Mental Health Abusing my psych meds vs. do I just need a larger dose?

[LadyElaine]

Im a 46 year old white female. I recently started therapy. I see a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist. I'm going through menopause and my family has a history of mental health problems. I'm having a really hard time with life. Either I'm crying all the time and/or Im intensely angry. There doesn't seem to be any happy medium. My psychiatrist says I am not depressed. I probably just have a mood disorder. So he put me on gabapentin. Gabapentin really helps my mood swings. When I first take it, I get a little euphoria and then it evens out. I can concentrate, deal with people, and overall have a good disposition.

I started my meds last week Wednesday. I am supposed to take one 300 mg pill three times a day. The first few days I took my prescribed dose and it seemed to help. Then the weekend came. My husband was in one of his "button pushing" modes all weekend and I found that I couldn't cope without taking more of the gabapentin. When Monday rolled around and I looked at my bottle of gabapentin, it looked like the quantity had dramatically decreased. I started out with 90 pills. I only had 52 pills left. So that means I took 36 300 mg gabapentins between Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. It was not my intention to do that.

I am troubled because one would think that 36 pills would make you high or, at the very least, out of it. I was neither of those. I was actually baseline. So I guess I am wondering if by taking all those pills, I was actually abusing my meds or if I actually need a bigger dosage in extremely stressful situations. Should I discuss (confess) my weekend overuse with my psych doc or do I just keep it to myself and try to stick to my prescribed dosage?

I've never taken any type of pills before other than birth control back in the day. I don't know if it is appropriate of me to ask for a higher dosage.

 

[Cliffy78]

Hi lady e, I've got a few issues myself so I know where your coming from.
I'd definitely let your dr know, just tell him exactly what you just told us. Gabapentin is pretty tame IMO and I think you just probably need either a higher dose or a different med.
my shrink gave me them a long time ago and they helped for about a day, kinda like what your going through. It seems like my tolerance grew right away and I blew through them just like your doing. The dr ended up upping my dose and then switching my meds like ten times until I finally gave up.
I think that like one of the first meds they give to certain people for some reason. For me it was total garbage. They put me on klonipin which helped a little but I'd need crazy dosages so I just stopped going due to side effects of all the psych meds. Just wasn't worth it and I didn't get any relief of my symptoms whatsoever.
I hope u have better luck than I did. Good luck and god bless...

 

[sharpthings13]

You will have a couple options. 1, increasing the dose. 2. Adding on another medication to what you are already taking or 3 something different altogether. I've been on about 13 different medications over the last 7 years and still trying to find the right mix. Talk with your psychiatrist, be open and honest and you will find something that works. Good luck!

 

[CloudAir]

Start taking some good old Fish Oil with Vitamin D DAILY , that will really help Addiction problems.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

You can't abused controlled substances without facing the ramifications. That's just how it is. I would tell your doctor what you told us.

 

[LadyElaine]

Thank you Cliffy78. Since that time, I have only been taking them on an "as needed" basis and it seems to work the best for me. It seems a tolerance builds quickly with this medication, as you stated.

I've done some research and when I go back for my next appointment, I am going to ask how my dr. feels about Lyrica. It appears its basically the same as gabapentin, only a bit stronger. Plus, the maker of Lyrica has a program that if one makes under a certain amount of money, you can get your meds at a discounted price. Its very possible I qualify for that program. Which would be awesome as I have no insurance and my meds and doctor appointments are costing me about $200 a month, which is like $200 more than I can afford every month. But so far, spending the money has been worth it.

Thank you for your input/advice.