ive done several really intense benzo and ethanol tapers - and generally what I have found is that a 5-10% drop is a good place to start from the high dose, which as
@yubacity said is 500-1000mg range. And the method described is what i would do as well - drop 10%, stabilize 4 days, drop another 10%, then maybe move to 5% drops, but rinse and repeat until you are, as the esteemed last poster mentioned - down below the 1g range. from there you will have options - baclofen, gabapentin etc. for a crossover titration, or just the ability to get off the pregab itself by titrating it out. Also, you will be out of the seizure from dosing range, and out of the seizure from withdrawal range. it won't be easy, in fact it will probably suck the whole time, but it beats the hell out of the dead end that is a daily 10g pregab habit. Let me go out on a limb here -- I suffer from long term trauma / cPTSD issues. from the history/instability you have mentioned, to the xanax addiction - id wager you have some serious trauma and/or obsessive thought type issues to contend with. so do i. ethanol, sodium channel agents (pregab, gabap, phenibut), benzos, barbs -- sure they "fix" the problem while you are on them, BUT they do SERIOUS PROGRESSIVE damage to the same systems that you already have problems with (namely the GABA and glutamate axis in your brain).
Not only will damaging this more make all of the underlying anxiety problems MUCH WORSE, seizure thresshold will be lowered and eventually you will end up like me, w twitches/tics/spasms and any time i drink even a beer or two i get straight DTs. do not pass go. --- im saying this because if i had heard this at your age, i would have been spared some of the worst hells I have ever had to traverse (to put in perspective, im a 3rd degree burn survivor. I would take 10 more burns to not go through one more unmanaged damaging benzo DT).
GABA/glutamate/sodium channel agents are NOT suitable medication for cPTSD or related trauma conditions. It makes it all worse outside of the fleeting moment the drug is in effect, and eventually will become a physically crippling habit (as you have found w the pregabalin). Life is hard. anxiety is extremely hard, and finding your way to homeostasis, safety and calm in a crazy world is probably the hardest thing, but I would strongly urge you to explore: exercise, meditation, therapy, EMDR and ANY route to manage the overwhelming sensations that are not from those specific chemical groups. I didnt have a choice in the matter, all those doors were closed to me by the damage i have done to my brain, so I got thrown out in the cold with the same disorders, much older, with no coping mechanisms (I had used chemicals all through 20's and 30's to deal with it). it has been harrowing. don't be me. learn coping skills now, because eventually it will be : die on/from the medications you are using to treat it, or - deal with a horrible wd/reorganization of your brain decades on. it's rough to know, but I have been observing the effects of these drugs in trauma cases my whole life. my mother is on 30+ year bzd prescription for long term PTSD and she is absolutely unable to function. A point will come where she gets dementia (she's already showing signs..) and the doctor will pull her bzds. I am terrified for what that is gonna do to her. I also have another friend in the same boat at 65 - dementia presented and her GP deserted her as FDA will not allow continued prescription of bzd agents to people w dementia.
there need to be better/less damaging anti-anxiety agents.
I would DEFINITELY recommend some kind of inpatient medically-supervised detox for this. Is that going to be feasible at all??
