Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

[[mi...]]

This week, I'm headed down from 100 mg/day to 50mg/day, for seven days, then jumping off. Hope it goes ok.

I have a sensitive scale, so I think I will just empty half out of each capsule, close it back up and take that for my 50 mg.

[[De...]]

I would do it very slowly, the withdrawal symptoms, after my fast cutting, were awful.

[[mi...]]

Thanks Demelza. I've been dropping down 100 mg every seven days for a couple of months. I'm down to 100 mg/day total and my doctor wanted me to hop off at this point. He acts like it won't be a problem to hop off at 100 mg, but I am skeptical. I have seven 100 mg capsules left, so I figured I would cut them down to 50 mg to give myself another little cut and another seven days. I think that's about all I can do at this point, unless I try to cut some old 600 mg tabs down into tiny pieces.

[[Da...]]

I wish I could taper gabapentin as you, Mirabilis. I was doing 50 mg cuts but once I got below 700 mg the w/d started getting worse. I have a hard time going through withdrawals and working because it affects my concentration and ability to think.  I'm now doing a very slow liquid micro taper at 2 mg /day.  I've cut 44 mg so far using this method and yesterday I started dealing with dizziness.  I was hoping to not have any withdrawal symptoms at this ratet but I guess it's not going to happen.  I came down with a nasty chest cold two weeks ago and that's made things worse.  I'll be tapering for a long time so I might as well stop stressing over it and just keep trudging along.  This drug really sucks. 

[[mi...]]

I wish I could taper gabapentin as you, Mirabilis. 

I'm kind of "cheating" because my symptoms are masked somewhat with phenobarb, but even with that, it's been rough. Some days are pretty good and others really bad.  Keep up your slow taper Daves_not_here, you'll get there!!

[[De...]]

I found the withdrawal of 21 days on gabapentin one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life. I thought I was going to go crazy, or maybe I was crazy, had to increase Xanax to deal with the anxiety and deep depression.  I would be very careful with gabapentin.

Stay strong.

[[Re...]]

Gabapentin is generally well tolerated.  However, for those of us who have problems with it, the difficulties can be unpredictable, widely variable and sometimes utterly horrific.  I have struggled with my gabapentin taper now for almost 2 years.  At one point, I was down to 100mg; 50mg BID.  I have mostly updosed incrementally over the last year but that was more a result of increased symptoms due to a lack of understanding of the complicated interaction between physical stress and calcium signaling as it is modulated by gabapentin.  Cytosolic calcium level in the neuronal cell is one of the main things affected by gabapentin as it interferes with calcium entry into the cell.  We now know human biology is designed for very tightly controlled calcium homeostasis because calcium is a very powerful modulator that controls a dizzying number of secondary messenger systems.  So, the potential is there for mere minor adjustments in gabapentin to upset tightly controlled calcium homeostasis and thereby induce all sorts of neurological dysregulation and suffering.  For some people, the body can adjust and maintain homeostasis.  Thus, one person reduces by 100mg every seven days.  On the other hand, I got to a point where I couldn't reduce 1mg.  Eventually, even holding at a steady dose caused misery, which led to incremental updosing.  Problems with gabapentin sensitivity are exacerbated by its short half-life which can cause one's body to be constantly "out" of homeostasis and trying to find it.  This amplifies the problematic symptoms some of us face.

 

I have been trying to turn my research toward the area of mitochondrial support and antioxidant support to reduce the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that can influence neurons so I can get off this drug.  Martin Pall talks about this as the nitric oxid / peroxynitrite cycle.  I think it has some applicability in benzodiazepine and gabapentin (probably pregabalin too) withdrawal.

