Gabapentinoids (Gabapentin) withdrawal, any advice?

[Squeaky]

Mommy24buggers- sounds like you have a lot more on your plate than most people could handle. I think you would be wise to get a notepad and start writing every time you take a pill, use the bathroom, when you go to bed, and when you wake up. Also note how you feel each day - pain, constipation, headaches, etc.
When you're trying to figure out exactly what each medication is or isn't doing to you it helps to have a record. That way you can figure out later which pills really help and which ones are causing more problems than they fix.
For example: I did the notepad trick, and I figured out that each time I cut my dose of Lorazepam I had headaches and insomnia for about a week. Since I knew I had not cheated and taken any extra oxy it could be nothing else. After that I added gabapentin at night and tylenol in the morning for 5 days at each reduction of Lorazepam until I was done and I didn't go around blaming my kids for my extra irritability during those weeks. It also made it easier for my Dr to help with new meds and dosages because I had REAL information instead of just guesses about what wasn't working.

 

[Barrry]

Hey, Thought I would keep my journal here and hope someone finds it useful. I am really a lightweight. I knew this was a shitty drug from the beginning but a Doctor prescribed it for me a couple weeks after I tapered off valium and was in full blown benzo w/d, took 15-20 mg a day for 15 years. He wanted me to take 300 mg the first few days and add 300 mg every few days until I was up to 900 mg a day of gabapentin. I hated taking it but it helped get some much needed sleep and helped with anxiety at first. Began to depend on it for sleep. Stayed on Gabapentin for 14 months, I thought the anxiety I was having and numb tingling in my foot was from Valium W/D. Over a few weeks I weaned gabapentin down to 100mg in the day and 200 at night. 2 days ago I was down to 100mg at night and noticed my foot feeling better and anxiety was some better so I stopped taking the gaba. This was after a 6 month valium taper with the worst anxiety I ever experienced. After 2 days my foot feels some better and the anxiety is about 50% better. I was expecting something like benzo w/d, but it's a walk in the park compared to a benzo. I doubt now that the people reporting terrible w/d symptoms ever stopped a benzo after being on it for years. Now that's horrible!

I think if you are having bad side effects from gaba you might feel better after stopping, at least for me, so far so good. I have seen people saying day 2 was bad, for me it's better than when I was taking it. So far no regrets. I have taken some Flexeril and melatonin to help sleep. The first night I got a full 8 hours, last night I got 6 hours but that's acceptable.

I'll try and get back here every day or 2 and update.


UPDATE: It's 18 hours later, skipped my downgraded dose of 100mg for 2 days, this is day 3. Having some serious w/d symptoms, not as bad as valium but felt like I was doing a large shake (the only way I can describe it). Kind of concerned about a seizure. Again, Was up to about 450mg a day, cut out the daytime 150mg 3 months ago. I went from 300mg at night only to 250 for a week or so, then went to 200mg for 2 days and 100mg for 2 days and stopped. Is that too fast after 14 months on the drug? Feel fevered, flushed, anxious, shakey and all my injuries from a serious motorcycle wreck in 2002 are really hurting. Slept 2 hours, went back to bed for 2 more. took some chelated magnesium, not helping.

The question is, should I go back up to 100mg for a while? How long? I sure hope someone sees this. Thanks

 

[Tony2tone]

Barry, after reading a million posts on BL and other sites can say I've done my fair share of research on GB withdrawal. I too am suffering from these ridiculous symptoms after 2 weeks of abstinence. I have been on GP intermittently for 7 months and rarely had to take it more than twice in a week for occipital neuralgia which gives me crushing nervy-type headaches. Based on your account, I would recommend getting back on that 100mg daily dose as that seems to be very stable for you. Discuss a 10% reduction in dosage every 2 weeks with your doc. This thread is very old but I'm hoping all the previous posters could provide an update or a precise timeline as to when your symptoms finally subsided. I sincerely hope everyone is well given their circumstances.

