Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

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Real: I hope you get to 0 with no insane symptoms. I am taking a complete break from tapering till somewhere next year. too much in life going on now, traveling, work etc.

 

I would like to hear some gabapentin success stories, from benzo people who took it at larger doses/longer. I guess they don't come back here when they done lol.

 

Thanks locutus.  I'm struggling, even with my updose, it's pretty tough.  I will have to wait and see if it gets any better over the next few weeks.  Holy moly it went sideways!  I gotta regroup, stabilize  then go forward with a slightly different plan.  Sure is a shame though, all the work I did to get to 50 and 50.  Oh well......

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hello comrades,

 

I am stuck at 300mg GBN taken at one dose in am. Been on this drug since Aug. !st 2017. So almost 5 months.

 

I feel the drug has gone paradoxical. Feel so darkly depressed, anxious, flat, confused. apathetic, terror and dumbed down.

 

Tried to taper way too fast and became suicidal/super aggressive and brain dead so reinstated to 300mg.

 

Want to start a very micro taper once I get a script for liquid GBN.

 

Is it possible to safely taper off this evil poison? And does everyone experience protracted WD?

 

So sad and lost. Reaching out for support.  Anyone??

 

Be Well. Sending out positive thoughts....

 

Hey, girl. 

 

I know it's hard.  I am right with you.  I tapered too fast too.  I thought I was being careful, but I guess I wasn't careful enough. 

 

I have read a lot of the threads on gabapentin here and yes, many do taper off without horrible protracted withdrawal.  The key will be to very carefully micro-taper down from 300.  It might take a while.  Once I'm stable enough, I'm hoping to go down by about 10 percent per month and see if that is doable.  Many have done it.  It may be a challenge though.  We few are the 'lucky' ones who are so affected by this.  Lucky us......

 

PM me if you need to talk about it.

 

-RST

 

[[Pa...]]

This all sounds scary. I took about 600mg over a 12 hour period and it didn't help me at all. Afterwards I felt depressed, felt freaked out. It was so an awful feeling. I keep taking it when I'm desperate feeling really anxious and shaking. It has helped sometimes and helped my tinnitus as well. My tinnitus is pretty bad.

 

I'm 2 months off of Benzos and I've had some tough days but I think taking Gabapentin has made me worse. I will try really hard never to take it again.

[[Ca...]]

I've spoken about it many times here - I think it is a very good thing to avoid, unless it's prescribed for severe nerve pain (diabetic, etc): it causes horrific psych symptoms and can be incredibly difficult to get off.

[[Re...]]

I've spoken about it many times here - I think it is a very good thing to avoid, unless it's prescribed for severe nerve pain (diabetic, etc): it causes horrific psych symptoms and can be incredibly difficult to get off.

 

I wish I'd found you when I was struggling with what direction to take 6 months ago.  It's interesting because sometimes searching on the threads is hit and miss and I found more positive than negative about gabapentin when I was searching back in April.  The extreme difficulty for some of us to taper gabapentin at the lower doses was new to me until these last few weeks. 

 

Even so.  I'm committed to finding my way forward ever so slowly to a better place.

 

-RST

[[Ca...]]

It was news to me too. I was having such a hard time, harder the lower I got, and my doctors were just shaking their heads and saying stroke or brain tumor. When I went to my homeopath (who is also an MD) he said google it and I came up with scads of sights for patients in the same predicament. Many had been on for very short periods of time: I found one woman who had horrible w/d after her Diabetes script was mistakenly filled with Gabapentin. She took it for about a week before she realized the difference. Good news - I'm down to 1.74 V a day, hoping that my feeling better today means the current wave is ending, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep focused.

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It was news to me too. I was having such a hard time, harder the lower I got, and my doctors were just shaking their heads and saying stroke or brain tumor. When I went to my homeopath (who is also an MD) he said google it and I came up with scads of sights for patients in the same predicament. Many had been on for very short periods of time: I found one woman who had horrible w/d after her Diabetes script was mistakenly filled with Gabapentin. She took it for about a week before she realized the difference. Good news - I'm down to 1.74 V a day, hoping that my feeling better today means the current wave is ending, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep focused.

