Misc Using Gabapentin for RLS withdrawals

[msedward43]

Ok, long story short, I had a MILD addiction to Oxycodone variants for like a month period. I WD'd and and got clean, but thought I could chip away at once a week. well, I found out the hard way that once you're hooded you're pretty much alway hooked if you take doses too close together. I noticed I took 3 doses in a one week period and I kick started some mild symptoms (pretty much confirming I can't ever take opiates again)... I don't have it bad at all since it was very mild symptoms. just some nasty full body RLS that has been frustrating (since monday night)... I took some flexeril monday and tuesday and they worked like a charm for RLS but made me foggy as hell. I forgot I had some gabapentin lying around (300 mg pills) from my old doctor and started on a "2 in the morning, 3 at night" regime yesterday and "BOOM" all RLS signs gone till today when they crept back (and I took 2 in the morning to ease those away). my question is... how long should I take the gaba for? I DON'T want to gain an addiction to those cuz I hear the rebound symtpoms are NASTY... basically should I quit after 4 days use? 7 days use? etc... and should I taper off after the 4-7 days down to one pill a night or just quit cold turkey? I like that they fix my RLS so that I can function in teh day and sleep at night, but under no circumstances do I want to trade another addiction.

 

[sm0kestack]

A 600mg dose in the morning, then 900mg at night, you will not like cause a dependency problem over a week or 2. You should be fine. Just take them til you're done with the oxy WDs, then stop. There shouldn't be a need for a taper off them either. You should be able to drop them cold turkey just fine.

 

[belfort]

when i was detoxing from heroin, i had a handful of gabapentin 300 mg pills..i took 600 mgs at night and to my surprise and delight, my RLS was gone and i was able to sleep for 3-4 hours..gabapentin is best used as a detox tool

 

[msedward43]

thanks guys. I took them for 2.5 days 600 mg a day and then the RLS was mostly gone. slept well last night but still had a little bit left... I'll take one last dose tonight to cover the last of it but I think I'm good. 3-4 days max makes me feel a lot better. I've heard so many horror stories how gabapentin screwed them up ROYALLY with long term WD's that I wanted to play it safe

 

[sm0kestack]

Yeah, the only real danger I have notice in getting hooked on gabapentin is taking large doses, like 2000mg+ daily for a long period of time like several weeks. But when it is used in those smaller doses for a few days, it is OK. How you holding up OP?

 

[msedward43]

Yeah, the only real danger I have notice in getting hooked on gabapentin is taking large doses, like 2000mg+ daily for a long period of time like several weeks. But when it is used in those smaller doses for a few days, it is OK. How you holding up OP?

gotcha, I have this strong desire to NOT get hooked on anything else... I'm actually pretty good. the rls is still sticking around, but it's VERY mild compared to how it was last week. just a mild irritant that takes an extra half hour to get to sleep. kind of surprising and irritating. even though the rls was my ONLY wd symptom this time just because I took some doses a little too close together vs. the full wd's of my last/first time. 10 days is a bit surprising. only was about 3 days of nasty stuff and 4 ish days of RLS last time that vanished rather quick.... live and learn they say.

 

[msedward43]

well, after relapsing last time by chipping... I've been a month clean and started REALLY wanting some the last week. My brain new I was over the mild WD symptoms I had by accidentally bringing doses closer together and my brain/addiction kept saying "it's ok, one time won't hurt... it won't cause any WD's if you do it this once)... had the opportunity finally in my hand today..had the chance and just walked away... All I could think was how close the precipice I was and didn't want to f@ck it all up. Even if it would feel soooooooooooooo good for the rest of the day.

 

[sm0kestack]

Yeah, that's the real challenge is being able to abstain after post acute withdrawal. You tend to forget about the pain you went through, and yes, your addict brain will tell you lies like that. I'll be able to use, I just won't let it control my life this time. You may be able to do it for a little while, but eventually you will be back into the same shithole lifestyle, living it all over again... If you DO live thru it again anyway...

 

[msedward43]

well, interesting question regarding back to gabapentin. I haven't needed it for about two weeks, but I left the bottle on the counter just in case any linger WD symptoms flared up (still clean, no oxy whatsoever). HOWEVER the night before last I accidentally grabbed the gaba bottle in the dark thinking it was my advil liquid capsules... popped 5 of them and only realized what I had done when I started feeling loopy an hour and a half later and came back to check the bottle.. those were 5 of the 300 mg pills and I felt fine until the next evening when I had some rls pop back up. Today it got rather uncomfortable and the RLS worsened. Can you have rebound symptoms from just taking ONE 1500 mg dose of gaba by accident like that ??? I figure it's rebound because I took two (instead of 5) of the 300 mg pills a few hours ago and it relieved the symptoms asap.... I'm just worried the RLS may last a week and a half like it did when I came down off the oxy. should I just take ONE pill tomorrow as a mini "taper" to mitigate any other rebounding symptoms?