 

[gumball6989]

Begin by discussing your withdrawal symptoms with the Physician or Psychiatrist who prescribed them. Explain to them what you are experiencing, and ask to taper your dose. Be honest with your doctor if you are struggling. Honestly Gabapentin was a complete joke compared to quitting Oxy or even Weed IME. Chin up and Man up.

 

[jimmycatalina]

was on 3 600mg tabs for at least a year - 1800mg per day. doc wanted to go up to 3 800mg tabs per day - 2400mg per day. did so for a month. started reading this forum now want to reduce intake to nothing. i have 800mg tabs and 600mg tabs. 1st week will take 2 800mg tabs and 1 600mg tab = 2200mg per day. next week will take 2 600mg tabs and 1 800mg tab per day = 2000mg per day. 3rd week will take 3 600mg tabs = 1800mg per day - back to where i was a month ago. will update every thursday to tell you all how i feel. thanks - jimmy

 

[jimmycatalina]

this is jimmy from yesterday. i also have addiction to opiates. due to untreated neck injury 40 yrs. ago neck hurts constantly and has interfered with sleep ever since. anyway doc prescribes 30mg oxycodone 4x day. i fell asleep with my arm pinned between my body and arm of chair for hours, don't know how many. woke up without use of left hand - wrist drop. thank god left not right. i have to stop opiates while i can still walk. i'm scared to death of how bad it could get. also am taking clonezepam for sleep. 1mg per night. was prescribed them after 3rd night of oxy wd/no sleep. i find .5mg works when on oxys. my pain mgt. doc appt. is next wed. 25th. i must tell him no more opiates. maybe see addiction specialist if such. i have decided good sleep more important than getting high. pray for me. thanks - jimmy

 

[Deepinit]

Whoever says that Gabapentin withdrawal does not exist is an idiot. Big pharma states their research on animals didn't show withdrawal, but this doesn't mean humans will not have withdrawal. Neuron tin works on GABA production in the brain. We all have different amounts of it and add other meds, hAve different reactions when taking it and from withdrawing from it . Taking Neurontin actually helps some people withdrawing from opiates.
Most people , myself included suffer from withdrawal from Gabapentin . I still feel this drug saved me from a lifetime of pain. So sometimes we need to weigh the bad for the good. Now , I feel like healing myself naturally and my pain has magnified in my legs to constant achiness from the withdrawal from Gabapentin . I can't sleep well. Is it as bad as opiates withdrawal? Not for me. Yes the withdrawal from Neurontin sucks but I know it will pass and will try exercise, Epsom salt baths to see if it will help the symptoms. Luckily I don't have the headaches.

 

[jimmycatalina]

Jimmy here 3rd post. Here's the deal with me and meds. Have been drug addict since 1979. A 19 yr old cocaine junkie. Smoked pot for the previous 4-5 yrs. before getting really bad with blow. Tried 12 steps at age 23. Once I learned to freebase the shit was all it took for me to nearly kill myself. Was working nights delivering for bakery in 1985. So, working all night, freebasing coke all day and sleeping behind the wheel. 6 accidents in 6 months. Last one, I turned truck on its side at 3am on the 5 freeway. Hurt my hip really bad, limped for weeks after. Realized I must stop. When I got that fucking urge I prayed and prayed over and over many times. Got thru the coke habit without much physical injuries. I have so much hatred for it you couldn't pay me to use blow again. Went thru the next 10 yrs. on smoke almost exclusively. Drank way too much one night in 1989 after work with friends and scared the hell out myself trying to drive home. I promised God I would never get that drunk again. You see, I enjoyed getting drunk but did not enjoy being drunk. Does that sound crazy? Anyway, around 1994 I worked with a guy who used crystal meth. Here we go again. Not until about 2004 was up every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights on 3 day binges. Once I missed 6 Mondays in a row from work. Then I made the mistake of trying to work one Monday. Nodded off and rear-ended a semi on the 118 freeway. Nearly lost right thumb. If you could see that scar you would know what I mean when I say my thumb was more off than on. Also broke left collarbone. Since I lived alone I had to use left hand to put on sweat pants and slip on shoes, because my right thumb had pins. Once that healed had pins in left collarbone because it hadn't healed. Now had to use right hand to put on sweatpants and shoes. After 13 months was able to get back to work again. I had always enjoyed the painkiller buzz but after Doctor Feelgood got busted around 2002 couldn't find reliable source for Vicodin. This doc saw 12 patients an hour at $60 a visit. He once told me "What do you want? I got other patients waiting. Let's rock n roll here."