 

I recently dropped from 225mg to 180mg over the course of mid January through mid February.  However, I got hit with a big wave a week and a half ago and have had to hold.  I'm still in the wave but having some reduction in symptoms.  I do use herbs but the problem with many 'natural' products is they don't have only one mechanism of action.  So, while we see an article or discover that a certain herbal supplement does something good for our condition, we may not see or hear the rest of the story which is that the herbal supplement may do something else that is problematic for us.  A case in point COULD be curcumin.  Curcumin has an incredibly diverse pharmacology and influences a ton of metabolic processes that may be very beneficial.  However, did you know that curcumin is an L-type voltage gated calcium channel blocker?  It does this by a unique mechanism that is different from gabapentin.  However, can you see someone in our shoes taking curcumin because it is touted as a good antioxidant and anti-inflammatory supplement and unwittingly having it influence our gabapentin taper.  Furthermore, upregulated AMPA receptors (that seem 'locked-in' due to TARP proteins after benzodiazepine cessation - protracted withdrawal) have a higher concentration of Glu1-type subunits in them.  The GLu1 subunit containing AMPA glutamate receptors are calcium permeable AND MAY ALSO be upregulated after curcumin exposure.  It's all kind of fascinating if only it weren't so painful and destructive.  Still, there are people in our shoes who have had positive experiences with curcumin.  The one thing that is true is that there are very few long sterm studies of chronic exposure to almost all the supplements and this is where the main issues can become manifest.  Acute and chronic actions of any pharmacological agent (natural or synthetic) can actually be quite dissimilar.  Chronic exposure can often influence secondary messenger systems, mRNA, epigenetics, etcetera, etcetera.

 

Sorry about this post.... it's been kind of a rambling blah, blah, blah......  I just needed to get some thoughts out as I have few people in-person that I can discuss these issues with. 

 

If you are wondering where I have been, I still come to BB.  I just don't do it as much.  Some of the science dialogue has petered-out and that is my main interest.  I will keep checking back so if I don't respond instantly, I will eventually.  Just trying to get through this nightmare and out the other side like all of you.

Keep on keepin' on.  You're all rock stars for getting this far.

 

-RST

[[Da...]]

Hello folks.  As I mentioned in my last message, I've been doing a daily liquid micro taper at rate of 2 mg per day.  For the past few days I've noticed that I'm starting to feel some of the symptoms of withdrawal like increased pain in my legs, temperature disregulation (my hands feel cold and I get chilled easily), and tension headache.  Today I hit the 50 mg mark so I'm half way down on one of my 100 mg morning capsules (300 mg in the am and 300 in the pm.)  Unfortunately, today I also started feeling some major withdrawals in the form of increased anxiety.  It comes in waves and will become very uncomfortable if it gets worse.  It looks like I'm going to have to slow down and let my body catch up and get used to this lower dosage.  I've been doing this micro taper for 23 days now and I guess it has caught up with me.  I must be going too fast.  I'd like to hear what you guys think.  Any comments are welcome.

 

 

thanks.

Dave

[[De...]]

I remember I stopped on a Friday after a very short taper of three days, after 21 days of 900 milligrams a day, by Sunday my anxiety was unbearable, i couldn’t do anything, but clutch my chest and tell my husband that I was in a real bad place. Just to merely function, merely, because I could hardly get out of bed, I had to increase the .25 daily Xanax I had taken for years, to .75. Then I became very depressed, I spent hours crying, oh, it was awful, please be very careful, when you taper from this medication.

Best.

 

[[Re...]]

Hello folks.  As I mentioned in my last message, I've been doing a daily liquid micro taper at rate of 2 mg per day.  For the past few days I've noticed that I'm starting to feel some of the symptoms of withdrawal like increased pain in my legs, temperature disregulation (my hands feel cold and I get chilled easily), and tension headache.  Today I hit the 50 mg mark so I'm half way down on one of my 100 mg morning capsules (300 mg in the am and 300 in the pm.)  Unfortunately, today I also started feeling some major withdrawals in the form of increased anxiety.  It comes in waves and will become very uncomfortable if it gets worse.  It looks like I'm going to have to slow down and let my body catch up and get used to this lower dosage.  I've been doing this micro taper for 23 days now and I guess it has caught up with me.  I must be going too fast.  I'd like to hear what you guys think.  Any comments are welcome.

 

thanks.

Dave

 

The question you have to ask is are the withdrawal signs tolerable?  Could you continue to deal with them for the next 300 days?  If they get worse, how much can you tolerate?  If you do stop, will stabilizing happen?  For some people it does, for others, maybe not.

