Gabapentinoids Pregabalin, Gabapentin, Xanax

[PlumpGrapefruits]

Hello to the good community of bluelight. This has always been my go to site for “drug” answers and I have a question for ya really quick.
I have been prescribed Pregabalin, Gabapentin, and Alprazolam. Now, I’ve taken Xanax for years, it’s something I use daily. The gaba pills were for pain and also social anxiety. I’ve been looking at all the threads saying they aren’t a good mix, yet others say it’s okay. I would like to know, in my own thread for once lol. Now I’m prescribed Gabapentin 300mg, Pregabalin 150mg, Xanax as much as I feel like, but my doc said to take it easy on the Xanax and instead use these as supplements TO the Xanax, so as it wouldn’t be needed to take the amount of Xanax I take now. I’m wondering if this combination is okay throughout the day and if any GABA takers have any good advice on this, as these are my first gaba pills. Thanks!

 

[Cult315]

I’m not much of a benzo user and don’t have the time to look it up atm, but IME(mostly with opiates/alcohol) gabapentin will interact and make the effects of a drug stronger, but not like say Xanax will to Oxycodone or similar combos. Gaba isn’t inherently potent as a CNS depressant and while Xanax is in its own right, it’s not either. Alone it’s really hard to fatally OD on Xanax or Gabapentin, nearly impossible actually. I don’t know enough about Lyrica off hand to speak on that, but taking therapeutic doses of all three drugs shouldn’t cause you any harm IMO. I definitely wouldn’t suggest driving or doing anything you need motor skills for, but otherwise I believe you’ll be good.

My grandma was on a combo of lyrica, gaba and oxy for years and the woman would drive all over the place and functioned better than ever. I can’t imagine Xanax would be much more harmful of a replacement than Oxy lol, might just be a bit more sleepy.

 

[PlumpGrapefruits]

I’m not much of a benzo user and don’t have the time to look it up atm, but IME(mostly with opiates/alcohol) gabapentin will interact and make the effects of a drug stronger, but not like say Xanax will to Oxycodone or similar combos. Gaba isn’t inherently potent as a CNS depressant and while Xanax is in its own right, it’s not either. Alone it’s really hard to fatally OD on Xanax or Gabapentin, nearly impossible actually. I don’t know enough about Lyrica off hand to speak on that, but taking therapeutic doses of all three drugs shouldn’t cause you any harm IMO. I definitely wouldn’t suggest driving or doing anything you need motor skills for, but otherwise I believe you’ll be good.

My grandma was on a combo of lyrica, gaba and oxy for years and the woman would drive all over the place and functioned better than ever. I can’t imagine Xanax would be much more harmful of a replacement than Oxy lol, might just be a bit more sleepy.

Wow thanks so much for the informed response. This is actually for my grandmother as well but I know people get mad asking for other people this site and rightfully so. She had been taking Vicodin 20mg twice per day and it did nothing for her, so I thought about my mom and how she has fibromyalgia and based on deductive reasoning I think my grandmother has fibromyalgia too and was never diagnosed. It deeply bothers me knowing she’s in such horrible pain so I had to recommend Gabapentin to her doctor and why I think it would work and how it’s related. So they gave her a mix of gabapentin and Lyrica which made me happy. After taking those for legit two days, I asked like always what her pain level was at and she said 0 (but it’s probably more like a 1 or 2) but the results are STAGGERING. She walks around without a cane without a limp again and has gotten back in to sewing and gardening. It’s honestly a wonder to me. I think I’m gonna try a couple of those since I heard they’re good for social anxiety too. Honestly and totally serious, it’s an astonishing change. So happy she’s back to being spry. Thanks for the knowledge, kind person!

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey @PlumpGrapefruits

Good for you looking out for ol' Grandma. I was just in another thread a second agon talking about my own Grandmother. Funny enough, the conversation was also about her issues with prescription drugs. You can go check that out if you're curious. There are some themes which could be relevant to your gram's situation.

