Gabapentin for Lyrica withdrawal

[Cyanoide]

After heavily abusing pregabalin (Lyrica) for two months on and off, I'm getting nasty withdrawal symptoms. It's nowhere near benzo or alcohol WD (I've been through both) but still enough to make it hard to be at work. The anxiety and depression is horrendous. And the insomnia and sweating is severe.

While I have enough to do some kind of taper - which by all means I will do - I'm thinking of some remedies.

I have quite a lot of gabapentin which I've actually only tried a few times because Lyrica is a zillion times more recreational and anxiolytic. But I'm wondering if gabapentin would work as a withdrawal aid. Gabapentin and pregabalin are very closely related but do not share any cross tolerance.

Any ideas? Other possible remedies?

 

[Cyanoide]

Could someone please help with this issue?

 

[sonicwhite]

Yes if you can stick to not abusing gabapentin than you should be able to taper with it. Lyrica and gabapentin are almost the same drug just one is way more potent then the other. I get lyrica and gabapentin. I would say just take it easy on the gabapentin because it can produce its own high.

 

[Cyanoide]

Thanks sonicwhite

Do gabapentin and pregabalin have an equivalent dose? At the moment I'm taking 600-900 mg Lyrica to keep the withdrawal symptoms away.

Could I just quit the Lyrica cold turkey and switch to gabapentin for maybe a week?

 

[sonicwhite]

Wow that's a high dose just to keep lyrica withdrawals at bay. Um I would say 3.600 mg a day of gabapentin for one week then start shaving off little by little. There is a dose equivalent but I do not know with those numbers.

 

[pally pete]

After heavily abusing pregabalin (Lyrica) for two months on and off, I'm getting nasty withdrawal symptoms. It's nowhere near benzo or alcohol WD (I've been through both) but still enough to make it hard to be at work. The anxiety and depression is horrendous. And the insomnia and sweating is severe.

While I have enough to do some kind of taper - which by all means I will do - I'm thinking of some remedies.

I have quite a lot of gabapentin which I've actually only tried a few times because Lyrica is a zillion times more recreational and anxiolytic. But I'm wondering if gabapentin would work as a withdrawal aid. Gabapentin and pregabalin are very closely related but do not share any cross tolerance.

Any ideas? Other possible remedies?

Wow that's a high dose just to keep lyrica withdrawals at bay. Um I would say 3.600 mg a day of gabapentin for one week then start shaving off little by little. There is a dose equivalent but I do not know with those numbers.

I think Pregabalin is roughly 3-4 times as potent as Gabapentin..

Good luck

 

[Keif' Richards]

On my tablet, so I'll make this short and sweet. Gabapentin (Neurontin), Pregabalin (Lyrica) and even Phenibut all belong to a class of drugs called Gabapentinoids. They all have similar action and effect and they all (from experience) share a high degree of cross-tolerance.

Gabapentin is significantly weaker than Pregabalin, but it should be able to ease your withdrawal. The key, especially with these rapid-tolerance producing drugs, is to allow as much time as possible between dosing. This will make said drug more effective.

Good luck!

 

[Cyanoide]

Thanks for your replies.

But according to this article there should be no cross tolerance between the two:

One particular advantage of the instant invention is the fact that no cross tolerance between the two compounds has been observed.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP1196160.html

Also I found this post on BL, unfortunately I cannot quite it directly. It's written by user K'd-OUT-in-AZ

To let everyone know...

1. Pregabalin and gabapentin have no cross tolerance

"The pharmacokinetic interactions of pregabalin and gabapentin were investigated following concomitant single-dose administrations of 100mg pregabalin with 300mg gabapentin and multiple-dose administration of 200mg pregabalin every 8 hours and 400mg gabapentin every 8 hours. Gabapentin pharmacokinetics following single- and multiple-dose administration were unaltered by pregabalin coadministration. The extent of pregabalin absorption was unaffected by gabapentin coadministration, although there was a small reduction in rate of absorption."

Their chemical structures are very identical but they do not have any sort of synergetic effect. They do not increase each others effects or increase the tolerance of each other when used together.

2. At VERY HIGH DOSES it would make me feel drunk but with a stimulating euphoria and an out-going attitude. However, tolerance would increase SO quick and also would the effect of the drug. Eventually it no longer works, even at the highest doses. Pregabalin IS A MUCH MORE POTENT drug. It produces the same effects as gabapentin just much more powerful but also at the correct dose it can produce empathetic feeling with a high not to far off from MDMA.

3. Start at the lowest dose possible but not TOO low because you want to feel the effects but you don't want your tolerance to increase so quick and it seems to after each use. Start at 600-900mg. Go from there.

Here's a link to the post: http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads...7683591&highlight=Cross+tolerance#post7683591

Unfortunately I don't have enough knowledge about the pharmacology to have an informed opinion.

 

[ilovepandas]

After heavily abusing pregabalin (Lyrica) for two months on and off, I'm getting nasty withdrawal symptoms. It's nowhere near benzo or alcohol WD (I've been through both) but still enough to make it hard to be at work. The anxiety and depression is horrendous. And the insomnia and sweating is severe.

While I have enough to do some kind of taper - which by all means I will do - I'm thinking of some remedies.