This post has been a short book so if anyone wants to know the rest - how I got hooked on oxycodone, gabapentin and clonazepam keep reading. Will post again tomorrow after I see pain mgt. doc in the morning. My first 6 days of no Oxys and reduced Gabapentin intake I feel surprisingly good about the future. Still going to use Robaxin (muscle relaxer) Trazadone and Clonazepam while I adjust to being without opiates for the past 2-3 yrs. On Thursday I will reduce daily Gabapentin dose again. still at 2200mg a day. next week 2000 per day. I believe I have finally hit the bottom, if you know what I mean. Take care all and God Bless You. He loves us so much I can't hardly believe it. Peace - Jimmy

 

[Speed King]

With this kind of drug, the longer and or heavy usage, a very slow and light taper is the easiest. I didn't read the whole thread, but that's how it worked for me from personal experience.

 

[jimmycatalina]

Ok, I told my pain mgt. doctor that I believed I am being over-medicated. Told him how I don't want any more oxycodone and I would be tapering off my Gabapentin as I explained before. He said he didn't think it would a problem and I may not not show any WD symptoms. Tomorrow will be the beginning of a week of 2000mg per day. This past week I didn't really notice any adverse WD symptoms, obviously because I was going cold turkey from the oxys, like I have every month for past 2 yrs or so. Used Immodium before each meal every day since the 3rd day off opiates. Have not had any diarrhea at all. Been using magnesium, vitamin B, D, E, Fish Oil, turmeric, lobelia and cannabis. Also 6 valerian capsules, 5mg melatonin .5mg clonazepam with 4 50ml 99 proof liquers (banana flavor!) in apple juice at night. Had only 1 night of total insomnia.

 

[InfectedWithDrugs]

I recently semi-cured my addiction to opiates. Docs discovered the cause of MY addiction and my supposedly "bipolar disorder". I had hypogonadism (low testosterone) while NOT on any opiates, which significantly reduce testosterone in all men. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) steroid (all are synthetic) Axiron made me feel so much worse and did not raise my testosterone levels much at all. Years later I learned about clomiphene and how it can raise natural T levels. IT WORKED!!! It made both of my testes the size of a single chicken egg, but all my mood swings and opiate cravings vanished for good. Low T causes mood swings, depression, lowers pain threshold, cognitive deficiencies (ADD/ADHD, low dopamine levels in the brain and worsens a plethora of other vital functions, like DNA repair. I was also put on anastrozole to decrease my elevated estrogen levels. Within 2 weeks I tapered off 40mg hydrocodone 3 year use on my own without any detox program. I suffered a mild WD, but I was also on lamotrigine, gabitril, hydroxyzine, gabapentin, dextroamphetamine, trazadone, and very luckily on GHB / Xyrem (for narcolepsy), which made WD easier and let me sleep. I also had clonidine.

Now I am coming off 3 year gabapentin usage of 900mg per day. I think I can do it within a week. I have clonidine and Seroquel in my arsenal and a while back I quit 600mg Lyrica within 3 days. It was BAD, but lasted 4 days. Both gabapentin and Lyrica (Lyrica = pregabalin, I think) increase water retention, which is why I was pooping pure water for 3 days straight! At the time I was also quiting 2mg daily Xanax habit. It was so incredibly bad that my body went into shock and I was lucky to not get any seizures. After that experience, coming off gabapentin slowly is like a joke.

The tough part will coming off lamotrigine because 20% dose decrease causes me to rage and be uber angry, a lot angrier than I was before lamotrigine when I had low T.

Anyway, enough of my story. I strongly suggest people to get clonidine and Seroquel. A combination of both works perfectly for anxiety-inducing WD's. I shall report on my quick gabapentin taper and WD.

Best of luck to all!