It's unorthodox to prescribe Gabapentin (Neurontin) and Pregabalin (Lyrica) simultaneously. They are almost completely cross-tolerant to one another, meaning you could substitute one for the other without issue so long as you adjust the dosage correctly. Pregabalin is cited as being ~6x more potent than Gabapentin so 600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin. There are differences in how the drugs are metabolized that are worth knowing. I'm not gonna weigh you down right now though.

Gabapentin can be sedating in higher doses or when taken with other CNS depressants like Alcohol or Alprazolam (Xanax), which I see she is also prescribed. In more moderate doses, Gabapentinoids are often subjectively perceived as providing energy/motivation both mentally and physically. To hear that your Grandma is again participating in activities, that's great.

The glaring issue with Gabapnetinoids is tolerance. They are known to produce tolerance at a rate faster than a lot of other drugs. If she is going to be taking this long-term, I would highly suggest developing a schedule of some kind in which she will have off days. On these days she would take no Gabapentinoids. On days she has things to do, she can take her medication, but days when she doesn't have anything on her plate can be break days. Incorporating these short periods of abstinence are key to maintaining the benefits of the drugs long term.

Alprazolam (Xanax) is a relatively potent Benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines are awesome, practically miraculous medications when used correctly. However, more often than not, they are not used correctly and prescribers play a huge part in this

If taken daily, Benzodiazepines are not to be used for a period of longer than 14-28 days at the very most. They are not effective medicine when used chronically. They are in fact, highly destructive when used in this way. The dependence, withdrawal cycle gets worse and worse over time until a person is totally broken. Benzodiazepines are known to cause cognitive dysfunction similar to dementia with chronic use.

If she can take it "as needed" for sticky situations, that's fine. Constant use is a different story.

I also have a personal philosophy that old folks should be able to whatever the hell they want. They've lived. They raised their kids, why not?

 

[PlumpGrapefruits]

Hey @PlumpGrapefruits

Good for you looking out for ol' Grandma. I was just in another thread a second agon talking about my own Grandmother. Funny enough, the conversation was also about her issues with prescription drugs. You can go check that out if you're curious. There are some themes which could be relevant to your gram's situation.

It's unorthodox to prescribe Gabapentin (Neurontin) and Pregabalin (Lyrica) simultaneously. They are almost completely cross-tolerant to one another, meaning you could substitute one for the other without issue so long as you adjust the dosage correctly. Pregabalin is cited as being ~6x more potent than Gabapentin so 600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin. There are differences in how the drugs are metabolized that are worth knowing. I'm not gonna weigh you down right now though.

Gabapentin can be sedating in higher doses or when taken with other CNS depressants like Alcohol or Alprazolam (Xanax), which I see she is also prescribed. In more moderate doses, Gabapentinoids are often subjectively perceived as providing energy/motivation both mentally and physically. To hear that your Grandma is again participating in activities, that's great.

The glaring issue with Gabapnetinoids is tolerance. They are known to produce tolerance at a rate faster than a lot of other drugs. If she is going to be taking this long-term, I would highly suggest developing a schedule of some kind in which she will have off days. On these days she would take no Gabapentinoids. On days she has things to do, she can take her medication, but days when she doesn't have anything on her plate can be break days. Incorporating these short periods of abstinence are key to maintaining the benefits of the drugs long term.

Alprazolam (Xanax) is a relatively potent Benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines are awesome, practically miraculous medications when used correctly. However, more often than not, they are not used correctly and prescribers play a huge part in this

If taken daily, Benzodiazepines are not to be used for a period of longer than 14-28 days at the very most. They are not effective medicine when used chronically. They are in fact, highly destructive when used in this way. The dependence, withdrawal cycle gets worse and worse over time until a person is totally broken. Benzodiazepines are known to cause cognitive dysfunction similar to dementia with chronic use.

If she can take it "as needed" for sticky situations, that's fine. Constant use is a different story.

I also have a personal philosophy that old folks should be able to whatever the hell they want. They've lived. They raised their kids, why not?

Thanks so much for such a comprehensive response! I’ll make sure she has her days off of the gaba pills so she doesn’t get too reliant on them like you said! I totally agree old folks should be able to get legit anything they want. They’re too old to go from doctor to doctor it’s very frustrating! Again, thank you for your words!

