feel past 20 mos has been nothing and now don't have a goal date SOS!!!!!

Dear BB

 

I have been off benzos for almost 20 months. I kept looking forward to each month I checked off as a date of getting closer to becoming well.  I kept waiting for my GABA to heal and to be well.

 

I have been having trouble the past 6 weeks, believing it was sugar.  I have tested out ok to my sugar.  I have now come to the realization that it is my tapering off Lyrica.  I didn't have any trouble with coming off until I got below my 25 mg mark.  I have started having wave upon wave.  I had believed my dr when she told me that Lyrica didn't affect the GABA.  I had believe whikepedia when it said it didn't affect GABA.  Everyone knows I have sworn that Lyrica saved me from drowning.  But now it is causing me to drown.

 

My dr told me today after she looked it up that Lyrica does affect the GABA.  She didn't know that until she looked it up.  What the hell?  Do these drs just write this stuff and not know anything about it.  She told me numerous times that it didn't.

 

She told me today that I will have to go thru wd again on it like I did on benzos.  I can't do that.  After 20 months of surviving this c/t I swear people I'm not strong enough to do this again.

 

Please give me strength, please reach out and tell me this isn't the end.  I'm scared people I'm scared for myself, I'm sorry I just feel this is it.  I don't know what to do but to reach out to you all.

 

I have no date ahead of me.  I have no end of 2 yrs or 3 yrs ahead of me.  I was told to breath in to a paper bag and my dr would see me in 3 weeks.  Will I be here in 3 weeks?  God please help me. I just took a prescription and it just keeps ruining my life.  I can't go thru wd again.  I don't know what to do.

 

Please help me.

Sally

How much Lyrica were you on? I am 17 months out from 1mg xanax(9 months). I was already on 30mg gabapentin for hot flashes at night when I started tapering. Everything I have read says gabapentin does not work on Gaba. I know Lyrica and gabapentin are similar, although I believe Lyrica may be stronger. Sorry for the typo(300mg gabapentin). Please do more research on Lyrica and let us know what you find. Doctors DO NOT know everything!

My dear Sally,

 

I know we have been on different sides regarding lyrica ... but I am here reaching out to you with open arms.

You can overcome this ... and you will.

 

Right now, I think you are in shock and deep disappointment .....

but the spirit is amazingly resilient ... you will adjust ...

and then, when you are ready, you will continue your titration slowly and methodically.

 

You have come too far, to give up now.

Take a deep breath .... give yourself time .... and then onward ...

 

Lizie   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Sally...well, as you know, Lyrica is a very popular fibromyalgia drug.  I have fibro...had it long before benzos.  From what I have researched, Lyrica does not bind to gaba receptors.  I belong to a fibro forum and most people on there take a Lyrica/benzo combo for nerve pain and muscle spasms etc.  I can't believe doctors would prescribe two drugs that affect gaba...but then again look where I am.  I'm 20 months off also and still have some issues.  I c/t'd Lexapro before starting a valium wean and I now I know it's the shock of both of the drugs that is causing me much of my trouble.

 

I guess I'm thinking in your case, you are having Lyrica w/d symptoms but these are independent of your benzo w/d's.  The symptoms are very similar.  For me, benzo w/d was 100x's worse than the Lexapro c/t....and I thought that was brutal.

 

Many MANY people on my forum wean off Lyrica...mainly because it loses its effectiveness in less than two years.  I don't think it's anywhere close to what you experienced with your benzo.  Hang in there....you can do it!

 

Donna

i dont know Sally because im not on anything and 19 mo off and have had bad waves, too.

 

can you get off the lyrica? just keep going slowly.

alot of ppl seem to be feeling lousy now.

its just a matter of time I guess. its been a long time for us:(

im sorry about your Dr but it doesnt surprise me

Dear BBs

 

Thank you for reaching out to me, it floods my heart to know that strangers are out here being supportive to me.  I feel you have more compassion and understanding than my dr who knows me.