 

I strongly hope so for you, Cally.  I'm still trying to stabilize on my updose from 100mg to 180mg.  I have lots on my plate right now and am trying to manage everything to complete a promotion at my work I've been in line for for several years.  It's nuts trying to manage everything in life AND go through this. 

 

-RST

 

 

[[Ca...]]

God bless us every one.

[[lo...]]

Real: yup, managing life in addition to this W/D crap is hard.

i'm not sure if working is better or not, even if you have the means. it seems like work keeps you distracted, imagine being off totally (even with all the money you need) and focusing on this w/d hell.

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Real: yup, managing life in addition to this W/D crap is hard.

i'm not sure if working is better or not, even if you have the means. it seems like work keeps you distracted, imagine being off totally (even with all the money you need) and focusing on this w/d hell.

 

I think I could heal quicker if I didn't have to work.  I know focusing on it would be horrible.  But I'm focusing on it anyway at work  :D  I guess at the end of the day.  I could take it easier on my body and focus on just managing this withdrawal.  Working means that I've done things in my taper that might not have been the best for my withdrawal because I had to be functional.  That's why I went on the gabapentin to begin with.  So, yeah, lots of different aspects to this to consider.  It's all hard, no matter what.

 

-RST

[[li...]]

hello comrades in pain, personally i believe the unsavoury sdx you are having are due to gbn turning paradoxical. i have not reached acute wd from my micro benzo taper and was feeling very stable. 3- months into my gbn hell (300mg 1x am.)  am having the weirdest most hideous sdx ever. i feel grimy darkly depressed confused anxious stupified constantly exhausted etc. and everything continues downhill. recent sdx include obsessiveness and paranoia and inner restlessness along with irritability.

 

i had ct'ed off K in 2014 by forgetting my pills on a 3 week vacation. it was horrendous but not like this mental muck up.

 

That's my 2 cents worth but if you are sensitive to this drug do not underestimate its poisonousness sdx effect on your cns,

 

be well and my best to you all if you are suffering gbn hell.......cyber hugs..........lills

[Guest [Lu...]]

work has been absolute torture through benzo tolerance than the entire taper, utter torture to conduct myself and do my job while highly agoraphobic, dizzy, dying passing out feeling, fatigue, etc etc... ugh... i wish to hell i could just take a year off, im beyond exhausted. but im 5 months off diazepam now so ill just ride it out.

 

was on gaba 1800mg for a short time, all it did was fog me up - in desperation i tried to convince myself i felt "better" on it but i didnt, i just felt its effects, which cloud ya up a little, but it really has no place being prescribed solely for withdrawal.

 

it was painful (like everything else in life now) to get off, but i just pushed the hell through and just did it relatively quickly. it didnt last anywhere even close to the benzo, there were pretty intense symptoms for a short time but i just got the hell off it. i was even hanging out in this thread for a short time some months ago, while still on 1800-1200mg range, and i tapered off and jumped at 150mg roughly. a crazy week ensued, it was awful, really, but it subsided.i just had a mentality of, ive got enough to deal with and ill just get through this, too, now.

 

i see a lot of people lingering on low doses for inordinate amount of times. i know everyones different, i can attest to that with my own experiences for sure with benzos, as ive had every symptom in the book, but i wonder if at least some folks could just power through, go through the bit of hell it gives for a time and be done with it. at least if you were in my boat.

 

from what ive seen and my own experience, its absurd to prescribe this stuff for benzo withdrawal. if it was such a great cure for it, we'd all be at the drs getting our monthly gaba to help us down. this drug is for entirely different reasons, i think it does what other things do, merely mask the root of the problem with its own cloudiness and side effects. its a band aid, and a weak one at that.

