Gabapentinoids Questions re short term Gabapentin & Baclofen use/withdrawal

[Scrillion]

Hi all...I’ve been taking Gabapentin and Baclofen for exactly 2 weeks today. I took one 48 hour break off the Baclofen and took 3 days off the Gabapentin during these 2 weeks. I’ve been tapering off Diazepam and started taking the Baclofen and Gabapentin to ease withdrawal symptoms. Now I’m concerned about withdrawals from them. Does anybody have any experience with short term (2 weeks or so) use of these 2 drugs and if there were any serious withdrawal symptoms? Any info and experiences would be much appreciated. I plan on stopping both in the next couple days when I get my Diazepam refilled. My doses have been about 2,000mg/day of Gabapentin and maybe 80mg/day of Baclofen, with the majority of the doses being taken in the evening and night. Thanks so much!

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey there Scrillion! Firstly, congratulations on the progress you've made so far. It's no easy feat, detoxing from Opioids so I hope you are feeling pretty good about yourself. A lot of folks never make it this far. Kudos. You're going to need some self-esteem in your gas tank, as it were, for you to get through some of the next phases of this issue, namely Post-Acute Withdrawal. That is for another time.

You have not been taking the Gabapentinoids for very long and I would really not expect any kind of significant withdrawal syndrome. I'm sure you will miss the effects of these medications, but I highly doubt you're going to experience anything like a true withdrawal syndrome. I would not stress about it.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Be extra careful with baclofen. If you dose just a little too much you suddenly fall into a very, VERY deep sleep. Like people slapping you and screaming in your ear and you still don't wake up deep.

 

[Scrillion]

Thanks guys!! I really appreciate it. I’m actually not detoxing/tapering opioids. I’m tapering Diazepam, better known as Valium, which is a benzodiazepine. I’ve been through opiate withdrawals and benzo withdrawals in the past though. Also alcohol withdrawals. Nothing I’ve experienced is worse than benzo withdrawals. It blows the others out of the water as far as pain and suffering, partly because it lasts so long. I’m in a recovery program though. Other than Dr prescribed meds that I’m trying to get off of I’ve been clean for 15 months. I had 4 years of sobriety at one point but shit fell apart when an idiot of a Dr put me on Benzos for anxiety. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but it’s completely ruined my life over the last several years. Anyway, I’m just rambling. Feels good to vent. ?

I greatly appreciate the replies!! Sincerely. Thank you very much.

I’d love to hear from others as well. Thanks in advance.

Much love to all.

 

[Scrillion]

So I think I’m in a little trouble. I tried to not take Gabapentin and Baclofen yesterday and I was having some serious symptoms. I took about 1200mg Gabapentin and felt a lot better, but not great. Took 1200 again today. Feel rough but it’s tolerable. I think I’m going to just do a fast taper. 600mg for a couple days, 300mg for a couple days, then just jump and get it over with. My supply is getting low anyway. I haven’t taken any Baclofen today. I think I’ll be alright with that. I’m out of it anyway. I’d love to hear some more insight into what to expect with this Gabapentin deal. I took it for 17 days with one 3 day break. Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[Scrillion]

I’m pretty scared guys. Any replies are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

[Iceprincess814]

Hey there Scrillion! Firstly, congratulations on the progress you've made so far. It's no easy feat, detoxing from Opioids so I hope you are feeling pretty good about yourself. A lot of folks never make it this far. Kudos. You're going to need some self-esteem in your gas tank, as it were, for you to get through some of the next phases of this issue, namely Post-Acute Withdrawal. That is for another time.

You have not been taking the Gabapentinoids for very long and I would really not expect any kind of significant withdrawal syndrome. I'm sure you will miss the effects of these medications, but I highly doubt you're going to experience anything like a true withdrawal syndrome. I would not stress about it.

Diazapam is a benzo and one of two drugs that can cause death from withdraw (alcohol being the other) not an opioid which is hard to come off of but not as hard aa coming off of a benzo.

 

[Scrillion]

Diazapam is a benzo and one of two drugs that can cause death from withdraw (alcohol being the other) not an opioid which is hard to come off of but not as hard aa coming off of a benzo.

Right. I clarified that in my 2nd post. Thanks for adding that in. I’m tapering the Diazepam. Been making great progress until lately. It’s gotten really tough. I may have been tapering too fast, so I’m holding at 9mg until I even out.

