Addiction SoulWentMIA Recovery(?) thread

[soulwentmia]

Been using gabapentinoids for a while and I'm now almost 72 hours off gabapentin, with the last dose of only 600mg. Used to taking 3g or more a day.

How long until things get well? Most I have been off it has been two weeks and I relapsed at that time due to being incredibly angry. Situation seems to fluctuate and i'll attempt documenting this as it happens as good as I can but it really fucking sucks.

Last time I quit I remember being alright after two weeks except sweating upon effort and incredible anger. Tomorrow will be the fourth day without it, again. Can someone please chime in with experience? Thanks.

 

[soulwentmia]

Well seems like no one cares to update this so I will, as an attempt to leave behind a piece of factual information about withdrawing from gabapentin and gabapentinoids in general. A few facts about the matter before I dig in:

- This is at least the fifth time I am going cold turkey in the past 12 months

- The second time I'm doing it after stabilising on the gaba after a pregabalin binge/addiction. I do not recommend this because you will be fucked for a long period of time so please don't actively count days. Accept that it may take a month or more but very soon you will see sizable improvements daily.

- The first time around wasn't really that bad but it had its moments. Some symptoms I didn't tie to quitting imediately so I have been floating around in this situation so to speak. After that, it got progresively harder.

-If you are also addicted to opioids don't quit both because it's uniquely tormenting. For me what worked is CT the gabapentin (or taper) while continuing to take your opioid drug of choice. This will make your time easier to pass. Be careful because you will get extra nauseated and itchy from the opi.

 

[soulwentmia]

Day 1 - After taking a minimum of 2.7 grams a day for about a week and eating a box of pregabalin 75mg+ a box of pregabalin 150mg the week prior to that, I spent 24 hours not taking any, only to end the night with two 300 mg capsules. I experienced tired states and being angry all day, itching on my body and knowing damn well what was ahead of me. Spent the day with no opioids either.

 

[soulwentmia]

Day 2 : Woke up completely drenched in sweat and was ready to lie in bed all day, being extremely cold. Quitting opis and gabapentin for me feels like a serious case of akathisia plus thermal dysregulation in a very hardcore way. If it's summer i'm dying hot and melty and in the winter can't manage to stop freezing. If i do, then i start overheating. Stood in my bed until about 3 pm and then ran to buy 250mg codeine taken all at once.
Drank two shots of honey Jack too but since then (now day 4) I gave up drinking because it really does some harm when it wears off.

 

[paltatomate]

And how are you feeling today, on your fourth day?

 

[soulwentmia]

And how are you feeling today, on your fourth day?

sorry i didn't even manage to write about all the days up to this one, this withdrawal makes one very scatter brained similarly to how phenibut and baclofen wd makes it hard to think.

today was the best day up to this point since even stopping the pregabalin binge before. ofc if we leave the anger aspect apart, i feel like i wanna crack someones head open upon the smallest inconvenience.

i took 600mg of codeine in the middle of the day and this boosted me hella strong to clean my house a bit and then went out to buy grape fanta and ice cream. yes, the best day i had since deciding to stop intaking various drugs.

since september i also developed a stronger than before stimulant problem, taking at least a gram of cocaine per week. or cathinones or plain amphetamine. next wednesday i will have 3 weeks without stims and about 8 days without gabapentin. the cost of codeine makes me anxious as hell as i'm aware i'll run out of money at this pace. i'll pop a hydroxizine and enjoy eating sweet and sour snacks and then sleep like a rock until mid day tomorrow.

i'm thankful i'm okay now but i also know how insidious and wave like is this withdrawal, knowing very well it will come back. but i'm pretty sure the physical aspect is close to being done with and then another two weeks ish of paws/mental wd.

hope everyone is having a hopeful day like i am

 

[paltatomate]

today was the best day up to this point since even stopping the pregabalin binge before. ofc if we leave the anger aspect apart, i feel like i wanna crack someones head open upon the smallest inconvenience.

i took 600mg of codeine in the middle of the day and this boosted me hella strong to clean my house a bit and then went out to buy grape fanta and ice cream. yes, the best day i had since deciding to stop intaking various drugs.

that's good to hear.
just enjoy, don't think too much about what horrors might come tomorrow.

 

[soulwentmia]

that's good to hear.
just enjoy, don't think too much about what horrors might come tomorrow.

pretty sure there are no horrors coming and what was the absolute worst has passed. from experience, what bad there is to come is anger, irritability, disturbed sleep, overall minor things that i just have to put in perspective in order to feel happy while going through.

i do plan on quitting codeine again tho and i am taking pretty insane doses (600mg) but even so, I'm sure none of that comes even close to the horrors of experiencing rebounds and withdrawals from baclofen, pregabalin, baclofen or phenibut

 

[lovemissile66]

Withdrawals are exactly why I stopped taking Gabapentin. I am prescribed 600mgs at bedtime but I didn't use it that way. I loaded up on it when I was coming off dirty 30's. I experienced shittier withdrawals off Gaba than I did the Fent. Mostly the sweating, fucked up stomach feeling, and some insomnia. Now I just keep the Gaba around in case of... I never want to experience withdrawals over a substance again.

