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Gabapentinoids (Gabapentin) withdrawal, any advice?

I'm starting to feel the impending doom of gabapentin withdrawal. It's either that or I accidenty ingested some dirty acid
 
Haha. Acid while coming off gabapentin? That could actually be the worst torture a person could ever endure.

You sure your not the girl with blonde hair? Hehe just playing
 
I could tell you were. lol I caught on didn't I? It's not like I responded like I thought you took the acid.

And it wouldn't have any pharacological interaction, and I believe it could help the mindset of the withdrawals. I would take it.
 
Jetthecaf said:
Blue comet I've noticed your posts a lot because you seem to be suffering the worst on here for how long you took it. Have you tried taking a low dose for a couple days to see if you feel better? Is there anything a doctor can do to help or I'm guessing they don't believe you...
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I took a low dose of 100mg last July which was 4 months after I stopped the medication. It provided some minor physical relief but instantly brought about feelings of depression, apathy, and sadness. I felt somewhat okay the next few days until the fourth day after I had taken the one pill of gabapentin when my physical and psychological symptoms all intensified ten fold. I remember trying to drink a soda and my body couldn't handle it and it caused unbelievable chest pains. For like 3-4 days later I was stuck in bed with brutal psychosis and painful physical issues.

I have tried countless other medications that have just made me feel instantly worse, namely bringing about worsening anxiety and worsening neuropathy. They were prazosin, propanolol, dilantin, tregritol, memantine, fasoracetam, verapamil, baclofen, and concerta. They literally all made me feel horrible and left me feeling like shit for 1-2 weeks after taking just 1 dose of each medication.

In the past I have tried to alleviate myself with alcohol, marijuana, and percocet (which was prescribed to attempt to treat this) and all of them made me feel worse and then caused this same "day 4" rebound issue.

As you can gather, taking gabapentin for seven weeks has ruined my life. I can't drive, can't drink a beer or coffee, my hair doesn't stop falling out, I have severe anxiety, severe cognitive impairment, and a ton of physical discomfort. I haven't gotten any relief from this in 17 months (beginning in February 2015 when I started taking gabapentin and it started causing problems).
 
Fasoracetam of course would make you feel worse; it is a GABA B antagonist. GABA B ligands like gabapenin can permanently alter brain chemistry with abuse/withdrawal - with both, or just one - I would take the fasoracetam regularly, it might make you feel worse, but there's a good chance it might possibly reverse the damage.

I feel like I have lasting damage from my baclofen withdrawals. Still having some awful, disturbing effects, and it has been 8 months.
 
Do you think my seven weeks of use could've caused permanent damage?

I was 4.5 months off benzos when I started gabapentin and took it daily for seven weeks at 1200-2100mg per day. This appears to have caused some sort of kindling withdrawal, or damage all its own, either way for the most part this is totally different from my benzo withdrawal.

I stopped gabapentin on March 25,2015, and still am suffering greatly. While some things have improved, notably psychosis and derealization, I am still a total mess and don't appear to really be getting better.

Not sure what I can do at this point. I'm in a total lose-lose situation. Take something to help fix this will probably make me worse. Doing nothing won't do anything. Lose-lose.
 
It could have. The kindling damaged me. And it has been 8 months and my brain is still suffering.

Try fasoracetam. It's the only thing that will work directly at the cause of the damage: the GABA B receptor.s I just bought some for this very purpose.
 
I have tried fasoracetam and it made me feel terrible. Gave me severe anxiety, horrible nerve pain, etc. Its not something I can just deal with in the hopes that I might feel better eventually.

I don't really think I have any options. I'm kindled bad and don't respond to anything, in fact taking stuff just makes me worse. This blows. Still can't believe seven weeks of gabapentin did this to me.

God I would just love some relief from this.
 
Blue Comet- let me ask you this...have you ever experienced moments of lucidity and /or normalcy. Even if it was just for a day, an hour or even a few minutes.

I ask because this drug has a WD very similar to benzos in that there will be "windows" of normalcy and "waves" of nastiness. If you are experiencing windows, even for an hour in a weeks time, you are getting better.
 
Yeah, there are times when I can characterize myself as feeling better than other times. But even in those times I wouldn't characterize myself as "normal" due to my inability to drive, my hair doesn't stop falling out, etc. The trial and errors with medications seem to be making me worse.

Its been 15 months now and aside from derealization and irrational fears and psychosis largely clearing up, I'm still stuck. I feel like shit almost always.
 
I'm wondering if the only way out of this is to go back on benzos or go on low dose lyrica.

