Gabapentin sucks and I want off. Help?

[downfallin]

Okay I`m a former heroin addict and was prescribed 300mgs a day of gabapentin or gabbys as me and my friends call them a day. I`ve been on them for a little over a year and I need help getting off of em. When I go a day without them I get really bad cold sweats, uncomfortable in my own skin feeling, exhausted, depressed, anxiety, sensitive skin where my clothes bug the shit out of me, and just an overall crappy feeling. I used to take up to 3600 mgs of this stuff and get high then just not take it but now that I take it regularly I`m getting really dependent on it. Anyone have any advice on how to come off, taper vs cold turkey, otc medications suggestions ect.. And what to expect as far as how bad the WDs will be and how long they will last? I know it should be no problem since I have kicked heroin many times both with suboxone tapers and cold turkey (usually forced by incarceration), but I`ve been clean for a couple months off of opiates again and I just know that this med is turning into an addiction and it`s starting to really bother me that I kicked heroin and now I have unknowingly got myself back in to the situation where I need to take something everyday not to be sick. The doc told me it`s totally safe and non addictive, but that`s BS. Plain and simple. Heroin was also thought to be non addictive at first and a great to cure morphine addiction. Well any advice will be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[cashmunny]

Since it's a GABA analogue I would think another drug with GABA activity would be helpful. Have you tried a long acting benzodiazepine such as valium? Either that or a very slow taper similar to what people coming off benzo' do.

 

[T. Calderone]

I know gabapentin is used sometimes to help with benzo withdrawals. So it would make sense in the reverse. You said your doctor prescribed 300 mg. Are you still on this dosage? There are lots of threads here you can find on the search engine. I read one you might find useful but for some reason it won't let me copy/paste.

Talk with your doctor and see what he suggests if you really wish to quit gabapentin. I hope he can give you something but if he's under the impression it's non-habit forming, he might not. In which case, you may have to work out a tapering schedule.

 

[oldirtybizza]

Often times doctors don't know shit about what they prescribe they just get the memo from big pharma, I think in a few years drugs like gabapentin and pregabalin will be more restricted due to their addictive potential.

As far as WDs it's called "gaba"pentin because it affects the gaba system , some drugs which work on these receptors like diazepam can have fatal withdrawls.

For this reason cold turkey would be both potentially unsafe and unpleasant enough to make quitting less likely to succeed. a slow taper is your best option and shouldn't need to involve supplementary meds. Your doctor would most likely put you on a taper, thats why these drugs are usually marked "do not stop taking this medicine". You've also got to ask yourself why you're taking this drug and if it's for a therapeutic reason there might be another medicine which is less addictive.

opiate wds are a different beast and don't seem to have the same physiological effect, personally would rather go off the tar than a gaba analog.

 

[ad lib]

I am going to move this to Other Drugs where you may get some more answers

In the meantime, here is some related reading to people going through Gabapentin withdrawal too.