 

Daisy Mae,  I get so confused.  I was on 225 mg a day, for the past 10 months I have tapered down to 21 mg daily where I got so sick so I went back up to 37.5 mg total daily. I had planned to hold here for a month or two and then taper on off. 

 

Today I talked to my pdr and she said Lyrica did affect the GABA and so my windows and waves weren't from coming off the benzos. She said I must be having just panic attacks when I thought a wave was hitting.  If it was from coming off xanax then the Lyrica was stopping that.  So she didn't see where I have this "healing" idea.  She said I could just c/t off Lyrica and get it over.  I told her I couldn't c/t off Lyrica, I did that off xanax and if I did it again I wouldn't be here.  So she said then just stay on it and go thru w/d.  For me to breathe in a paper bag and those waves as I call them will go away.  I felt totally discredited and totally lied to her from her telling me at the beginning of my treatment with her that Lyrica didn't affect the GABA.

 

I looked up Lyrica again and found this posting.

 

http://www.snappyfingers.com/faq/medication/lyrica/Does LYRICA affect GABA?

 

"LYRICA has no effect on GABA. It does not bind to GABA A or GABA B receptors and therefore is not an agonist or an antagonist. LYRICA is not metabolically converted to GABA and does not alter GABA uptake or degradation at nerve terminals. Studies with a rat model show that high doses of LYRICA do not alter whole-brain GABA concentrations."

Source: www.pfizerpro.com

 

another source said ;  "Lyrica (pregabalin) increases the conversion of glutamate to GABA, resulting in higher amounts of GABA in neurons (and therefore supposedly increasing GABA transmission)."

 

another - "LYRICA has no effect on GABA. It does not bind to GABAA or GABAB receptors and therefore is not an agonist or an antagonist. LYRICA is not metabolically converted to GABA and does not alter GABA uptake or degradation at nerve terminals. Studies with a rat model show that high doses of LYRICA do not alter whole-brain GABA concentrations"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregabalin

 

Pharmacodynamics

 

"Like gabapentin, pregabalin binds to the α2δ (alpha2delta) subunit of the voltage-dependent calcium channel in the central nervous system. Pregabalin decreases the release of neurotransmitters including glutamate, norepinephrine, substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide.[21] However, unlike anxiolytic compounds (e.g., benzodiazepines) which exert their therapeutic effects through binding to GABAA, GABAB, and benzodiazepine receptors, pregabalin neither binds directly to these receptors nor augments GABAA currents or affects GABA metabolism (Pfizer Inc. 2006)."

 

 

All the above makes it so confusing.  What I have to see is that I still have been healing from benzos these past 20 months.  That is what has floored me, to think that all these months I might not have been healing.

 

Lizie,

 

Thank you for reaching out with open arms.  Yes I was in shock after talking to my dr today. To be told that I wasn't having windows and waves but they were panic attacks all these months. That Lyrica was keeping my GABA supplied - which meant to me that I wasn't healing. 

 

My counselor called me and said I was to absolutely not c/t off Lyrica as the dr said I could. She said she was having words with my dr today.  I'm to see my counselor tomorrow.  She said if Lyrica affects the GABA then the low dose I have tapered to isn't saturating it like a higher dose did and healing is still happening.  She suggests I hold at this level and then as you said  Adjust and continue with my taper. 

 

This isn't a life sentence like I felt when talking to pdr.  She was more or less either c/t or continue hell.  She didn't talk of holding.

 

So I am going to hold at 12.5 mg 3 xs a day for a month or more I guess and then taper on off.  I just had so looked forward to that 2 yr mark of being benzo free and thought this would be over. I know that date isn't there now in the way I had thought, but it will be there someday surely.

 

I had been on xanax for almost a year and was c/t off 4 mg by a MD. I later reinstated and spent the next 6 years tapering down to 1 mg where at that time my pdr told me that I would be on 1 mg the rest of my life.  I was sick for the next 9 yrs. Then I went to a new pdr and she made me even worse by switching me to Klonopin directly, then valium, the back to xanax on and on till I c/t.  I just don't want to be sick like that or this for the years to come. 

