gabapentin

Hello new member here,my doctor and I want me off this poison,it has ruined mt life.He has started me on a slow taper program cutting down 1mg. a month plus he precribed me 600 mgs. of gabapentin 3 times a day to help with the taper.It seems to help with the cravings,but Im just wondering if anyone else has tried gabapentin to help them taper.Thank you for ant response.

Could you include a signature so we know which benzo you are on and the dosage? I get it that you were on the benzo for 30 years. Goodness -- that's a long time!

 

600 mg x 3 seems like an awfully big dose of gabapentin. The starting dose is usually 300 x 3. I was on that drug too during my taper (2300 mgs for years then 900 mgs a day), but for neuropathic pain. It was very hard to get off. Essentially I had to do 2 tapers -- the benzo then gaba. (Well 3 -- I had to taper Ambien also, but never mind that now). It has a w/d profile similar to benzos unfortunately.

 

You say it helps your "cravings"? Can you say more about this?

 

My opinion and advice when ppl ask about adding gabapentin is to avoid it. It helps with very few conditions and docs are way too liberal in prescribing it. It did help with my pain/sleep but made me feel dizzy and stupid (its nickname is "morontin" -- from Neurontin -- so that tells you something about it).

 

We're here to help but you need to tell us a bit more about your situation. Thanks!

 

Katz

 

 

I am currently om 1 mg. of alprazolam 4 times a day the doctor started me off slower with the gabapentin at 300mgs. 3 times a day and after 3 weeks jumped it up to 600 3 times a day it doesnt make me groggy it just help some with the cravings of the  poison blue pilll 4 times a day.Now im on alprazolam 1mg. 3 times a day and it has been rough.You kind of scared me with the having to wean off another drug the doctor told me it was non addictive.

Oh forgot to include the part about cravings basically i meant the want to crawl out of skin type anxiety.

Oh forgot to include the part about cravings basically i meant the want to crawl out of skin type anxiety.

 

Okay. The withdrawals.

 

Gabapentin certainly is addictive. Shame on him for not telling you about that. You will have to taper off it. You may not have as bad a time as I did, or others (I hope not), but it needs a taper.

 

I was on alprazolam and could not taper it. The interdose w/ds were too bad. I think that is what you are feeling as you dropped from 4 x to 3 x a day.

 

There's a better way to taper. I chose to give up on the alprazolam and go to a longer half-life drug that I dosed 2 x a day (some only dose 1 x a day). Valium. My taper got much more bearable when I did that. Lordy, why suffer with a short half-life drug when there is another way?

 

Why don't you look at the Ashton Manual and find the schedule that describes the crossover from alprazolam to diazepam. You may have to do some math to accommodate your dosage, but it's pretty clear. And it's a whole lot more manageable a taper. Just Google The Ashton Manual.

 

Anyhow, just a suggestion.

 

Wishing you all the best,

 

Katz

I just figured after 35 years on alprazolam,I am desperate to get off it quickly,how long will the gabapentin take to wean off of because this is the only med I've ever been on that seems to give me a chance to get benzos out of my life.And I've been on every antidepressant and benzo there is the only thing that ever helped with my severe anxiety wa alprazolam but I've hit the wall with this crap I dont want to take any more and the doctor says I'm at the limit.so I want to try and get this crap out a of me no matter what it takes

 

I understand about wanting get off the alprazolam quickly. We all wanted off our benzos asap. But just realize it might not happen as quickly as you want.

 

My point about switching to valium is twofold: one, going from 4 x a day to 3 x a day with your alprazolam is bound to make your w/ds worse. If you are determined to stick to alprazolam, please read The Ashton Manual and investigate her alprazolam w/d schedule. Going from 4 to 3 times daily means you have already made a 25% cut. That's a big cut in total dosage. No wonder you have "cravings" i.e. withdrawals.  I guess it was your doc's plan to get you to 3 x a day dosing asap? Oaky, so you're there now. Ashton's w/d schedule uses 3 x daily dosing also . . . but I would sure wait to stabilize where you are before making any other cuts.

 

https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm

 

My second point was to try to tell you that short half-life drugs like Xanax are very hard to withdraw from directly. I was just suggesting that switching to valium might make things easier for you. However, it's up to you. You might do okay on Xanax.

 

I wouldn't worry about the gabapentin right now. If it's helping you, good. You can taper it later. The main thing is to get off your benzo.

 

So . . . maybe read the relevant parts of The Ashton Manual. You could even show them to your doc.

 

You seem determined to get rid of your benzo -- good for you!

 

Wishing you well,

 

Katz

Thank you for your reply katz,I read through the Ashton taper schedule and that sounds great now if I can find a doctor to agree with it and prescribe valium and alprazolam to me might be a problem my doctor hates when I play doctor Google as he calls it and I dont know if I could get him to read the ashton taper schedule during an office visit.I know exactly what he will say after 8 years of medical school he will say are you going to listen to me or Google so I'm in quite a canindrum.

I understand completely. My drug prescriber was initially very reluctant to prescribe valium, but my s/x from Xanax tapering were so bad that she agreed.

 

Good luck!

