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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

What opiate withdrawal symptoms can Gabapentin help with?

Oxy_Ghost

Oxy_Ghost

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What symptoms specifically could it help with? When I withdraw, I only experience RLS(extremely bad, it's what breaks me every time I try to quit) and insomnia, I sleep maybe 2 hours a night and occasionally I get the runs:/ So does anyone think this would help me at all. I don't have anything specifically for RLS or insomnia except smoking weed but that's doesn't help my RLS any. If anything getting high from weed makes my legs tingle even more but it gets my mind off it. The only thing I can do for RLS is take hot shower/bath but it only works for a little while.

I know everyone is different and reacts to medications differently but if you can't tell me specifically what it can help with than tell me what it's help you with from experience
 
for my son it greatly stabilizes his mood and for me and him it helps with RLS
 
Alright thanks for the answers. I think my mom has some cuz she has a problem with drinking and taking her ambien at the same time. I found a bottle in her purse the other day and Im pretty sure it said "Gavapentin" on it and I looked it up and I swear it said something about it helping with alcohol withdrawals which would be why she has gabapentin in the first place I guess. I'll have to try it the next time I'm going through withdrawals, which will probably be in the next few days, sadly:( How much do you think I should take? I think they're 300mg a piece.
 
It is my understanding that docs typically start patients on low doses of gabapentin and quickly titrate upward. I surmise this is done to avoid people catching a high, especially if taken during daytime where one may have to keep up with responsibilities. I don't see a problem starting out with one pill 300 mg and seeing where that takes you. Will you be taking any other comfort chems? Do you have experience with Lyrica (similar to gabapentin) or benzos?
 
I take gabapentin for chronic tension headaches and migraines. I take 600mgs TID (three times daily) i.e 1800mgs. With regards to opiate withdrawals it might help with pain, insomnia (some people find it makes them sleepy/helps them sleep - it doesn't have this effect on me), anxiety (it's prescribed for anxiety in the EU) and perhaps might give you a bit of a mood lift.
 
rls, sleep, general feeling during day. Pregabalin or gabapentin make shit bearable for me. anything that takes rls away and allows sleep is a winner in my book.
 
Groundhogdayagain said:
It is my understanding that docs typically start patients on low doses of gabapentin and quickly titrate upward. I surmise this is done to avoid people catching a high, especially if taken during daytime where one may have to keep up with responsibilities. I don't see a problem starting out with one pill 300 mg and seeing where that takes you. Will you be taking any other comfort chems? Do you have experience with Lyrica (similar to gabapentin) or benzos?
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I've taken lyrica a couple times, the first time I took a couple capsules, I don't remember what mg they were, and I ended up going asleep. I woke up the next day feeling like I was drunk as hell like I had been drinking in my sleep. The second time I took just one capsule and could hardly walk straight. I didn't like it at all. But no, I won't be taking anything else with it if I so take anything than it'll only be the gabapentin. I do have experience with benzo's. I used to take Xanax but I haven't in a while cuz all they do is make me pass out.
 
I took it for a few days when I couldn't get heroin. It really helped with the restless legs and general "I'm in pain" feeling, and it helped with my mood, although it made me feel a bit spacey, which I didn't like. Didn't help as much for sleep, but then I didn't go up to the full dose. It definitely helps though, and is much better than nothing at all.
 
Are we talking about gabapentin or pregabalin (Lyrica)? I assume pregabalin would be a superior med compared to gabapentin, right?
 
when i'm withdrawing it helps me sleep, especially helps with the anxiety/moodiness i usually experience, and it's a good calm. extremely useful stuff. i haven't notice it helping the rls but it's different with everyone
 
It helps w everything about opiate w/d....but not forever. It helps w tapering off of opiates. My experience is I can get about five or six days out of it. And then the withdrawal breaks through, and you are in an advanced stage, because the Lyrica was masking the symptoms, not taking them away.

Once, I took about six hundred mg's, fell asleep for six hours, woke up at 3a.m. and immediately was violently vomitting. What a shit day that was. I shudder thinking about it. That is my personal experience. Everyone is different.
 
Gabapentin helps in all aspects of opiate withdrawal except maybe the diarrhea part. it gives me energy and the high takes my mind off of my fent withdrawal. I usually have to wait about 3 days before I can take bupe again or I go into precip. withdrawal. so if I have some gaba around, I will take them and the transition to bupe works out perfectly. Quite a miracle drug for opiate withdrawal.
 
