Misc Need more help with Gabapentin withdrawal

[JustCallmeJen]

Hello! I've been trying to get off gabapentin for several months. I've been on it for about a year (maybe a little longer) and sometimes at really high doses. I wanted to get off of it and cold turkey hasn't worked for me. The doctor who prescribed it wouldn't even help me taper, she just told me to stop taking it. Over a month ago I went to primary care and explained everything to the Dr. and she prescribed me 400 mg, 4 times a day. I seemed to adjust to this dose fairly quickly with not a lot of withdrawal symptoms. I seen her again this week and she gave me 100 mg pills and told me to take 1200 mg for two days then 1100 mg for 2 days, etc... until I'm down to 100 mg and then just stop. I'm already experiencing withdrawal symptoms and I know it's just going to get worse the lower I go.

I don't know what else to do. :/ She also prescribed phenergen for nausea and clondine as well. Is there anything else I can do to help and make this as easy and painless as possible? Please help!

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

Your doctor told you to cold turkey an anti-epileptic medication? Yikes.

As blue notes there is an extraordinary range of reactions to Gabapentin cessation, the truth is it's really important to taper as slow as possible to prevent a phenomenon known as kindling. The idea behind kindling is that with each withdrawal, withdrawal gets worse, and the more acute and severe the withdrawal, the worse the kindling. It is also important to achieve fairly stable levels of drugs in your circulation, so be aware of that as well while you're tapering.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

I don't get how some people have no withdrawal from this medication and yet others go through horrible withdrawal.

Jen, I took gabapentin for seven weeks and got off of it due to severe side effects. That was 16 months ago and I am still dealing with a persistent protracted withdrawal that hasn't improved and has completely ruined my life. You can read my other posts to get a better idea.

Since you are going through some sort of withdrawal already, you must go slowly. There is a liquid gabapentin I believe that will allow you to make very small cuts.

Gabapentin sucks, though. It has an unpredictable rate of absorbtion and relief can sometimes be hours away. A possibly would be to do a librium taper. See if a doctor will prescribe you a weeks worth of librium to take to get off of gabapentin. You'll have some withdrawal most likely once your done with the librium taper but maybe it won't be so bad.

It definitely sucks! I've read your posts and I feel so bad for you, especially since everything seems to make it worse for you. The doctor that prescribed the gabapentin wouldn't help me taper and won't even return my calls. I ended up going to a Primary/Urgent care place and that is where the Dr, prescribed me the 100 mg tablets. She said they could not prescribe benzos there and all she could give me was clondine and phenergen. :/

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Your doctor told you to cold turkey an anti-epileptic medication? Yikes.

As blue notes there is an extraordinary range of reactions to Gabapentin cessation, the truth is it's really important to taper as slow as possible to prevent a phenomenon known as kindling. The idea behind kindling is that with each withdrawal, withdrawal gets worse, and the more acute and severe the withdrawal, the worse the kindling. It is also important to achieve fairly stable levels of drugs in your circulation, so be aware of that as well while you're tapering.

Unfortunately, she did. She also made me go cold turkey on Xanax, which definitely sucked. I'm trying to take the dose twice a day at the same time. I just feel like dropping 100 mg every 2 days is way too fast. It seems like no doctor is willing to help me taper properly. As a single parent I have kids to take care of with no help and I just don't know what to do.

 

[EnlightenedOne1]

Here is what worked for me and I can only base this off my personal experience. Please also factor in that I'm very cognitive and hyper aware of my mind/body/soul, so I know a drug withdrawal disposition.

I was RX'ed 3,200mgs of Gabapentin a day for years. I took (2) 800mg tablets 2x per day. When I decided to taper because they became ineffective after a week, I want straight down to 1,600mgs total a day and felt ZERO wd symptoms. I stayed on 1,600mgs for a week then dropped to 800mgs a day, again with no WD..Stayed on 800mg for a week then down to 400mg only at nighttime and I flushed the rest down the toilet.