 

I know I must hold, hopefully my body will adjust as it did when I cut higher levels of Lyrica these past months.  Then I can taper down slowly, holding if need between cuts. 

 

Thanks again for responding.  Stupid pdr to tell someone to c/t that is having trouble tapering at lower levels. These pdr are dangerous with their c/t and fast detoxing thinking.  Stupid to not believe in w/d - a wave is not a panic attack.  I will be so relieved to get off Lyrica and not have to go back to see her to get a prescription.

 

Thank you for reaching out,

healing to all of us,

Sally 

Hi Sally...well, as you know, Lyrica is a very popular fibromyalgia drug.  I have fibro...had it long before benzos.  From what I have researched, Lyrica does not bind to gaba receptors.  I belong to a fibro forum and most people on there take a Lyrica/benzo combo for nerve pain and muscle spasms etc.  I can't believe doctors would prescribe two drugs that affect gaba...but then again look where I am.  I'm 20 months off also and still have some issues.  I c/t'd Lexapro before starting a valium wean and I now I know it's the shock of both of the drugs that is causing me much of my trouble.

 

I guess I'm thinking in your case, you are having Lyrica w/d symptoms but these are independent of your benzo w/d's.  The symptoms are very similar.  For me, benzo w/d was 100x's worse than the Lexapro c/t....and I thought that was brutal.

 

Many MANY people on my forum wean off Lyrica...mainly because it loses its effectiveness in less than two years.  I don't think it's anywhere close to what you experienced with your benzo.  Hang in there....you can do it!

 

Donna

 

Hi Donna,

 

Thank you for your post.  It is just so confusing as to what Lyrica affects, I mean you google Does Benzodiazipine affect GABA and it is a definite yes.  Lyrica doesn't come up yes, comes up more nos than yes.  Even my pharmacist told me it didn't.

 

I guess I have been having the wd sxs from my cutting Lyrica too fast and that is what I'm feeling and also setting off these waves.  I'll try holding and continue tapering.

 

What is the forum you are on about Lyrica?  Maybe it would be positive for me to see people do taper off it and continue on with normal lives, I hope at least that is what you see. So do you think you will be tapering off Lyrica in the future then since you said it loses it's effectiveness in two years?

 

I'm sorry about your fibromyalgia.  I was diagnosed with that after my first son was born 24 yrs ago. I took Darvocet for years as needed and was able to just step right away from them, maybe less than a month of some slight dizzy and nausea. Those got taken off the market and I got rid of them.  Anyway after I c/t I haven't had any fibro sxs rear back up. Nothing so what is with that, but sure not complaining.  I know how difficult and tiring it is to be in pain.

 

Hope you feel better soon,

again thanks for posting,

Sally 

i dont know Sally because im not on anything and 19 mo off and have had bad waves, too.

 

can you get off the lyrica? just keep going slowly.

alot of ppl seem to be feeling lousy now.

its just a matter of time I guess. its been a long time for us:(

im sorry about your Dr but it doesnt surprise me

 

Dear Gardenia,

 

Bless your heart for posting me.  I'm so sorry you are feeling so bad.  I know you keep getting hit with the waves.  You are getting so far out in your time surely you are getting closer to getting better.  I sure hope so.

 

I am going to hold with the Lyrica at this 37.5 mg amount for a month or two I guess and then I'll taper down some more.  I have no options other to be sensible and do that or totally stupid and c/t. I listened to drs two times now and c/t off xanax and I'll never c/t off anything again.  So yes honey I'll taper off and get off someday.  I just had thought this would be done easier than it is, but maybe with holding it will become easier like it was when I got down to 75 mg a day and then started my taper back up.

 

Hope your day isn't a wave and you feel a little better. 

Thanks for posting,

Sally 

Sally,

 

Glad to sense that you are already adjusting!

You are going to make it ... hold and settle for a while.

Healing has still occurred. 

 

I am relieved that, at least, your counselor makes sense!

The dangerous ignorance of some of these doctors is astounding.

