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Gabapentin and Valium


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Hi Everyone. I"m in the middle of a taper off Valium. I was originally on Klonopin and my dr. switched me to Valium. I"m at 10 mg now and she hopes to have me off of it in 5 months  (February 2021). I have developed debilitating insomnia. I have to work and I can barely function. She prescribed 300 mg of gabapentin to sleep and it has worked beautifully. It's also helping me with my withdrawal symptoms . Her thought is that she will get me off the Valium, then taper me off the Gabapentin if necessary. I've read some people do fine getting off of it and some need to taper.

I've tried Unisom, CBD, Hemp, Hydroxyzine, Melatonin. Nothing works except Gabapentin. I have to keep my job. My dr. is tapering me fast from what I've read. (1 mg every two weeks) so I am having withdrawal symptoms. The insomnia on top of that is about to push me over the edge.

My question is, is Gabapentin as hard to taper off of as Benzos and will I develop a tolerance to Gabapentin over the course of 5 months and need more?

Thanks so much,

Jeri

 

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Hi Everyone. I"m in the middle of a taper off Valium. I was originally on Klonopin and my dr. switched me to Valium. I"m at 10 mg now and she hopes to have me off of it in 5 months  (February 2021). I have developed debilitating insomnia. I have to work and I can barely function. She prescribed 300 mg of gabapentin to sleep and it has worked beautifully. It's also helping me with my withdrawal symptoms . Her thought is that she will get me off the Valium, then taper me off the Gabapentin if necessary. I've read some people do fine getting off of it and some need to taper.

I've tried Unisom, CBD, Hemp, Hydroxyzine, Melatonin. Nothing works except Gabapentin. I have to keep my job. My dr. is tapering me fast from what I've read. (1 mg every two weeks) so I am having withdrawal symptoms. The insomnia on top of that is about to push me over the edge.

My question is, is Gabapentin as hard to taper off of as Benzos and will I develop a tolerance to Gabapentin over the course of 5 months and need more?

Thanks so much,

Jeri

Hi Jeri

Congratulations on getting down to 10mg valium.

I need you to know that five months is not long enough to get off 10mg valium. This will save you lots of pain.

Although I am addicted again due to external stressors and NOT a bad taper, I got off painlessly using a titration method with milk, I "slid" off it, rather than bumpity bumping off it and having to suffer during cuts, and the taper ended up quicker than my original dry cut.

 

Motto: Throw out the calendar when it comes to tapering off valium, we are all unique.

I got jars, syringes, full fat milk and took out a small amount each day, starting with a test cut, and it was easy.

 

It sounds like you need to update, which isn't bad, because, you cannot start a good taper as symptomatic as you are. Don't be bullied by someone else in coming off it too quick as it will injure your CNS.

 

As for Gabapentin - stay away, it is addictive. I was on pregabalin, Gabapentin's stronger relative, Pregab is just a stronger form of Gabapentin, it will do nothing for your valium withdrawal, it will create another addiction.

I got addicted to pregabalin, fortunately it was water soluble so I Was able to do a slow titration of that using water, syringes and jars.

IF you haven't already, say "NO' to gabapentin, it will just land you in more trouble.

Big Pharma educate doctors, they are glorified drug dealers, our game is to detox off all drugs, I PROMISE you can safely and painlessly titrate off valium, taking off daily tiny amounts sounds slow but it is actually quicker, no stabilising process, we just have to reduce the size of the daily cut at the first sign of symptoms.

Tapering from a symptomatic place just chases symptoms and makes them worse.

Change doctor if you have to.

What country are you in.

Here in UK it's harder, in America there are benzo friendly doctors even if you have to go out of state.

Gabapentin might appear to work but once off valium you will have another addiction to deal with. Gabapentin and pregabalin withdrawals are harder than benzo. Sorry to be graphic but when I went a few days with out pregabalin I nearly messed in my bed.

No drug will get you off valium but sensible slow tapering, please do this, you want to keep your job.

PM me if you want to chat.  I am not here to scare you I am here to keep you safe.

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I used 300 mg gabapentin for a couple of months after my c/t.  Like you, I felt it helped some with my sleep.

 

I had no issue stopping.  I just quit.  My sleep suffered a bit for a week, but no worse than it would have been if I hadn't taken the gabapentin at all. 

 

Gabapentin will mask some of the benzo withdrawal symptoms, and those symptoms can last for many months.  If those (masked) benzo withdrawal symptoms are still present when you stop taking the gabapentin, you'll experience withdrawal.  I think some people mistake that for gabapentin withdrawal (although I think that gabapentin can be addictive too).

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Badsocref, that's a really good point. I've never considered that one might still be going through withdrawal from the benzo when the get off the gabapentin. Thanks for your response!

 

Journey, I am so confused about the cuts and all that. It seems you need a doctor that will provide you medication while you do that and I can't find one that will even consider giving me that kind of freedom. Drs where I live in NC are very controlling. I would love to fire my dr. She has no trust in me and continues to tell me that she refuses to go any slower. But I don't know how to find a dr. that will help me control my taper and still write scripts.

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Badsocref, that's a really good point. I've never considered that one might still be going through withdrawal from the benzo when the get off the gabapentin. Thanks for your response!

