I think gaba is a pretty good drug overall but it does do some wacky things to some folks and the withdrawal is super shitty. its the only thing i take anymore and it doesn't really bother me being on it except the dependency part. i don't get any side effects really and it doesn't interact with the other drugs I take or dampen or block them or mess with my sex life...yay. I have been on it for a long time now 5 years at least. I still get some benefit from it surprisingly. Its tolerable, works well for anxiety and depression among other things, but the withdrawal is a real bitch for some including me. I dont know if ill ever get off of it but i have experienced some dumbing down i think but hard to say for sure. Its one of the few drugs i find tolerable and effective in the long term. I do worry about what its doing to my brain here and there but sanity comes first lol.
your doses aren't that high really. Im surprised you are even able to get much of a 'feeling' from it. I know when I take it, but I haven't really gotten a buzz from it after the first couple weeks I was on it. Max dose is like 3600 mg a day i think. I was taking a lot of it for a while but im just as comfortable taking 900 mg twice a day and sometimes skip the morning dose or just take less. I had very little difficulty dropping from 3600 a day to 800 a day. Below 800 is a whole different story for me and I have to go super slow. The last time i lowered my dose it destabilized me for 3 months at least but I have other issues from APs that im dealing with. If I could do it over again, I would still take it, but take breaks to avoid dependency.
It has a sweet spot and I don't think taking more than a gram at time is any more effective than taking a whole bunch of it. 1800 mg a day works pretty well for me and i haven't met a doctor that has a problem with me taking it. Most consider it pretty benign and my current doc wants me to keep taking it lol. If you can muster up some willpower to take the same amount everyday and not abuse it, it might still be a good option for you. Are you sure that you aren't just trying to medicate symptoms by upping the dose or just taking it for a buzz? It does do wonders for my anxiety and when im taking more its usually because I feel like I need it not bc i want the good feels.
gabapentin isn't a gabaergic its a calcium channel blocker. it may have some influence on gaba but its indirect. most of what ive read says it doesn't have any effect on gaba. you won't die, but you can be screwed for a while. I would be extra careful if you are seizure prone even though its pretty weak in that department.
if you want to get off, the sooner the better as far as withdrawal goes. 6 months shouldn't be that bad or at least not as bad as years. I would say start at a dose you are comfortable on, say 800 for convenience. then go down a hundred mg every 3 weeks or so. if that gets uncomfortable, cut it to 50 mg. It can take weeks before you notice the drop. so if you have been a couple weeks and feel fine just stay put.
the 300 mg capsules are what you want. the powder inside is water soluble so you can dose volumetrically with an oral syringe. just make your solution easy to calculate like 25 mg per ml. whatever is easiest but you want to be precise with tapering and be able to do smaller amounts depending on what your needs are. I wouldn't store the solution for more than four or five days if it was me. the lower you get the smaller the cuts you want to make. you don't usually want to go halving your dose. that is usally too much esp when you get really low. 20-25% might be ok might still be too much. its kind of individualized but don't rush it. just don't let the symptoms get too bad. you shouldn't experience much more than minor discomfort if you are doing it right. you may be able to do it faster but i wouldn't push your luck with this drug if you are already getting bad withdrawals after 6 months. Just do it nice and easy and you can keep living your life without sick days, losing your mind, etc.
gabapentin can deplete magnesium levels. its also the only thing that helps much with the withdrawal and is also a calcium channel blocker. epsom salt baths, the oil you can rub on your skin, or a chelated form like magnesium bisglycinate are all good options. oxide is crap, citrate can give you the runs, but most aren't absorbed very well if at all. i found a tub of the bisglycinate for like 11 bucks on iherb. don't take it at the same time you take gabapentin bc they can compete and it will mess with absorption which you want to avoid when tapering.
best of luck man.
