Gabapentin (Please help me)

[John23]

Hi,

I hope I am posting this in the correct section.

I am taking 3000mg of gabapentin per day for quite a while now. At first, it was a blessing, taking away most of my pain. Now it no longer works nearly as effectively, and I NEED to have a break from this so it can start working again, tolerance has finally hit me on the head entirely.

Then I hope to god I can take gabapentin (not everyday) but sometimes, and keep it working. With the muscle pain levels I am back too, I am finding it almost impossible to do day to day tasks.

If I try and stop the gabapentin, or even lower the dose slightly, withdrawls are crippling me with severe anxiety and even more extreme pain.

I have tried Kratom a couple of times in the past, and it helps my pain (not nearly as well as the gabapentin did). If I could start taking gabapentin 1 day on and 1 day off. And on the off days taking Kratom. Then making it 2 days on 2 days off (taking kratom on the off days) until it was one week on Kratom and one week on gabapentin.

Would this work? I am desperatly seeking some advice. ''Not'' medical advice. Just if this kind of rotation can be used effectively at keeping tolerance down to both drugs?

Any help is much appreciated

 

[herbavore]

This would be a better fit in the Other Drugs Forum. I'm going to move it over there for you. Good luck!

 

[rld73]

Maybe ask your doc to switch to Lyrica? I think it is pretty much the same thing.. but Lyrica is supposed to be the "better" drug as far as the pain doc community is concerned.

 

[John23]

Maybe ask your doc to switch to Lyrica? I think it is pretty much the same thing.. but Lyrica is supposed to be the "better" drug as far as the pain doc community is concerned.

Yes I have heard Lyrica is like gabapentin but stronger.

Although I feel even if this works for a while, I am going to come back this point at sometime as my body becomes accustomed to the drug again.

I really need something that will be life-long lasting, a rotation between different types, as my pain is life long.

Will one week on Kratom, and one week on gabapentin never mixing either work?

 

[YellowNikes]

Well kratom should NOT prevent you from going into withdrawals from gabapentin (kratom is an opoid of sorts while gabpentin effects gaba receptors, i believe) People use kratom to quit (or for maintenance) from opiates becuase it is an opiate. Now the kratom may mask the withdrawals from gabapentin but i don't know. That being said any drug that effects gaba (like gabapentin) can be dangerous to quit due to the possibility of seizures and kratom would most likely not prevent those siezures. What you need to do is taper down off the gabapentin and if you want to use the kratom for its pain relieving qualities go for it but know that kratom is also physically addicting. So basically you would be trading a gaba addiction for an opiate addiction albeit a light opiate but still addicting.

If you can do the whole one week on one week off that would work ( I think i dont have any experience trying this though.) but you still need to deal with the fact that you are physically addicted to gabapentin and taper off it do not just stop taking it all of a sudden unless you are certain that you are not at risk of siezures, i would ask your doctor about gabapentin and its physical addiction.

 

[Toz]

Taper, I quit cold turkey at a dosage of 3600mg daily and it's been 190 days since and the withdrawal symptoms have not yet subsided. The pain is not as extreme anymore but it's still there. I've used morphine/benzos on the worst days but really it doesn't even offer that much relief.

You have the worst withdrawal in the world ahead of you, I wish you good luck.

Gabapentin helps with withdrawal symptoms from everything but nothing helps with withdrawal symptoms from gabapentin.

 

[Crazyeighths]

Definitely taper, and don't rush it. Once you taper, either take a much smaller dose (3 grams is a RIDICULOUS dose). I take 1200 mg a day and feel fine, you've just blown your tolerance through the roof, to the point where the medicine has lost its effect. Take a tolerance break and hit the brakes and you'll be happier than before.

 

[pasha]

You have the worst withdrawal in the world ahead of you,

^QFT

Gabapentin and pregabalin withdrawals are extremely difficult to manage, very severe, causing the user trouble in ceasing their use.

If you want to get off gabapentin relatively easily, you must treat it like a benzodiazepine and taper slowly. When the taper is done benzodiazepines can be used to ease the symptoms but to a very limited extent. Acute phase withdrawal from calcium-channel-blockers is similar to opioid withdrawal and can last weeks, with the post acute phase similar to that of acute benzodiazepine withdrawal.

Pain, extreme depression, diopheresis, crippling anxiety, muscle tension, and even seizures are some of the common withdrawal symptoms.

Things that can help are cannabis, soft opioids such as codiene, phenobarbital, and as mentioned benzodiazepines.

Once your off them work out a different pain management plan with your doctor.

I emphasize with you since I have been through pregabalin withdrawals numerous times and they are simply inhumane. I have tried the rotation method but their withdrawals deny me any clinical benefit from opioids. If you have any questions on how to manage them feel free to ask via PM or this thread.

Good luck.

 

[baylife]

take some buprenorphine in the morning so you can at least get out of the house. Albeit in very low doses

 

[Toz]

Buprenorphine doesn't really help at all with gabapentin withdrawals, if you need something for the pain it causes, tramadol works much better.

