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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Gabapentinoids Pregabalin taper, help needed (high dose)

U

used2bnormal

Greenlighter
Joined
Jan 26, 2025
Messages
14
Hi everybody.

Neen on it 1 year. I got into it not knowing that this drug (at least for me) is the worst. But without going into much details, I'm on 1.1grams and started my taper. However if I go this tempo I'll run out of supplies. So I need to do faster but since I have weak CBS and this drug stopped my klonopin from working like at least 50% I still must go faster. Symptoms are bad. But I have NAC clonidine and nothing feels to help. I have Amytriptaline and hydroxyzine as well.

What I'm trying to say anything out there to help me since it almost killed my klonopin

Please no scary stories at all since I'm weak.

@Mods..I apologize if any similar threads exist but I am too scared to search. 1 word or 1 sentence scary can literally destroy me. So if anyone answers pls be respectful.
 
Hey @used2bnormal :)

I used to be normal too. I´m just playing, I´ve always been a freak. So you´ŕe currently taking 1,100mg Pregabalin each day? Believe it or not, I´ve known people to take much more than this on a regular basis. You mention that it is ¨making your Clonazepam (Klonopin) weaker¨? I´m curious what you mean by this, although I´m guessing that the Clonazepam is just being perceived as not working due to the effects of the Pregabalin.

You tend to hit a wall when you let your Pregabalin dosage get away from you. Anything more than 600mg Pregabalin per day and you´re probably going to hit that wall pretty fast. This generally entails the Pregabalin no longer working coupled with feelings of anxiety among other symptoms.

I want to know if you´re able to access Gabapentin (Neurontin)? It is a very useful tool for helping to get off Pregabalin as Gabapentin is essentially a weaker version of the former. This is generally quoted at a ration of 6:1 meaning 100mg Pregabalin is equal to approximately 600mg Gabapentin.

Gabapentin has a pharmacology that limits the total amount of Gabapentin a person can absorb in a day. The higher the doses, the less of the drug is absorbed and the total possible amount a person can absorb is quoted at around 5,000mg per day. Bear in mind, you´d probably be taking 20g of Gabapentin at least to get to that level. My point is, it can be a useful tool in helping you moderate your usage. It´s also not a controlled substance in most jurisdictions, thus it is easier to get a prescription.

I know your stocks are limited of Pregabalin. You need to let me know how much you have. Then we can make a plan. Then we need to figure out what we´re going to do about potentially getting Gabapentin involved. The plan will involve tapering as well as we can with the Pregabalin before switching to the Gabapentin toward the end of the taper.

There will be some pain and discomfot involved. That is just how it is. It doesn´t have to be a nightmare though okay? You will likely deal with some insomnia, temperature intolerance/[perspiration, anxiety etc. You can use the Clonidine to help you sleep and we can talk about other things you might have at your disposal to aid you in mitigating withdrawal symptoms. Let me know how much Prebabalin you have and we can go from there.
 
Hey, thanks for your reply.
I just want be sure I understood you right.
When you wrote about “flu-like” or “fever feeling”, you mean just feeling hot/cold in body, not a real measured fever, right?
And when you say “hitting a wall”, you mean temporary plateau / blunting, not a real crash or something permanent?
I also want say I don’t have much gabapentin, so switching to it is not really possible for me. My plan is to taper pregabalin directly, slowly.

Because I have no other help. I was even higher on pills but now idk what to do because I'm scared.

Thanks
 
used2bnormal said:
Btw...instead of making me worry even more just lmk what can help even at slightest. Thanks
Click to expand...
Hello,
Try and dispel yourself from worrying that much about it, been where you've been and it makes things worse. Mindset is really important. From my many unfortunate dealings with pregabalin abuse and wd's (which i also got into not knowing too much about), imho even a very quick or quick taper is much better than attempting a cold turkey (It's not clear because you write about runningout quicker than you thought and then that its your intention is for a slow, direct taper. Given that you were on it for a 1 year, than yeah you should take it slow. You should write how much pgb you have left and work on a plan with Keif, he will help you. Btw. If you are running out, can you not get more?