 

Wishing you well ...

Lizie  xx

 

 

Dear Lizie,

 

I read on your sig line that you had been on Lyrica.  You stepped right off?  What level were you on?  Did you have any trouble coming off?  I have read that it is sometimes prescribed that people take benzos to taper off Lyrica. So I believe you were still on benzos when you came off the Lyrica, but still did you have trouble?

 

But now you are benzo and Lyrica free, that must be glorious.  Your body will truly heal now.

 

healing to you and all of us,

Sally 

Dear BB

 

I have been off benzos for almost 20 months. I kept looking forward to each month I checked off as a date of getting closer to becoming well.  I kept waiting for my GABA to heal and to be well.

 

I have been having trouble the past 6 weeks, believing it was sugar.  I have tested out ok to my sugar.  I have now come to the realization that it is my tapering off Lyrica.  I didn't have any trouble with coming off until I got below my 25 mg mark.  I have started having wave upon wave.  I had believed my dr when she told me that Lyrica didn't affect the GABA.  I had believe whikepedia when it said it didn't affect GABA.  Everyone knows I have sworn that Lyrica saved me from drowning.  But now it is causing me to drown.

 

My dr told me today after she looked it up that Lyrica does affect the GABA.  She didn't know that until she looked it up.  What the hell?  Do these drs just write this stuff and not know anything about it.  She told me numerous times that it didn't.

 

She told me today that I will have to go thru wd again on it like I did on benzos.  I can't do that.  After 20 months of surviving this c/t I swear people I'm not strong enough to do this again.

 

Please give me strength, please reach out and tell me this isn't the end.  I'm scared people I'm scared for myself, I'm sorry I just feel this is it.  I don't know what to do but to reach out to you all.

 

I have no date ahead of me.  I have no end of 2 yrs or 3 yrs ahead of me.  I was told to breath in to a paper bag and my dr would see me in 3 weeks.  Will I be here in 3 weeks?  God please help me. I just took a prescription and it just keeps ruining my life.  I can't go thru wd again.  I don't know what to do.

 

Please help me.

Sally

 

Sally,

We are friends of old. So sorry to hear you're down again. PM me and we'll talk.

hugs,

Seepi

Hi Sally,

 

I had an ignorant doctor, too ....

but, unfortunately, I knew nothing about withdrawal ... or sites like BB ... so I innocently obeyed!

I tapered the capsules successfully until I reached the lowest one ... 75mg I think it was ...

I was told to take one for four days and then stop.

When I was in the throes of withdrawal, they denied its impact, which was devastating for me at the time.

That's when I decided to fire the whole lot of them and to take care of my own health.

My goal was to get rid of each med in turn ... and to get my life back.

 

Yes, I was still on clonazepam ... but I think this just complicated things further for me.

Your being off benzos is an advantage ... so don't give up .... ever !!!!!!

 

Lizie  xx

 

Just because another drug acts on gaba does not mean that it will necessarily cause issues with benzo wd. I drank a lot of alcohol my first year off benzos and still saw the vast majority of my healing during that time.

 

You have a good chunk of healing time under your belt. I seriously doubt that this other drug is going to have a significant impact on that. Maybe it has wd issues of its own,  but everyone is in universal agreement that benzos are the grandaddy of them all, so if you were able to get through the worst of that this should be a piece of cake.

 

I can totally relate to having "no end in sight", BTW. When you have been dealing with this for such a long time the feel good stuff starts to ring hollow and you start to wonder whether you will ever recover. Just have to keep hanging in there. Some folks take longer than other but it seems the vast majority get through this within the course of a few years. Try not to lose hope 

 

 

Thanks Lizie,

 

I know it doesn't make a difference whether you were on Klon when you came off and that I'm not. I just find it scary when I read to come off of it to be put on a benzo.  I wonder how often that happens and then people end up opposite of me, on the benzo.  It is a vicious circle.

 

Someday I will break free of it.  I'm really very close, I mean I half my lowest capsule 25 mg in half with water titration and take just the 12.5.  At one time I was up to 75 mg 3 xs a day, so being at 12.5 mg is really low in 10 months.  I'll make it the rest of the way.