 

[Iceprincess814]

[Q and

I'm going to agree with you. I've detoxed from pretty much every drug you can think of and benzos were second worse of all(alcohol and the hallucinations being the first worse thing I've ever come off of). Now I'm 35 and have been taking a benzo since I was 13 first detoxification at 14. And I don't recommend just stopping it as you're probably well aware. It can cause death. Using anything other than a benzo taper is not safe really. But that was not the question.
Coming off of neurotin (gabapentin) for me / not great but also not hard if you have come off of benzos and opiates before. Everyone tolerates withdrawal differently. And I do as well depending if I'm doing it on the streets or in jail (where acceptance of knowing I'm not getting any drugs makes it much easier). I was taking between 6 and 15 neurotin daily ( 4800-12000mg) because I refused to be sober. And I never actually came off of neurotin with nothing. I switched to methamphetamine. And since it doesn't really do anything goes similar, I did experience slight withdrawals. Nothing serious I had minor leg cramping, back pain and acute anxiety, (the ladder could've been from the method but probably not). My dr. Informed me since it does help for seizures, stopping suddenly could result in seizures. I have had them in the past but not from stopping gabapentin. I will say any of these drugs it isn't wise to stop suddenly and if it could be avoided, I recommend not doing so with out tapering down.
As for the other.... I've never taken it so I can't exactly give a personal experience on that.
Best wishes to you and I hope for the best.

 

[Iceprincess814]

Also please excuse my typos. This new phone is faster than me and it also believes it's smarter .

 

[Iceprincess814]

Right. I clarified that in my 2nd post. Thanks for adding that in. I’m tapering the Diazepam. Been making great progress until lately. It’s gotten really tough. I may have been tapering too fast, so I’m holding at 9mg until I even out.

For me a lot of the tapering getting good tough is depending on what the doctor (or myself) has given me to taper off with. I noticed when I came off of Klonopin and I've done more than 1 MG drop every 3 days I've had a lot of anxiety increase and shakes. I think finding a way that your body is able to deal with it is going to be defeat for each person. I am able to come off quicker than my mother but she's been taking them since 1994.

 

[Scrillion]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Yeah, I’m not going to cold turkey the Diazepam. I’ve been using the Ashton method for tapering the diazepam. It’s worked well so far, but I kind of hit a wall around 10mg. Been on 9mg for a few weeks.

My primary concern is the Gabapentin. I’ve only been taking it for 17 days and during those 17 days I took one 3 day break. I want to stop it completely ASAP though. Today I felt like hell when I woke up. Took 900/mg over the course of a couple hours. Felt a little better, but not great. However today was the first day in a couple weeks, whith the exception of one 2 day break, that I didn’t take Baclofen. So I may have been having slight withdrawals from the baclofen. I took another 900mg of Gabapentin later in the day over an hour or so and I felt terrible from about 2:30 until about 8:00. I ate dinner around 6:30 and laid down to watch TV and by 8:00 I felt pretty much ok. So I’m thinking the first day with no baclofen in a few weeks caused some of the crappy feeling I had today. I also think I just didn’t eat enough during the day. But right now I feel pretty ok. It’s about 10:30 pm. Tomorrow I’m going to try taking just 300mg of Gabapentin in the morning if I’m feeling like shit. Then tough it out as long as I can and when I feel like I just can’t stand it I’ll take another 300. If it’s not too bad I’ll just not take any. I’m pretty fucking scared of Gabapentin withdrawals and from what I’ve read I’ve been taking it just about as long as people can take it without having withdrawals. But I could be slightly passed that point too. Soooo...I’m realky hoping I can just stop it completely in the next few days. I successfully tapered off of phenibut with zero withdrawals a few years ago, but I don’t have enough Gabapentin to do a long slow taper. Hopefully I’ll just jump in the next day or two and take only 300-600mg a day for a couple days if I absolutely have too. I’ll keep this post updated.

Any and all experiences and insight are much appreciated. Thanks a bunch to those who have posted so far!

 

[Scrillion]

[Q and

I'm going to agree with you. I've detoxed from pretty much every drug you can think of and benzos were second worse of all(alcohol and the hallucinations being the first worse thing I've ever come off of). Now I'm 35 and have been taking a benzo since I was 13 first detoxification at 14. And I don't recommend just stopping it as you're probably well aware. It can cause death. Using anything other than a benzo taper is not safe really. But that was not the question.
Coming off of neurotin (gabapentin) for me / not great but also not hard if you have come off of benzos and opiates before. Everyone tolerates withdrawal differently. And I do as well depending if I'm doing it on the streets or in jail (where acceptance of knowing I'm not getting any drugs makes it much easier). I was taking between 6 and 15 neurotin daily ( 4800-12000mg) because I refused to be sober. And I never actually came off of neurotin with nothing. I switched to methamphetamine. And since it doesn't really do anything goes similar, I did experience slight withdrawals. Nothing serious I had minor leg cramping, back pain and acute anxiety, (the ladder could've been from the method but probably not). My dr. Informed me since it does help for seizures, stopping suddenly could result in seizures. I have had them in the past but not from stopping gabapentin. I will say any of these drugs it isn't wise to stop suddenly and if it could be avoided, I recommend not doing so with out tapering down.
As for the other.... I've never taken it so I can't exactly give a personal experience on that.
Best wishes to you and I hope for the best.

