Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

[[Ca...]]

Hey Guys...

Loc, -The only one I can say for sure is GPN, is a bit of a butning rash/hives type thing around my neck and Jaw -upper chest at times... -About day 2, after a day on med...

-But im not tapering... Just on med the odd day, as needed...

 

Be Well...

 

 

[[il...]]

As you can see in my footer, I am suffering from the lyrica withdrawal.

 

I'm feeling in a state of obsession with anything. Before I only had ROCD, now it seems that several themes appeared and I'm afraid that another one may appear.

Things started to improve from the moment I started lowering the doses. I hope my previous state can come back, because I can not stand this state of alertness / fear of having no other themes of obsessions.

 

My previous condition was bad, now it only gets worse.

 

Has anyone tried the same here? If so, whether it has improved or not.

 

FUCK LYRICA!

[[...]]

So here I go with the freaking out stuff...again.

I did it when I was tapering the Ativan, after I have been off almost two months, it died down considerably. The last three days, health anxiety has returned. I did pretty good cutting down to 270. I had a headache for two days straight but it faded. I started Sunday night and cut gabapentin to 267, Monday to 264, last night to 261. So far I have cut 39 mgs. Ear ringing has picked up some, but my heart is doing its hard kicks for a beat or two multiple times a day which freaks me out. I am going to stay at 261 for a couple days and see if I even out.

It sucks that I battled through the Ativan so rough, got better, even while tapering gabapentin. This final 300 is gonna kick my butt I am afraid.

But I long to be me again. The woman I look at in the mirror, so sick, so depressed, and so scared, is not me. I long to be free. Two steps forward, one step back is still progress right?

Oh, well, hopefully this pity party will go in a few days.

 

Pumpkin .... You did so well getting off the Ativan ! Have you considered giving Yourself a bit more time before tapering the gabapentin? Time to enjoy your freedom from Ativan ? Or is the GPN giving you bad side effects ? I've been on it for years , I currently take 360 mgs and intend to leave it that way until I'm well done with my Valium taper .

You'll get there ..... If it were me I think I'd just spend some time enjoying being benzo free !

MiYu 

 

Ps , from what Ive seen and read for many people gabapentin WD doesn't last as long as benzo WDs

[[Re...]]

So here I go with the freaking out stuff...again.

I did it when I was tapering the Ativan, after I have been off almost two months, it died down considerably. The last three days, health anxiety has returned. I did pretty good cutting down to 270. I had a headache for two days straight but it faded. I started Sunday night and cut gabapentin to 267, Monday to 264, last night to 261. So far I have cut 39 mgs. Ear ringing has picked up some, but my heart is doing its hard kicks for a beat or two multiple times a day which freaks me out. I am going to stay at 261 for a couple days and see if I even out.

It sucks that I battled through the Ativan so rough, got better, even while tapering gabapentin. This final 300 is gonna kick my butt I am afraid.

But I long to be me again. The woman I look at in the mirror, so sick, so depressed, and so scared, is not me. I long to be free. Two steps forward, one step back is still progress right?

Oh, well, hopefully this pity party will go in a few days.

 

Hey Pumpkin.

 

I got kicked really hard with symptom uptick around July 26.  Symptoms started to reduce some around August 5th.  I was dosing around 218 mg per day and held at that from the 26th until August 3rd.  I'd been holding and not feeling better so I just started cutting again.  Somehow, I started to feel a bit better and things improved some.  My symptoms diminished somewhat.  What a strange thing this is.  I feel like I've had to work my way down from 300mg whereas cutting to 300 didn't seem very difficult.

 

I'm currently at 188mg per day which is now divided evenly into AM and PM doses. I'm reducing each dose by about 1mg per day.  Man, my doctor said that 188mg of gabapentin is almost like no dose at all.......  uh, ok,  whatever...........

 

Slow and steady....... with some holds, is my future with gabapentin. 

 

 

[Guest [...]]