 

just my experience, not trying to preach - i know we each have our own individual reality to deal with the best we can

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work has been absolute torture through benzo tolerance than the entire taper, utter torture to conduct myself and do my job while highly agoraphobic, dizzy, dying passing out feeling, fatigue, etc etc... ugh... i wish to hell i could just take a year off, im beyond exhausted. but im 5 months off diazepam now so ill just ride it out.

 

was on gaba 1800mg for a short time, all it did was fog me up - in desperation i tried to convince myself i felt "better" on it but i didnt, i just felt its effects, which cloud ya up a little, but it really has no place being prescribed solely for withdrawal.

 

it was painful (like everything else in life now) to get off, but i just pushed the hell through and just did it relatively quickly. it didnt last anywhere even close to the benzo, there were pretty intense symptoms for a short time but i just got the hell off it. i was even hanging out in this thread for a short time some months ago, while still on 1800-1200mg range, and i tapered off and jumped at 150mg roughly. a crazy week ensued, it was awful, really, but it subsided.i just had a mentality of, ive got enough to deal with and ill just get through this, too, now.

 

i see a lot of people lingering on low doses for inordinate amount of times. i know everyones different, i can attest to that with my own experiences for sure with benzos, as ive had every symptom in the book, but i wonder if at least some folks could just power through, go through the bit of hell it gives for a time and be done with it. at least if you were in my boat.

 

from what ive seen and my own experience, its absurd to prescribe this stuff for benzo withdrawal. if it was such a great cure for it, we'd all be at the drs getting our monthly gaba to help us down. this drug is for entirely different reasons, i think it does what other things do, merely mask the root of the problem with its own cloudiness and side effects. its a band aid, and a weak one at that.

 

just my experience, not trying to preach - i know we each have our own individual reality to deal with the best we can

 

I agree with most of what you have said.  I don't know how strong I am or am not, but I couldn't power through the physical pain.  I've been able to deal with everything else, but the incessant feeling of having my body as though it is on fire is simply intolerable.  That's why I have been micro tapering.  Also, it seems that getting off gabapentin isn't as difficult if one is still taking a benzo, that seems to be the consensus I am hearing anyway.

 

Yeah, at the end of the day, it shouldn't be prescribed for WD on a regular basis.  Maybe a one-off, but not every day.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

-RST

[[lo...]]

Luke: thanks for the positive post. good to know that it doesn't last that long as benzo for you. i think many people here had such a rough time with benzos, and are not quiet ready to do another round of hell yet. especially if gaba is well tolerated like in my case.

[[li...]]

hey luke, good for you for making the jump off gabapentin. some on this board say super/super micro-tapers work. but even with that many still report hitting a brick wall at around 200mg. or less. Since you are now off gbn how long has it taken you to stabilize? Weeks/months?? Do you feel you are gradually improving?? and may i ask what your discontinued sds are???

 

hope you are improving daily. keep us posted.........stay strong/be well 

 

cyberhugs          lilla

[[Pa...]]

I've only taken Gabapentin as needed and at the most I tried 700mg in one day and I never took it for more than two days straight. I would say all together I took it 10 times on various times. I did notice it relaxed my nerves somewhat on about two occasions out of 10 but mostly it made me feel weird, just not myself. It was an awful feeling feeling probably worse then the anxiety I was hoping to tame. I took the last 200mg dose 6 days ago and I don't know if I'm still feeling the effects. I can't see why it would have such an effect as I didn't take very much.

 

Regarding work, I've stayed home a few times when I was feeling awful and it never helped me. I actually felt worse because all I did is think of how I was feeling. Staying at work helps to get your mind off of how you are feeling. I notice if I'm at my desk thinking about my sfx and feeling horrible, when I have to speak to someone I'm able to do it and I notice for that brief time I was distracted and acted normal. Honestly, staying at home alone really scares me.

 

Stay busy if you can!

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I've only taken Gabapentin as needed and at the most I tried 700mg in one day and I never took it for more than two days straight. I would say all together I took it 10 times on various times. I did notice it relaxed my nerves somewhat on about two occasions out of 10 but mostly it made me feel weird, just not myself. It was an awful feeling feeling probably worse then the anxiety I was hoping to tame. I took the last 200mg dose 6 days ago and I don't know if I'm still feeling the effects. I can't see why it would have such an effect as I didn't take very much.