Regarding the things that can help: Klonopin should protect you from some of the unpleasantness, NAC works but for me i found i needed like 2400mg a day ( so like 1200 mg in the morning and in the evening) it supresses glutamate, Clonidine 0.1 mcg x1/2/3 times a day could help with hot/cold flashes, muscle soreness,
Black Seed Oil - found it probably the most helpful during tapering as it made me feel more "satisfied" even with a reduced dose
dxm - low dose 30-90 mg ( can help daytime groggiess and depression if used sporadically , though i would not recommend it probably, what's a weak cbs condition?)
Get yourself something like ibuprofen: i would get annoying headaches and muscle soreness
But don't except like miracles: The best drug for gabapentinoid tapering is switching to gabapentin and going fromthere or tapering pregabalin
If you have some serious medical condition than getyourself more pgb and work something out with Keif

Maybe i will pitch in something later

One tip i can offer you is to if you are taking your doses divided throught the day, let it stay that way. Tapering and dosing once daily is a pain.
 
momotaro said:
Hello,
Try and dispel yourself from worrying that much about it, been where you've been and it makes things worse. Mindset is really important. From my many unfortunate dealings with pregabalin abuse and wd's (which i also got into not knowing too much about), imho even a very quick or quick taper is much better than attempting a cold turkey (It's not clear because you write about runningout quicker than you thought and then that its your intention is for a slow, direct taper. Given that you were on it for a 1 year, than yeah you should take it slow. You should write how much pgb you have left and work on a plan with Keif, he will help you. Btw. If you are running out, can you not get more?




Regarding the things that can help: Klonopin should protect you from some of the unpleasantness, NAC works but for me i found i needed like 2400mg a day ( so like 1200 mg in the morning and in the evening) it supresses glutamate, Clonidine 0.1 mcg x1/2/3 times a day could help with hot/cold flashes, muscle soreness,
Black Seed Oil - found it probably the most helpful during tapering as it made me feel more "satisfied" even with a reduced dose
dxm - low dose 30-90 mg ( can help daytime groggiess and depression if used sporadically , though i would not recommend it probably, what's a weak cbs condition?)
Get yourself something like ibuprofen: i would get annoying headaches and muscle soreness
But don't except like miracles: The best drug for gabapentinoid tapering is switching to gabapentin and going fromthere or tapering pregabalin
If you have some serious medical condition than getyourself more pgb and work something out with Keif

Maybe i will pitch in something later

One tip i can offer you is to if you are taking your doses divided throught the day, let it stay that way. Tapering and dosing once daily is a pain.
Click to expand...
Thanks
Why afraid? My brother is going through post stimulant protracted withdrawal syndrome. I'm suprised he can go on because what pain he is in. Then he had bad gabapentin crash on top. He used 3.6g to help his stimulant problem and its truly scary what he went and still is going through.
Second, I have GAD..generalized anxiety disorder and yes I'm scared. Theres more so.... It makes me scared if i read something negative for m. But I still try be strong. That's why I asked Keifand everyone else pls not to scare me no matter what.
When I said CBS I meant CNS. Nervous system.
I tried big cut 3 weeks ago and it first completely blunted my klonopin. As days go by I feel it more and more. Not a 100%
I have enough for the next 3 months (at current dose) and should get another 3 in about 2 months but it's not guaranteed that's why I worry about supplies.

I am taking it 2x day. The main dose and what I call booster.
I'm tapwring 25 to 75 mg every 4 or 5 days and stay longer if thr wave is going up.

I have maybe 1 to 2 hundred gabaoentin capsules 400 mg each but i doubt i could get much more. If i did then less pregabalin but will see.

Thanks
 
@Keif' Richards If you think you can help me please so so. Either here on private. I did get scared when I reed your sentence that ppl taking over 600....if you choose to help me pls do not tell me such stuff due to my hypersensitive cns and fear is among the worst things.

