Gabapentin Withdrawal, Major mental issues, Please offer any advice!

[megreli]

I was taking around 3,000 Mgs of gabepentin recreationally for the past 6 months or so. I did not take it every day, but more like every 3-4 days. The last time I took it, I took around 4,000 MGs and felt really tired and down after taking it and decided to quit.

In the past 2 weeks I have had major symptoms, none physical, and I fear that I will be stuck like this and it's been driving me insane.

I have ringing in the ears, horrible short term memory, can't seem to recall a lot of words, I am just spaced out and thinking slowly, and it's even hard for me to read sentences quickly.

What can I do about this? I've been having extreme anxiety that I'll be stuck like this since I'm 2 weeks sober and things haven't seem to get any better. I'm taking fish oil, B12 Vitamins, Multivitamins, and magnesium.

I read somewhere that I should cut down my dose slowly instead of going cold turkey. Should I try this? I wasn't taking it every day so I don't know how I would go about it.

Please any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

[Cosmic Trigger]

I'm a firm believer in the taper. Slow tapers work well for me.

 

[Cdkman]

I had a nice lyrica habit which is the same but stronger mg by mg and that Messed with your head.after taking it for a while and stopping..it does get better tho the worst symptom I had was a foggy head and bad word recollection..its been about a month and it slowly gets better..a short taper would of really helped but your 2 weeks so u should ride it out.

 

[megreli]

Thank you Cdkman for giving me hope. I'll just wait and hope for the best.
I got hooked on it because the country I live in has Gabapenting, xanax, and a bunch of other pills over the counter. I started taking it when hung over cause it would help.

Also, I take xanax for sleep every night. Could the xanax be prolong the withdrawal or making it worst?

 

[Cdkman]

The Xanax would help the withdrawal I think..and I'm not sure if it would prolong it..did u just start taking the Xanax when u stopped the gabapentin? I think lyrica withdrawal was worse than my opiate withdrawal in the sense of messing with your head..opiate withdrawal was brutal but I could still think okay..the lyrica like erased my short term memory.. I had to think what I was doing to stay on task multiple times because I would forget ..also the anxiety was terrible..back to normal now thank goodness

 

[Moreaux]

I don't think Xanax would be all that beneficial with a gabapenton withdrawal, except to postpone it. You best course of action is to do a taper. Cut your dose by 10% every two weeks. GABAeric drugs are insidious to get off of, and benzos and gabapenton are similar in withdrawal, so why add something new to the mix. Plus, Xanax is wickedly addictive, at least you know how you respond and react to gabapenton. With Xanax you could be ricking a serious addiction. Plus, if you switched to Xanax you would still have to taper to get off of it.

Disclosure - I have never taken gabapenton, so I don't have first hand experience. I have experience with Xanax and extreme withdrawal from a long term usage, and am familiar with the GABAeric withdrawal, and synergy between drugs that hit those receptors. I offer the advice above as an opinion only, and am not an authority on the subject of gabapenton. Before you make decision on how to handle your situation, I think you should do copious research on the subject from credible websites, and find a trusted tapering schedule. If possible, discuss this with your doctor and get his buy-in, as he can also prescribe supportive no addicting medications to help treat withdrawal symptoms to minimize discomfort. Feel free to hit me up with questions. Good luck!

 

[SchapMd]

I take 3200 mgs of gabapentin every day per a prescription from the doctor. That being said I have many times given away or traded my pills which sometimes leaves me short for the month. I have experienced withdrawal more times than I am willing to admit. After the 3rd day it is pure hell. I also take suboxone and I will sometimes double or triple my dose to offset the shitty feeling of gabapentin withdrawal. To no avail. I have done every drug under the sun and haven't experienced anything as wicked as this. I really don't have a cut and dry answer to this issue. Xanax can help but you open a new can of worms in the sense of a new drug to withdrawal from. Benzo WD is not fun. Anyways ...I usually just ride it out until I get my script. In your case I would strongly suggest you wean yourself slowly instead of jumping off at 3000mg. If you wana talk more or have any questions I'm all about it.
Peace

 

[MrRoot]

I had been taken pregabalin, which is pretty much the same as gabapentin, in hospital for nine days after my back surgery and the amount taken was 150mg twice a day. I stopped taking it at once I got out of the hospital as I thought nine days was nothing. Second day I stopped I noticed that I couldn't call people as I didn't remember the numbers and normally I do remember the numbers as I have roughly one third of the people I know listed on the phone and rest I just call by hitting the numbers.

Things escalated after that and I had pretty rough day texting nonsense to people and falling in and out of consciousness although what I thought I was being unconscious I just actually didn't remember.

Luckily a friend of mine noticed something wasn't right and took me to a hospital and they took me overnight and while in there I was trying to go to everywhere in the ward and I didn't even remember. The next day I was feeling better and thought wtf as I was been told what I had been doing. I just remember being extremely sleepy and taking naps here and then with a twist that I was in a different place when I woke up.

Drug induced psychosis was the outcome or actually the psychosis came because I abruptly stopped taking pregabalin but anyhow that drug seems like it has plenty of capabilities to fuck one's mind totally when using or quitting.

I highly suggest that anyone taking high amounts of gabapentin or pregabalin sees a dr. before quitting taking it or atleast tapers and if a cold turkey is a must atleast one should have someone watching himself/herself. (God damn english language with it's gender related words... It is just easier if a language has only one word for him/her which is sexually neutral.)

 

[Moreaux]

(God damn english language with it's gender related words... It is just easier if a language has only one word for him/her which is sexually neutral.)

LMAO. I feel the same about Latin based languages (French, Spanish, etc). As English is my first language, comparatively speaking, I always considered it gender neutral. Thx for mentioning that - you just changed my perception. Very interesting and too funny though!

 

[MrRoot]

Oh my god French substantives are the worst thing in life. If you have managed without gender bias on your native tongue you just can't understand all that weird grammary.

Anyhow I am quite sure Finnish language would be hard to learn for the most Neo-Latin language natives as it differs totally from those.

 

[Moreaux]

Oh my god French substantives are the worst thing in life. If you have managed without gender bias on your native tongue you just can't understand all that weird grammary.

So very true. I studied Frech for six years and still think it's a useless concept. I don't see how they contribute to the language at all.

Anyhow I am quite sure Finnish language would be hard to learn for the most Neo-Latin language natives as it differs totally from those.

I've often wondered if learning a language with a completely different architecture would be easier, as you're starting with a blank slate. I have found learning French was difficult as it is similar enough to English that I can't break the desire to apply English rules to it. However, as a software developer I have learned several different programming languages fairly easily and think fluidly in those when writing code as they're unrelated to anything else I do in life. As an old geek with nerdy friends, I have found it is completely possible to express one's self in code lol. I've wanted to learn a language that has no history with English to test that theory. Of course, it could just be the way I work, and I've always been far better in math than in English grammar, and have always felt that English has unnecessary verbosness and complexity that doesn't seem to contribute to the language. Though I may just be biased as its not my strong suit lol.

 

[MrRoot]

#include <stdio.h>

main( )
{
printf("Math and coding should be the universal language\n");
}

---

Anyhow if you really want to put that theory into test try learning Finnish or some other Uralic language. Don't expect to be doing much talking as most of them are pretty much decaying languages except for those with sovereign regions such as Hungarian, Estonian and Finnish.

Anyhow there is a Finnish speaking association with their own school for learning Finnish in North Carolina too: www.trifinn.org