 

[legalizeall]

Ive been on very high doses of gabapentin. 3600mg a day. I didnt experience withdrawl symptoms but i did a slow taper of it too. The body needs to be taken off of it slow so its not a shock to it

 

[Nether Animal]

Anyone else get brutal jitters/brain zaps when they take high doses of gaba without much of a tolerance? I can't even walk without risking falling on my ass, or dropping what I'm holding. Makes a huge mess.

 

[Tony2tone]

Hello, I'm new to BL. I've been following this thread and lurking in the shadows. Every question I've had about Gabapentin, through reading this thread has been answered for me (accept one) What an amazing and informative forum! Doctors have no clue overall about this drug.
My question: I took GP for about 6 months, as needed, never more than 2 doses in a week. 900-1200mg each time. I take no other meds, nor drink alcohol. I am a healthy, lean, weight lifting, exercising man in very good physical shape- other than these chronic tension migraines with associated occipital neuralgia which has plagued me for the past year. Anyhow, the GP wasn't cutting it for me anymore and I was having issues with side effects so I stopped CT. I suffered for about 3 weeks. Thinking I was out of the woods and my tolerance was now likely to reduced, I could now take GP even more sparingly at an even lower dose because after all, the shit DID work especially when used as a multimodal approach with NSAIDS and Tylenol. Well I tried and after a single dose, I had those dreaded WD symptoms for a full week! So 2 weeks later, I had an incapacitating tension migraine that knocked me on my ass. I took 900 mg and guess what? Great relief but Another week of WD. Can anyone explain wtf is happening? Could it be Kindling? Is my CNS still in repair from the first withdrawal experience? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tony

 

[theGirlWithBlueHair]

Anyone else get brutal jitters/brain zaps when they take high doses of gaba without much of a tolerance? I can't even walk without risking falling on my ass, or dropping what I'm holding. Makes a huge mess.

I believed I responded to you in another thread about this. What you are experiencing is myoclonus, a convulsant like activity. It happens from large dosages due to the depolarizations and inhibition of GABA release gabapentin causes at high levels. This happened to me on lyrica (pregablin) - a similar to drug - and I ended up having a generalized tonic-clonic seizure because of it. You need to be careful. I can't stress this enough. The effects you are getting are not innocuous. You are bound to end up having a seizure if you keep taking dosages that keep causing this.

 

[InfectedWithDrugs]

One thing gabapentin WD does to me I'd make me furiously angry. Does anyone else get that?

 

[theGirlWithBlueHair]

A lot of withdrawals can do that. I've had it from cannabinoid withdrawals. I think it's due to increased noradrenergic activity.

 

[Squeaky]

Tony2Tone- this is a stretch, but do your migranes go away when you lie down? If so, they may be caused by a Cerebral Spinal Fluid leak. I know I sound like a hypochondriac, but what if right?
If and only if they go away when lying down, do a Google search for CSF leak.

 

[varimix]

Will phenibut take away gabapentin withdrawals? Getting off a one year habit. Been on around 1800 mgs the last month and rapidly went to 900mgs...I have 900 mgs left. I may wait untIl it gets really bad then take 300..... I have phenibut and am hoping to transfer to It.....I have 10 years of phenibut experience and its nothing to taper and to detox from. Only lasts 5 days too then it's over. Gabapentin takes unknown days. Weird withsrawal. One minute your good next you feel like you took some bad acid and have a migraine

 

[Tony2tone]

Squeaky- thanks for the reply. Def not CSF leak. I had MRI of the brain with contrast which was normal. I'm throwing everything at these headaches- massage, dry needling trigger points, nerve blocks, even acupuncture. Nothing works. A dose of GB with some alleve or Tylenol then I lie down seems to be the only effective modality. But every time I exert myself, I get crushing head pain. I can't run around with my kids because of these friggin headaches. If I didn't get those shitty withdrawal symptoms every time I take GP just one time that would be great. Until I find out definitively what's the root cause. I'm getting MRI if c-spine next week. Will keep you posted. Meanwhile, I'll wait another week before taking GP again (3 weeks total) to see if it happens.