 

Regarding work, I've stayed home a few times when I was feeling awful and it never helped me. I actually felt worse because all I did is think of how I was feeling. Staying at work helps to get your mind off of how you are feeling. I notice if I'm at my desk thinking about my sfx and feeling horrible, when I have to speak to someone I'm able to do it and I notice for that brief time I was distracted and acted normal. Honestly, staying at home alone really scares me.

 

Stay busy if you can!

 

`Staying busy is important.... if you can.  My symptoms are physical.  It's like trying to work while you have the flu in addition to your body feeling as though it is on fire.  This then becomes exhausting and influences recovery times, I believe.  But we are all different and we must find what works for us.  I'm glad work is a positive diversion for you.  For me, going to the office is hell because it increases my stress level.  However, as the primary earner in my family I have to provide and pay our mortgage through this mess.

 

It's a crazy ride!

 

Keep strong everyone.

 

-RST

 

[[lo...]]

Realslim: so you having only physical no mental? not saying physical are nicer, but since I don't have any physical, I feel like I would trade lol.....

btw office is very hard...benzo jump was the reason I switched to remote which worked well for a year or so....now looking again for a remote job (possible in my field)

even home work is stressful sometimes, but then you can just walk away from the pc and go on a walk....stay strong man

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Realslim: so you having only physical no mental? not saying physical are nicer, but since I don't have any physical, I feel like I would trade lol.....

btw office is very hard...benzo jump was the reason I switched to remote which worked well for a year or so....now looking again for a remote job (possible in my field)

even home work is stressful sometimes, but then you can just walk away from the pc and go on a walk....stay strong man

 

By and large, my symptoms are primarily physical.  I do have some anxiety uptick with these symptoms, but it is not debilitating for me as my physical symptoms are.  I had a nerve tumor in my leg that was removed 12 years ago.  The pain it caused was horrendous.  That pain was like a 3 out of 10 compared to the worst of the burning I have experienced.  The way I would describe it is by comparing it to the first intense pain you have if you grab something hot and then let go.  Except this pain doesn't stop.  That's why after 16 grueling days of holding, I had to updose.  I honestly could not take that anymore.  I don't know why I have such intense burning but it's crazy.  Thus far, my other physical symptoms are manageable in comparison.

 

But I can appreciate how debilitating severe anxiety can be.  That's it's own unique nightmare.  Keep on Keepin' on, locutus!!!!

 

-RST

[[be...]]

Thinking about cold turkeying gabapentin in a mental hospital at 800 mg my question is..

 

Will taking an anti seizure medication like Dilantin or depakote prevent me from having a seizure?

 

And another question does it get better after a month and continually get better instead of random waves of hell like benzo withdrawal.

 

I just hate taking this medication and is screwing me up.

[[Ca...]]

Thinking about cold turkeying gabapentin in a mental hospital at 800 mg my question is..

 

Will taking an anti seizure medication like Dilantin or depakote prevent me from having a seizure?

 

And another question does it get better after a month and continually get better instead of random waves of hell like benzo withdrawal.

 

I just hate taking this medication and is screwing me up.

Are you in a hospital now? I would hate to see you do that: depending on how long you've been taking it, you may suffer some horrific mental effects in addition to seizures (and most of the people I know who did get off, whether tapering or c/t, did not even have seizures). Please clarify your situation - and how long have you been on the gabapentin?

 

[[be...]]

I just can't seem to stabilize at 800mg like I have severe neck pain and twitching with internal tremors. If I I'm off even a minute in my dosing I suffer for it for a few days to a week. I just can't seem to see myself tapering without severe side effects so I was thinking just to cold turkey and get over it. But I'm trying to live you see TBH I can see Gabapentin being harder than a benzo taper especially when I was on Gabapentin for 2  1/5 years longer than a benzo. No I'm not in a hospital and I been taking mostly 300 mg 3x for most of the time with 600mg 3x periods.

