I've gone down now only 200mg off the 2400mg gabapentin across one week and I am in just as much in trouble as after a one day reduction of as much. The disturbing part about this is the total lack of sleep and daytime akathisia. During the day it doesn't work for more than 1 hour. Day and night I am in agony. I need help from anyone on this forum who knows about this gabapentin devil. Can you suggest what forum I should turn to? Many thanks!

The valley fever titer came back as 1:2 and the lung x-ray is normal so that is good. I appreciate your advice. I've done 100mg less for 3 days and just started on another 100mg less today. The hit was almost immediate — runaway agitation, chest pains and hyperventilating, anxiety, pacing. Is there something I can take to lessen the withdrawal? Or would taking some other drug just be replacing one addiction for another?

Thanks for your warm welcome. I need all the advice I can get. I have never been addicted to anything nor have I used any drugs. I also do not drink. I am at a total loss when it comes to this gabapentin drug. I even went to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting but the few people I talked to said this is not a narcotic nor an addiction. Is it just that I'm nuts or does anyone have problems with this stuff?!

--seems to have that degree of difficulty coming off Gabapentin; you seem to be especially sensitive.

As with all anti-seizure drugs, one must come off Gabapentin very, very slowly, as the central nervous system upregulation that occurs while taking the drug will no longer be masked if the drug is titrated down too quickly, and then unsuppressed upregulation can certainly produce symptoms of agitation and possible susceptibility to seizures.

I was on 2700mg of Gabapentin at my highest dose; when I began to taper I went down 100mg every WEEK. There were some some effects each time I did this; when the effects were bad I sometimes went a few weeks before going down again, to give my body time to adjust. It took me more than 8 months to completely come off the drug, though in my case I was trying to avoid bounceback neuropathic pain more than the effects you are describing.

I am sorry you are suffering with withdrawl from gabapentin. It is known to have effects like that. Your doctor can do it slower if you are having terrible trouble. Any kind of seizure is a warning that it is too fast at 400mgs.
I do know about withdrawl. I got off Morphine after many years. It was awful even with the doctors help. If you can be prescribed Klonopin while you are doing this, you will have less jerky movements, and may be able to rest better. I remember just standing in the hall and yelling. I was miserable. Talk to your doctor about coming off this medication slower. Change doctors if you are not being listened to. This has a very huge impact on the quality of our lives. Go ahead and call, be a pest if you have to be, get the help. ginnie

Hi Adamo,

The effects you describe all sound like symptoms of anxiety to me. The good news is it does not sound as though you are seizing. If you should have symptoms like acute nausea, visual disturbances (things looking real big, real small, tilted), strong foul smells, or anything else you cannot explain, please call your doctor right away. It is clear that you are very sensitive to this medication.

Gabapentin and anticonvulsants in general are not considered addicitive in the usual sense. However, these and other "non-addictive" drugs do induce neurochemical changes that do not reverse spontaneously, so a slow suspension is required to avoid seizures. The rate of dose reduction depends on individual sensitivity. Anxiety and agitation are possible adverse effects during reduction.

However, I'd be very, very, leary of trying to "lessen" symptoms by introducing another drug. The only drugs I can think of that might help would be:

1. a different anticonvulsant, which might not help with the anxiety, however
2. a benzodiazepine like Klonopin -- VERY addictive, even in the "standard" sense

So basically, yes, I see a high risk of trading one "addiction" for another in your case. Your doctor might have other suggestions, however.

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Personally, I think your best bet is to go more slowly, just as Glenntaj described. Reducing every 3 days is apparently still too fast for you. You probably need a week, perhaps more, between decreases.

You might try this -- after each dosage decrease:

1. See how long it takes you to get comfortable at the new dosage
2. Once comfortable, wait the the same amount of time again, symptom free, before going down again.

The idea is to hold still at each new dose for twice the amount of time it took you to feel ok.

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That is super that the objective exams confirmed that the Valley Fever remitted!

Good luck with this discontinuation quest. I'll check back on you.

waves

p.s. You might want to see a different doctor. You said this guy prescribed gabapentin for your "mental state"? To my knowledge, it is not a first-line medication (or even approved!) for any "mental" state. Was there also a pain management situation involved?

Your advice is super helpful. It is very kind of you to take an interest in my perhaps, in the scheme of things, quite trifling situation. As you say this may be purely an anxiety issue. There was no pain issue except for Vally Fever (which is not a pain issue — its a fungal infection). I was prescribed Gabapentin because of anxiety that began over the serious nature of my Valley Fever. And again, the reduction of this may be aggravating the underlying (post-traumatic) anxiety with the GABAs already having been altered by the drug in the last month. When I take 800mg in the morning I feel sick and confused. Within an hour or two I am in a stoned haze and am incapable of working at my job — even if I drink coffee. By early afternoon I am exhausted and by latter afternoon I am agitated and anxious (when I have to take another dose). Are the Gabas permanently altered by this drug or does it take a long time to recover normal functioning after cessation? Won't any prolonged taper increase the difficulty of reinstating normal function?

I think you are right about reducing it more slowly but if I remain as dysfunctional as I have become I am afraid of losing my livelihood. It is dismaying to me to have lost my mental acuity and I want it back. In any case, everywhere I've turned I have been rejected for any medically supervised withdrawal of this. I even went to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and ended up asking the speaker about this drug. He told me its withdrawal is a common problem among addicts who are given it for other withdrawals. I have never been addicted to anything so I am scared and at a loss by such an experience. He said increased physical exercise is the only way to counteract the withdrawal symptoms. But really: When your are working how much can you possibly exercise?

Again, grateful for your help!

Peripheral Neuropathy (PN) and Medications & Treatments.

You posted to the PN forum once, but I don't know if you followed up. Many members here take/have taken gabapentin for neuropathic pain of PN, and the med has been discussed exhaustively on that forum, so I would check the archives (Search function) for threads that contain gabapentin or Neurontin in their titles.

There is some anecdotal evidence that magnesium and/or calcium supplementation may attenuate withdrawal symptoms of gabapentin, but I've found nothing definitive/documented.

lessening gabapentin withdrawal

IMO it's important to understand the difference between addiction and physical dependence; they are not the same. Your are dependent on gabapentin, but not addicted to it.

Doc

I agree with waves Klonopin can be a dangerous drug as well. However when you are withdrawing from medication, it is a good tool for a short duration under your doctors care. I took it only as long as it took to withdraw from my medications. I had no trouble stopping klonopin after that. ginnie

I have some of the ReMag drops as well as those JNK and NeuroEdure tablets from The Road Back people. I'm not sure those things are working at all. If I take epsom salts baths I tend to feel MUCH MORE withdrawal symptoms rather than less which is kinda weird based upon what people say anecdotally.

I understand that I have a dependence rather than an addiction. I guess since I've never had an addiction I'm simply ignorant. Nevertheless, what I experience in between doses of Gabapentin is so intense it feels my body is craving the drug and I have to contain myself from taking it too soon. Of course, I do feel kind of high from taking it — but it is a nasty disorienting sensation that clouds my mind and certainly my judgment. The only thing I know is I am facing withdrawal symptoms by trying to reduce it and this is what some of my drug-addicted friends say is what is at issue anyway....

I appreciate your comment.