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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Using Gabapentin for Benzo Withdrawal

^Please let us know how things are going. You do need a supervised taper to get off benzos safely.

I cannot stress this enough.



that's why i started with the doctor, got referred for assessment, who said i could basically feck off, i'm a hard bitch, but i was in tears of frustration on the way back.

off to try the doctor tomorrow. got the other half coming with me for back up so i'm less likely to be fobbed off. dunno how useful that'll be though.

all i've been offered is the occasional visit from a counsellor. that's gonna help with withdrawals innit?

anyway, just took handfull of mazzies, gonna stop stressing till tomorrow.

cheers

bee
 
all i've been offered is the occasional visit from a counsellor. that's gonna help with withdrawals innit?

anyway, just took handfull of mazzies, gonna stop stressing till tomorrow.

Counselling will help with the psychological aspect of withdrawals, but won't do much of anything for the physical aspect of withdrawals.
 
ayo beatch, youve gotta work it out pal. get off the shit, one way or the other.
 
I believe it says somewhere in bluelight's rules not to ask how to persuade doctors to give you pills. If you do have the risk of serious withdrawal, going to a methadone clinic or emergency room would be a good idea- maybe even a rehab center. They will administer the correct dose to help you stop. If you want to continue then cool, but don't ask us on how to fool your doctor into writing you a script.

What the? Go to a Methadone clinic for benzodiazepine withdrawals? You don't go onto opiates for benzodiazepine withdrawals. Opiates can not prevent potential seizures/convulsions/spasms from benzodiazepine withdrawal. Its the other way around, benzos can help opiate withdrawals.
 
be, i feel for ya, but as others have said, benzo w/d could be dangerous/deadly. I understand your stressed about how this will all play out, but if you're not sure you could get scripted more, taking a "handful of mazzies" is not going to help. you should be conserving what you have left for when serious symptoms come on.
 
have been to doctor, she's told me to come back thursday when she's spoken to the twat that she referred me to. i told her i'd be happy to go in every day if necessary to beat it. if she doesn't offer help. gonna do a quick taper with gabapentin to prevent seizures. we'll work out our own taper with research, and the bilf will dole out the pills to make sure i dont get fuddled and take to many. at least i got someone keeping an eye on me. reckon got enough gabapentin, blues, 2.5's and mazzies to make it work.

anyone got experience with using gabapentin to withdrawal?
 
cheers k'd. i've read it can greatly reduce the withdrawal time, but i'm concerned about replacing one habit with another. i've been taking 900mg gabapentin in the morning, but that wears off by about four or five, when i take vals, as i dont wanna take too much gaba and have to get off something else, but it totally stops me wanting benzos in the day. y

yesterday i only had 25 mils valliium in the evening, followed by two of those 30 restorils going about to get to sleep. ok, i was grumpier than usual, but i've only been taking larger doses of valium for the last week or so through sheer frustration.

could you please share your experiences? maybe give me a rough taper plan. should i spread my gaba dose? etc etc etc. any info would be muchly appreciated. i really wanna beat this thing. haven't had an addiction to anything for nine years, and this is worse than doing proper cold turkey off snowballs.
 
oh, and i'm not suffering seizures at all, but i know that's the biggest risk of tapering diazepam too quickly which is why gapabentin seems to make sense to me if i wanna withdrawal quickly as possible. t
 
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijpharm/vol4n2/gaba.xml

Oxazepam was rapidly tapered out over 4 days. Concomitantly, the patient was administered gabapentin 500mg the first day, 800mg the second day, and 900mg from the third to the ninth day. It was then tapered out until day 12. During his 14-day hospitalization the patient experienced as withdrawal symptoms only transient insomnia, which responded well on zolpidem 10mg and trimipramine 50mg. While she was closely monitored with regard to other benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms, especially vegetative symptoms, no further withdrawal signs were observed.

