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Gabapentin or Mirtazapine During Taper?


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My new doctor has told me I need to stop taking Clonazepam 1-1.5 mg nightly for sleep. This was prescribed to me 14 years ago for life long insomnia. As soon as I started the smallest slow taper from 1 mg I stopped sleeping, not sustainable!  She referred me to the clinic's psychiatric NP to get something I can take during taper that will help me to sleep.

NP has offered Gabapentin or Mirtazapine, my choice. Any recommendations, based on efficacy and side effects?

thanks

LN

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I think gabapentin also works on gaba receptors so that's something to think about. There are folks here who found it helpful and others who didn't.

 

I can only speak to mirtazapine. It saved my life initially after jumping from Ativan. I wasn't sleeping much or eating and mirtazapine helped with both. However at the higher dose (15mg), the toxic feeling built up quickly after a couple months and I knew I had to taper to a lower dose. Now I'm on 1.5mg and it's still helping with sleep and appetite. With mirt, the lower doses are more sedating since it acts as antihistamine and the higher doses are more activating since it then acts on serotonin.

 

Both gabapentin and mirtazapine need to be tapered off as well. Hope this helps!

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Mirtazapine (Remeron) worked beautifully for me recently while going through a personal tragedy.  Unfortunately, it stopped working after a few months.  However, it could be very helpful for you right now.  At the 15 mg dose it started to work immediately.

 

I still have terrible insomnia, but I find I can use Mirtazapine a couple of times a week as a sleeping pill, and it still works that way.

 

Seroquel (quetiapine) also worked very well for me, but also stopped working after a few months.

 

Both of them were really easy to taper off.

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Gabapentin is horrible to withdrawal from as well.  Most of my issues are related to the Gabapentin and Xanax together.  I would try to refrain from Gabapentin.

Good luck!

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Mirtazapine at 22.5 mg has been working for me for a year during my taper. I tried gabapentin initially albeit at low doses (1-300 mg), but it didn't do squat for me.
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Do NOT take gabapentin. They say it's safe and nonaddictive but it's very addictive. It works on gaba and will help with withdrawals BUT it can be HORRENDOUS coming off of it. Many say worse than benzo's . In jan I came off of it and it was a living nightmare. Anxiety, heart rater up, severe agitation, insomnia, panic attacks, etc. The first time I came off of it I was fine but the second time was horrible. You are really just trading one problem for another. Both work on gaba. It's just a replacement for it. They give it also alcoholics and they end up addicted to gaba. They give it out like candy and there are some nasty side effects. Brain fog is one of them. Your thinking really slows down.  So really read up on it, personal stories before taking it. Go to facebook for their gabapentin withdrawal group, they will tell you.

 

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I tried Gabapentin, but it didn't do anything for me. I don't recall it being hard to get off of, maybe I wasn't on it long enough or at a high enough dose.

 

Mirtazapine didn't seem to do much for me either except pack on the weight. I think I gained about 12-15 pounds in four weeks.

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I tend to think of gabapentin as “like” another benzo, for simplicitys sake... So yes, it can reduce symptoms, and be used as a “tool”, but so can taper speed and dose corrections on the origonal med (benzo)... I see it being more viable if one is being strictly tapered faster than ones body can adjust to reductions, but its still a trade off in a “masking” type of way.. I guess it also has value in hopefully knocking down severe SX that might be damaging or intolerable, but perhaps best in the short term, like after a big cut, or post cessation..

-A Tool, but a tradeoff... Benzo WD may still “lurk” underneath...

 

It seems to me that the more problems one has with benzo discontinuation, the higher the chance that GPN could be problematic too, esp if one uses it to “rush the benzo taper”..??

It does act on a slightly different receptor site, but I feel that all the flow on effects are similar...

 

It will be a personal choice in the end, so yes, I would read to see if it might suit your needs vs the potential risks...

 

Cheating “time” can have its problems...