I've only had to go through wd one other time and it was because my pain management went from my oncologist to a pain specialist who would not fill my prescription early like my doc would. Going from 600mg per day of oxy to zero was extremely brutal but by far the worst symtom I had was extreme RLS. I have tapered down to 15mgs per day and I am now at almost 48 hours of no opiates and I have no WD. I'm using 100mg 3 times per day Gabapentin, Lorperamide 30mg twice daily, and Clonidine 1mg before bed. My eyes are burning a little from the Gaba and I feel alittle "Off" but I can easily tolerate what I'm going through right now. I do still have very real pain because I'm still healing from many surgeries but I was willing to live in pain to get off the opiates. The Gaba is actually doing more for my pain than two years of building up a tolerance to opiates has done. Opiates make me not care about my pain but it's still there, the Gaba has knocked my pain down about 2-3 points on the 10 point scale.
 
Gabapentin is an essential tool if available. It deserves a spot in any junkie's withdrawal toolbox next to loperamide and clonidine.

I find a lot of the more neurological effects are moderated by the gabapenting. Restless Legs Syndrome along with general akathisia were always my most dreaded symptoms, and this substance definitely helps in this regard. Granted, doses much higher than what are recommended must be consumed to actually get relief. But when the relief comes, it comes in droves. It has the added benefit of providing some mental relief. In the same way that it seems to soothe the bodies restlessness.

Gabapentin by itself I feel is great at reducing the symptoms of opiate withdrawal, but when you take it as part of a cocktail with loperamide and clonidine, you can mitigate the worst parts of the experience. Clonidine is obviously prescription, but it is fairly easy to obtain. The only requirement is confessing the gist of your drug use to an MD or PA or NP.

2500mg of Gabapentin - .3mg Clonidine - 20mg of Loperamide Beginner dose to relieve withdrawal, repeat at necessary intervals. Bearing in mind gabapentin can take hours until onset

5000mg+ of Gabapentin - .4mg Clonidine - 50mgs+ of Loperamide Veteran dose to relieve withdrawal. Clonidine dosage should not exceed this mark in a non-tolerant individual

I'm no doctor, but this information is at least close to the mark...
 
5000mg?! Is this correct? Everyone else is advocating 100-300mg?
Just wondering and for HR, I have no experience w gabapentin
 
IME, essentially all of them with the exception of a few PNS side effects like tachycardia, hypertension, and palpitations. If you add propanolol or even a cardio selective beta-blocker like atenolol it's a very, very effective remedy. Add in some baclofen and the occasional benzo (which work together with the gabapentin) and you should be able to power through withdrawal far less painfully.
 
kayaker318 said:
Should I start the Gabapentin now while I'm in the process of tapering my oxycodone IR? I am down from 40mg oxy to 35mg/a day which took me approx. a week to do. But I could use a little help with the next 5mg decrease because this isn't easy. Should I start the Gabapentin now? Or do I have to wait until I jump off to zero Oxy?

I'm pretty certain I start the Clonodine and Loperamide at the jump off point. But I'm a little confused. Anybody?? I have a doctor's appt. tomorrow and I'm not sure what to ask for. I do have klonopin too so that's good.

Any help would be so great because my head is spinning and I'm getting a migraine. I'm also thinking maybe the Gabapentin will allow me to shorten the tapering process.

Thank you!!
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I think you should wait untill you jump off completely. Gabapentin shouldn't be taken lightly as the withdrawals are just as bad if not worse than opioids, provided you fail and get addicted to that instead. Just be sure not to take it more than a week or two after you jump off. It will help with all symptoms and if you don't have tolerance to gabapentin it might remove withdrawals almost completely.

Or, you could use gabapentin for a week or so while tapering, stop the tapering for a while, let your nervous system rest and then use gabapentin again to taper and so forth.
 
Im no doctor but 100-300 mg of gabapentin is nothing. There's basically no overdosing on it. Gabapentin pills go up to 800mg. 5000 is alot for a person whos never taken it but i started out with 3500mg in wd and it helped extremely. Pregabalin is even better and you take a much smaller dose. I go with 5/600 mgs of pregabalin for wd
 
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