Back home I happened to be there during the war and one explosion very close to me i think broke mu cns. As soon as it exploded I don't know what happened for couple minutes except I felt dpdr 100%., fear also, whole body numbness etc. And yes akathisia 10/10

I didn't know n the names of I back then and I was still just early teen but next 23bor 4 years I lives as I was wd from some drug. No access to medicall attention.

Eventuly got better especially when i left rhe country. But some permanent damage was done like GAD. Then my brother now going through true horror...is not expecting to survive.

so much about why i am a fearful person. 1 negative sentence from a knowledge person can f me up bad.

but if you are willing to help me taper without fearinducing talk i would like to taper off this thing 1 way or another

After that I went thr
 
Hey @used2bnormal I´m back..

I hear you loud and clear regarding the fear. Maybe I´m just too ¨old school¨, but I don´t know if I ever would´ve gotten clean if I hadn´t felt the primal fear of potential, complete destruction. I guess youth is what gave me the ability to live without fear; youth combined with luck I guess and the arrogance that comes with never having experienced serious consequences for anything. I just want people to be aware of all eventualities.

Your situation is not the end of the world man. It´s something you have to take seriously, as I feel that you are. It isn´t, however, like having a major Fentanyl habit. Given that you already have a responsible disposition, you don´t need to be convinced. You just need to maintain that same resolve in the face of some discomfort.

I think you´re approach is pretty sound. Withdrawal from Gabapentinoids is a bit unpredictable. You will be your best resource for how fast or slow to go about this taper.

I´m going to recommend something to you that I recommend to everyone who tapers. The vast majority see it as too involved to attempt, when in reality, it´s very easy. It´s volumetric dosing. You´ll find a guide I made for the practice kicking around the top area of the sub-forum.

The rationale is that the smaller and smoother the increments in a taper, the less jarring or subjectively noticeable the withdrawal syndrome is. The psychology of this process is not something to be taken lightly. The anticipation of a drop can produce anxiety that can interfere with your functionality in your day to day life. I can´t testify to your willpower or resolve, because I don´t know you. I do know plenty of people who I´ve walked through tapers, I´ve tapered off of Opioids, Alcohol and even Barbiturates once.

In short, you take a measured amound of liquid, if you have 75mg capsules, you take an oral syringe, draw up 7.5ml of water, empty Pregabalin capsule, mix vigorously, draw back up into the syringe. Now, you have a solution in which each Milliliter contains 10mg Pregabalin. It´s really simple. Making smaller, measured reductions on a more constant schedule can alleviate a lot of anxiety surrounding making drops.

I would encourage you to look into it or ask me if you want more information. Otherwise, I think it´s possible your reductions could be on the fast side. In an ideal situation, you want the taper to be as slow as possible. You know what you´re capable of based upon your supplies. It is possible that you could exhaust the Pregabalin and then switch to the Gabapentin and continue tapering with that. Your Gabapentin supply is significant enough to play a role in all of this
 
used2bnormal said:
Thanks
Why afraid? My brother is going through post stimulant protracted withdrawal syndrome. I'm suprised he can go on because what pain he is in. Then he had bad gabapentin crash on top. He used 3.6g to help his stimulant problem and its truly scary what he went and still is going through.
Second, I have GAD..generalized anxiety disorder and yes I'm scared. Theres more so.... It makes me scared if i read something negative for m. But I still try be strong. That's why I asked Keifand everyone else pls not to scare me no matter what.
When I said CBS I meant CNS. Nervous system.
I tried big cut 3 weeks ago and it first completely blunted my klonopin. As days go by I feel it more and more. Not a 100%
I have enough for the next 3 months (at current dose) and should get another 3 in about 2 months but it's not guaranteed that's why I worry about supplies.

I am taking it 2x day. The main dose and what I call booster.
I'm tapwring 25 to 75 mg every 4 or 5 days and stay longer if thr wave is going up.