 

:)

 

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Do NOT take gabapentin. They say it's safe and nonaddictive but it's very addictive. It works on gaba and will help with withdrawals BUT it can be HORRENDOUS coming off of it. Many say worse than benzo's . In jan I came off of it and it was a living nightmare. Anxiety, heart rater up, severe agitation, insomnia, panic attacks, etc. The first time I came off of it I was fine but the second time was horrible. You are really just trading one problem for another. Both work on gaba. It's just a replacement for it. They give it also alcoholics and they end up addicted to gaba. They give it out like candy and there are some nasty side effects. Brain fog is one of them. Your thinking really slows down.  So really read up on it, personal stories before taking it. Go to facebook for their gabapentin withdrawal group, they will tell you.

 

Hi Mobykal.  We ask that you not write in a prescriptive style. It is not permitted to tell  members  what they should or should not be taking in reference to medications and/or medical advice. 

 

Guidelines Regarding the Giving of Medical Advice

 

Thanks in advance for posting within forum guidelines.

 

Magrita

 

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Mobykal----

 

No matter what I appreciate the advice because I was on the fence about gabapentin and now I've decided what to do.

thanks to each one that tries to help others.

 

love and blessing to each of us trying to heal

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Just a general fyi here from Medscape:

 

Gabapentin is an analog of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that slows down the activity of nerve cells in the brain, but does not bind to GABA receptors or affect the production or uptake of GABA. How gabapentin works and how it relieves pain and suppresses seizures are unknown

 

However, having pointed that out, I would like to add that I took gabapentin in very large doses for (unrelated) pain during my taper, and it was a horrible, horrible drug to get off. Yes, it helped neuropathic pain and it did help me to sleep, but it had its own miserable s/x. I tapered it off after valium.

 

I have never been able to understand why it is prescribed as something that will (maybe) help with benzo w/ds.

 

Anyhow, just sayin'  :-\

 

Katz

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I'm OK with weight gain, I've lost about 15 pounds since I started tapering for the 2nd time.

 

Thanks everyone for your information and help.

Stay safe.... this hurricane wait is making me more anxious. We're 60 miles from the coast.

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I apologize telling someone what not to do. Everyone is different and I'm not here to give medical advice. Please accept my apologies and wish you all well.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was recently prescribed Gabapentin for a Klonopin taper, taking 800mg at the moment. I didn’t like the side effects of Gabapentin and it did not help with my anxiety or insomnia. I’ve heard it is very hard to get off of, and I tried once to get off, but failed. I also heard that Gabapentin will prolong the healing of those GABA receptors. So for me, Gabapentin is very addicting. With that said, having been on Klonopin for 30 years and Gabapentin for a few months, I would guess it would be easier to first get off the Gabapentin.

 

So it seems I am addicted to two drugs and not sure which drug to get off of first. Anyone here who could share their personal experience with these two drugs would be greatly appreciated. Which drug did you taper off first, the benzo or gabapentin? Thanks.

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If it were me I’d get off the gabapentin first as you have not been on in that long. The first 500 mg are not bad, IMO, but that last 300 can be. Why don’t you consider dropping 100 mg initially and see  how that goes? Great decision.
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Thanks for the reply. I’ll give tapering off Gabapentin another try. My last attempt was tapering 100mg every two weeks. The wheels came off when I dropped to 400mg. I guess it was too fast with all that Klonopin in my system for years, crying for more, more, more! It felt like a Klonopin withdrawal.

 

I’ve heard success with a 100mg drop every month, then a slower taper between 300-400, with a 50mg per month drop. I guess 300-400 is the magic dose for this drug where it digs in and says to the mind and body, “now I’m going to tell you how much you need me!” I had know idea it was addicting. Thanks again.

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Benadryl? For what, anxiety, help with a gabapentin/Klonopin taper?

 

For insomnia. Am I missing where the thread has gone? i thought that was what it was about.  Sorry if I'm off base.

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You know they come in capsules so I suppose you can open them up, remove a bit, and so forth. I found it easier when I had my Valium as a backup. But the drug stinks so I think it’s a good decision on your part......
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Yes, I would wean Gabapentin first !  Very slowly. I would open up 100mg capsule and take 1/2 toward the end of my

Gabapentin taper. Now I'm try to wean/taper Klonopin for the second time and it's rough ! Feel sick every day !

 

Blessing and healing to each of us.

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