**DISCLAIMER**
If these drugs are taken till the point of dependency, it is my experience, they are magnitudes worse than gabapentin withdrawal. Using these drugs, IMO, is a severe overkill for gabapentin withdrawal. Not to mention proposing the use of potent dissociatives like KETAMINE!?!? Proceed w/ caution.. taper if need be.. have a talk w/ your doctor about weaning/tapering, & ask if you can direct any tapering.. at least if possible; i understand the stigma attached to those Rx'd this med for psychological dysfunction
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First.. a couple things to note on the above post: DXM is NOT an opiate.. at least pharmacologically speaking. It may share a similar chemical-skeleton, but that's about it; it has closer pharmacology to PCP than it does opiates/opioids. Second, opiates/opioids do not relieve gabapentin withdrawal whatsoever, they act on entirely different receptor systems.. additionally, i am prescribed a potent opioid & experienced gabapentin withdrawal nonetheless.
There is a distinction to be made between the different GABAergics being mentioned to help w/ gabapentin w/d:
GABA-b: baclofen, phenibut, & (not mentioned) GHB, GVL, along w/ other GABA & GHB related-analogs are all examples of GABA-b agonists. It should be noted that there is a
huge difference between these centrally acting drugs & GABA-a agonists.. (GABA-b agonists are more likely to treat withdrawal from GABA-a PAM's/agonists, rather than vice versa. Actually, you need quite absurd doses of GABA-a PAMs/agonists to alleviate GABA-b w/d... so play very, VERY safe if GABA-b agonists are used); Also, the GABA-b receptor functions as a metabotropic receptor (compared to the very quite different GABA-a receptor, which is ionotropic). Metabotropic & ionotropic receptors function
QUITE differently.
GABA-a: Substances acting here, act on receptors that in turn are ionotropic and function as a ligand-gated ion channels to mediate their neurological action. Meaning in presence of a ligand (or a drug--such as benzodiazepines, barbiturates, nonbenzodiazepines, or ethanol), the "channel" (or "pore") literally opens up & chlorine ions are released.. resulting in an end-result of an electrical action & thus a neurological reaction.
Barbiturates bind here, as do benzodiazepines & nonbenzodiazepines; of which, they either increase the duration of channel openings or increase the frequency of channel opening, respectively. It should be noted that endogenous GABA, barbiturates, & benzodiazepines (including nonbenzodiazepines) all act on different binding sites, or "types", of GABA-a receptors, which in turn include different subunits/types, which in turn induce different psychological effects.. drugs like these aren't
direct agonists at binding sites, but rather, GABA-a "PAMs" (positive allosteric modular), "modulate" or "change" how endogenous neurotransmitters act at the end-binding site.
Other GABA-a acting drugs include some carbamates like meprobamate & carisoprodol--although their specific binding profile is unknown. Given my own experience with both of them (and withdrawal from them), i'd wager they're closer in their pharmacodynamics to barbiturates (as i have experience w/ these drugs & withdrawal from them as well) than they do benzodiazepines. Ethanol is suspected to be more similar in its action to benzodiazepines; but w/ much more generalized/less selective effects than traditional benzodiazepines (some benzodiazepine binding sites at GABA-a are useless for recreation or for treating withdrawal); ethanol also has even
more generalized neuroactivity as it is also suspected (although never seriously studied
in vivo to determine pharmacodynamics): including, but not limited to, activity at D2 receptors & NMDA antagonism.
To reiterate above posters, suggesting what will help with withdrawals:
alcohol (affects gaba receptors)
baclofen (affects gaba receptors)
benzodiazepines (affects gaba receptors)
what about phenibut (affects gaba receptors)?
it sounds like these things might substitute for each other at least partially. benzos and baclofen are used for alcohol withdrawals. I wouldn't be surprised if gabapentin or phenibut could help alcohol withdrawals too. anyone?
so the point is to use some drug that affects gaba to taper off with.
opiates: useful in tapering off? I'm sure some idiot will say that opiate withdrawals are worse than these gaba withdrawals, but lets be serious. if you're not an opiate addict, you can take some for a week or two and it won't matter. so would it help to cope with the wd? maybe opiates are a good treatment for any kind of withdrawal.
dissociatives: I've heard of use for opiate withdrawal, ketamine, ibogaine, maybe dxm (but its a semi-opiate)? are they used for alcohol wd? that'd mean then that they might work for any gaba withdrawal.
magnesium: I have a feeling that anxiety, depression and bad drug trips are partly mediated by diet. sure if you've experienced trauma, ptsd, you're thinking it's just the experience. but I've read research into vitamins, minerals, amino acids mediating these problems. vitamin D, magnesium, long chain fatty acids. a lot of traumatized depressive crazies and crack heads end up eating SHITTY DIETS. It won't hurt you to eat more meat, liver, eggs, real butter, stuff that is nutritionally dense. fuck the endless ramen noodles. maybe someone else can add to that.
