on some days you don't take any at all. But, now that you've read this information you could be sent into a panic attack that you could confuse as being withdrawal. Have you ever had any withdrawal symptoms? Why did you originally start reading about this drug? I've been taking benzos (prescribed by a doctor) for about ten years now. I take 2mg of Ativan (Lorazepam) up to four times per day. I'm clinically addicted to that medication for sure, but with the benzos, you are susceptible to withdrawals within days of quitting. Some people say between 7-21 days, but I don't give a damn what people say, I've had withdrawal symptoms when I haven't taken it at all after just
-4+ days. That's when I can first notice a twinge of muscle spasms, pain, & the beginnings of moderate-severe muscle twitching. Beyond that, it can cause severe muscle pain because they are severely cramped, & if I am unable to relax my muscles, it's really painful after so many days of being unable to stop them from cramping & relax them completely. I even went for a professional massage, & she wasn't able to make them relax, particularly in my back where it's easier to feel muscles & where the worst pain is.
If you haven't had withdrawal from the Gabapentin (Neurontin) before, then you should be ok. What doctors seem to say about that drug is that it's possible to have withdrawals from it & m(any) drugs, depending on your own body, but that it's atypical. But I doubt the real numbers are in on that because if people are following their doctor's directions with the medication, & if they are tapering off when the doctor takes them off of the medication, then they wouldn't really know (neither the patient nor doctor) if they would've had withdrawals upon a cold turkey quit. If for some reason the pt (patient) has abused the drug, then obviously, they'd run out because they are taking more than they're prescription is written for at some point. Is there a reason you want to quit? Is it just because you don't want to be addicted to anything, particularly this, after reading these really bad experiences? That was what caused me to want to take something else or just stop taking it. I told the doctor, he switched me over to pregabalin (Lyrica) & that one I stayed on for a very short period of time, & decided to read about it as well, & the withdrawals from it, I read, could be exponentially worse from what I've read.
The reason I originally started looking up these medicines is because I was hospitalized after injuring myself, was prescribed the Gabapentin initially, but it blocks the mu receptors as well as many other receptors in the brain (some doctors will tell you they don't, but anyone who has taken it with opiates/opioids or those types of rx pain medications, & even the benzos-those are blocked as well, can tell you that whatever their medication is, it's efficacy is quite diminished. Then, with the benzo, if that one is blocked, I can go into seriously dangerous withdrawals, the high dose that I have to take after being on it for so many years, my withdrawal would be, and have been, very awful, painful, & even extremely scary when it wasn't possible to get the medication into my body or I had none. Because a year ago I relapsed on heroin, & wound up in the hospital because I overdosed & was on the hard kitchen floor for hours. It caused, because of how I landed on the floor, rhabdomyolysis, because the blood flow was compromised, my muscle was severely damaged, part of it died, my nerves in both my feet & legs were damaged/died. I thought I was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life at 33 years old. I regained some movement and feeling back in my right foot while in hospital, & pretty much after having home health come out to my home for three months up to 3-4 times/week, have the movement back in my right leg and foot, & after three & a half or four months got one muscle, then one more to start working in my left foot, but I still have >50% paralysis in my left foot, & still have nerve damage up my leg & some numbness, tingling, nerve pain in my left leg & foot muscles, & also have plain old-fashioned pain in both my feet, & lower legs, mostly on my left, & it's been over a year now... I just passed the one year date in the last week. With nerve regeneration being painfully slow (between <1 cm-<1 inch per month), & knowing it has to travel proximal to distal (from closer to your body ---> outward/away) & it has to go from at least my knee then all the way to my toes, I calculated that it would or could take anywhere from <2-3 or worst case scenario, in a scenario that it DOES heal at all, between >3-<8 years. It is also possible that my nerves may not regenerate & reinnervate completely, or anywhere in-between, at all.