 

If I were in your shoes, I would stop for a bit.  At 2 mg reduction per day on 600mg, it might be worth taking a break if you are having trouble and see if you stabilize.  If I were able to stabilize, then I'd wait a bit and then try slowly continuing on your taper.  At this point, going down to only suffer and ultimately up dose is of no value and more injurious to your nervous system. Some people change to dosing 3x per day due to gabapentin's short half life.  This might be of help to you but again, it is all very individualistic. 

 

-RST

 

 

Your signature doesn't describe your gabapentin history.  Knowing that would be helpful to us trying to give opinions based on our own experiences.  Remember, the individual experiences of each of us vary widely and so we offer advice and observation not medical opinion.  Hang in there.

 

-RST

 

 

 

[[lo...]]

Dave: IMO gabapentin w/d is short-lived. it mimics benzo w/d a bit, but it is much much easier if you can push through it.

it is about a proper mind-set. I would continue cutting doing slow liquid. there is some stuff you can take to help, like magnesium etc.

once I jumped, it was over after 2 weeks pretty much, peaking day 2-7 or so.

[[mi...]]

Yes, magnesium is helping me a lot. I had a low of twitchy sensations until I started taking it. And exercise helps me a ton. Down to 25 mg today and tomorrow, and then I will jump off.

[[Ca...]]

Dave: IMO gabapentin w/d is short-lived. it mimics benzo w/d a bit, but it is much much easier if you can push through it.

it is about a proper mind-set. I would continue cutting doing slow liquid. there is some stuff you can take to help, like magnesium etc.

once I jumped, it was over after 2 weeks pretty much, peaking day 2-7 or so.

This is a dialog LOF and I have had for a while: he was very fortunate in his Gabapentin withdrawal, I was not. You really don't know how you will react until you go through it; there are many many who have protracted withdrawals even after low-dose, short-term use

[[Re...]]

Dave: IMO gabapentin w/d is short-lived. it mimics benzo w/d a bit, but it is much much easier if you can push through it.

it is about a proper mind-set. I would continue cutting doing slow liquid. there is some stuff you can take to help, like magnesium etc.

once I jumped, it was over after 2 weeks pretty much, peaking day 2-7 or so.

This is a dialog LOF and I have had for a while: he was very fortunate in his Gabapentin withdrawal, I was not. You really don't know how you will react until you go through it; there are many many who have protracted withdrawals even after low-dose, short-term use

 

Absolutely.  There is tremendous variability with gabapentin.  Messing with calcium homeostasis is really significant.  The body tries to strictly control it because it causes so many secondary messenger systems to activate in different ways.  So, as long as the body can manage the adjustments induced by gabapentin tapering you are OK.  The problem is when your body cannot adjust adequately to the gabapentin taper, it results in a huge systemic disregulation that can be crippling, horrific and sometimes long-term. 

 

It is utterly individualistic.  It can be a cake walk for some, and much more difficult for others.

 

-RST

[[lo...]]

what is interesting that I had a really shitty time post clonazepam jump (but easy taper).

so benzo exp. is not an good indicator how your gabapentin taper will be.  same rules apply, taper can be both easy or hard, and post jump can be both easy or hard. lol. no rules pretty much here

[[Re...]]

what is interesting that I had a really shitty time post clonazepam jump (but easy taper).

so benzo exp. is not an good indicator how your gabapentin taper will be.  same rules apply, taper can be both easy or hard, and post jump can be both easy or hard. lol. no rules pretty much here

 

I couldn't agree more. 

 

I remember one point at which I was down to only 100mg of gabapentin and I think you, (locutus) were upwards of 600 or 700 per day.  I hit a roadblock but you found ways to continue tapering, passed me last fall and are off the meds (hooray!!!). 

 

I've struggled at a low dose for a long time.  It's just too difficult to predict right now how any individual will react.

 

I think once we gain a better understanding of the way neuropsych medications affect our neurology we'll be able to do more tests prior to prescribing and thereby save a lot of people from being exposed to a drug that will not be a good fit.

 

I'm hopeful for that anyway.