 

Thanks for posting and sharing with me,

Sally 

Just because another drug acts on gaba does not mean that it will necessarily cause issues with benzo wd. I drank a lot of alcohol my first year off benzos and still saw the vast majority of my healing during that time.

 

You have a good chunk of healing time under your belt. I seriously doubt that this other drug is going to have a significant impact on that. Maybe it has wd issues of its own,  but everyone is in universal agreement that benzos are the grandaddy of them all, so if you were able to get through the worst of that this should be a piece of cake.

 

I can totally relate to having "no end in sight", BTW. When you have been dealing with this for such a long time the feel good stuff starts to ring hollow and you start to wonder whether you will ever recover. Just have to keep hanging in there. Some folks take longer than other but it seems the vast majority get through this within the course of a few years. Try not to lose hope 

 

Hi Florida Guy,

 

Thanks for your words.  I guess I really don't understand this GABA stuff and I thought as long as I was taking anything to affect the GABA then it couldn't start up regulating itself.  I really do need to step back and look at how much of my sxs had gone away or diminish, even while tapering down the Lyrica.  So that would show I guess that healing is happening.

 

Yes you are right, I made it thru almost 20 months of being off benzos - I have tapered down from 225 mg daily to 37.5 mg daily. (went to 21 mg but it was too low so upped to 37.5) but even still that I had to back track to get my feet back on the ground is no failure, no Lyrica life time.    If I could and did a c/t off benzos and have come this far with Lyrica taper, I can do this the rest of the way, after I get settled down some. 

 

I'm so close and then it will be over forever and no new tapering plan. I guess none of us have the date when this will be over.  From talking to my pdr today it was like everything I had done didn't count and the ticker was not going to start till I got off Lyrica, that just can't be so.  I do have so much time under my belt and will add another day to it tonight.

 

You said you drank during your first year, did you decide to stop?  I haven't drank but would be afraid to. I know Dr Ashton says a glass of wine with an evening meal won't hurt, but I was afraid of anything I did that affected GABA. I know some people do have an occasional drink - what scares me is with alcoholics they treat them with benzos, so then how is alcohol on a benzo brain? You haven't found any problem with drinking?

 

I hope a window opens for you soon and never closes,

Sally 

I'm so sorry that you're having such a rough time.  Though clonazepam is the only med I was on, I can completely relate to not having any idea of when the end will be.  Originally, I thought I'd be ok as soon as I finished my taper.  Then I thought surely the symptoms would wrap up in a few months, or surely within a year.  Then I thought that even though it was taking longer than I thought, I would *surely* at least be done by 24 months, but at 23 I know that that is not going to happen.  But this is not a cause for dispair.

 

This is not a cause for dispair for two reasons:  1. I am still on my way to a full recovery even if I have no idea when I will get there, and 2. though this has taken longer than I thought it would, I am absolutely not suffering like I was in the beginning.

 

I think it's important to realize that when it looks like you're going to take longer to heal than you thought, it's not like you're going to be in acute withdrawal for the entire time.  Don't make the mistake of looking at where you are and then mutiplying it x2 years.  You will keep getting better, and you will become more functional, and you will see your symptoms disappear as time passes.  There is such a thing as being "comfortably impaired" where even if you're functioning is off, you're not suffering any more.

 

Hang in there, and I hope that you will not have as long a wait for relief as you suspect.

 

Best wishes.

 

I'm so sorry that you're having such a rough time.  Though clonazepam is the only med I was on, I can completely relate to not having any idea of when the end will be.  Originally, I thought I'd be ok as soon as I finished my taper.  Then I thought surely the symptoms would wrap up in a few months, or surely within a year.  Then I thought that even though it was taking longer than I thought, I would *surely* at least be done by 24 months, but at 23 I know that that is not going to happen.  But this is not a cause for dispair.