Thanks everyone for the support! yes, these last few days have been a booger. I have heard that the gabapentin withdrawal is not as bad time wise as the Ativan, which is something to look forward to I suppose. I was crying in my bathroom this morning (stupid tinnitus, a very loud day today) when I took a look at where I have come from in the last year. A menopausal breakdown. My son celebrated his 12th birthday last Saturday. I was "normal" for that, verses last year, I can't even remember celebrating it. All I remember is hoping that if I had to seek in patient help, I would be out in time for him to see him start school. Today on my worst day it is nothing at all like that. (Sorry if I am being too honest). So big improvements. The last year was spent searching for any doctor that could "help me." I had at least at some point 12 different prescriptions of antidepressants and fast fixes that I would beg for and refuse to take when I did get them. I carried that bag around with every inch of my life, in case it would help. That was 3 months ago, right before the last of my Ativan. I flushed them all but the last of my ativan taper, gabapentin, and hydroxyzine. I don't even know why I am typing all this. Maybe it is because this is the only place on the forum that doesn't "force me too look at the Ativan taper...its too painful.

So, I am going to stay at 261 for a while, maybe gauge how I feel on a week to week basis. If I have to go slow, I do. Its not a rush, I hope. I know I might be better suited splitting it, or moving it from night to day. But that stupid fear. It gets us doesn't it?

Much love my fellow BBa!

 

[[Ca...]]

Doing Well...

Its great to be able to look back.. If things get bad for me I have my hospital diaries...

Slow n steady, as you can... (imho)

-dont stress on tomorrows battles, much can change...

 

[[...]]

As you can see in my footer, I am suffering from the lyrica withdrawal.

 

I'm feeling in a state of obsession with anything. Before I only had ROCD, now it seems that several themes appeared and I'm afraid that another one may appear.

Things started to improve from the moment I started lowering the doses. I hope my previous state can come back, because I can not stand this state of alertness / fear of having no other themes of obsessions.

 

My previous condition was bad, now it only gets worse.

 

Has anyone tried the same here? If so, whether it has improved or not.

 

FUCK LYRICA!

 

I'm sorry I'llbbetter , I have no experience with lyrica . I don't know what kind of support is available

On BB for lyrica , but i do know  there is Facebook group that is just for lyrica people ... Have you checked that out for support also ?

MiYu

[[Ca...]]

As you can see in my footer, I am suffering from the lyrica withdrawal.

 

I'm feeling in a state of obsession with anything. Before I only had ROCD, now it seems that several themes appeared and I'm afraid that another one may appear.

Things started to improve from the moment I started lowering the doses. I hope my previous state can come back, because I can not stand this state of alertness / fear of having no other themes of obsessions.

 

My previous condition was bad, now it only gets worse.

 

Has anyone tried the same here? If so, whether it has improved or not.

 

FUCK LYRICA!

Hi, im not sure on your exact question..??

 

But I get withdrawals from lyrica,  even just one day low dose...

 

The longest I was on it was for a week.. Then I did a trial stop, and only just managed to get clear without tapering... That was my warning...

Oddly, as with gabapentin, i could take it and stop, with no problems -pre benzo...

 

Depends on what you want to do...

 

There are some lyrica threads in "other medications"...

 

[[il...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

[[lo...]]

isn't lyrica w/d much worse then gabapentin? what i've heard.

there is a reason lyrica is a scheduled substance in the U.S. i suppose

[[Ca...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

I was very short term, and most of my SX for everything are very physical, as was my reasons for taking any meds (accident, physical trauma) the only real exception is insomnia cortisol stuff and morning anxiety, doom n gloom, after a big cut...

So all I could say is that overall for tapering in general, slow seems to help me...

And the lyrica itself seems to be a short WD -as I have used it...

Sorry, no real help...  But just hang on, know its medication related, and remind yourself of that as you need to... write notes if you have to, and stick them in places you see... I should have had one above my bed... lol

 

 

[[il...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

I was very short term, and most of my SX for everything are very physical, as was my reasons for taking any meds (accident, physical trauma) the only real exception is insomnia cortisol stuff and morning anxiety, doom n gloom, after a big cut...

So all I could say is that overall for tapering in general, slow seems to help me...

And the lyrica itself seems to be a short WD -as I have used it...

Sorry, no real help...  But just hang on, know its medication related, and remind yourself of that as you need to... write notes if you have to, and stick them in places you see... I should have had one above my bed... lol

 

 

 

Man, I used it for 4 months, with 1 month I was 75mg, in the other, I was 150mg, and in the last 2 months, I did taper.