 

[soulwentmia]

Withdrawals are exactly why I stopped taking Gabapentin. I am prescribed 600mgs at bedtime but I didn't use it that way. I loaded up on it when I was coming off dirty 30's. I experienced shittier withdrawals off Gaba than I did the Fent. Mostly the sweating, fucked up stomach feeling, and some insomnia. Now I just keep the Gaba around in case of... I never want to experience withdrawals over a substance again.

this is exactly my thinking and i had problems with codeine, heroin and oxy. tramadol too at some point. it's worse in many ways.

i had a lot of dealing with pregabalin too and in my mind somehow i put it that pregab is the bad withdrawal one while gabapentin is more like a "supplement" so to speak? but i never tried going off it at that point. yeah bad as hell. i'm on day 7 without gabapentin and having 0 bucks to my name (negative actually) which sucks because i would do anything to be able to take a hefty dose
of codeine for one more week to feel good. but i guess it never ends so might as well end here. codeine withdrawals get heavily better within 7 days while gabapentin withdrawals are just peaking at that point

 

[JackARoe]

i had a lot of dealing with pregabalin too and in my mind somehow i put it that pregab is the bad withdrawal one while gabapentin is more like a "supplement" so to speak?

Thanks for posting OP. I was prescribed gabapentin in 2016. I told the doc I did not want to take it daily and she said me do me. In the beginning I used it twice a week. 2700 mgs for a session. These days down to about once a week, only 1500 mgs works just fine. I myself never felt withdrawal. In fact the next day I still have an afterglow that feels uplifting. But my usage is light.

But I did scour all the gabapentin/pregabalin threads here on BL. So I guess a question is what type of use of gabapentin or pregabalin causes a person to withdraw? Recently I asked non Bluelighters that take gabaepenin and I asked if they get withdrawal and I got a funny look. But we know here plenty of people get withdrawal. I noticed some people would scarf their pills. Like 200 in a week then stop and not feel withdrawal. Then they continued and came back and said they are starting to feel it more and more. Like kindling.

Yeah so what type of usage are we talking about? I have gabapentin tagged as fairly safe, moreso than say a benzo. I always wonder how much poly drug usage factors in too.

Thanks OP for the update. I usually hound people for updates. But I am curious as to the nature of withdrawal from gabapentin and pregabalin. Seems a lot of people do not get withdrawal and I always wondered the the usage frequency of people that do.

 

[soulwentmia]

So basically I think it boils down to how much of gabapentin type substances have you taken over your life, what doses for how long and how they affect you.

To me, all of em, phenibut and baclofen included, seem to cure many things wrong about me. Similarly to opioids. They sedate and stimulate me at the same time.

Adhd and autism seem to be a common element in people that get really bad issues from it.

I started using such drugs with phenibut and let me tell you i had huge issues with that. On and off dependency. Got scripted lyrica and baclofen to quit it which i abused to the point of reaching GCS 3 coma. Twice.

After tapering I found myself taking gaba and i noticed that I get similar relief without the insane addiction and od issues that pregabalin and phenibut gave. But that was on smaller doses consistently. I'd say about a year into daily use is when I had problems but that's because I started to try stopping my intake.

I suppose that no inter dose wd made me think it's all pink skies. Well pretty soon i realised i'm fucked.

Scored anout two weeks clean at most (from it) and always got back bcs of anxiety or social elements. But the truth is you have to wait at least a month before judging about going back on it. Lots of reports of disproportionate long lasting withdrawals. Especially on cold turkeys

 

[soulwentmia]

Thanks for posting OP. I was prescribed gabapentin in 2016. I told the doc I did not want to take it daily and she said me do me. In the beginning I used it twice a week. 2700 mgs for a session. These days down to about once a week, only 1500 mgs works just fine. I myself never felt withdrawal. In fact the next day I still have an afterglow that feels uplifting. But my usage is light.

But I did scour all the gabapentin/pregabalin threads here on BL. So I guess a question is what type of use of gabapentin or pregabalin causes a person to withdraw? Recently I asked non Bluelighters that take gabaepenin and I asked if they get withdrawal and I got a funny look. But we know here plenty of people get withdrawal. I noticed some people would scarf their pills. Like 200 in a week then stop and not feel withdrawal. Then they continued and came back and said they are starting to feel it more and more. Like kindling.

Yeah so what type of usage are we talking about? I have gabapentin tagged as fairly safe, moreso than say a benzo. I always wonder how much poly drug usage factors in too.