I have maybe 1 to 2 hundred gabaoentin capsules 400 mg each but i doubt i could get much more. If i did then less pregabalin but will see.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Yeah okay i understand. What kind of dosage of pills do you have just to be curious? And how are you taking those drops so far? Symptoms are pretty bad?

Just as Keif says it volumetric dosing is the way to go. I would divide your two doses into even doses and start taking out smaller mgs or possible making a longer time window. Imho 4-5 days may be to fast. I don't know how many drops you did already but basically with everydrop you may feel off for like 3-4 days, so in my experience you may need sth like 7 days. I Heard some people staying longer like 2-3 weeks between drops. I understand that you may feel like or may not have that luxury, but you control the "parameters" of your tapering. And say what @Keif' Richards to make it go more smoothly you may need to adjust. I would have to do the math again tomorrow but going from 1,1 grams a day dropping 75 mgs, let's say every 7 days that's a 300 mgs drop a month, so in 3 months you would drop from 1,1 grams to 200 mgs. That seems too fast, considering you might have the resupply of pgb and you have the 100-200 400 mgs gabapetin. I think you can afford yourself some leeway.

Unless i misunderstood you: you have have a 3 months supply of your current dose which is 1,1 grams (1100mgs?). Sorry it's late where i am at.

Just for reference i tapered from 1500 mgs, its tough but it can be done. Just try to find a rhythm where you experience the least discomfort. Good Luck.
 
@Keif' Richards @momotaro

Funally gathered strength to make this post. If you guys can help time is now.

Here is my more detailed story. But I wanna thank you in advance first for your advices.

Up until 7-8 weeks ago I was taking 700-800 mg a day. My last misuse of around 1250mg remained same since then. Only a month later I started taper because stupid chatgpt told me wait. Anyway I got down to 1100 where I am now and my 75mg pills I measured by eye...putting in empty caosules. Again idea of that app. Now I'm doing with water.

My last drop failed mostly because I wanted to se will I feel good if I take 1175 mg and also why the last 50 mg were so hard. When I didn't feel any better I lost most of my hope but am still pushing through.

I said I'm dropping from 25 to 75 mg every 4 - 5 days but almost every tine I stay longer. Sometimes a day sometimes epto 10. Depends.

I wish I could take equal twice a day but I'm used to main dose and layer booster. Boosterbis always 225mg. Main dose is right now 925. I did try work-araoun to take 2 and orb3 x a day same dose but realized anything like that would be a huge drop. If I can't take off 2 capsules how to drop 5....

When I dropped 2 I didn't feel my klonopin any more which I'm also tapering (without a choice) from 6 mg down bt 0.25 mg a month. So when I didnt get any benefit from my 5.75 mg I took 2 more but to no avail. However last few days I feel it littlebit more and it does take the edge away at least. Akathisia for example but still it took probably permanently my normal (so called subjective) feeling away from me

Yes sometimes 2 or 3 weeks need to pass for me too to make a new drop but I'm trying my very minimum to be 100 mg a month.

Yes I have 3 month supply. I also have almost 200 gabaoentin capsules 400mg each. But I can't have both in high doses. In fact I cant get any more gabapentin.

I also have mild to moderate treatment resistant depression so I use a lot of NAC. And since you both tapered off 1500 maybe you can give me more advice? Switching to gaba again i couldn't in this state but I know for sure at least 50% of how I feel is because of fear and that's the only thing I ask you to mind please.
Thanks again

Ps. When I got stuck on 1250 from 7 to 800 9 weeks ago was the first time I realized what I'm dealing with.. heard it can be harder than klonopin and opioids together to come off etc untill then I thought it's just easy to taper because it's not even controlled pill here. Boy was i wrong
 
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Hey @used2bnormal I´m glad to see that you´ve incorporated the Gabapentin, beacause that was actually going to be my suggestion. I hear that you are very used to a large bolus dose in the mornings followed by perhaps, a booster dose later in the evenings. My advice to you wold be, instead of taking Pregabalin as your booster, incorporate Gabapentin instead. It is still progress even if you´re still using Gabapentinoids. Gabapentin is a step-down from Pregabalin, so any substitutions that can be made successfully and consistently is good in my book.