Before doing the taper, in the middle of this course, I did ct on May 21. I believe the effects came from there. A week later I returned with the previous dosage and I was tapering.

 

I hope things get better. It's been 2 weeks since I'm off

[[Ca...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

I was very short term, and most of my SX for everything are very physical, as was my reasons for taking any meds (accident, physical trauma) the only real exception is insomnia cortisol stuff and morning anxiety, doom n gloom, after a big cut...

So all I could say is that overall for tapering in general, slow seems to help me...

And the lyrica itself seems to be a short WD -as I have used it...

Sorry, no real help...  But just hang on, know its medication related, and remind yourself of that as you need to... write notes if you have to, and stick them in places you see... I should have had one above my bed... lol

 

 

 

Man, I used it for 4 months, with 1 month I was 75mg, in the other, I was 150mg, and in the last 2 months, I did taper.

Before doing the taper, in the middle of this course, I did ct on May 21. I believe the effects came from there. A week later I returned with the previous dosage and I was tapering.

 

I hope things get better. It's been 2 weeks since I'm off

Am I correct that you dont have a benzo history??

And how well did the lyrica work for the OCD??

 

Incidently when I took lyrica for a while?? Post accident for nerve damage, I didnt have any discontinuation problems that I noticed.. But I was on high opiate doses.. -I switched to gabapentin as it worked much better for me, and had no problems stopping that either...

I only later had problems when combined with benzo tapering..

 

So I wonder (guess) if things might get easier as the luvox starts to work??

 

 

[[Re...]]

Thanks everyone for the support! yes, these last few days have been a booger. I have heard that the gabapentin withdrawal is not as bad time wise as the Ativan, which is something to look forward to I suppose. I was crying in my bathroom this morning (stupid tinnitus, a very loud day today) when I took a look at where I have come from in the last year. A menopausal breakdown. My son celebrated his 12th birthday last Saturday. I was "normal" for that, verses last year, I can't even remember celebrating it. All I remember is hoping that if I had to seek in patient help, I would be out in time for him to see him start school. Today on my worst day it is nothing at all like that. (Sorry if I am being too honest). So big improvements. The last year was spent searching for any doctor that could "help me." I had at least at some point 12 different prescriptions of antidepressants and fast fixes that I would beg for and refuse to take when I did get them. I carried that bag around with every inch of my life, in case it would help. That was 3 months ago, right before the last of my Ativan. I flushed them all but the last of my ativan taper, gabapentin, and hydroxyzine. I don't even know why I am typing all this. Maybe it is because this is the only place on the forum that doesn't "force me too look at the Ativan taper...its too painful.

So, I am going to stay at 261 for a while, maybe gauge how I feel on a week to week basis. If I have to go slow, I do. Its not a rush, I hope. I know I might be better suited splitting it, or moving it from night to day. But that stupid fear. It gets us doesn't it?

Much love my fellow BBa!

 

Here's me throwin' a virtual high-fve your way.  You've done great and I know you will continue to move forward.

 

All the best.

 

-RST

[[il...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

I was very short term, and most of my SX for everything are very physical, as was my reasons for taking any meds (accident, physical trauma) the only real exception is insomnia cortisol stuff and morning anxiety, doom n gloom, after a big cut...

So all I could say is that overall for tapering in general, slow seems to help me...

And the lyrica itself seems to be a short WD -as I have used it...

Sorry, no real help...  But just hang on, know its medication related, and remind yourself of that as you need to... write notes if you have to, and stick them in places you see... I should have had one above my bed... lol

 

 

 

Man, I used it for 4 months, with 1 month I was 75mg, in the other, I was 150mg, and in the last 2 months, I did taper.

Before doing the taper, in the middle of this course, I did ct on May 21. I believe the effects came from there. A week later I returned with the previous dosage and I was tapering.

 

I hope things get better. It's been 2 weeks since I'm off

Am I correct that you dont have a benzo history??

And how well did the lyrica work for the OCD??

 

Incidently when I took lyrica for a while?? Post accident for nerve damage, I didnt have any discontinuation problems that I noticed.. But I was on high opiate doses.. -I switched to gabapentin as it worked much better for me, and had no problems stopping that either...

I only later had problems when combined with benzo tapering..