 

[Keif' Richards]

No problem @PlumpGrapefruits I'm glad you found some of that helpful. I think it's egregious when doctors put any kind of blame on senior citizens with their medications. Look, when I was on Heroin I would have to interact with doctors/hospitals occasionally. I remember how dehumanizing the experience was. This is a guy in his 20's in relatively good health, all of his mental faculties in place and with agency in his own life (why did I start talking in the third person?).

Not only that, I had known from the start that I was getting involved with an addictive drug. These older folks often have no idea of the potential consequences. To be ostracized, degraded and treated like an addict when you've lived your whole life struggling, working, raising a family... I know I often felt humiliated, so how do these old people feel?

It's pretty cruel.

 

[paranoid android]

They are ok to mix but its pointless to mix lyrica and gabapentin imo atleast.

 

[PlumpGrapefruits]

No problem @PlumpGrapefruits I'm glad you found some of that helpful. I think it's egregious when doctors put any kind of blame on senior citizens with their medications. Look, when I was on Heroin I would have to interact with doctors/hospitals occasionally. I remember how dehumanizing the experience was. This is a guy in his 20's in relatively good health, all of his mental faculties in place and with agency in his own life (why did I start talking in the third person?).

Not only that, I had known from the start that I was getting involved with an addictive drug. These older folks often have no idea of the potential consequences. To be ostracized, degraded and treated like an addict when you've lived your whole life struggling, working, raising a family... I know I often felt humiliated, so how do these old people feel?

It's pretty cruel.

Thanks for sharing that with me, you’re obviously really smart so keep on keeping on! Yeah my grandma’s doctor was hesitant to even prescribe her hydro. She has her next appt in a week and I’m taking time to go with her and ask for gaba pills haha. I mean she cooks and bakes now which she stopped doing because of pain but that gaba stuff just legit makes her feel normal she says. She says she hasn’t felt that way in years it’s freaking wild to me. So glad I made her take those. Not gonna let some doctor try to talk over my old ass grandma lol just gonna have to tell him how it is it’s obviously nerve pain doctors are so dumb and don’t want to give out those scrips I’m guessing? Idk but I feel like those are the best for pain. I even tried out Lyrica with Gabapentin today in a regular dose and I was just fine, and maybe a bit more positive in thought. It’s wearing off now and I will now take a couple of Xanax although you did say I shouldn’t but I’ll admit I’m waning off of them. These drugs upon others, are so important and seriously necessary for some people. The woman literally has fibromyalgia so just give her the dumb pill so she’s not in hell on earth until she dies (in 50 years hehe), but honestly I don’t know how that was never prescribed and I had to steal to get it because she straight up needed it. Anyways I’ll stop my rambling, time for some Xanax and a Coca Cola. Thanks again for your info, honestly.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Indeed, I am pretty smart. I ooze an intelligent humility that I'm sure is palpable even over the internet. Good for you for being there for her. My Grandmother, like I said had Dementia and Parkinson's. When her money started running out, I ended up taking over as her nurse for 5-6 months. She owned a beauty shop in a small town in Southern Illinois. I don't want to call her stereotypical. She was midwestern, she knew everybody, she was active in Church. I looked at her as an iron lady with morals. I really looked up to her, honestly. She was a teetotaler.

That lady, crying and begging for Lorazepam literally like an infant? As a Grandson, that shit will probably piss you off. Also, spending ~3 hours inside Dollar General fighting over knick knacks. Once she's in there, it's not like you can physically pull her out. It was a frustrating, depressing time. Looking back I can laugh.

It's a difficult process, what you're doing. She's lucky to have someone like you in her life. Think about all the people who have nobody looking out for them. Good luck with everything.

 

[Tanejames]

They are ok to mix but its pointless to mix lyrica and gabapentin imo atleast.

You’re right. I’m on 450mg a day lyrica, and I’ve taken massive doses of gabapentin on top and it adds barely any extra effects. Lyrica is a long stronger imo, and even then it’s not strong in drug terms. I do like taking my clonazepam with my lyrica, if I’m feeling like not remembering my day