Gabapentin or Pregaba? helps or hurts a benzo tapper.

Read its a 'king benzo' ?! but md wants me to use it for sleep during klonopin wd's/taper. Anyone try it? Also heard its as hard as a benzo or even harder to quit?.. Thanks for sharing your experiences in advance.

Read its a 'king benzo' ?! but md wants me to use it for sleep during klonopin wd's/taper. Anyone try it? Also heard its as hard as a benzo or even harder to quit?.. Thanks for sharing your experiences in advance.

 

I've been on gabapentin for the last two weeks. It is helping with sleep. About our other question, there are mixed reviews. Some said the gabapentin helped and some hated it. No idea about the lyrica though.

Also heard its as hard as a benzo or even harder to quit?..

 

My experience with it is that indeed it is hard to wean off. Definitely as hard as a benzo. Other people didn't find it do bad, though.

 

It did help me sleep. So that was plus. However, tolerance developed and sleep became less good.

 

It it made me dizzy and gave me cog fog, which were very unpleasant.

 

I know Ashton recommends it to help a taper, but for the life of me, I haven't read anything that specifically explains HOW it helps. Does it help with nausea? No. Benzo flu? No. Other rotten s/x? No. It seems to be one of the vague "magical thinking" fix-all drugs that really don't fix anything. It was originally prescribed for neuropathic pain. Period. that's what I took it for. Now it's prescribed off-label for 15 conditions -- even anxiety -- none of which have been proven to respond to it.

 

Thinking back . . . I wouldn't take it again. I'd tough out my nerve pain, which wasn't caused by benzos but by a botched back surgery.

 

So . . . just my thoughts.

 

Hope you are having a good day.

 

Katz

I personally didn't have any withdrawal side effects coming off of Lyrica/pregabalin, but I had side effects coming off of gabapentin.

Also heard its as hard as a benzo or even harder to quit?..

 

My experience with it is that indeed it is hard to wean off. Definitely as hard as a benzo. Other people didn't find it do bad, though.

 

It did help me sleep. So that was plus. However, tolerance developed and sleep became less good.

 

It it made me dizzy and gave me cog fog, which were very unpleasant.

 

I know Ashton recommends it to help a taper, but for the life of me, I haven't read anything that specifically explains HOW it helps. Does it help with nausea? No. Benzo flu? No. Other rotten s/x? No. It seems to be one of the vague "magical thinking" fix-all drugs that really don't fix anything. It was originally prescribed for neuropathic pain. Period. that's what I took it for. Now it's prescribed off-label for 15 conditions -- even anxiety -- none of which have been proven to respond to it.

 

Thinking back . . . I wouldn't take it again. I'd tough out my nerve pain, which wasn't caused by benzos but by a botched back surgery.

 

So . . . just my thoughts.

 

Hope you are having a good day.

 

Katz

 

agreed. wish i never started it. now i'm up to 900mg. it'll be the last one i taper, but i wish i could stop it now! causes weight gain for me and made me real dopey/stoned when i used to take it at night as one big dose..now i split it into 3 doses 8 hours apart and much better. still, was rx'd for pain from MS...turns out i don't have MS. i just have an injured l4-l5 vertebrae which i can handle with exercise and occassional ibuprofen. so it is unneccessary. and now, another addictive drug to wean off of. it has a large abuse potential and is a popular street drug now. ugh.

Could someone please clarify for me what "king benzo" means? I am currently taking 100mg Gabapentin for fibromyalgia until I can get onto the Lyrica assistance program. I'm nervous to switch over when the time comes.

Everyone is different about w/d sx.  I had worse sx coming off the benzos but gabapentin has not been an easy wean either.  I cut by 5mg every week or two; sleep disruption and muscle twitching are the main things felt with each cut but still not as bad as BZD.  Personally I think a slower BZD without gabapentin would have been a preferred course of action. Good luck!4

Everyone is different about w/d sx.  I had worse sx coming off the benzos but gabapentin has not been an easy wean either.  I cut by 5mg every week or two; sleep disruption and muscle twitching are the main things felt with each cut but still not as bad as BZD.  Personally I think a slower BZD without gabapentin would have been a preferred course of action. Good luck!4

 

hey sqirrlygirl

 

what dose were you on bfore the taper? i have 900 mg to taper and have been wondering about what speed to do it at. was planning on saving it for last but the more i read about it the sooner i feel i want to get off of it.  what dose were you at before cuting 5mg a week? that comes to 20mg a month...not sure what % that would equate to.

Could someone please clarify for me what "king benzo" means? I am currently taking 100mg Gabapentin for fibromyalgia until I can get onto the Lyrica assistance program. I'm nervous to switch over when the time comes.

 

Never heard the expression before this...

My general opinion on all pysch meds is, okay show me a blood test that shows X is deficient and by how much. Then I'll start taking X to get it back to normal. Until then we don't have anything to discuss.

My general opinion on all pysch meds is, okay show me a blood test that shows X is deficient and by how much. Then I'll start taking X to get it back to normal. Until then we don't have anything to discuss.

 

i actually agree with this. 

My max gabapentin was 900mg (right after the nightmare of detox) but it was pretty smooth to decrease to 400mg over a few months.  It's taken me from the start of this year until now to get to 100mg; as with the valium taper, the final stretch required the smallest cuts.  Keep us posted as to how you're doing!

My max gabapentin was 900mg (right after the nightmare of detox) but it was pretty smooth to decrease to 400mg over a few months.  It's taken me from the start of this year until now to get to 100mg; as with the valium taper, the final stretch required the smallest cuts.  Keep us posted as to how you're doing!

 

that sound svery reasonable to me  i hope when my time comes, my taper from gabapentin will go as well as yours has.  agreed on going slower as dose gets smaller. thx squirrleygirl, i'll keep my blog updated and hope to hear of your progress as well!