 

[JustCallmeJen]

well, interesting question regarding back to gabapentin. I haven't needed it for about two weeks, but I left the bottle on the counter just in case any linger WD symptoms flared up (still clean, no oxy whatsoever). HOWEVER the night before last I accidentally grabbed the gaba bottle in the dark thinking it was my advil liquid capsules... popped 5 of them and only realized what I had done when I started feeling loopy an hour and a half later and came back to check the bottle.. those were 5 of the 300 mg pills and I felt fine until the next evening when I had some rls pop back up. Today it got rather uncomfortable and the RLS worsened. Can you have rebound symptoms from just taking ONE 1500 mg dose of gaba by accident like that ??? I figure it's rebound because I took two (instead of 5) of the 300 mg pills a few hours ago and it relieved the symptoms asap.... I'm just worried the RLS may last a week and a half like it did when I came down off the oxy. should I just take ONE pill tomorrow as a mini "taper" to mitigate any other rebounding symptoms?

I personally wouldn't take anymore of it. Let it clear your system. Believe me, gabapentin is a very nasty drug to get hooked on.

 

[msedward43]

I personally wouldn't take anymore of it. Let it clear your system. Believe me, gabapentin is a very nasty drug to get hooked on.

gotcha, it was only going to be a single pill tomorrow so no biggie. I just took the other 2 pills to try and "ease" down a bit since 1500 mg when I hadn't taken any for WEEKS since my oxy withdrawals ended (only took about 5 doses of 3-5 pills each a day for the course of say 6 days). I felt STUPID loopy (didn't happen when I took it for that week of oxy WD's) and the RLS shocked me. I have NO intention of messing around with Gaba, that's why I started this thread. I was worried that when I used it for a week I'd gain some dependency. My Dr. gave me bottles of this shit to try and fix my chronic nerve pain issues, but I decided to stick with amitriptilyne because it's older and seems to have less side effects...I took the damn bottle and put it under the sink so I wouldn't make that stupid mistake again

 

[tightlywound]

I was physically dependent on gabapentin after 2 weeks of 900-1800mg a day. now I'm stuck on it even though it does nothing for my anxiety cause I can't at this point handle the akathisia (full body RLS) that happens in withdrawal ...maybe someday. I know it's only going to get worse though the longer I take it. fuck that shit man.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

gotcha, it was only going to be a single pill tomorrow so no biggie. I just took the other 2 pills to try and "ease" down a bit since 1500 mg when I hadn't taken any for WEEKS since my oxy withdrawals ended (only took about 5 doses of 3-5 pills each a day for the course of say 6 days). I felt STUPID loopy (didn't happen when I took it for that week of oxy WD's) and the RLS shocked me. I have NO intention of messing around with Gaba, that's why I started this thread. I was worried that when I used it for a week I'd gain some dependency. My Dr. gave me bottles of this shit to try and fix my chronic nerve pain issues, but I decided to stick with amitriptilyne because it's older and seems to have less side effects...I took the damn bottle and put it under the sink so I wouldn't make that stupid mistake again

It sounds like you're good then! I wish I would have never started taking this stuff!

 

[msedward43]

I was physically dependent on gabapentin after 2 weeks of 900-1800mg a day. now I'm stuck on it even though it does nothing for my anxiety cause I can't at this point handle the akathisia (full body RLS) that happens in withdrawal ...maybe someday. I know it's only going to get worse though the longer I take it. fuck that shit man.

THAT makes me nervous. I'm coming up on like 8 or 9 doses (only would take once before bedtime, not multiple times a day) and I DON'T want to play around with addiction and withdrawals... I'm staying AWAY from the stuff unless I'm horribly retarded and relapse on Oxy and need to withdraw again (please god let that not happen).

 

[msedward43]

It sounds like you're good then! I wish I would have never started taking this stuff!

yeah, I've heard that from several people, however I've seen others like my mother in law take it for 5 or 6 years and then quit without any WD's at all. freaking weird.... the rebound RLS startled me. I didn't think 1500 mg's was THAT high of a mistake dose considering people on here play around with 3 grams and above sometimes. I'm just praying that any rebound symptoms I have after tonights much smaller 600 mg dose are mitgated and go away quickly. I'm too broke to have a habit and I DON'T want another addiction thanks to the bottles my Dr. gave me for my pain.. ugggghhh. I wish Pot worked for me ...