 

So I wonder (guess) if things might get easier as the luvox starts to work??

 

 

Yes. I think luvox is helping a lot. I feel happier and more willing, though the thoughts are still there. And I'm realizing they're losing a lot of strength. I'm doing acupuncture and CBT to help too! I do not know exactly what is helping the most. I will start practicing more exercises more often as well. I'm going to fight this shit with all the guns! :thumbsup:

 

Lyrica has not helped at all in my OCD. Never touched my anxiety!

[[Ca...]]

What I wanted to know is if anyone here had the same symptoms as me and managed to overcome.

 

 

I'm already in that group called Lyrica Survivors. But I think I feel more at ease here.

 

I feel like I'm getting better, but the improvement is slow.

The withdrawal of this left me terrified. I never want to depend on any medication again. Today I'm with luvox, but I want to leave as soon as things improve.

I was very short term, and most of my SX for everything are very physical, as was my reasons for taking any meds (accident, physical trauma) the only real exception is insomnia cortisol stuff and morning anxiety, doom n gloom, after a big cut...

So all I could say is that overall for tapering in general, slow seems to help me...

And the lyrica itself seems to be a short WD -as I have used it...

Sorry, no real help...  But just hang on, know its medication related, and remind yourself of that as you need to... write notes if you have to, and stick them in places you see... I should have had one above my bed... lol

 

 

 

Man, I used it for 4 months, with 1 month I was 75mg, in the other, I was 150mg, and in the last 2 months, I did taper.

Before doing the taper, in the middle of this course, I did ct on May 21. I believe the effects came from there. A week later I returned with the previous dosage and I was tapering.

 

I hope things get better. It's been 2 weeks since I'm off

Am I correct that you dont have a benzo history??

And how well did the lyrica work for the OCD??

 

Incidently when I took lyrica for a while?? Post accident for nerve damage, I didnt have any discontinuation problems that I noticed.. But I was on high opiate doses.. -I switched to gabapentin as it worked much better for me, and had no problems stopping that either...

I only later had problems when combined with benzo tapering..

 

So I wonder (guess) if things might get easier as the luvox starts to work??

 

 

Yes. I think luvox is helping a lot. I feel happier and more willing, though the thoughts are still there. And I'm realizing they're losing a lot of strength. I'm doing acupuncture and CBT to help too! I do not know exactly what is helping the most. I will start practicing more exercises more often as well. I'm going to fight this shit with all the guns! :thumbsup:

 

Lyrica has not helped at all in my OCD. Never touched my anxiety!

No, lyrica revs me right up like speed, I only take 25 to get me through a big day out, Drs and things where I need to function well... -not that im promoting that, it has its down sides...

 

[[HO...]]

I've been on gabapentin for ten years it seems to help nerve pain. I'm in severe withdrawl should I wait till that's over to taper the gabapentin?

[[lo...]]

I've been on gabapentin for ten years it seems to help nerve pain. I'm in severe withdrawl should I wait till that's over to taper the gabapentin?

 

what dose? and yes I would say don't bother now why to suffer 2x as much.

[[HO...]]

3600 mg

[[lo...]]

Hope: at that dose, I would say you can start reducing slowly, until you reach a comfortable level. I was on 1800 and had no problem going down till 600.

I would taper and consider stopping once you reach 600-1200 or so

[[Re...]]

3600 mg

 

Hope, how long since you stopped taking benzodiazepines???  I think Locutus makes a lot of sense but it also might be necessary to let your CNS heal more before you start another taper.  If you do decide to go for it, perhaps a micro-taper with holds would be a prudent method to ensure the most pain-free and feedback manageable reduction regime possible.

 

-RST  :thumbsup:

[[lo...]]

anybody here feeling paradoxical effects from gabapentin? I am either going through a month 9 benzo wave, or getting sick from gabapentin. my brain feels like jelly, i can't find words or form sentences sometimes. extreme dr/dp, similar to what I had in acute. I had waves for the last 9 months but this is the worst....

I have been keeping it at 300+300, and sleeping ok in general. since I hit a bad wave, I increased temporary to 300+600(at night), but that did not do anything at all either worse or better.

I always felt like gabapentin helped me a lot....so not sure what to think.