While a slow tapering of benzodiazepines may take several months until complete detoxification, our case confirms a previous report (22) suggesting that gabapentin treatment can be a more rapid alternative, even in patients with a history of multidrug dependence including cocaine and opiate abuse. Besides transient insomnia, all typical withdrawal symptoms were prevented by gabapentin in our case. The course of our case was quite similar to that reported by Crockford et al.. Both patients also described a “benzodiazepine-like” effect even after definitive wash-out of the benzodiazepines. The maximum gabapentin dose given in our patients was 900 mg/d compared to 600 mg/d in Crockford's case, and the dose was well tolerated by the patient, who had previously only poorly tolerated carbamazepine and topiramate.
 
thank you, i have read that article already, done quite a bit of research, but couldn't find much more than that really, that's why i'm so interested in personal experiences.
 
so i could taper the diazepam down to feck all within days, but just boost the gabapentin, then taper it, and be clean within a fortnight? is that what it's saying ultimately?

sorry, had read it before, but that particular stand out (what with my cognitive ability being somewhat impared by the benzos......) hmm, could i do that, but maybe carry on with a sleeper for night time or something?

anyone who's done this, please share their experiences and maybe suggest a doseage taper?

please.

i just wanna be a decent mother, not a generally confused zombie like creature.
 
Counselling will help with the psychological aspect of withdrawals, but won't do much of anything for the physical aspect of withdrawals.



gonna beat this pretty quick i hope. and the counselling as far as i'm concerned will be pretty darned useless, just wanna be seen to be playing the game so they dont bring in social services with the bairn.

i've addressed my issues with addiction. i know the cause, and i'd found a way of making them work for me. ie kick boxing and rugby. endorphine instead of morphine!

trouble is, my last rugby injury left me clucking off painkillers and i stupidly turned to online benzos for sleep before i knew it, i had my first habit (that wasn't exercise) for nine years. thank for all the advice and the links all.

should work out a taper to be clean within the month. then back to three 90 minute kick boxing sessions a week. given up the rugby. at 36, the injuries are taking longer to heal.

but thanks for all the advice and concern. gaba's gonna do it. gonna get a taper on.... and off, and the bilf's gonna have control over the pills.

again.

thanks.

bee xxx
 
love neurontin

I used Neurontin after a 7 day librium detox for benzos....was on about 100-150 mg Valium for 10 yrs....was very difficult detox as u can imagine but neurontin saved me...was taken 800MG in AM followed by 400 MG every 3 hours...800mg at night........however I recommend 400mg every hour all day....800-1200 mg at night........

with that being said I am now addicted to neurontin(not physically)........it is my all time favorite drug ( had a 10 yr opiate addiction).....Neurontin works miricles for social anxiety....I walk around with a smile all day...say Hi to people,,make small talk,....more witty than ever.....thoughts come to me like never before....love Neurotontin.....I will be on Neurontin for the rest of my life...I love neurontin more every day.....I have no thoughts of using opiates again....or benzos...or coke.....dont need em
 
I used Neurontin after a 7 day librium detox for benzos....was on about 100-150 mg Valium for 10 yrs....was very difficult detox as u can imagine but neurontin saved me...was taken 800MG in AM followed by 400 MG every 3 hours...800mg at night........however I recommend 400mg every hour all day....800-1200 mg at night........

with that being said I am now addicted to neurontin(not physically)........it is my all time favorite drug ( had a 10 yr opiate addiction).....Neurontin works miricles for social anxiety....I walk around with a smile all day...say Hi to people,,make small talk,....more witty than ever.....thoughts come to me like never before....love Neurotontin.....I will be on Neurontin for the rest of my life...I love neurontin more every day.....I have no thoughts of using opiates again....or benzos...or coke.....dont need em

woooah! i'm on day three of my two week plan, and am not planning on taking quite that many! i think the maximum i'll be on is eight a day at the peak then tapering back down again. just wanna get back to non-dependence! but, erm, glad you're having fun, you're probably not a single parent huh?

cheers for the input but xxxxx
 
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