Thanks OP for the update. I usually hound people for updates. But I am curious as to the nature of withdrawal from gabapentin and pregabalin. Seems a lot of people do not get withdrawal and I always wondered the the usage frequency of people that do.

also you mentioned poly drug usage and i'm ready to bet that plays a part. After all all drugs, most drugs, do is increase or reduce dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, etc.

My mix especially in the past year has been gabapentin at 2.5 grams or more, codeine at least 300mg and a stimulant. The stimulant was the "fun day of the week". Or fun couple of days. But all day everyday codeine and gabapentin.


And I'm saying this bcs last year I attempted it the other way around, staying on (increased even) doses of gaba while ct ing the codeine and let me tell you i kinda got the same symptoms? I suspect two drugs taken everyday create a basically third drug that you get addicted to. Remove either element and you get withdrawal.

But I'm sure there are lots of people with terrifying withdrawals from gabapentin alone.

 

[lovemissile66]

Thanks for posting OP. I was prescribed gabapentin in 2016. I told the doc I did not want to take it daily and she said me do me. In the beginning I used it twice a week. 2700 mgs for a session. These days down to about once a week, only 1500 mgs works just fine. I myself never felt withdrawal. In fact the next day I still have an afterglow that feels uplifting. But my usage is light.

But I did scour all the gabapentin/pregabalin threads here on BL. So I guess a question is what type of use of gabapentin or pregabalin causes a person to withdraw? Recently I asked non Bluelighters that take gabaepenin and I asked if they get withdrawal and I got a funny look. But we know here plenty of people get withdrawal. I noticed some people would scarf their pills. Like 200 in a week then stop and not feel withdrawal. Then they continued and came back and said they are starting to feel it more and more. Like kindling.

Yeah so what type of usage are we talking about? I have gabapentin tagged as fairly safe, moreso than say a benzo. I always wonder how much poly drug usage factors in too.

Thanks OP for the update. I usually hound people for updates. But I am curious as to the nature of withdrawal from gabapentin and pregabalin. Seems a lot of people do not get withdrawal and I always wondered the the usage frequency of people that do.

I can tell you that while I was still living down in VA, Gabapentin became a scheduled drug based on the abuse mixing it with other drugs, specifically opiates/oids.

 

[lovemissile66]

So basically I think it boils down to how much of gabapentin type substances have you taken over your life, what doses for how long and how they affect you.

To me, all of em, phenibut and baclofen included, seem to cure many things wrong about me. Similarly to opioids. They sedate and stimulate me at the same time.

Adhd and autism seem to be a common element in people that get really bad issues from it.

I started using such drugs with phenibut and let me tell you i had huge issues with that. On and off dependency. Got scripted lyrica and baclofen to quit it which i abused to the point of reaching GCS 3 coma. Twice.

After tapering I found myself taking gaba and i noticed that I get similar relief without the insane addiction and od issues that pregabalin and phenibut gave. But that was on smaller doses consistently. I'd say about a year into daily use is when I had problems but that's because I started to try stopping my intake.

I suppose that no inter dose wd made me think it's all pink skies. Well pretty soon i realised i'm fucked.

Scored anout two weeks clean at most (from it) and always got back bcs of anxiety or social elements. But the truth is you have to wait at least a month before judging about going back on it. Lots of reports of disproportionate long lasting withdrawals. Especially on cold turkeys

I ditto your post!!! and will add, that perhaps the folks that do not experience withdrawals, are the folks that have never had a break in their dosing.

 

[JackARoe]

I ditto your post!!! and will add, that perhaps the folks that do not experience withdrawals, are the folks that have never had a break in their dosing.

Thanks LM, was going to ask you too. That is usually the case. Morning, noon and night everyday for a few months would do it. It has such a short half life that even 24 hours later can be out of the system. But I recently asked a family member who takes 1200 mgs a day if they have any withdrawal. They of course forgot to take it on vacation and she said no issues. I sometimes think the people that do not even feel gabapentin may not get withdrawal. Who knows. But it is you all that made me keep it an occasional thing and it works for that. I still do not get bad shoulder nerve pain even with taking occasionally.

Also wonder if polly drug use causes different chems in the brain. Like a benzo and gabapentinoid together is very strong. But also people that only take gabapentin and pregabalin do get withdrawal too. And then some don't.

 

[soulwentmia]

Alright so I changed the name of the thread as I thought of turning it into a journal of how i paused my drug intake.

I said I'd do a day by day for gabapentin wd but was too fucked to do it, anyway, let me recap where I am now and where I came from.

Have been addicted for a bit less than two years to codeine (300mg x2 a day usually) and gabapentin between 2.5 and 4 grams. Also developed a nasty stimulant issue for the past months, taking at least a gram of cocaine a week. Or speed. Or cathinones.

