Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

[[va...]]

Wow. You're in a pickle for sure. So let me tell you what I would do, given your situation. I'd finish the valium taper, then deal with the gaba.

 

Okay,  so there will be no more 100 mgs caps of valium. You can deal with that. I'd let your doc prescribe the 300 mg caps. You can work with those. The good news is that gaba is water soluble and you could dissolve your caps in water, and taper from the water/gaba mixture. All you would need is a glass beaker (I got mine from amazon) or some container to hold your mixture, and a big syringe to measure your reduction (also got from amazon). You could remove as much or as little as you want, say weekly, and before you know it, you'll have reduced 300 ml of your solution.

 

I did this for my valium taper and valium is sure not very soluble in water, ugh . . . but it worked. I, too, did a gaba taper but not realizing gaba is soluble in water I opened 100 ml capsules and "eyeballed" the amount to remove.

 

Hope this helps you. Congrats on your valium taper! I know how hard all of this is.

 

Best,

 

Katz

 

Thank you Katz. That does help a lot for sure.When I came in here I thought of you and Gardener who've gone through similar struggles.

 

Today I have such a bad wave but IDK if it's the 100 mg gabapentin reduction or just my usual waves plus menopause plus whatnot.

 

I'm going to consider what you said and I'll probably do that. Now that I've cut today, I might keep at 500 mgs for three days to see if it doesn't make much of a difference. The thing is, I'm scared they can suddenly also run out of the 300 mg gabapentin pills! And I have valium for a lifetime, considering my current dose is 0.40 only. Hence my doubts 

 

I did a bit of googling and found no current shortage of gabapentin in the US. I found a report of a temporary shortage of the large capsules in Australia. A past shortage in the UK was only of one size and that was due to a shortage of what they called the "packaging" rather than the drug. I was relieved to find there seems to be no worldwide shortage but rather localized shortages that are predicted to come and go.

 

Perhaps if you google gabapentin shortage with the the name of your location, you can find out what the current situation is where you are? That may help you with your decision.

 

https://apps.tga.gov.au/shortages/Search/Details/Gabapentin

 

https://www.drugs.com/drug-shortages/

 

Hi Gardener,

 

Thanks for posting. I hope you're doing well. The pharmacist told me that now that the 100 mgs are no longer available, everyone is coming for the 300 mg and she's fearing a shortage on that one too. Also, some of the brands that manufacture the 300 mg capsules are already out of stock, but there are a few others that still have stock. There is no shortage for now, but due to what she said, and to what I find googling and the results that come up in local websites, I wouldn't rule it out . However, as I said yesterday on my last post, I suddenly have a worsening of sxs and I suddenly have a new unexpected problem, how strange huh?  So I think I'm going to hold the gabapentin and continue with plan A (or try to), and cross my fingers that we never run out of gabapentin.

 

Also, the reason I was considering this new move, is that by this July it will already be four years on the gabapentin, and I think it will be much more difficult to taper the longer I'm on it. As strange as it may sound to anyone here, the 0.40 mgs valium that I'm taking will probably take another year to taper, and no, I'm not exaggerating, look at my signature with all those previous cold turkeys and fast tapers. Sometimes it was hard but I just did it. But this time my brain is really compromised after all that, and a faster rate is just not doable. Unless of course I want to be bedridden and unable to manage a bank account, let alone getting my daughter an education, and of course I'm not going to be so stupid to risk that.

 

Thank you both, Gardener and Oregonkatz for the input. It was very useful. It feels so good that after no being here in a while, I've gotten two very useful answers from you.

[[wi...]]

gabapentin tapers are easy for some (remember they are only telling you throe experience) they are not you, and they do not have your genes or nervous sysytem. Gabpentin is a tricky drug, and sadly it is very strong and takes a long time to taper for some that find the cuts worse, yes some are worse then benzos or at the very least just as weird.  Mental symptoms were bad on Gabapentin when I tapered, you just have to get through it if you decide to come off.  Listen to you heart and if ou truly don't know what tp do you're most likely going to just have to wing it and experiment.  Sending you good thoughts.

[[dj...]]

Is the general consensus that Gabapentin symptoms can be just as vicious, they just don’t last nearly as long?

 

I haven’t looked very hard but I’ve never read anything about people being bedbound from Gabapentin 18 months after stopping it.  It also seems most people (not on this site) don’t taper it for very long, like a few weeks, and have terrible withdrawals.  Those are people coming from 2400mg and other high doses.

[[ga...]]

Update: It took me 3 months to taper away 200mg of gabapentin. Details in my p-log linked below. I'm now only taking a 100mg capsule at bedtime. Holding at one capsule to take a break from dissolving. Also, the gabapentin treats my restless leg syndrome, so unsure if/when I want to try to get rid of the bedtime dose.

[[Pa...]]

Congrats Gardener!  What method did you use to taper the 200?  I am now finished my valium taper as of June 1, but now face getting rid of 1800mgs of gabapentin daily!  I am still experiencing a lot of daytime anxiety, so hoping that will subside soon, and I can start a slow taper. I was thinking of trying to ditch 100 every two weeks at first, and see how that goes.  My doses right now are quite unbalanced, 1200 at night for sleep, and 300morning, and 300 afternoon.  I am going to work on lowering my sleep dose first, and making my doses more even.  Any advice from anyone here would be appreciated!  I'm still quite traumitized from my son's death and the valium taper, so I dont want to cause myself anymore distress right now, if possible!