 

[[bi...]]

anybody here feeling paradoxical effects from gabapentin? I am either going through a month 9 benzo wave, or getting sick from gabapentin. my brain feels like jelly, i can't find words or form sentences sometimes. extreme dr/dp, similar to what I had in acute. I had waves for the last 9 months but this is the worst....

I have been keeping it at 300+300, and sleeping ok in general. since I hit a bad wave, I increased temporary to 300+600(at night), but that did not do anything at all either worse or better.

I always felt like gabapentin helped me a lot....so not sure what to think.

 

This happened to me, I swear.... and the reason why I relapsed on Klonopin. The Gaba went paradoxical and made me get severe akathesia/dp/dr/depression and shakes. What a mess this nightmare is. Sorry Locutus.

[[lo...]]

not having any akathesia or shakes though. more like back to acute.

I never had this on gabapentin before, and was feeling quiet fine on it (zombified though). i'm not 100% this is gabapentin or just benzo setback....

thankful for any opinion/exp though....

 

anybody here feeling paradoxical effects from gabapentin? I am either going through a month 9 benzo wave, or getting sick from gabapentin. my brain feels like jelly, i can't find words or form sentences sometimes. extreme dr/dp, similar to what I had in acute. I had waves for the last 9 months but this is the worst....

I have been keeping it at 300+300, and sleeping ok in general. since I hit a bad wave, I increased temporary to 300+600(at night), but that did not do anything at all either worse or better.

I always felt like gabapentin helped me a lot....so not sure what to think.

 

This happened to me, I swear.... and the reason why I relapsed on Klonopin. The Gaba went paradoxical and made me get severe akathesia/dp/dr/depression and shakes. What a mess this nightmare is. Sorry Locutus.

[[Re...]]

not having any akathesia or shakes though. more like back to acute.

I never had this on gabapentin before, and was feeling quiet fine on it (zombified though). i'm not 100% this is gabapentin or just benzo setback....

thankful for any opinion/exp though....

 

anybody here feeling paradoxical effects from gabapentin? I am either going through a month 9 benzo wave, or getting sick from gabapentin. my brain feels like jelly, i can't find words or form sentences sometimes. extreme dr/dp, similar to what I had in acute. I had waves for the last 9 months but this is the worst....

I have been keeping it at 300+300, and sleeping ok in general. since I hit a bad wave, I increased temporary to 300+600(at night), but that did not do anything at all either worse or better.

I always felt like gabapentin helped me a lot....so not sure what to think.

 

This happened to me, I swear.... and the reason why I relapsed on Klonopin. The Gaba went paradoxical and made me get severe akathesia/dp/dr/depression and shakes. What a mess this nightmare is. Sorry Locutus.

 

I had a period of paradoxical gabapentin but it seems to have inexplicably resolved itself.  How did I know?  Well  given its half life and dosing twice a day, I have a good sense of the increase and decrease of the gabapentin in my system. 

 

I was rolling along fine with my taper and then I got some of the worst withdrawal symptoms; just like acute and post-acute but the burning was, I think, the worst ever.  At first, I thought I'd cut too fast.  If you remember, we talked about this around a month ago and I was as confused then as you are now.  However,  over several days of trying to stabilize, I noticed the perfect synchronicity of increasing discomfort with my gabapentin dose and the decrease in discomfort as it wore off.  So, after 8 or 9 days of miserable holding, I realized I simply had to continue down to get off the stuff.  So, I continued my taper.  About three days after continuing my taper, I began to get some relief.  Since then, I've been tapering every single day with only a few days of holding once and I've felt (more or less) better each day.  Yesterday, I was able to change a front axle in my car and replace the upper strut mounts and strut bushing assemblies; a month ago, I had a hard time getting off the couch.  Even so, I haven't rushed my taper.  I'm only dropping 2 miligrams per day (1mg off each AM and PM dose).  So, I'm keeping to a slow and steady taper to try and avoid withdrawal as well.

 

Of course I am not certain what exactly is happening to me, but these are my observations in respect of gabapentin and my own circumstances.  Today, I'm at 154mg per day (77mg BID).  It's not alot, but I'm not going to rush it.  I only hope things continue to get better for ALL of us.

 

Take care

 

-RST  :thumbsup: