Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

[[va...]]

Suzy, Gardener held for one year. I read her progress log as she had a terrible crash, held a year and resumed her taper. I find her plog gives me hope although I still really doubt I'll ever be well enough to taper again. But just for the records, gardener held a whole year and then tapered again and here she is, benzo free.

[[ne...]]

I am 3.5 months off Lamictal. Came off the last remaining 60 mg within 11 days cause I just could not tolerate the horrible symptoms this drug gave me. I microtapered for a year prior to that but could only go soooo slow and would have had to face another 5 years of tapering with horrible adverse reactions. I just couldn't do that.

Anyway, the dilemna is I am getting worse and worse with wd symptoms. The shaking and confusion are so bad that I am terrified I am going to have a complete psychotic breakdown down or whatever kind of breakdown very soon.

I cannot go back on this drug. It was so horrible. But I also can't stand what is happening to me now. It's unbearable and so much worse than my benzo wd 5 years ago.

I don't know what to do.

[[ga...]]

I am 3.5 months off Lamictal.

 

Sorry, but did you mean to say Lamictal? If so, I can move this to the correct board for that.

[[ne...]]

Yes Lamictal. I could not find a support group and posted here since it's at least of the same class than Gabapentin.

If there is a group for Lamictal, please tell me where I find it.

[[De...]]

Hi Janice,

I love reading her blog. I espevially love those animals! Makes me want to run out and brinng home kittens. I love animals

To soon after losing Angel. I cant do it now more to worry about wnyway. Hope you are ok. These emotionsl sx ate tough. Love Suzy 

[[va...]]

Hi Janice,

I love reading her blog. I espevially love those animals! Makes me want to run out and brinng home kittens. I love animals

To soon after losing Angel. I cant do it now more to worry about wnyway. Hope you are ok. These emotionsl sx ate tough. Love Suzy 

 

I can't bring a cat either Suzy. I don't miss a cat, I miss my Stephanie and she's not coming back I'm afraid. Love to you. Hope you have a better day. 

[[De...]]

I feel the same. Miss Angel too.

[[ga...]]

 

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing a support group for Lamictal. Have you tried starting a Lamictal thread on the Other Medications board? That's what I was thinking. This would be good as its own thread on Other Medications.

[[va...]]

I know Final Healing had a very rough Lamictal taper.

[[ne...]]

Thank you both for the information.

[[ga...]]

Thank you, VNM!

 

Final Healing has a blog: Living with my decision

[[ga...]]

A question for the group. How do you dose your gabapentin? My doc wants me to take a larger dose at night because my restless leg syndrome is getting worse. I want to shift some of the day dose to the night dose and maybe hold there for awhile. But I'm wondering if that will cause daytime problems. Any thoughts?

 

Gardie

[[Ba...]]

Never, you are off everything?  I am confused.

I am not much good at deciphering sigs...

[[De...]]

Hi Gardie,

8 used to take one 8n the morning and two at night. Now I take all 3 at night. I am still tapering k but I feel ok taking all the gabap at night.

[[Ca...]]

A question for the group. How do you dose your gabapentin? My doc wants me to take a larger dose at night because my restless leg syndrome is getting worse. I want to shift some of the day dose to the night dose and maybe hold there for awhile. But I'm wondering if that will cause daytime problems. Any thoughts?

 

Gardie

Does it help the RLS..?? I guess it should, -just it never really did for me..

I never had bad GPN WD, so can only say for my therapeutic aspects really...

That is, -for severe nerve pain, I needed every bit of 8 hourly, but for a lesser discomfort, I could get away with twice a day...  (I ended up just using as needed after the first few yrs and the pelvic reconstruction)..

Its probs going to be a try and see thing, but my best guess is that you should probably have some wiggle room to play with...

But if it is WD induced RLS, then you might be pushing towards your donating doses limits already, so a bit of a juggle perhaps..??

I only know WD induced RLS, so if it isnt, or only in part, I dont know that side of it... I didnt have a day/night difference, asides it was obviously impossible to sleep when I had RLS at night...

 

Not much help am I Gardie..

 

 

[[ga...]]

Hi Gardie,

8 used to take one 8n the morning and two at night. Now I take all 3 at night. I am still tapering k but I feel ok taking all the gabap at night.

 

Thank you. That's very helpful. 

[[ga...]]

A question for the group. How do you dose your gabapentin? My doc wants me to take a larger dose at night because my restless leg syndrome is getting worse. I want to shift some of the day dose to the night dose and maybe hold there for awhile. But I'm wondering if that will cause daytime problems. Any thoughts?

 

Gardie

Does it help the RLS..?? I guess it should, -just it never really did for me..

I never had bad GPN WD, so can only say for my therapeutic aspects really...

That is, -for severe nerve pain, I needed every bit of 8 hourly, but for a lesser discomfort, I could get away with twice a day...  (I ended up just using as needed after the first few yrs and the pelvic reconstruction)..

Its probs going to be a try and see thing, but my best guess is that you should probably have some wiggle room to play with...

But if it is WD induced RLS, then you might be pushing towards your donating doses limits already, so a bit of a juggle perhaps..??

I only know WD induced RLS, so if it isnt, or only in part, I dont know that side of it... I didnt have a day/night difference, asides it was obviously impossible to sleep when I had RLS at night...

 

Not much help am I Gardie..

Of course you're helpful. I like to see things from different angles.

 

It's a bit of a mystery. I had RLS for years but it wasn't very bad. Now it's very annoying. Since both benzos and gabapentin are treatments for it, I suspect it has something to do with getting off the drugs.

 

I feel interdose anxiety if I don't dose the gabapentin 3x/day. That may be because I'm recently off the benzo. I didn't have that when I was on the benzo. I'm going to start shifting my doses part at a time this week and see how it goes.

[[Ca...]]

A question for the group. How do you dose your gabapentin? My doc wants me to take a larger dose at night because my restless leg syndrome is getting worse. I want to shift some of the day dose to the night dose and maybe hold there for awhile. But I'm wondering if that will cause daytime problems. Any thoughts?

 

Gardie

Does it help the RLS..?? I guess it should, -just it never really did for me..

I never had bad GPN WD, so can only say for my therapeutic aspects really...

That is, -for severe nerve pain, I needed every bit of 8 hourly, but for a lesser discomfort, I could get away with twice a day...  (I ended up just using as needed after the first few yrs and the pelvic reconstruction)..

Its probs going to be a try and see thing, but my best guess is that you should probably have some wiggle room to play with...

But if it is WD induced RLS, then you might be pushing towards your donating doses limits already, so a bit of a juggle perhaps..??

I only know WD induced RLS, so if it isnt, or only in part, I dont know that side of it... I didnt have a day/night difference, asides it was obviously impossible to sleep when I had RLS at night...

 

Not much help am I Gardie..

Of course you're helpful. I like to see things from different angles.

 

It's a bit of a mystery. I had RLS for years but it wasn't very bad. Now it's very annoying. Since both benzos and gabapentin are treatments for it, I suspect it has something to do with getting off the drugs.

 

I feel interdose anxiety if I don't dose the gabapentin 3x/day. That may be because I'm recently off the benzo. I didn't have that when I was on the benzo. I'm going to start shifting my doses part at a time this week and see how it goes.

Your too kind...

But yes, your onto it.. -they all “play” together...

 

[[Mo...]]

I had a horrific time stopping gabapentin. BUT most people do not. I don't want to say everyone does and scare people. So if you're thinking of coming off, I wouldn't read the rest of this post. I don't want to scare people that think they will have a horrendous time. I think my problem coming off of it is not usual.

 

I was on gabapentin twice. The first time coming off, no problem, after being on 1800mg 3xday for years. I only tapered for a month. The second time was this time last year. I was at 100mg 2x a day for 10 days, yes only 10 days. I ended up begging for the liquid version so I could micro taper. I became very depressed (I suffered from severe depression before this) and ended up in the hospital. They helped me come off of it. I was so determined to get off this stuff but I couldn't do it alone. It took three weeks, that was the absolute worst. But it did get a lot better after that. The three weeks, I had panic attacks, anxiety, some akathesia, waves of despair and anxiety. After the three weeks I went home. It wasn't over but the worst of it was. Since I had severe depression before I had some really bad times with it over the following months. But it slowly got better. You should know that it was a perfect storm at that time. The following was happening before I went on gabapentin the second time. I wasn't on an anti-depressent, had constant migraines, I had PTSD and then a horrible time on gabapentin and a worse one after I stopped.

 

Now for the good news. The anxiety decreased and went away, the akathesia went away within the first three weeks. The migraines stopped. You will heal. It takes time. I don't know if there is such a thing as protracted withdrawals on this but I didn't have those. The only thing that got worse was the depression, but as I said I had severe depression before going back on gabapentin.

 

They do have a liquid form of this med to taper down from the 100mg capsules.

 

Now I am tapering from Valium and have to say, I've had an easier time than most. I'm working slowly on my last 2 mg.

 

People often say that coming off the benzos were worst. Others say the gabapentin was worse.

 

You will get better. Get through the first three weeks off of it and it gets a lot better. Not great but much much better. I've done it.

[[ga...]]

I had a horrific time stopping gabapentin. BUT most people do not. I don't want to say everyone does and scare people. So if you're thinking of coming off, I wouldn't read the rest of this post. I don't want to scare people that think they will have a horrendous time. I think my problem coming off of it is not usual.

 

I was on gabapentin twice. The first time coming off, no problem, after being on 1800mg 3xday for years. I only tapered for a month. The second time was this time last year. I was at 100mg 2x a day for 10 days, yes only 10 days. I ended up begging for the liquid version so I could micro taper. I became very depressed (I suffered from severe depression before this) and ended up in the hospital. They helped me come off of it. I was so determined to get off this stuff but I couldn't do it alone. It took three weeks, that was the absolute worst. But it did get a lot better after that. The three weeks, I had panic attacks, anxiety, some akathesia, waves of despair and anxiety. After the three weeks I went home. It wasn't over but the worst of it was. Since I had severe depression before I had some really bad times with it over the following months. But it slowly got better. You should know that it was a perfect storm at that time. The following was happening before I went on gabapentin the second time. I wasn't on an anti-depressent, had constant migraines, I had PTSD and then a horrible time on gabapentin and a worse one after I stopped.