[[ga...]]

Congrats Gardener!  What method did you use to taper the 200?  I am now finished my valium taper as of June 1, but now face getting rid of 1800mgs of gabapentin daily!  I am still experiencing a lot of daytime anxiety, so hoping that will subside soon, and I can start a slow taper. I was thinking of trying to ditch 100 every two weeks at first, and see how that goes.  My doses right now are quite unbalanced, 1200 at night for sleep, and 300morning, and 300 afternoon.  I am going to work on lowering my sleep dose first, and making my doses more even.  Any advice from anyone here would be appreciated!  I'm still quite traumitized from my son's death and the valium taper, so I dont want to cause myself anymore distress right now, if possible!

 

Congrats on getting rid of the Valium!

 

I liquid tapered away first the afternoon dose, then morning dose. It was rather like a mild benzo taper. I would be cautious about starting a gabapentin taper so soon after the end of a benzo taper. Benzo taper symptoms can go on for a long time. It could be impossible to tell if your symptoms are from the benzo taper of the gabapentin taper.

[[Mi...]]

Hello I have great dillema about pregabalin. I know this thread is for Gabapentin but they are rather similar and I dont see any active thread for pregabalin.

My mom is taking it for 2 months 3 x 25 mg. But the side effects are quite debilitating. Mostly the mental ones - lack of concetration, depressive thoughts of hopelesness, anxiety. Cant read, cant watch tv, cant listen to music. Yesterday my mom skipped the midday dose and magically most of the symptoms went away! She reinstated the dose today. So my question is - could it be that her body didnt somehow get dependent? Or simply to feel withdrawal we have to wait more (days)? Could it be the sign that she can perhaps exclude morning or midday dose asap? Or its mostly that the w/d didnt kick in? I read some people feel very bad after skipping dose and have to go back asap. The situation here is opposite, she felt relieved this stuff was not introduced into the body. But this is just 1 dose so I don't know what to think about it. She is also 9 days off diazepam and almost 2 months of estazolam. We're wondering if pregabalin side effects outweight the benzo w/d and perhaps quitting now could be beneficial... Also, she is taking the lowest dose; does that potentially imply a possibility of faster taper or should we treat 25 mg same as people doing 250 or more for more time?

Any feedback welcome, thanks, peace.

[[Pa...]]

Thanks for replying, Gard!  I was wondering if my daytime anxiety spikes, are because I am getting interdose withdrawal from my irregular doses of gabapentin, taking such a bigger dose at night?  The anxiety spikes started when I got below 1mg of valium, and had been on the gpentin for 3 months at that point.

[[ga...]]

Thanks for replying, Gard!  I was wondering if my daytime anxiety spikes, are because I am getting interdose withdrawal from my irregular doses of gabapentin, taking such a bigger dose at night?  The anxiety spikes started when I got below 1mg of valium, and had been on the gpentin for 3 months at that point.

 

Hard to know. Many people dose gabapentin that way. I was always close to even doses.

[[Pa...]]

Yes, I know even doses are probably best. At this point I'm nervous to make any changes until I start to taper,  but my daytime anxiety is really bad since under 1mg of valium and off, so I wondered if the gabapentin was the problem or just the valium.  It has been three weeks benzo free and my anxiety might even be worse than the first week after zero!

[[ga...]]

Yes, I know even doses are probably best. At this point I'm nervous to make any changes until I start to taper,  but my daytime anxiety is really bad since under 1mg of valium and off, so I wondered if the gabapentin was the problem or just the valium.  It has been three weeks benzo free and my anxiety might even be worse than the first week after zero!

 

I had the same questions about which drug was causing which problems. I don't know if there's an answer.

[[wa...]]

Hey I saw someone else come in here about pregabalin and I'm dealing with pregabalin as well, 7 months after ativan c/t and a month after a reinstatement of benzos to kick pregabalin. I managed to quit daily use and lasted three weeks on nothing but felt fed up and had to do stuff last week and took pregabalin for a few days. I'm wondering if it's probably dangerous to touch it at all? After last week I have body jolts again. I thought I could use PRN maybe, but maybe not. It does give me my energy back and quiets the OCD that has exploded since quitting ativan, so it's always tempting... I was on pregabalin for about 9 months, during then after ativan. Unsure if symptoms are ativan or pregabalin or just me at this point.

[[mt...]]

Hey I saw someone else come in here about pregabalin and I'm dealing with pregabalin as well, 7 months after ativan c/t and a month after a reinstatement of benzos to kick pregabalin. I managed to quit daily use and lasted three weeks on nothing but felt fed up and had to do stuff last week and took pregabalin for a few days. I'm wondering if it's probably dangerous to touch it at all? After last week I have body jolts again. I thought I could use PRN maybe, but maybe not. It does give me my energy back and quiets the OCD that has exploded since quitting ativan, so it's always tempting... I was on pregabalin for about 9 months, during then after ativan. Unsure if symptoms are ativan or pregabalin or just me at this point.

I think it could well be a combination of both. Very hard to tell at this point which is which. Be beneficial to just stabilize at this point and not make changes for a while. Also, taking it PRN might not be helping your destabilized CNS.

[[mt...]]

Question for those who tapered Lyrica/pregabalin: how many days after a cut a small cut like let's say 5 to 10% do you feel withdrawal symptoms hitting?