 

[airthe]

all i do is stop taking it for about a week then take large doses again.

 

[Mracid]

Maybe ask your doc to switch to Lyrica? I think it is pretty much the same thing.. but Lyrica is supposed to be the "better" drug as far as the pain doc community is concerned.

That is because of their goal, but really Gabapentin is more combo drug and pregabalin is more medicine. They both have the same action with one slight difference and its only enzyme interaction related (also oral bioavability but thats always different from drug to drug) Gabapentin help produce more GABA that can be cool when combined with GABA positive allosteric modulator since it's 3x the effect of 1 GABA molecule for one created.

 

[Formidable]

gabapentin for muscle pain? usually this drug is prescribed for nerve pain, but either way i second the suggestion for tramadol when dealing with this type of withdrawal. tramadol is usually prescribed for nerve pain as well so its action will work wonders for you

 

[sm0kestack]

The OP has a similar tolerance to gabapentin as me. I am prescribed 600mg 3x daily. I of course, being an addict like to take anywhere from 2400-3000mg at a time, and run out of my script early. I have felt the withdrawal too.. It sux. When you get to the last half of your script lower your dose down so it lasts you til your next refill. If you are at 3000mg, drop to 2400 for a couple days, then drop to 1800 for the next couple, and so on. You are not going to feel much effect, but at least its in you, keeping withdrawal at bay. This is how I manage it when I have them to taper down. If I run out, then I look for it elsewhere, or like the others said here, a weak benzo will help, like lorazepam (ativan), clonazepam (klonopin), alprazolam (xanax), diazepam (Valium), are all benzos you could ask a doctor about. Or ask to maybe switch to Lyrica, I have been contemplating this myself, cuz it is supposed to be stronger, and I won't have to down a handful of pills all the time. If you are stuck cold turkey, and don't have access to your doc, I found that the black market and heroin or some other strong opiate does work pretty good for the withdrawal. I know this, cuz I have done it. Buprenorphine doesn't work too good, cuz it only attaches to the mu receptors in your system, while a drug like heroin does more besides that. Bupe will block heroins mu activity (euphoric opiate) effect, but not the pain killing (analgesic) effect.

I am not encouraging illicit drug use, but gaba withdrawal does suck, and I am just saying what I have done to get through it in the past. Ok guys? I don't know how long the OP has been taking that high of a dose for exactly, but I have had to cold turkey it for a couple days and seemed to get thru the worst of it fairly easy. I liken it to a mild opiate withdrawal, light skin burning and sweating, mild body aches, little anxiety, but tolerable. Just have to watch out if you are seizure prone OP, if so, I would advise getting in contact with your doctor about it. Ok?

 

[CaveBear]

def taper down slowly. i was on 1800mg daily for over a year. i quit cold turkey, bad,bad idea. i had the most intense full body itching, i felt like i was on fire for 3 days, even ice cold showers didnt help, followed by 2 months of depression. now i smoke weed 2-3 times a day, works just as well for my pain

 

[airthe]

take some advil brah

 

[Formidable]

one thing i will say about this drug is that withdrawal is very easy to avoid, even with a high tolerance. gabapentin is interesting in this aspect because even if you have obtained a high tolerance due to abuse or whatever reason, withdrawal can be avoided even with a small dose. this type of thing doesn't apply to other drugs like opiates and benzos, if you have a high tolerance to either of these a small dose just doesn't cut it.

 

[speedballs_over]

Hi,

I hope I am posting this in the correct section.

I am taking 3000mg of gabapentin per day for quite a while now. At first, it was a blessing, taking away most of my pain. Now it no longer works nearly as effectively, and I NEED to have a break from this so it can start working again, tolerance has finally hit me on the head entirely.

Then I hope to god I can take gabapentin (not everyday) but sometimes, and keep it working. With the muscle pain levels I am back too, I am finding it almost impossible to do day to day tasks.

If I try and stop the gabapentin, or even lower the dose slightly, withdrawls are crippling me with severe anxiety and even more extreme pain.

I have tried Kratom a couple of times in the past, and it helps my pain (not nearly as well as the gabapentin did). If I could start taking gabapentin 1 day on and 1 day off. And on the off days taking Kratom. Then making it 2 days on 2 days off (taking kratom on the off days) until it was one week on Kratom and one week on gabapentin.

Would this work? I am desperatly seeking some advice. ''Not'' medical advice. Just if this kind of rotation can be used effectively at keeping tolerance down to both drugs?

Any help is much appreciated

Are you by chance taking a new drug (prescribed) that could have increased the muscle pain? I've suffered muscle pain in the past from various injuries. I found that when I was prescribed a statin (simvustatin sp?) muscle pain became unbearable, whole body pain.

Just a thought. And for others reading, if statins cause you muscle pain, maybe ask to switch to the old standard statin prevastatin, it gives me no problems and works just as well.