I have quite a lot of gabapentin which I've actually only tried a few times because Lyrica is a zillion times more recreational and anxiolytic. But I'm wondering if gabapentin would work as a withdrawal aid. Gabapentin and pregabalin are very closely related but do not share any cross tolerance.

Any ideas? Other possible remedies?

did it work? personally for me coming off gabapentin and lyrica was hell...I had joint pain, depression for almost 2 weeks. I was crying for pain.

 

[Keif' Richards]

They are definitely cross-tolerant. I'm not sure what the literature says, but I've always found them to substitute easily for one another, although Pregabalin is without a doubt the stronger of the two. I could have a unique physiology, but I've always found tolerance to Gabapentinoids to be relative. Tolerance to Phenibut is a tolerance to Gabapentin is a tolerance to Pregabalin. It has always been my experience and I wouldn't say it if I weren't sure of the experience. It won't hurt to find things out for yourself.

Being that Gabapentin is by definition, the less-potent/effective predecessor to Pregabalin, it wouldn't be a bad choice to use it in a taper.

 

[Keif' Richards]

They are definitely cross-tolerant. I'm not sure what the literature says, but I've always found them to substitute easily for one another, although Pregabalin is without a doubt the stronger of the two. I could have a unique physiology, but I've always found tolerance to Gabapentinoids to be relative. Tolerance to Phenibut is a tolerance to Gabapentin is a tolerance to Pregabalin. It has always been my experience and I wouldn't say it if I weren't sure of the experience. It won't hurt to find things out for yourself.

Being that Gabapentin is by definition, the less-potent/effective predecessor to Pregabalin, it wouldn't be a bad choice to use it in a taper.

 

[Cyanoide]

did it work? personally for me coming off gabapentin and lyrica was hell...I had joint pain, depression for almost 2 weeks. I was crying for pain.

Yes, it actually worked.

I took quite heavy doses of Gapabentin though. Gabapentin is nowhere near pregabalin when it comes to any recreational use. I found no euphoria from gabapentin whatsoever.

There are two good things about Lyrica withdrawal:

a) It's not physically dangerous unlike benzo or alcohol withdrawal. There are no seizures (unless you're an epileptic) or psychosis, even when stopping cold turkey from very heavy doses. Still a taper is preferred, like with every drug. The anxiety, insomnia and depression is very severe though and IME much more so than in benzo WD. At times I just felt like crying and wanting to die 24/7. Benzo WD is much more physical, Lyrica WD harder mentally.

b) The WD doesn't last more than 1-2 weeks at most. There's no lingering PAWS, when I withdrawed from 15+ years of benzo addiction, it took months to feel better.

And for those, like me, who like to abuse this drug in heavy 1000+ mg doses, tolerance is back to baseline in just 3-4 days without taking it. It's very strange. A week off and "just" 300 mg knocks my socks off.

 

[jerseymess]

I didn't know lyrica could get you high! I have been on 600mg daily for 7 yrs. for neuropathy.

 

[Cyanoide]

I didn't know lyrica could get you high! I have been on 600mg daily for 7 yrs. for neuropathy.

Heavy recreational doses get you very high. 1000+ mg doses without tolerance is one of the most intoxicating highs I have ever got from a pharmaceutical. However tolerance skyrockets and after a few days you just don't get high anymore, regardless of the dose. So it's not surprising you don't feel any high.

I was also prescribed Lyrica 600 mg / day several years ago for anxiety. It's approved for generalized anxiety disorder here in the EU, but not in the US. It's on par with benzos as an anxiolytic. I decided to stop it back then because I felt it impaired my cognitive skills too much.

 

[Joseole82]

I'm agree 100% with Cyanoide, when done correctly lyrica will F you up more than about any other pharmaceutical and the good thing is you cant really overdose on it, at least according to the safety sheet I get with my prescription.. during studies a patient was accidentally given something like 2500 mgs intravenously with no adverse effects. My normal recreational dose is 8-12 150 mgs capsules so what..1200-1600 mgs.. and that will get me a real solid buzz.. been using for many years now all different manner of chemicals and yeah lyrica is one of the strongest and most enjoyable in my opinion. Again Cyanoide is right you cant take it consecutive days and get the same result..i take it a couple times a week and have never had any WD from it and get a nice change of pace from the opiates I take every day but beware, its not a 6 hour deal and its over; its more like 16-18 hours at high doses...Ive taken a bunch, fell asleep for 8 or 10 hours, then woke up absolutely shit-faced and so comfortable you just want to keep laying in your bed...I actually might have to take me some right now come to think of it...

 

[the last dose]

I had 150mgs lyrica from my doc i asked for along with clonidine for opioid wds. I got them two weeks before i jumped near the end of my hell ween so i decided to try one lyrica a week early. I could not believe how it held back wds which i was getting 2 hours before each small dose of oxy at that point in my ween it really gave me hope. I did notice i was a little wobbly not bad then during first day of wds i dosed 450mgs lyrica at once and you do get high more like a drunk feeling i was bumping into shit i found it a little enjoyable mainly instead feeling like total shit from wds, no doubt about it lyrica is a godsend with opioid wds.