I'm thinking Librium 5mg (2x per day) or lowest dose possible of lyrica.
 
I'm not so sure about adding benzos to the mix. Perhaps "the hair of the dog." Did you CT the GP or did you taper? You are extraordinarily sensitive as am I. Getting back on the lowest possible dose of GP perhaps 100-200 mg and titrating upward until your symptoms disappear for a week. Then begin an extremely conservative taper - perhaps 5-10 % per week. Do not add any more obscure pharmaceutical poisons to the mix. It's all garbage dude. Like opiates, Benzodiazepines were not initially intended for long term use. "Mothers little helper" that's all they're for. Your taper should be under the auspices of a physician credentialed in addiction medicine.
 
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Yeah girl with blue hair- that's how the scumbag pharmaceutical companies "marketed it." Splitting hairs but the end (intended) result is the same- chemical dependency. Off topic I'm sorry but these companies reinvent the wheel to make money. Seizure disorders have been effectively treated for 100 years before Klonopin.
 
Some people think they did so so they could get the maximum recommended daily dose to 20mg - which is a fucking lot don't you agree...? That's = to 200mg of diazepam a day - a day so 4mg for panic didn't seem like a lot, to psychiatrist and they would be more liable to prescribe it a lot more often than other benzodiazepines and at a higher dose.
 
It's proven through real study data, not Wikipedia, that cronic opiate therapy for non-malignant pain actually worsens pain syndromes through a phenomenon called opioid induced hyperalgesia. Therefore the narcotic requirement, coupled with tolerance and other processes, steadily escalates. In contrast, chronic admin of benzo's for anxiety may worsen anxiety and depression. Thus requiring the steady escalation we all see here. Interdose WD's are fairly common. This is how the longest acting benzo- Klonopin came to life.
 
Tony2tone said:
I'm not so sure about adding benzos to the mix. Perhaps "the hair of the dog." Did you CT the GP or did you taper? You are extraordinarily sensitive as am I. Getting back on the lowest possible dose of GP perhaps 100-200 mg and titrating upward until your symptoms disappear for a week. Then begin an extremely conservative taper - perhaps 5-10 % per week. Do not add any more obscure pharmaceutical poisons to the mix. It's all garbage dude. Like opiates, Benzodiazepines were not initially intended for long term use. "Mothers little helper" that's all they're for. Your taper should be under the auspices of a physician credentialed in addiction medicine.
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I stopped gabapentin cold turkey because 1) I was feeling like shit when I was even taking the medication, and if I got relief, it was hours after taking a high dose and 2) literally every doctor I went to told me I was wrong about gabapentin causing withdrawal and didn't help my literal cries of pain. Literally every doctor I have gone to has been clueless except for the one I am seeing now. He is a neurologist and is doing his best to be helpful, and is open to my suggestions.

I will not be going to an addition specialists because last time I did that, he gave me gabapentin and ruined my life. I will never set foot into any type of psychiatrist or counselor practice for the remainder of my life after this.

Going back on gabapentin has me extremely nervous. It's rate of absorbtion and taking effect is wildly unpredictable, and relief time would be unknown. It also caused a lot of horrible side effects, such as weight gain, depression, anger, irrationality. Taking it for seven week has so much collosal damage to my life that its hard to even comprehend. I'm not even talking about the side effects; it's led to lost friendships, missed career opportunities, loss of income, missed travel opportunities, and it has made my HRT medicine not work.
 
blue comet said:
I stopped gabapentin cold turkey because 1) I was feeling like shit when I was even taking the medication, and if I got relief, it was hours after taking a high dose and 2) literally every doctor I went to told me I was wrong about gabapentin causing withdrawal and didn't help my literal cries of pain. Literally every doctor I have gone to has been clueless except for the one I am seeing now. He is a neurologist and is doing his best to be helpful, and is open to my suggestions.

I will not be going to an addition specialists because last time I did that, he gave me gabapentin and ruined my life. I will never set foot into any type of psychiatrist or counselor practice for the remainder of my life after this.

Going back on gabapentin has me extremely nervous. It's rate of absorbtion and taking effect is wildly unpredictable, and relief time would be unknown. It also caused a lot of horrible side effects, such as weight gain, depression, anger, irrationality. Taking it for seven week has so much collosal damage to my life that its hard to even comprehend. I'm not even talking about the side effects; it's led to lost friendships, missed career opportunities, loss of income, missed travel opportunities, and it has made my HRT medicine not work.
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The weight gain is common with all drugs that inhibit calcium channel activity: they inhibit norepinephrine release.
 
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