 

[chase_in_56ace]

THAT makes me nervous. I'm coming up on like 8 or 9 doses (only would take once before bedtime, not multiple times a day) and I DON'T want to play around with addiction and withdrawals... I'm staying AWAY from the stuff unless I'm horribly retarded and relapse on Oxy and need to withdraw again (please god let that not happen).

All you have to do is taper down and put more and more time between your doses to avoid the nasty gabaergic cessation symptoms. I take and am dependent on a HUGE dose (Rx'd 3200mg a day.. Take more like 4-5g most days) and always taper down to around 400mg a day and then have a nasty 3-4 days before im back to my usual self and out of the woods. 90% of people avoid withdrawals that way, including myself. There are those unlucky ten percent it seems, that have persistent lingering problems over a longer period of time from ceasing gabapentin. A lot of those claims are unfounded, keep in mind and I truly believe at least some of those people have underlying conditions that were either exacerbated by the gabapentin dependency and withdrawal or simply masked by using neurontin for some time.

 

[msedward43]

All you have to do is taper down and put more and more time between your doses to avoid the nasty gabaergic cessation symptoms. I take and am dependent on a HUGE dose (Rx'd 3200mg a day.. Take more like 4-5g most days) and always taper down to around 400mg a day and then have a nasty 3-4 days before im back to my usual self and out of the woods. 90% of people avoid withdrawals that way, including myself. There are those unlucky ten percent it seems, that have persistent lingering problems over a longer period of time from ceasing gabapentin. A lot of those claims are unfounded, keep in mind and I truly believe at least some of those people have underlying conditions that were either exacerbated by the gabapentin dependency and withdrawal or simply masked by using neurontin for some time.

gotcha... I SHOULD say that 7 of those 9 doses ended about 2 weeks ago after my Oxy WD's.... the last two were me fucking up with the accidental 1500 mg dose the other day and today's 600 mg dose to try and ease it down before quitting completely. I was just wondering if that 1500 mg dose was basically the equivalent of OD'ing or "shocking" my system and I was having rebound crap vs. actual WD's if you know what I mean. I mean I hadn't had a single dose in like 2 weeks since I wasn't using it for fun or anything and my average dose was 2-3 pills before bed with the occasional 2 pills before noon to ease the opiate pain

 

[belfort]

I was physically dependent on gabapentin after 2 weeks of 900-1800mg a day. now I'm stuck on it even though it does nothing for my anxiety cause I can't at this point handle the akathisia (full body RLS) that happens in withdrawal ...maybe someday. I know it's only going to get worse though the longer I take it. fuck that shit man.

gabapentin turned on me pretty quickly after a few weeks of using it..the few good effects it had went away and i was so sluggish and irritable all day..my fine motor skills were destroyed and my vision was blurry..i had to get off, couldnt function

 

[msedward43]

well, small update... it seems 2 days is the half life in my system as the 600 mg's to ease off it finally went away. Now the pain in my calves returned (it feels like RLS and is making my calves burn and ache). HOWEVER, muscle relaxants like Flexeril work wonders (it kills all symptoms for 24 hours on one 10mg pill but it makes me GROGGY as crap the next day)....Also Magnesium powder and other magnesium supplements like small doses of epsom salts taken orally do wonders. 10 minutes after taking them 95% of the leg pain goes away (which never worked during opiate WD's) so it looks like I got some rebound or mild WD pain from the gaba... just my luck. I wasn't intending this or even abusing the meds...ughh. at least the flexeril and magnesium supplements seem to work. that should tide me over until the week or so it takes to go away (I'm guessing due to the mildness of the symptoms. I don't have any of the psychological effects that others report from a full WD)

 

[belfort]

yeah, I've heard that from several people, however I've seen others like my mother in law take it for 5 or 6 years and then quit without any WD's at all. freaking weird.... the rebound RLS startled me. I didn't think 1500 mg's was THAT high of a mistake dose considering people on here play around with 3 grams and above sometimes. I'm just praying that any rebound symptoms I have after tonights much smaller 600 mg dose are mitgated and go away quickly. I'm too broke to have a habit and I DON'T want another addiction thanks to the bottles my Dr. gave me for my pain.. ugggghhh. I wish Pot worked for me ...

lol same here, pot does nothing for pain or anything else for me..if pain u are worried about, try out kratom