How long were you taking Gabapentin when you stopped, if you don’t mind me asking?

Thanks @Iceprincess814!!!

 

[Scrillion]

Took 600mg Gabapentin this morning about 2 hours apart. Feel rough, but tolerable. I think it’s most likely due to me feeling the Diazepam withdrawals again. Going to my recovery group this eve. Tomorrow I’m gonna try to just take 300mg and then maybe be done. If I’m in Gabapentin withdrawals I figure it shouldn’t be too terrible or last too long since I only took it for 12ish days continuously. I’ll keep this thread updated.

I should also mention that it’s been 48 hours since I took any baclofen. I think I’m in the clear, thank god, with that one.

If anybody out there has any experiences or insight to share I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks to those who have shared so far.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Right. I clarified that in my 2nd post. Thanks for adding that in. I’m tapering the Diazepam. Been making great progress until lately. It’s gotten really tough. I may have been tapering too fast, so I’m holding at 9mg until I even out.

Tapering Diazepam and Gabapentin at the same time is a VERY VERY bad idea. The both work by increasing Gaba so you're making it double-hard on yourself. It also increases seizure risk even higher than it already is.
Always taper one med at a time. The best thing to do is pick which to taper first. Spend a couple of days founding out what dose of that med you need to not feel any withdrawal. When you know that, gradually decrease. For example, say you need 1000mg of Gabapentin to feel okay. Try cutting that down to 900mg a day for a week or so and when that feels comfortable, go for 800 etc.

I tapered off diazepam by reducing by 5mg/day once a week without any trouble. I was advised when I got to 10mg/day to start reducing by 2mg/week, but I felt fine doing 5.

 

[Scrillion]

Thanks for the post! I’m not decreasing the Valium for a while. I only took the Gabapentin for 12 days continuously. I’m going to try to just not take it any more. My last dose was this morning at 10:00. I took 300mg. Took 300mg a few hours before that. I feel so-so right now, at 7:45 PM. Tomorrow morning will be the test. If I’m having withdrawals I’ll know it by then. Any insight on what to expect as far as withdrawals after 12 days of use? Thanks @ChemicallyEnhanced!

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Thanks for the post! I’m not decreasing the Valium for a while. I only took the Gabapentin for 12 days continuously. I’m going to try to just not take it any more. My last dose was this morning at 10:00. I took 300mg. Took 300mg a few hours before that. I feel so-so right now, at 7:45 PM. Tomorrow morning will be the test. If I’m having withdrawals I’ll know it by then. Any insight on what to expect as far as withdrawals after 12 days of use? Thanks @ChemicallyEnhanced!

I don't imagine withdrawal will be too bad after such a brief period of use. I'd say mild shakiness, mild sweating and some anxiety. The Diazepam should cover all of those symptoms, though. You may need to increase it a SMALL amount (like by 5-10mg) for a few days but that should be it.

 

[Scrillion]

Ok, thanks so much for the insight. It’s been almost 12 hours since I took my last dose, which was pretty small. Only 600mg this morning. Not feeling anything significant now. Tomorrow morning will be the test. As long as I can bare it without loosing my mind I’m gonna just ride it out. Hopefully it’ll only be a couple days of mild symptoms. Unfortunately increasing the Diazepam is not an option, but I have some Hydroxyzine and some Buprenorphine. Part of the reason I ended up using the baclofen and Gabapentin in the first place was because I was starting to have pretty rough days due to the Diazepam taper. I’m not going to decrease my Diazepam dose, 9mg day, until I even out though. I went from 30mg day on the Diazepam all the way down to 9, with a short stall out at 18mg and 10mg and now 9mg, by decreasing 1mg a week over the last 7 months or so. Can’t wait to be off this horrible shit.

Thanks again for the reply. I greatly appreciate it. Take care @ChemicallyEnhanced

Anyone else out there have any experience with short term (2 weeks-ish, give or take 10 days) Gabapentin use and any withdrawals that may have occurred.

Thank you!!

 

[Scrillion]

It’s been about 26 hours since my last dose of Gabapentin. Don’t feel great, but don’t feel too bad. I think I’m in the clear. Thank god!!!

 

[Xorkoth]

In general I find that gabapentinoids take a while to develop dependence. But the dependence they develop is not fun at all.