 

This is not a cause for dispair for two reasons:  1. I am still on my way to a full recovery even if I have no idea when I will get there, and 2. though this has taken longer than I thought it would, I am absolutely not suffering like I was in the beginning.

 

I think it's important to realize that when it looks like you're going to take longer to heal than you thought, it's not like you're going to be in acute withdrawal for the entire time.  Don't make the mistake of looking at where you are and then mutiplying it x2 years.  You will keep getting better, and you will become more functional, and you will see your symptoms disappear as time passes.  There is such a thing as being "comfortably impaired" where even if you're functioning is off, you're not suffering any more.

 

Hang in there, and I hope that you will not have as long a wait for relief as you suspect.

 

Best wishes.

 

 

Thanks Sweet G,

 

I guess I got so focused on the date, especially the closer I got to 2 years I had started making plans for next summer, just knew this would be finished and I would be headed across country with my husband camping and feeling like it. 

 

Now it is so hard to have corrected my sig line changing it from a 7 mg 3 xs a day to a 12.5 mg.  But then I should pat myself on the back because I realize now that if I upped it again I would get the same kind of high effect and then it would even out and I might feel sick again from that change.  I'm strong enough to realize that giving myself more and more would definitely be dangerous and truly harmful.

 

Yes Sweet G, I'm not in accute wd this is nothing like c/t.  I have to just go slow, give myself some time to stable out and then make a cut, a small one and continue along the road. 

 

Thanks for writing, you are so close to 2 years and from what I have seen people really say they have a lot of healing between 2 and 3 years. So often success stories are written by people in that time period.  I hope the same is for you.

 

Sally 

Hi SB,

 

Sorry for what you are going through. I had a couple of thoughts about your symptoms and was wondering if this might shed some light on the symptoms you are experiencing.

 

Its my understanding that Lyrica decreases the release of Glutamate, Norepinephrine, and substance P. They also think anxiety is partly a result of excess Glutamate, Norepinephrine and Substance P. Lyrica is also used to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder, so I think it makes sense that while tapering you may have anxiety symptoms similar to benzo w/d.

 

Your body was already recovering from a GABA/Glutamate imbalance caused by benzos, but at the same time you were prescribed a drug that affected Glutamate. I think its hard to separate the temporary effects from both Lyrica and benzos since some of the pharmacodynamics overlap ie both affect Glutamate in some way.

 

It's a very simple answer and I'm leaving a lot out but I feel there is some validity to this.

 

I truly think this will all work out for you as you taper slowly. It's a shock to find out that many of these psychoactive drugs cause w/d symptoms even when you do a proper taper. As others have said when offering their support, you made it through benzos and you can get through this.   

From talking to my pdr today it was like everything I had done didn't count and the ticker was not going to start till I got off Lyrica, that just can't be so.  I do have so much time under my belt and will add another day to it tonight.

 

There is something to be said about eliminating other drugs that might interfere with recovery, but the idea that the clock gets turned back to day one sounds pretty ridiculous.

 

You said you drank during your first year, did you decide to stop?

 

I am 100% convinced that the benzo caused me to drink much more than I otherwise would have. Before the pills I was content having 2-3 beers, but somehow within a year of taking clonazepam I was drinking maybe 6-8 vodkas most nights.

 

I quit a couple of times between the 10??-16?? month mark, but didn't notice any difference in my symptoms, so I continued to drink. But a funny thing happened. As time went on, I started to lose my taste for vodka and regain my taste for beer. I started to drink less and less, and if I did try to drink more it made me feel terrible.

 

By the time I was 2 years off it got to the point where I could handle 1-2 drinks, but any more than that I would have a hangover type feeling for 2 days. Eventually even a single beer would cause the same reaction, and I haven't had any alcohol since.

 

I know some people do have an occasional drink - what scares me is with alcoholics they treat them with benzos, so then how is alcohol on a benzo brain? You haven't found any problem with drinking?

 

I honestly believe that there may be some merit to using alcohol to help alleviate benzo wd symptoms, at least early on. Benzos are used to cushion the blow of alcohol wd, so it might work the other way around. But the thing is we just don't know. It would seem to me that alcohol didn't slow my healing, but who knows? Right now I just can't take any chances having been sick for so long.