From 10 to 12 of December 2024, I tried cold turkeying the codeine and gaba and it felt worse than after binging stimulants and heroin for 36hrs. I don't wanna go back to that yet. So on December 12 I caved in (eating a foil of xans in those few days didn't help) and stole family funds and headed off to get cocaine and codeine.

Friday December 13 felt like I had no way out so went on pregabalin and baclofen. Binged like a retard until Monday 16 when I decided to buy speed paste. No one was selling less than 5 grams. On the 17th instead of resting I had a friend over and stood awake for another night. Added a gram of coke on top and some weed.

On the 18th I had the bright idea of buying 10 XtC pills, Trump clones. IDK what was in them, felt like mdma lite. Ate them all in 2 days while overdosing on baclofen which made me fall all over my house, ending up severely beat. I came to it while banging my head on the header, from standing position. Hit every corner of my body. Friday the 20th shit became real. Ran out of almost everything and was tapering the pregabalin.

Sunday 22nd moved back in with my parrents. Can't describe rn but those who had pregabalin and baclofen issues will understand I was completely fucking broken in all ways. Monday 23rd relapsed on codeine after 9 days off due to extreme anxiety and restlesness. Two days later bought a box of gabapentin.

From here things were ok ish until Monday 30 when I ran out of gaba. Severe agitation, anger, etc. Saturday on January 4 I took codeine for the last time as things are now. It's been over 48 hours and it's rough.

Last night I realised I've been martyring myself for about 17 days now and ran in circles only to end up in the same place as before starting this insanity.

For now I have absolutely no money and I'm glad my parrents hid theirs. That's a whole "nother source of shame guilt and regret but I will integrate it some day.


In the following weeks I hope to keep at it and hopefully update this thread with good news and informative + hopeful stories.

 

[soulwentmia]

Day 8 off of gabapentin and day 3 off of codeine - things suck heavily. I couldn't sleep at all last night but starting to get very emotional with music. I ate 20mg of loperamide in the morning and I'm starting to feel a little better. Still cashless and I suspect once I get my money (tomorrow) it will be very tempting to relapse on codeine, as any addict would say, just for today. Dunno what I'm gonna do. If you can help it, in terms of deciding what when and how, in what order, to kick polypharmacy addiction please don't be like me and CT almost more than double ceiling dose of codeine in the PEAK of gabapentin withdrawal. It's a unique type of hell.

If I could have used the opioid for at least one more week or ten days I suspect it wouldn't have been half as bad. But it is what it is. Gabapentin withdrawal really doesn't get TRULY bad until a grand week later.

For anyone experiencing great returns but also great withdrawals from gabapentin please don't gaslight urself into thinking this is gonna be over as soon as say a morphine habbit. It really won't. You'll feel better, than worse, after about 4 days you get less and less body issues but it gets worse mentally. Don't take decisions for about two weeks - 20 days. It takes time. And don't quit alot of stuff at once. I had no choice. Let's hope days will get better.

 

[soulwentmia]

Update # 2 72+ hours post last codeine dose, IDK what the main problem is but seems to be caused by the opiate withdrawal mainly. I do get way more easily triggered and annoyed (to the point of feeling homicidal) and i learnt to identify this as a gaba related issue tho, fuck knows

The reason I'm writing now is because that loperamide really helped, placebo or not. Was the last 2 bucks i had and felt absolutely desperate because normally i would avoid it. The main problem now is emotionally i'm beyond fucked, other than that i finally can rest. Losing a night (and a half) of sleep certainly didn't help at all. Trying to rest up today and update the following days

 

[lovemissile66]

this is exactly my thinking and i had problems with codeine, heroin and oxy. tramadol too at some point. it's worse in many ways.

i had a lot of dealing with pregabalin too and in my mind somehow i put it that pregab is the bad withdrawal one while gabapentin is more like a "supplement" so to speak? but i never tried going off it at that point. yeah bad as hell. i'm on day 7 without gabapentin and having 0 bucks to my name (negative actually) which sucks because i would do anything to be able to take a hefty dose
of codeine for one more week to feel good. but i guess it never ends so might as well end here. codeine withdrawals get heavily better within 7 days while gabapentin withdrawals are just peaking at that point

Keep up the great work!!!! I, too, almost succumbed to taking my 600mg of Gaba on more than one occasion. I just couldn't stand the feeling of my body retaining water and because I also have a history of eating disorders, I would suffer the Gaba withdrawals over my fear of becoming fat/bigger/larger. That is truly the only reason I didn't go backward. And a month out, I still fucking get a sneeze attack. It's crazy. I've also been peeing A LOT!!! I'm trying to remember how long I took the Gaba. Maybe a couple weeks. And I was dosing every 3 or 4 hours.

Anyway, just hang in there because there is an end in sight and it kind of just sneaks up on you