 

Now for the good news. The anxiety decreased and went away, the akathesia went away within the first three weeks. The migraines stopped. You will heal. It takes time. I don't know if there is such a thing as protracted withdrawals on this but I didn't have those. The only thing that got worse was the depression, but as I said I had severe depression before going back on gabapentin.

 

They do have a liquid form of this med to taper down from the 100mg capsules.

 

Now I am tapering from Valium and have to say, I've had an easier time than most. I'm working slowly on my last 2 mg.

 

People often say that coming off the benzos were worst. Others say the gabapentin was worse.

 

You will get better. Get through the first three weeks off of it and it gets a lot better. Not great but much much better. I've done it.

 

Thanks for this post. I think it's encouraging to read that no matter how bad you feel, it will get better.

[[Sh...]]

I had a horrific time stopping gabapentin. BUT most people do not. I don't want to say everyone does and scare people. So if you're thinking of coming off, I wouldn't read the rest of this post. I don't want to scare people that think they will have a horrendous time. I think my problem coming off of it is not usual.

 

I was on gabapentin twice. The first time coming off, no problem, after being on 1800mg 3xday for years. I only tapered for a month. The second time was this time last year. I was at 100mg 2x a day for 10 days, yes only 10 days. I ended up begging for the liquid version so I could micro taper. I became very depressed (I suffered from severe depression before this) and ended up in the hospital. They helped me come off of it. I was so determined to get off this stuff but I couldn't do it alone. It took three weeks, that was the absolute worst. But it did get a lot better after that. The three weeks, I had panic attacks, anxiety, some akathesia, waves of despair and anxiety. After the three weeks I went home. It wasn't over but the worst of it was. Since I had severe depression before I had some really bad times with it over the following months. But it slowly got better. You should know that it was a perfect storm at that time. The following was happening before I went on gabapentin the second time. I wasn't on an anti-depressent, had constant migraines, I had PTSD and then a horrible time on gabapentin and a worse one after I stopped.

 

Now for the good news. The anxiety decreased and went away, the akathesia went away within the first three weeks. The migraines stopped. You will heal. It takes time. I don't know if there is such a thing as protracted withdrawals on this but I didn't have those. The only thing that got worse was the depression, but as I said I had severe depression before going back on gabapentin.

 

They do have a liquid form of this med to taper down from the 100mg capsules.

 

Now I am tapering from Valium and have to say, I've had an easier time than most. I'm working slowly on my last 2 mg.

 

People often say that coming off the benzos were worst. Others say the gabapentin was worse.

 

You will get better. Get through the first three weeks off of it and it gets a lot better. Not great but much much better. I've done it.

 

Completely agree. These are nasty drugs. I got badly hooked on lyrica which is VERY similar. I could not get off it especially if I tried to CT it. If.you guys are really struggling and CANNOT get off then consider the thread I started recently on NAD+. It allowed me to detox off both lyrica and valium CT and Im doing well 2 months later. Just click on my name and go to my posts.

[[bl...]]

Following thread thanks you guys and gals.

[[Mo...]]

I would like to tell you that even though I had a really rough time coming off of gabapentin, it's not like that for the majority of people. I think I was in the VERY SMALL minority that had a really rough time. I believe most don't have a problem at all. I was tapering off of Valium and that may have had a role in the rough ride.

 

If you do have a problem, I know that I came off and made it through. The first three weeks were very hard for me. But after that I got much much better. The physical side effects went away in that time. It took about two more months for the psychological wdx to go away. Three months is not that long a time. And I was an extreme case. I also came off ad's and went on them to try and get a right fit. 

 

Again, I think I was in the VERY SMALL minority that had a really rough time.

 

So I don't think most people need to worry.

 

I don't recommend coming off another med while coming off this one. It's too hard on the GABA receptors. I also should have healed first before tapering off of valium.

 

 

[[De...]]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a question. I am still tapering I and been holding. I started taking gabapentin last may 900 mg. I didn't get to bb until July. Lately I feel really fatigued sweating and king of thinking crazy. Just not being able to believe anything. It's weird. For example, if I read a book I think maybe this isn't the right info and I can't read it. It spirals into I can't believe anything. I know it's strange. It could just be anxiety or I'm going crazy. My thyroid med was upped and I have been super anxious dep and triggered. This is so complicated. My thyroid is slightly hyp. So I guess I am wondering if you can go into tolerance with gabapentin. Maybe that is why I'm having these sx. Maybe it's a combo of thyroid med and gabapentin. I know this is a puzzle and probably next to impossible to figure out. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about this kind of thing?

[[De...]]

Hi b,

I dont think yoy should throw it out . I bet your sx are frin the ct. You realky should taper off the gabapentin. Is this tge same dr who ctd you? I think.our bodies are very sensitive right now. I dont think you should do anything with it right now. Hope fulky someone herevwill chime in with more knowledge about this. I know its confusing i am in the same boat.