Off benzos for 10 years after a difficult taper, now being given gabapentin

[[li...]]

Hi I used the ideas and support on this forum to structure a benzo taper in 2013. I had been on Klonopin 0:5mg for 2 years for my bad insomnia and restless leg syndrome. This forum was the BEST advice out there, but it was still challenging, and after a 14 month taper, I had some nocturnal seizures in the final months. I have been absolutely careful to avoid anything in this drug class since, but I am facing some difficult decisions now.

i currently take Lunesta for my insomnia (3 mg) because nothing else has helped - even with it my sleep is pretty bad, partly because of the RLS  I have a couple of leg surgeries coming up and will need medication to manage the RLS for weeks or months. My sleep MD has prescribed gabapentin, which works ok, but I am concerned that it’s mechanism is similar to benzos  (GABA system) and that it may be super difficult to come off it later  

I would appreciate any experience or ideas for managing this decision, the other possible drug class are the Parkinson’s drugs, but my RLS is painful and they don’t halp as much with that  

 

[[Le...]]

hard decision but there will be some experiences people here who will answer. I would be a bit concerned about the zopiclone too. 

[[PE...]]

Yeah zopiclone works just like any other benzo.

My mom gets pramipexol

for RLS.

[[De...]]

I used gabapentin to get off benzos. I was on them for maybe month and a half. I never really noticed them doing much and I was on a super high dose (2400mg I think). I got off them cold turkey and also didn’t notice much of a difference, unlike Benzos. Not saying it’s safe, I just didn’t notice very much impact from them.

[[Ho...]]

On 05/05/2024 at 07:19, [[l...] said:

Hi I used the ideas and support on this forum to structure a benzo taper in 2013. I had been on Klonopin 0:5mg for 2 years for my bad insomnia and restless leg syndrome. This forum was the BEST advice out there, but it was still challenging, and after a 14 month taper, I had some nocturnal seizures in the final months. I have been absolutely careful to avoid anything in this drug class since, but I am facing some difficult decisions now.

i currently take Lunesta for my insomnia (3 mg) because nothing else has helped - even with it my sleep is pretty bad, partly because of the RLS  I have a couple of leg surgeries coming up and will need medication to manage the RLS for weeks or months. My sleep MD has prescribed gabapentin, which works ok, but I am concerned that it’s mechanism is similar to benzos  (GABA system) and that it may be super difficult to come off it later  

I would appreciate any experience or ideas for managing this decision, the other possible drug class are the Parkinson’s drugs, but my RLS is painful and they don’t halp as much with that  

Hi @[li...], 

Your doctor is right to try gabapentin for RLS. But he/she is not up on the latest information. Parkinson-type meds are no longer recommended for RLS for several important reasons. They have an insidious effect; they will work well for years, and you won't notice you've developed compulsive behaviors until they reach critical mass. Shopping too much, eating too much, gambling etc. Then your doctor will pull you off them and, to date, few doctors know how to do this adequately. It's a brutal withdrawal. Short-lived, but brutal. Secondly, with these meds, you will reach tolerance at some point, and they won't work. It can be anywhere from 12 months to 5 years, but you will reach that point of tolerance and your doctor will prescribe more and more without realizing that tolerance is the issue. More medicine does nothing good at that point.

Most doctors refer to the American Academy of Sleep Disorders for best practices. However, the last time the AASD updated their recommendations was 2012. They are now in the final stages of new recommendations and I've seen the proposal. They strongly warn against dopamine agonists (Parkinson type medications). However, this is not yet published. There is a similar paper with recommendations put out by the Mayo Clinic. I've attached it for you, so you can, if you decide to, print it and bring it to your doctor.

I'm here because of restless leg syndrome, probably brought on because I stopped Zoloft abruptly 15 years ago. I didn't see the correlation and should have waited it out. Instead I started a journey of meds that rarely worked and eventually was put on benzos, which also didn't work! 

I used Dr. Silber from the Mayo Clinic. He really did know more about how to help RLS, although he knew zilch about BIND or our dreaded hellish benzo withdrawal/recovery. 

Anyway. Stay away from dopamine agonists! I don't want you to suffer the way I and thousands of others have!

Warmly,

HCHC

Mayo clinic algorithm.pdf

[[Ho...]]

Oh, and BTW gabapentin doesn't seem to correlate with the healing of GABA receptors. They are different mechanisms, even though they share the g-a-b-a letters!