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How long have you been at 800 as opposed to 900 daily?  If you cut from 900 to 800 all at once, then you did an 11% cut.  By rights, if you are tapering down from as high as 1800mg per day, you might be feeling it by getting to 800.  So, you should probably hold for at least a few weeks to see if the symptoms subside.

 

I can only speak for my experience which is that too fast tapering of gabapentin has caused me real problems.  I got to as low as 100mg @ 50mg AM and 50mg PM, and then got hit so hard it was unbelievable to me.  I was a die-hard anti-updose person and I held out for as long as I could.  However, eventually I caved to the relentless agony and updosed from 100 to 180.  It's been 10 days since my updose and I believe (tentatively), that I might be stabilizing.  I was shocked by the intensity of my agony.  I hope and pray that is not your experience.  Perhaps it won't be but at this point but given how long you've been on it, in my opinion, a slow taper is really the safest route.

 

In my experience, a reduction of 10-15 percent per month seems tolerable whereas any faster and I have problems.  That's just my opinion. 

 

All the best,

 

-RST

[[li...]]

hello dear friends in GBN pain,

 

I CT'ied gabapentin exactly one week ago, Oct 24/2017.

 

my condition on 300mg 1x am. was so hideous and out of control that it seemed to me to be damaging my already stressed CNS.

 

i tried tapering by snipping off the end of the capsule very slowly and began taking the 300mg. at night.  after stabilizing on the time change dosage i restarted tapering.

 

Backstory:

 

On Oct, 14th/2017 i got down to around 185mg or so (i was snipping off the ends of the 300mg capsule so amounts were guesswork)  but it looked to be roughly half or thereabouts of the capsule.

 

The following morning was brutal beyond all words. i was exceptionally suicidal and not one coherent sentence passed through my brain. my brain felt like a huge wadded up piece of gum. I also became full of rage and lashed out at my husband and daughter.

 

i immediately reinstated 300mg the following day.

 

my gbn sdx were and still are almost 100% emotional/ extreme anxiety/depression/hopelessness/apathy/fatigue, major cognitive issues and agoraphobia.

 

last week to the day, the 24th of oct. i could not even force myself to swallow one more poisonous GBN capsule. i couldn't do it.

 

the last seven days have been pure unadulterated hell. again the usual suspects of emotional sdx. some days ok others miserable.

 

on the plus side, my vision and thinking are much improved. basically back to normal.

 

i cannot tolerate any supplements including mag. some days i can drink coffee and other times not.  everyday i don't know what to expect.

 

at this point, i don't feel daily improvement. i generally feel better at night while mornings and afternoons can be very bad indeed.

 

i know this is a useless question but can anyone comment on their WD and how long it took to feel functional. especially those suffering emotional sdx???

 

i really need support right now and all posts would be so appreciated.

 

Godspeed,  lilla

[[Re...]]

Lillabelle.

 

So sorry we are in this hell together. 

 

I am also sorry that you have had to try and taper so inexactly.  My first question is, and forgive me if I've asked you before but you know how this stuff affects memory, over how long did you taper down to 180 from 300???  It took me at least 2 months and I had some nasty holds to taper that much. 

 

Have you ever tried a controlled micro-taper in all of this gabapentin process?  I think this is a very sneaky drug in that it doesn't snare many of us but for those it does snare fully, WD can be horrible.

 

I'm still trying to stabilize although after my updose I am at least somewhat functional.  I'm hanging onto 180 by the skin of my teeth and hoping to stablize here so I can resume my microtaper.

 

All I can say is if you can't be on it, then I guess you've made the effort to be off of it and that's a way forward.  For me, I had to updose because after I want into the uptick phase of my symptoms, I found it just got progressively worse day after day after day until I could not handle it.  If you aren't getting worse, then maybe that's a good sign to keep holding.  It may not bet better as soon as you'd like, but not getting worse day after day is, to me, a good sign.

 

Please keep us updated.  (((hugs)))   

 

-RST