Consequently, my doctor, both my PCP & my Psychiatrist, stopped my MS Contin (Morphine ES [the extended release kind] 30mg 2x/day) completely, and my Ativan (Lorazepam) 2mg up to 4x/day, respectively, my psychiatrist stopped my Ativan, which is a benzo, cold turkey, completely. My PCP stopped the morphine completely, but gave me Norco to taper off of over the next >2-
months. But I can handle opiate withdrawal. It won't kill ya, but can be damn uncomfortable. I guess it could cause tachycardia (fast heart rate, or any other irregularity of the beat of the heartbeat.) But it's nothing compared to benzo withdrawal. I couldn't believe that my psychiatrist took me off of it, especially my high dose and prescribed and taken it for almost nine years at the time. He once told me to NEVER stop taking it suddenly because it can cause deadly seizures in withdrawal, so I was double shocked that he did that. I was also really mad at him for doing it and more so because he had told me that it was that dangerous. EVERY healthcare worker that I talked to about it couldn't believe he did that. Their jaws would literally D R O P - all of them would. Multiple doctors, several RNs, LVNs, Physical therapists, many people in healthcare, several of them told me I should fire him. I told him about all this & he seems to be unable to remember things he would've previously said to me. There wasn't much continuity in the things he would say. But after having NO pain medicine for such severe pain, going to the ER with pain so bad I was crying-one time screaming, I finally went back to my doctor, but he wasn't there so I had to see a different doctor. Since he works at the "Family Practice" here, he said that he was actually ok with rewriting my morphine rx, but since there may be times that he is gone and other doctors may have to write the rx if he is out, he would have to bring it up at a meeting. So it turned out that me seeing this other doctor helped my situation out. After breaking down in tears telling him how horrible it had become for me, & my 80 year old grandmother also pled with him a little because I couldn't drive at the time. He left to contact my PCP via phone & came back saying that he and my doctor agreed that I needed pain control enough to look the other way about the heroin relapse.
I'm now on 200mg of Morphine ES 2x/day & 30mg of Morphine IR (immediate release) up to 3x/day.
When I saw my PCP next, he told me, regarding my psychiatrist, that I should ask to be put on Klonopin (Clonazepam) which is released slower, because he knew how conservative my psychiatrist is. He's also a part of the "Family Practice" system here.
I did so, & it worked. Then later, I was telling him that it was just not helping my panic attacks like the lorazepam did (Ativan). So he did put me back on it, & finally over the next couple months I got back to taking it at the same dose I was on before he CT quit me.
So tell me why is it that you decided to start searching about this medicine? I'm also prescribed Pregabalin (Lyrica), which is really, basically the same thing as Neurontin (Gabapentin). It does something with the GABA receptors/synapses, reuptake or SOMETHING - but I don't take it, because I want to keep my morphine prescriptions and Ativan rx's. I don't want them to think that I'm not really hurting, because I AM. just that the Lyrica blocks the most important things--it's immediate importance, for me: the Ativan & the Morphine.
Well, this has got me scared shitless. I have been on gabapentine for 4 months as a mood stabilizer after withdrawing from 25 years of heavy cannibis use. Bout a 1/2 oz a month. I had a major depressive episode when I quit. Suicidal thoughts. I was admitted to a physc ward for 6 days. Go figure. Anyway, I was given GP in there and it turned me right around. Now I take anywhere from 300-900 mg daily. Sometimes none. I'm also been on 100mg Zoloft for about 17 years and the lowest dose of seriquil for about 1 year. I don't use any other drugs or meds. Used benzos before quitting grass at a very low dose. .5 mg of klonipin. Stopped that when I quit grass too. Been clean from grass for over 200 days. I know most will say smoking grass is better then any of the meds, but not for me. I had to stop. It was ruining my life in every way. I've gone days without the GB and didn't really notice anything. Maybe a bit of heart pounding anxiety. But nothing like when I quit smoking, which was terrible anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, unreal mood swings, is crumble into tears at the drop of a hat. Going back to weed is not an option for me. Period.
But I'm now worried bout the GB. I never gave it a second thought. Prob cause I am prescribed it by my psychiatrist and my therapist knows I'm taking it and both have never batted an eye bout it. I have a long personal and family history of mental illness.
Should I be tapering it off? Stop altogether? Talk to my drs? Keep the path? I don't want to go through the kind of withdraw I did before ever again. Advice????
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