Benzos Will Gabapentin stop me taking a Benzo W/D Seizure ??

[benzoman12345]

Hi,

So I have been taking Valium and other benzos for a few years now,

I have chronic anxiety so I really genuinely need them I don't get any sort of high no matter how much of any benzo I take and I've tried well over 10 different types

Now the problem is.... I have to see a psychiatrist (although I really don't) to get my script because I am being treated like a drug addict in a centre for ex-addicts even though the 1st Diazepam tablet I ever took was prescribed by a Dr for chronic anxiety

The only reason I am in the drug centre is because I took a W/D seizure about 2 1/2 years ago that hospitalised me for a week

Now the thing is, this is holding my life back if I was on a normal repeat prescription then everything would be fine but I'm not.....

Now I'm on Gabapentin 600mgs 3x per day for back and leg pain which does help to reduce my Valium intake being it a Gaba-B aganoist (I understand that stuff)

I am on 90mg DHC 2x per day ER but I just take the 180mg at once so I suppose that helps calm me to a small degree

And recently I asked my Dr for a stronger anti-histamine for allergies/hayfever , also to potentiate my pain killers but I didn't tell her that of course, she gave me Hydroxyzine, now I have read all about it and to my discovery it is widely used for anxiety hey hey

The Hydroxyzine ATM is 10mg 3x per day but she said if it didn't work I could double them up so when I go back I will tell her I done this and it worked better and get 25mg tabs 3x per day on my repeat prescription...... My GP doesn't know about the anxiety because it is not her that scripts the Diaz but I think I might tell her that I have anxiety and that these anti-histamines could work as a 2 in 1 for me, don't know if that's a good idea or not

So I have a few things to help calm me down here, but my real question is this...

Would Gabapentin a Gaba-B agonist stop a seizure from a Gaba-A agonist ???

We all know it works the other way around for the likes of people taking seizures through Alcohol W/D

I DON'T want off Valium but because of the way my life is (there are MANY factors) , I can not go and pick up prescriptions all the time and pick up Valium from a pharmacy 3x per week,

I tried to cold turkey them before and 4days later I was rushed to hospital,
BUT this time I have Gabapentin on hand, and I could easily swap/buy plenty of Gabapentins for the start of the W/D as they are easily available on the streets around here and then cut down to my normal prescribed dose so that it is the same drug because I will never get taken off them anyway because the Pain Dr at the hospital put me on them

Any thoughts anybody ?

Should I try this ???

 

[drewbocop]

It certainly won't hurt. Take it as prescribed or even more if needed until the benzos are out of your system. I used it during benzo withdrawal and it helped me significantly.

 

[benzoman12345]

I've lately been taking 10mgs of Valium with my 600mgs of Gabapentin 3x per day and it's a good combo I just can't be fucked with going to a daft clinic that I don't need to go to and they just want to cut me off them when I genuinely need them

I wonder if I could just buy a load of Valium or Clonazepam as and just take either 10mgs of Valium or 1mg of Clonaz 3x Per day and if I ever run out the Gabapentin should stop me taking a seizure, it's just the seizure thing that scares me after the big 1 I took a couple of years back, mind you I was taking stupid amounts back then and I didn't know the Valium also contained Phenazepam so it's no wonder the seizure was so fatal

@DREWBOCOP , What benzos were you taking and how much ? and how much of Gabapentin got you off them safely ?

 

[pinpoint]

Gabapentin is not an agonist at neither GABA-A nor GABA-B sites so get that out of your head. Its method of action has yet to be elucidated. Currently it is used to treat partial and secondarily generalized seizures. Gabapentin does not prevent seizures that begin on both sides of the brain at the same time, called primary generalized seizures. It can't hurt to take it but don't expect it to save you. Also, nobody 'takes a seizure' - you 'have a seizure' ..not sure why you say it like that.

 

[benzoman12345]

Take a seizure - have a seizure ... what's the difference lol ? Just the way I talk and that's the way the Drs and Psychiatrists say it here as well maybe because we are from different areas ???

Well people in my area are mad for Diazepam/Temazepam and Nitrazepam there are genuine boxes being sold everywhere and when they dried up everybody went to Gabapentin and there was no reports of hundreds of people having seizures/fits like there normally is when these things dry up around here normally the hospital is full of them

I have ran out of Valium before and took a couple of Gabapentins and it's really chilled me out

I would just like to think that if I ran out of benzos I wouldn't take or have a W/D seizure because of the Gabapentin because I don't want to rely on this fuckin clinic anymore, I have genuine crippling anxiety and am the only person in this centre that deals with hundreds of people who isn't on methadone, I shouldn't be there and there's nothing I can do about it, it's really holding me back in life, I lost a job due to having to go to a chemist every day, I can't go on holiday because I have to go to a chemist, when I see the psychiatrist I have nothing to say as nothing ever changes,

I would like to just self medicate sensibly with Diaz or Clonaz,

I was just wondering if the Gabas would stop a Benzo W/D seizure in it's tracks should I decide to do this and they ever run out, if anyone had any experience there that's all ...

 

[benzoman12345]

Gabapentin is not an agonist at neither GABA-A nor GABA-B sites so get that out of your head. Its method of action has yet to be elucidated

I know that but I also know through experience with taking loads of them at a time that Gabapentin DOES hit Gaba-B receptors, I've been on these GABAerics for years and I've got to know them very well unfortunately

 

[pinpoint]

Perhaps through a downstream mechanism. However you can't be sure when a multi-billion dollar multinational corporation like Pfizer doesn't even know..

 

[benzoman12345]

That's true TBH I think if you take enough they sorta hit both, I went on a bender 1 time taking at least 30-40 600mg tabs per day just on a self destruct mission and when it was wearing off and I was sobering up when I woke up I felt very much like I was on a benzo as well.

To my original question, I don't think there really is an answer, I think there would only be 1 way to find out, I'm just trying to get my med situation sorted so I don't need to rely on a junkie clinic for a prescription they are trying to take off me that I genuinely need,

I think I'm best just taking what they give me and stocking up on good generic Valium, out of all the drugs, I don't think Valium is going anywhere, and worse case scenario, there are legal benzos anyway lol, some of them I've tried very actually very medicinal.

 

[DementiaSavantPlus]

Gabapentin increases the synthesis of GABA. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/9686247 ).

People on this forum and others always come back with this thing about "voltage-gated calcium channels" when discussing gabapentin. It says somewhere in the above link that its acute effects actually do not involve this.

In my experience, gabapentin "feels" like a "GABA drug." And it helps with the withdrawals from benzos. However its own withdrawal syndrome has often been seen to be either worse than that of a benzo, nonexistent, or anything in between.

 

[chase_in_56ace]

Have had a seizure on 800mg gaba 4x a day during ativan W/D. Get a stronger antiepileptic like keppra or dilantin (sp?)

 

[benzoman12345]

Have had a seizure on 800mg gaba 4x a day during ativan W/D. Get a stronger antiepileptic like keppra or dilantin (sp?)

You've answered my question mate , it was just a thought but now I'm just gna take my shitty 20mg Valium per day but I'll be stocking up as well... and Xanax, low dose Valium in the morning for seizure prevention and 1-2mg Xanax only when I absolutely need it.

Case closed ... Cheers guys