Remember that Gabapentin is 1/6th the potency of Pregabalin so a ration of 600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin. If I were you, I would try my best to take 900mg Gabapentin in 3 divided doses, 45 minutes apart and this will equal to about 150mg Pregabalin. This would be progress.

You need to be in this for the long haul. There will be successes, failures, backtracking; you just always have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and be willing to keep going on your path no matter what. Remember, even 1% is 1% better than yesterday. 100 days of that and you might end up with 100%.
 
Keif' Richards said:
Hey @used2bnormal I´m glad to see that you´ve incorporated the Gabapentin, beacause that was actually going to be my suggestion. I hear that you are very used to a large bolus dose in the mornings followed by perhaps, a booster dose later in the evenings. My advice to you wold be, instead of taking Pregabalin as your booster, incorporate Gabapentin instead. It is still progress even if you´re still using Gabapentinoids. Gabapentin is a step-down from Pregabalin, so any substitutions that can be made successfully and consistently is good in my book.

Remember that Gabapentin is 1/6th the potency of Pregabalin so a ration of 600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin. If I were you, I would try my best to take 900mg Gabapentin in 3 divided doses, 45 minutes apart and this will equal to about 150mg Pregabalin. This would be progress.

You need to be in this for the long haul. There will be successes, failures, backtracking; you just always have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and be willing to keep going on your path no matter what. Remember, even 1% is 1% better than yesterday. 100 days of that and you might end up with 100%.
Click to expand...
Hey KR . I hope you are doing alright. Thank you for the advice. I will post my "news" here in case you have any additional advice.

I just took clonazepam and even though lirika killed the beautiful comfort feeling I still get some relief. I was having a major dp attack (those who have severe depersonalization disorder know how painful that can be) and the benzo at least helped with that and I can't complain. Gave me strength to look up here (my fears).

I relapsed. I'm total 1200 mg. "Only" double of max allowed to be prescribed here. I'm also afraid I hit the wall you scared me with. Maybe didn't idk. So I realized I'm waiting the supplies because I always relapse. And I relapse because I bite more than I can chew. So this time I
am settling on 13 caps in the morning and 3 evening. Today is day 2 and I can't believe even this is not comfortable but will wait 5-7 days before go to 12. My milestone is 9 to 10 capsules today that I hope to accomplish in 4-5 months. After that at least supplies won't be an issue and from there I can taper even 1 mg a week if I choose to. I know nothing will be easy but I will try my best. The major problem is my brother who gives me distress because of his illness*

I have about 180 capsules of Gabapentin 400mg and might get another 300 capsules in 2 months. I feel gabapentin gives potency to pregabalin so since a 400mg gaba is close to 75 mg pregabalin I might try main dose 12+1 and booster (which becomes crucial as dose gets lower) I will try 1200 gabapentin....and space it out as you suggested.

*(Gpt 5.1 is against mixing the 2 because it claims Gabapentin will mess with my CNS but it can't provide a source

Thanks again and I'll update from time to time.

(Will make a thread about my brother and stimulant damage in case someone can suggest a help for him even 1%)

Btw if I find that Gabapentin is easier to taper I *migh* be able to switch completely
 
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Keif' Richards said:
Hey @used2bnormal I´m glad to see that you´ve incorporated the Gabapentin, beacause that was actually going to be my suggestion. I hear that you are very used to a large bolus dose in the mornings followed by perhaps, a booster dose later in the evenings. My advice to you wold be, instead of taking Pregabalin as your booster, incorporate Gabapentin instead. It is still progress even if you´re still using Gabapentinoids. Gabapentin is a step-down from Pregabalin, so any substitutions that can be made successfully and consistently is good in my book.

Remember that Gabapentin is 1/6th the potency of Pregabalin so a ration of 600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin. If I were you, I would try my best to take 900mg Gabapentin in 3 divided doses, 45 minutes apart and this will equal to about 150mg Pregabalin. This would be progress.