 

-RST

[[De...]]

No cake walk for me, it almost sent me to the nut house.

An experience I’ll never forget.

😿

[[Se...]]

seeking: in the USA i got a liquid solution at a pharmacy. is stable for the duration of usage at least. ask your doc for liquid gabapentin, they can locate it in the drug database.

 

the FB group -  was on that group for a while. useless IMO. aside from that FB groups are very bad for this type of stuff, all you can see there is the same posts repeating over and over again and no useless advice. it comes down to 'taper slow'.

 

Thanks Locutus!  Unfortunately where I am, they are unable to get the liquid form of Gabapentin.  It would be done the same way I am doing it, but done in a simple syrup, so I'm not so sure I wan't to go that route.  Yes, I was looking into those FB groups, and I find this site to be much more helpful!  Thanks again!

[[mi...]]

Down to zero for a couple of days now. Mostly OK with some occasional chills, panic attacks and mini depressions. But hanging in there and making progress. I have to give two different work presentations today, so wish me luck!

[[mi...]]

Still struggling along with gabapentin withdrawals. Woke up this morning with very bad anxiety and slight depersonalization.  Took some CBD oil and magnesium, and that helped. Then went swimming (20 laps), meditated in the sauna, and that helped some more.

[[Dd...]]

Hey guys, I started Gabapentin in October for CNS tremmors and to come off K. Question is: is skin rash (flush) on my chest in the morning after shower & in the day a serious allergic reaction? Should I say something to my doctor? Thanks❣️

[[no...]]

hello

 

i've been  slowly seperating my 900mg night dose of gabapentin into 3 even doses of 300mg 8 hours apart as per the schedule . today's dose schedule was:

 

 

8:00 AM:  0.25mg clonazepam, 300mg gabapentin (& supplements)

1:30 PM:  0.25mg clonazepam

2:00 PM:  (supplements)

8:00 PM:  0.5mg clonazepam, 50mg quetiapine + 18.75mg/H2O solution quetiapine, 600mg gabapentin (& supplements)

 

i do feel a sense of relief and calmness after taking the smaller (300mg) doses of gabapentin. i think this is going to keep improving as my night-time dose of gabapentin is gradually seperated into 2 smaller doses of 300mg each and moved to 4pm and midnite,

 

so that all 3 doses of gabapentin will eventually be taken 8 hours apart. i already feel improvement.

 

but i still have mild bruxism/jaw clenching & mild headache immediately before & after each dose of my clonazepam at 8am , 1:30pm and 8pm. (this prexisted before ever changing my gabapentin dosage schedule.)

 

originally i was on quetiapine for over a decade before the anxiety caused an ulcer in my stomach (documented by a small camera inserted there 📷).

the clonazepam seemed to help the anxiety for a short time, then made the anxiety worse.

 

now that i'm tapering off of the SSRI, i find the anxiety and bruxism coming back and have to eat saltines for my stomach lining/stomach growling/churning just as i did years ago, when the anxiety caused an ulcer. 

 

should i continue to bite the bullet on the anxiety that's returning while i taper from the SSRI and wait until i'm done (in 2025) to begin tapering off of the benzo?

it kind of feels like i'm getting interdose withdrawals ...either from the quetiapine being all at once dosing at 8pm (with a half life of 6 hours, so by morning i'm in withdrawals already) 😒

or possibly from a reaction to my clonazepam doses...maybe the dose is no longer sufficient to prevent anxiety , maybe tolerance has been reached for the clonazepam and it just doesn't touch the anxiety anymore?

 

if the bruxism/mild headache is due to anxiety caused by the quetiapine short half life and nothing left in my system to prevent withdrawals when i wake up,  then maybe the SX of bruxism/mild headache could be mitigated by seperating my 8pm dose of quetiapine into 2 doses, in a similar fashion to the way that i'm using to seperate my gabapentin into smaller doses.

 

any ideas?

 

thx in advance 👍

[[bl...]]

Following

[[De...]]

I don’t have anything good to say about gabapentin.

[[Ca...]]

I don’t have anything good to say about gabapentin.

Ditto - for many people it is the devil