 

Journey, I am so confused about the cuts and all that. It seems you need a doctor that will provide you medication while you do that and I can't find one that will even consider giving me that kind of freedom. Drs where I live in NC are very controlling. I would love to fire my dr. She has no trust in me and continues to tell me that she refuses to go any slower. But I don't know how to find a dr. that will help me control my taper and still write scripts.

Yeah you can go through withdrawal from benzos and gabapentin can be masking it, it, too is highly addictive with nasty withdrawals.

 

I'm in the UK, is NC North Carolina? Maybe you could find a benzo friendly doctor out of state?

 

Here in the UK we have a law of informed consent. There was a case of an obstetrician which set the precedent, it means that doctors cannot pull you off benzos without consent from you as they are breaking the law, it's worth looking up whether there is one in your state, or even other states in the US.  I would definitely look up the law of informed consent. I know it's a UK law but it's not well known, there are 50 states in the US, there hopefully should be a law.

Here we have Battle Against Tranqulisers, batted.org, they get calls from all over the world I think. Does the US have any such organisations? Battle Against Tranqulisers helped me loads, it's worth looking to see if there is such a charity in the states, US is many times bigger than the little UK.

 

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journey, that's interesting about the laws. I will look into that.

Yes, NC is North Carolina. The problem with going out of state is they charge more for the trouble of having to work with your general practitioner because they can't prescribe the meds theselves because they are not in your state! That probably makes no sense and it may not be true for all states, but I found it to be true for dr. I called in California.

I was also hoping to find a dr. that my insurance covered but that may not be an option in the end and going out of state will mean I pay out of pocket. We have a lousy healthcare system in the U.S.

Thanks for your help.

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journey, that's interesting about the laws. I will look into that.

Yes, NC is North Carolina. The problem with going out of state is they charge more for the trouble of having to work with your general practitioner because they can't prescribe the meds theselves because they are not in your state! That probably makes no sense and it may not be true for all states, but I found it to be true for dr. I called in California.

I was also hoping to find a dr. that my insurance covered but that may not be an option in the end and going out of state will mean I pay out of pocket. We have a lousy healthcare system in the U.S.

Thanks for your help.

The problem with going out of state is they charge more for the trouble of having to work with your general practitioner because they can't prescribe the meds theselves because they are not in your state!

That sounds kafkaesque. (beaurocratic). Yeah I heard you had a lousy healthcare system in the US. Maybe do a search for "benzo friendly" doctors on these boards, I wish I could suggest something useful for you.

The anxiety of benzos tend to limit us and we have to force ourselves to think of something positive.

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You might have some luck looking at your states general gov. guidelines to Drs for discontinuation of all DODs -(Drugs of Dependance)..

I looked at lots from around the world years ago (2014??), and they all seemed generic, perhaps, from memory, stemming from the WHO..??

-Anyone know more or can confirm..??

 

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  • 2 years later...
Hey Jeri.  Did you ever finish the taper?  Did you end up using the gabapentin the whole time?  Did you get addicted to it?  My dr is offering it to me for sleep as well, i took it two nights and slept well and also felt really normal the next day, no debilitating depression, which has been my bigest problem.  I am hesitant to keep taking the gabap though.
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I'm just putting this out there for anyone and hope someone finds it useful and hope no one thinks I am judging, as it is up to the individual what medication to take.

 

Pregabalin, as some of you may know, is a stronger version of gabapentin.

I was taking 600mg pregabalin five days a week, hoping the 2 day break would mean I could stop.

 

I made the mistake of going on a popular drug site and reading about those who got addicted to gabapentinoids and the accompanying horror stories of coming off it.

 

I stopped it, thinking I would be ok, with the 2 day break, I was wrong, bad idea.

The good news is though, I did a daily titration by liquefying it with water, as both pregabalin and gabapentin are water soluble.

As pregabalin has a 6hr half life I dosed 4 times a day, each day, each dose got a tiny bit smaller as I took my cut out using a syringe.

The taper was painless.

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I tried getting off Gabapentin while I wasn’t close to recovered from the benzos and it was hell.  But, lots of people say to not get off other meds until you feel pretty much 100%. 

 

From what I’ve read, in a vacuum Gabapentin withdrawal can be rough but is typically very short.  It’s far more unlikely to cause a protracted withdrawal.  It’s one of the most highly prescribed meds in the US, largely for pain.  Most people take it for months and get off of it no problem. 

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Whitewillow, you are taking a very small dose of Gabapentin.  Are you only taking at night?  If so, I bet you will be just fine.  Gabapentin has a really short half life of 5-7 hours and you are used to going 24 hours between doses which means it’s less likely to build up a dependence. 
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Did you manage to get off the gabapentin?  So far, I am only taking 600 at night for sleep .  I am 5own to 6 mg of valium,and trying to go 1mg every two weeks.  My taper was going horribly until I started the gabapentin.  It has not only helped with my sleep, but it has helped my depression and anxiety all day. I was deeply depressed and housebound.  I am very worried about being on the gabapentin, but didn't think i would make it through the taper, it was going so badly.  I've only been on the ga bapentin for 10 nights, and keep telling myself to go off it, but i don't want to go back to the way i was, completely nonfunctioning most days.  I also worry, i'm already addicted to it after only 10 days.
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