Gabapentinoids I am dependent on gabapentin to sleep. I want out. How do I do this?

[magicmagic]

I have been using 900-1200mg of gabapentin to sleep every night for at least 2 years. I started using gabapentin because i was on 3rd shift and could not sleep more than 4-5 hours a day.

I want to stop because now i work a normal schedule and theres no point in taking it. But everytime i stop for a couple days i actually cannot fall asleep naturally. Like i will maybe doze off for 30 minutes.

What is the best course of action? Reduce dose each night? Or do one night on one night off the meds?

 

[paranoid android]

Taper slowly to avoid wd's.

 

[magicmagic]

Taper slowly to avoid wd's.

I was under the assumption that wd’s only happen if you are taking it 24/7, I only take one every 30 min-1 hr starting at 1130pm. So im not on it during the day.

 

[paranoid android]

I was under the assumption that wd’s only happen if you are taking it 24/7, I only take one every 30 min-1 hr starting at 1130pm. So im not on it during the day.

Ya i was on a high dose and got pretty narly wd's. But you should probably be fine besides some insomnia. Wd's can cause restless legs though so watch out for that

 

[drewbocop]

Ya i was on a high dose and got pretty narly wd's. But you should probably be fine besides some insomnia. Wd's can cause restless legs though so watch out for that

I definitely get RLS when I stop. I ran out for 4 days recently due to my pharmacy being weird for no reason at all, and RLS/poor sleep was about my only symptom other than anxiety, partially caused by my own thinking. I take 1800mg/day, but typically 1500mg of that is only dosed in the evenings over the course of a few hours. It's actually more commonly being used as first-line treatment for RLS over dopamine agonists like Mirapex now, which are turning out to be quite problematic due to augmentation issues.

 

[M!$TER-ED]

Consult your provider, he/she can help you taper down until off completely. You may experience some discomfort, insomnia, If you want to stop completely, remember you depended on gabapentin for at least 2 years. You will need to adjust to not having it for sleep.

 

[drewbocop]

Consult your provider, he/she can help you taper down until off completely. You may experience some discomfort, insomnia, If you want to stop completely, remember you depended on gabapentin for at least 2 years. You will need to adjust to not having it for sleep.

I've tapered off 3200mg/day years ago with great success. Also cold turkey'd 3000mg in jail, though I was also cold turkeying high dose valium, etizolam, and kratom at the same time, so hard telling which symptoms were the gabapentin LOL. (I went insane)

With the way OP was dosing, it probably won't be as bad as he's expecting, especially at those doses. I've too found that not taking it regularly morning until night makes it much easier. If he's mostly only dosing at night, and tapers off that way, shouldn't be too awful at all. I think a lot of people overblow/exaggerate how bad it is. Especially on Reddit. Don't read that for honest experiences, everyone's neurotic. If he starts experiencing insomnia, I've found that magnesium glycinate + microdose melatonin (0.3 mg) helps a lot to calm legs and get some restful, dream-filled sleep. Careful taking magnesium while tapering gabapentin though, as it affects absorption.

 

[M!$TER-ED]

I’m not a trained physician so what I suggest is not professional advice, consider melatonin, or grocery bought sleep tea aid Don’t buy melatonin doses larger than 3mg, it sold at higher doses but that is not advised. At most take 9mgs

 

[drewbocop]

I’m not a trained physician so what I suggest is not professional advice, consider melatonin, or grocery bought sleep tea aid Don’t buy melatonin doses larger than 3mg, it sold at higher doses but that is not advised. At most take 9mgs

0.3mg is all I need, and once a tolerance develops, and it does, I do 0.6mg. Then I stop for a while. I find it works FAR better than any of the mega-dosed supermarket bullshit. Hell, before I knew that, I took 10mg time-release melatonin from Wal-Mart and I have never felt so bad in the morning in my life. And it lasted the entire work day. Even 1mg is too much. It's been shown that low-dose is more effective.