 

Katz

Thank you again Katz is it possible to hit the wall with gabapentin what I mean is it suddenly stops helping in a short time I feel I am going to that stage I was on300 mgs.3 times a day so I called him and he jumped it to 600 mgs a day and it helps a little better.also after my last post he agreed to slow down my xanax to 3.5 NHS a day from 3 mgs.so a slower taper.I just hope after 35 years on this poison which my current md.has prescribed me for the last 25 that I'm able to heal I'm 60 years old now and this is a condition that runs in my family along with addiction.My brother who was 69 when he took his life from benzo and valium addiction used to tell.me he didn't care if he took it the rest of his life and he was a fully functioning person.Anyway I dont want to go that way I want to see if I can take control of it before it kills me.Do you think I can heal after such a long time on xanax

Benzoman of course you can heal! I was on 3 different benzos plus Ambien, plus gabapentin and I figure I am 99.99% healed. And I am considerably north of 60. You can certainly take control of things -- everything is in your control. All you need a doc for is to prescribe the benzo. They really do not know much about benzo withdrawal. You ought to be the one to determine how and how fast to reduce. You have the collective experience of everyone here to help you, and that experience saved my bacon several times. My drug prescriber was just about useless. All I needed her for was to keep writing the scripts.

 

A caveat -- the only way that you will NOT heal (or should I say not do well with your taper) in my experience here, is if you do something dumb like make too big a cut out of impatience or ignorance, or go too fast,  and get "in the weeds". Then your brain has to play catch-up and, oh, brother does that hurt. I was in the weeds several times and it is an ugly place to be.

 

If it were me, I would think carefully about going up on your gabapentin. I don't know that much about it (apart from the fact that, yes, you do get addicted to it), but it seems like you are reaching tolerance to me i.e. you get unpleasant symptoms and it doesn't seem to be helping (because your brain wants more of the drug). When I didn't know anything about benzos, I let my doc talk me into 2300 mgs of gaba for unrelated neuropathic pain. Yeah, it did help . . . but I had no idea I would have to taper it as long as I did. And maybe it won't be like that for you. However, if you think it's the only thing that has helped you getting off Xanax, it's probably worth it. It's so hard to second-guess these drugs. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to be benzo-free and then have to deal with gaba.

 

You seem to be doing okay on the Xanax, even with your taper. Is that correct? Given that you made a 25% cut in total dosage (that was a biggie!) , I'm impressed.

 

You know, there's an Over 60 thread that you might like to post to. I can give you the link if you want. It's good to talk to others who are, ahem, seniors. Our experience with these drugs is different from that of younger folks, I think.

 

Be well, my friend,

 

Katz

Not everyone has a horrible time coming off gabapentin. I've started it and stopped it 3 times. The most I took was 400 mg three times a day. To stop it, I just removed one daily dose every week, i.e. twice a day for a week, then once a day for a week. In 2 weeks I was done. No symptoms from it. I took it for neuropathy in my feet.

Not everyone has a horrible time coming off gabapentin. I've started it and stopped it 3 times. The most I took was 400 mg three times a day. To stop it, I just removed one daily dose every week, i.e. twice a day for a week, then once a day for a week. In 2 weeks I was done. No symptoms from it. I took it for neuropathy in my feet.

Not everybody has a horrible time coming off, but some do, even after relatively brief periods on low doses. You won't know til you try, and there is no guarantee your taper will be easy. If there is any way to avoid it, it might be good to try.....

What I know about gabapentin is that it can cross the blood brain barrier like a benzo but it can't  attach to the gaba receptors like a benzo. I guess for that reason it was never  classified as addictive.  Too many cases  of overdoses from recreational use were being reported so the FDA recently reclassified it and a lot of dr.s are still not informed.  I had two dr.s assure me  it was safe.  ha ha.  I'm still tapering and its been hard but not as difficult as a benzo.

Benzoman of course you can heal! I was on 3 different benzos plus Ambien, plus gabapentin and I figure I am 99.99% healed. And I am considerably north of 60. You can certainly take control of things -- everything is in your control. All you need a doc for is to prescribe the benzo. They really do not know much about benzo withdrawal. You ought to be the one to determine how and how fast to reduce. You have the collective experience of everyone here to help you, and that experience saved my bacon several times. My drug prescriber was just about useless. All I needed her for was to keep writing the scripts.

 

A caveat -- the only way that you will NOT heal (or should I say not do well with your taper) in my experience here, is if you do something dumb like make too big a cut out of impatience or ignorance, or go too fast,  and get "in the weeds". Then your brain has to play catch-up and, oh, brother does that hurt. I was in the weeds several times and it is an ugly place to be.

 

If it were me, I would think carefully about going up on your gabapentin. I don't know that much about it (apart from the fact that, yes, you do get addicted to it), but it seems like you are reaching tolerance to me i.e. you get unpleasant symptoms and it doesn't seem to be helping (because your brain wants more of the drug). When I didn't know anything about benzos, I let my doc talk me into 2300 mgs of gaba for unrelated neuropathic pain. Yeah, it did help . . . but I had no idea I would have to taper it as long as I did. And maybe it won't be like that for you. However, if you think it's the only thing that has helped you getting off Xanax, it's probably worth it. It's so hard to second-guess these drugs. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to be benzo-free and then have to deal with gaba.

 

You seem to be doing okay on the Xanax, even with your taper. Is that correct? Given that you made a 25% cut in total dosage (that was a biggie!) , I'm impressed.

 

You know, there's an Over 60 thread that you might like to post to. I can give you the link if you want. It's good to talk to others who are, ahem, seniors. Our experience with these drugs is different from that of younger folks, I think.

 

Be well, my friend,

 

Katz

 

Hi Katz,

 

I too came off of Xanax after 20 years of prescriptions, I've been off Xanax since July 2018 and I've been "in the weeds" ever since from

tapering too fast, I'm just now starting to really come around, I'm currently taking 15mg of Librium / day, I just crossed the "60 barrier" myself can you post the link please, I feel that I'm now beginning to really heal and I found this post the best I've ever read, thank you, it's a long hard path to health however we can all achieve it as long as we are patient and good to ourselves, do not rush the taper as you stated ,after all it took us many years to get into this place and it will take some time to get out of it, and everyday is one step closer to the finish line.

 

Thanks Again !

 

Regards

 

T