Stillbelieving, I was already on 300mg gabapentin when I started my xanax taper. Now at 17 mos out, I plan to wait til xanax withdrawal is over to taper gabapentin--do believe it helps with sleep. Cannot imagine coming off 2 drugs at once. Xanax withdrawal(1mg} is hard enough!

Hi SB,

 

Sorry for what you are going through. I had a couple of thoughts about your symptoms and was wondering if this might shed some light on the symptoms you are experiencing.

 

Its my understanding that Lyrica decreases the release of Glutamate, Norepinephrine, and substance P. They also think anxiety is partly a result of excess Glutamate, Norepinephrine and Substance P. Lyrica is also used to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder, so I think it makes sense that while tapering you may have anxiety symptoms similar to benzo w/d.

 

Your body was already recovering from a GABA/Glutamate imbalance caused by benzos, but at the same time you were prescribed a drug that affected Glutamate. I think its hard to separate the temporary effects from both Lyrica and benzos since some of the pharmacodynamics overlap ie both affect Glutamate in some way.

 

It's a very simple answer and I'm leaving a lot out but I feel there is some validity to this.

 

I truly think this will all work out for you as you taper slowly. It's a shock to find out that many of these psychoactive drugs cause w/d symptoms even when you do a proper taper. As others have said when offering their support, you made it through benzos and you can get through this.   

 

Thank you Mandala for posting,

 

Yes from c/t off benzo my brain is already sensitive and messed up.  I'm not recovered from that. So then to try and come off Lyrica while my mind is in that state - it doesn't seem to be a good move to try to come off Lyrica 100% right now.

 

I don't know if this will work or not but I am holding at the 37.5 mg daily dose. I am better this week than I was.  I'm still not back to where I had been but so hope that I will be able to stabilize. I don't think that Lyrica is the evil that benzos are and that for someone that hasn't come off a benzo and isn't going thru recovery with that - most likely it isn't as hard to come off of. But being I did c/t - it is just too much right now.

 

I just so wished that a Dr or Pharmacist could tell me if holding I would stabilize or that I could hold at this dose for months and feel better. Just let my brain heal. Holding at 75 mg did help but I hadn't tapered down and then up dosed. That really scares me.

 

Thanks for your positive words. I so appreciate them.

hugs,

Sally 

Stillbelieving, I was already on 300mg gabapentin when I started my xanax taper. Now at 17 mos out, I plan to wait til xanax withdrawal is over to taper gabapentin--do believe it helps with sleep. Cannot imagine coming off 2 drugs at once. Xanax withdrawal(1mg} is hard enough!

 

Hi daisy mae,

 

Thank you for posting - letting me know that I am more or less not alone in being on something.

I understand what you are saying and I am beginning to agree with you.  I'm so praying that my up dosing hasn't messed anything up and that I will be able to stabilize and stay here for a while.

 

This recovery from benzos is so bad that maybe I think Lyrica would be just too much if I tried to get off, at least right now.

 

I do believe the Lyrica has helped with my sleep.  I had always thought it didn't but when I got low in my taper of it, my sleep went right out of my life.  Now that I have gone back up in dose I am sleeping again.  Sleep is healing so that is absolutely helpful to have Lyrica helping with that.

 

Thanks again for writing,

I hope you are doing ok.  Are you a window wave person?

 

healing to all of us,

Sally 

Hi, Stillbelieving!  Hang in there--I know I would not sleep w/o Gabapentin. Yes, at almost 19 mos. free of 1 mg xanax, I am definitely a wave window person. The last 2 mos. have been VERY hard. More waves than windows. Expected less waves at this point--was wrong! Glad to know you are holding at current dose of gabapentin--you are right! We need sleep to heal. Gabapentin helps me with that. Will taper it when I am completely healed of benzo withdrawal. We will make it thru this, and then, anything will be a piece of cake--even gabapentin w/d.