You need to be in this for the long haul. There will be successes, failures, backtracking; you just always have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and be willing to keep going on your path no matter what. Remember, even 1% is 1% better than yesterday. 100 days of that and you might end up with 100%.
Click to expand...
Hey
Gabapentin doesn't work. I have tried and relapsed w 5x. Gabapentin as for booster dose doesn't work. I managed get down only 75 since. I did another 75 after I excluded gabapentin but due to supplies I'm now stuck. I thought I hit a wall but now seems going as good as ever but cannot cover boister aka second small dose. Any ideas?

I'm staying away from AIs as they said either don't use Gabapentin or it doesn't work bc ur fked basically
 
Hi there @used2bnormal I hear you. L:et me see if I can give you a small amount of peace here. Your expectations regarding the Gabapentin (Neurontin) need to be realistic. I need you to wrap your head around an important metric. Pregabalin (Lyrica) has a linear pharmacokinetic profile. The more you take, the more is absorbed, the greater the effect. Gabapentin is limited by how much can actually be absorbed at a time.

600mg Gabapentin = 100mg Pregabalin\

There are major reductions in total Gabapentin absorbed when doses go above 2,400mg Gabapentin per day. After 3,200mg per day, you are absorbing less than 10% the amount of Gabapentin you were absorbing at lower doses like 300mg-600mg. This means, and I'm shooting from the hip here, a person taking Gabapentin, with a fatty environment in the stomach, who staggers the doses by 45 minutes at ~300mg per dosage.

If you're maximizing the bioavailability of the Gabapentin through staggering, this means you're going to spend at least 3 hours to ingest 1,200mg and at least 6 to get to 2,400mg. Furthermore, it's 2-3 hours for Gabapentin's effects to really take hold.

If you're being realistic and not using too much Gabapentin, you're going to spend half the day ingesting that quantity, which, at the very best will get you an equivalent of ~400mg Pregabalin. Keep in mind, Pregabalin dosages hit all at once in 3 hours. Realistically, you shouldn't be counting on anything higher than this ~400mg Pregabalin in a 24 hour period. Yes, you can continue taking more Gabapentin, but as we covered already, your returns begin diminishing so rapidly that it makes the notion of taking more Gabapentin or not a moot point; you'd just be wasting it.

The main point I'm trying to make here is that, you're at best only going to cover 30% of your large doses of Pregabalin. This means, even taking Gabapentin in the most effective way, you can expect you're going to be experiencing withdrawal on a level similar to cutting your Pregabalin dose by 2/3 overnight. It is not going to relieve the withdrawal and make you feel fine.

You only have a 3-5 days of using Gabapentin at a clip like this before you hit a major wall that makes any more Gabapentin essentially useless. You have ~3 days of major help, followed by 2-3 days of a little help, followed by the wall. You need to walk into this process with strategy, discipline and knowledge, otherwise you're just pissing into the wind.

It's all good, your heart is in the right place. We all have to make mistakes to learn the true path to success. Like I tell everyone, getting clean will be one of the hardest, most complex puzzles you will ever face in your life. However, this isn't like discovering general relativity, nobody will throw you a ticker tape parade just for not being an addict.

I say, you pick up the pieces from this attempt. Obtain more supplies of Pregabalin if you're able to do that. In the meantime, keep your doses as low as possible. I highly advise giving your drugs to a second party who can divvy them up for you. I HIGHLY recommend this.

Get everything together that you have to help medicate you through withdrawal. You come back here, we discuss what you have and what your options are, and we make an actual plan. Let me know how this sounds. You're totally capable of this man.
 
After rereading this response, I'm realizing I didn't make totally clear that the Gabapentin will still play a vital role in offsetting the worst of the Pregabalin withdrawal. There is a huge difference between a little bit and nothing when you're talking about withdrawal. It can be difficult to tolerate when you're maybe not feeling good enough to sleep. You just have to know that you would be feeling way worse without the Gabapentin.
 
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