Expect 1-3 sleepless nights, exacerbated anxiety, and then you're baseline.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Here is what worked for me and I can only base this off my personal experience. Please also factor in that I'm very cognitive and hyper aware of my mind/body/soul, so I know a drug withdrawal disposition.

I was RX'ed 3,200mgs of Gabapentin a day for years. I took (2) 800mg tablets 2x per day. When I decided to taper because they became ineffective after a week, I want straight down to 1,600mgs total a day and felt ZERO wd symptoms. I stayed on 1,600mgs for a week then dropped to 800mgs a day, again with no WD..Stayed on 800mg for a week then down to 400mg only at nighttime and I flushed the rest down the toilet.

Expect 1-3 sleepless nights, exacerbated anxiety, and then you're baseline.

Thank you! Tomorrow I am suppose to take 1000 mg but I think I am going to take 500 mg and then jump off after that. Dropping 100 mg every 2 days just seems like it is dragging it out too much and I am still suffering by doing it that way. Phenergen has helped a lot although it makes me tired. Do you think the clondine will help. The severe anxiety (beside the RLS) seems to be one of the worse symptoms.

 

[Speed King]

Your withdrawling off Gabapentin, not a 12 mg a day Xanax habbit. I don't mean to be rude. I kind of liked the origional taper from 1200mg a day, 100mg at a time. If you take like 20 mg of phenagrin at night, you will fall asleep with the lights on, lol. Another tip. Distance yourself from the drug. Mentally make the drug worthless and distance yourself from it. That is what helps me out.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Your withdrawling off Gabapentin, not a 12 mg a day Xanax habbit. I don't mean to be rude. I kind of liked the origional taper from 1200mg a day, 100mg at a time. If you take like 20 mg of phenagrin at night, you will fall asleep with the lights on, lol. Another tip. Distance yourself from the drug. Mentally make the drug worthless and distance yourself from it. That is what helps me out.

I understand that it isn't Xanax. I've had experience coming off Xanax cold turkey. And although some people don't get withdrawals from gabapentin, many others do. There are many symptoms that are similar to both opiate and benzo withdrawal. Maybe not as bad but they seem to last longer and don't ease up for quite awhile. I know that I should be able to get some sleep with the phenergen and I have some ambien as well. I'm more concerned about the daytime when I have to care for my children.

 

[Speed King]

Okay. Your an adult with children. I now understand how serious this is for you. Gabapentin is unscheduled, so doctors will prescribe it easy. Some people can come off quicker then others. I would have a talk with your doctor about how deep this medicine is affecting you. What you need is a very slow taper. I mean as slow was you want, but you also have to be progressive about this. It's not going to take a year to withdrawal( at least it shouldent).

You need to tell the doctor in a certain way what you've said here. Make sure they understand its serious. Other people will chime in.
Some things that may help somewhat are relaxing herbs/herbial tea.
Maybe you need a little something for your daytime anxiety. Is look into herbs like valerian root.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Okay. Your an adult with children. I now understand how serious this is for you. Gabapentin is unscheduled, so doctors will prescribe it easy. Some people can come off quicker then others. I would have a talk with your doctor about how deep this medicine is affecting you. What you need is a very slow taper. I mean as slow was you want, but you also have to be progressive about this. It's not going to take a year to withdrawal( at least it shouldent).

You need to tell the doctor in a certain way what you've said here. Make sure they understand its serious. Other people will chime in.
Some things that may help somewhat are relaxing herbs/herbial tea.
Maybe you need a little something for your daytime anxiety. Is look into herbs like valerian root.

My prescribing doctor won't even return my calls. I am going to try to see the doctor at the Primary & Urgent care office tomorrow. I've tried coming off of it before. I made it 2 weeks and the symptoms weren't easing up at all so I had to reinstate. I'm also going to check into magnesium and the Valerian root tomorrow. Thank you for your help!

