NeuroTalk Support Groups - Gabapentin withdrawal (new to forum)

Hi,
This is my first post here. I have been dealing with hashimotos symptoms for 7 + years. I had knee replacement surgery in November of 2017 which went well. I had trouble sleeping because of low back pain so my doctor prescribed gabapentin in late December. Up until then I had been carefully controlling my weight but I started gaining weight without changing my diet. I gained over 30 lbs in 7 months.
I honestly didn't understand what was going on even when around July when I became so fatigued that I could barely function. I was looking for something to boost energy and decrease pain when I went into a store selling cbd products. The owner asked what medications I was taking for pain and I told her gabapentin. She told me it's very bad and that fatigue and weight gain are very common side effects.
I looked up the side effects and decided to wean off immediately. The next day after decreasing the dose I experienced such bad pain in my ankle that I was shocked. I didn't know that the pain relief was all day long even though it wears off after 6 hours. I hadn't realized how bad the arthritis in my ankle was until then.
Since then I have experienced bad itching, increased migraines, insomnia & nausea in addition to the increased pain all of which disturbs sleep. I never would have started gabapentin if I had known how bad the side effects were and lengthy withdrawal list.
My temperature now is getting lower and I'm wondering if the withdrawal is the reason but on a good note I have stopped gaining weight. Last night was my first without taking any gabapentin at all so I'm hoping things normalize soon.
I hope to encourage anyone considering gabapentin to reconsider. I also would like any feedback from you guys who have weaned off of this drug on how long it took to get back to normal.
Thanks for reading this long post and good luck on your journey :hug:
Debbie