 

[strity1994]

Some doc's.... Well most are useless when it comes to side effects of the drugs they prescribe.they don't take the drug so they will never know anything beyond their little Hand book and experience. One of the most well known Psych in my area said I can just get off Lyrica after being on it for some time.. LOL

 

[byusfuku]

Hi, i was on gabapentin for about 9 months with the last 5 months at 600mg 3x aday. i dont know why but i decided last aug to stop taking them the first 2 days i didnt know what was wrong then i figured it out and on the 4th day i went to the er they prescribed me ativan which works on the same receptors so i was skeptic about taking them but i did take them occasionally because i had to sleep. what i found help was alot of cbd and thc pills, l-theanine, magnesium pills, vitamin b complex pills, cyclobenzaprine for muscle spasms i got them continuously, and lots of family support i was a hermit for about a month and a half. hope this helps good luck and best wishes

 

[SS373dOH]

I wrote this in a different thread, but I think a duplicate is justified.

Gabapentin reduces magnesium in the body, therefor a magnesium supplement should be taken to restore natural levels. This will help reduce the intensity and duration of wd. Secondly Kava tea should be consumed at least once a day, kava 'heals' the gaba system, and reduces tolerance. This will also help with the intensity and duration of wd.


- Hopeless Soul

 

[opee<3]

have you tried MRM Relax-All with phenibut?

 

[chairmanma084]

Your doctor told you to cold turkey an anti-epileptic medication? Yikes.

I had a doctor yank my klonopin and depakote cold turkey once. He just dropped me as a patient and referred me to a psychiatrist whose lobby hangs a sign that reads, "We do not prescribe benzodiazepines." Fucking LOVE american "healthcare."

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Some doc's.... Well most are useless when it comes to side effects of the drugs they prescribe.they don't take the drug so they will never know anything beyond their little Hand book and experience. One of the most well known Psych in my area said I can just get off Lyrica after being on it for some time.. LOL

Some doctors are a joke. They don't understand the seriousness of just stopping a medication and then have the nerve to tell you that there is no withdrawal.

 

[JustCallmeJen]

Hi, i was on gabapentin for about 9 months with the last 5 months at 600mg 3x aday. i dont know why but i decided last aug to stop taking them the first 2 days i didnt know what was wrong then i figured it out and on the 4th day i went to the er they prescribed me ativan which works on the same receptors so i was skeptic about taking them but i did take them occasionally because i had to sleep. what i found help was alot of cbd and thc pills, l-theanine, magnesium pills, vitamin b complex pills, cyclobenzaprine for muscle spasms i got them continuously, and lots of family support i was a hermit for about a month and a half. hope this helps good luck and best wishes

Thank you! I will definitely check into these vitamins. It's just hard when you have to take care of kids while feeling like absolute crap for so long. :/

 

[JustCallmeJen]

have you tried MRM Relax-All with phenibut?

I have't tried that before. Where would I be able to get this?

 

[JustCallmeJen]

I had a doctor yank my klonopin and depakote cold turkey once. He just dropped me as a patient and referred me to a psychiatrist whose lobby hangs a sign that reads, "We do not prescribe benzodiazepines." Fucking LOVE american "healthcare."

Wow! What an asshole doctor to do that. That was dangerous! I'm losing respect and faith in healthcare and doctors that don't know what the hell they are doing!

 

[JustCallmeJen]

I wrote this in a different thread, but I think a duplicate is justified.

Gabapentin reduces magnesium in the body, therefor a magnesium supplement should be taken to restore natural levels. This will help reduce the intensity and duration of wd. Secondly Kava tea should be consumed at least once a day, kava 'heals' the gaba system, and reduces tolerance. This will also help with the intensity and duration of wd.









- Hopeless Soul

Thank you for the suggestions! What is the best magnesium supplement to take? Also where would I be able to find kava tea?