Gabapentin (Neurontin) Withdrawl Support Group

Enjoy the great feeling.  Way to go...

thanks ig - it's so nice...maybe it was the gabapentin that was making me feel crappy, i don't know, but i slept the same, no night sweats that was nice, time will only tell...taking it easy today..

 

what are your sx's?? just curious

Hi I had been to another forum on the internet and found someone saying epsom salt was helpful for reducing withdrawal sxs from Neurontin withdrawal. The site is surviving antidepressants.  Here is the link to it. It appears epsom salt is magnesium sulfate and the magnesium in it was helpful.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2605-rebelmaven-gabapentin-neurontin-withdrawal-taper/page-11?hl=%2Bepsom+%2Bsalt#entry34949

My sxs are getting alot better now that I am off Neurontin.  Neurontin gave me night sweat, burning face, feet and ear, dry eyes, light sensitvie, vertgo, inner vibration, Akathisia,  nasuse, could hardly eat, no sleep, brain could not think and spots all over my body and the list goes on... My current sxs I am dealing with are below . 1-10 rating being 10 very bad, 1 being good.(above were all 10s)

 

1. Inner vibration....4

2. Light sensitivity....4

3. Dry eyes....2

4. Blurry vision....5

5. Burning face...0 yahoo

6. Burning feet..only happens at night for about 3 hrs..weird

7. Insomnia... 6

8. Close my teeth together...0 yahoo

9. Teeth pain...5

10. Spots all over my body...4

 

Cagr...How long were you on Neurontin?

 

Thanks Rob ... I will go check it out

hi ig - i've been taking it since january.. so just 7 months..i had no sx's with it, just the normal w/d sx from the xanax..

 

feeling good today..

Island girl, I think my symptoms may have gotten worse since I reduced the Neurontin, I am still on 25mg Valium but the Tinnitus seems to be more constant and louder . Also I had burning sensations in my throat and on the skin of my chest. These sensations happened just today. It is day 6 since I have reduced my dose from 300mg to 235 mg.  In a couple more days I plan to drop to 200mg N. I was hoping that being on 25mg Valium would prevent my sxs from getting worse as I dropped the Neurontin dose but now I am not so sure. I have to try taking Magnesium supplements. I hope they will help. I think if I continue to get worse I may have to reinstate back to 300mg N or I can increase my dose of Valium. I don't want to do either of these. Does anyone have any other solution for me to try?

Rob,

 

I am so sorry you are going Thur this. I am going to bump this thread to the top. Maybe someone else has an idea.  My wd was different.  For me Neurontin was the cause of the burning sensation mainly in my face. Once I pushed Thur the taper and got of Neurontin the burning went away in my face. Now I have burning in my feet but it only comes at night for about 3 hours.  You have 2 variables going with Valium and neurontin. I bet it is hard to say which one is causing the burning. I ct of Valium and the Neurontin was to help control benzo sxs.

 

Take a look at your Neurontin bottle. Mine had a warning on it about magnesium. It said do not take magnesium within 2 hours of taking Neurontin. I had to reinstate my Neurontin a couple of times because reinstating Valium was not an option for me that I was willing to do. I pushed thru the pain and made it thru finally. I am still working thru many sxs, but the burning has stopped.

 

What ever you decide to do we here on BB will support you. Hang in there we will heal.

Rob,

 

I am so sorry you are going Thur this. I am going to bump this thread to the top. Maybe someone else has an idea.  My wd was different.  For me Neurontin was the cause of the burning sensation mainly in my face. Once I pushed Thur the taper and got of Neurontin the burning went away in my face. Now I have burning in my feet but it only comes at night for about 3 hours.  You have 2 variables going with Valium and neurontin. I bet it is hard to say which one is causing the burning. I ct of Valium and the Neurontin was to help control benzo sxs.

 

Take a look at your Neurontin bottle. Mine had a warning on it about magnesium. It said do not take magnesium within 2 hours of taking Neurontin. I had to reinstate my Neurontin a couple of times because reinstating Valium was not an option for me that I was willing to do. I pushed thru the pain and made it thru finally. I am still working thru many sxs, but the burning has stopped.

 

What ever you decide to do we here on BB will support you. Hang in there we will heal.

 

hi ig - how did you "bump" the thread to the top??

 

i have one annoying thing going on today and i know it's from the gabapentin and that is the tinnitus - so annoying  - well not more annoying than anything else..looking forward to many new windows and less waves...

 

glad you started this thread..

I did know about not taking magnesium within 2 hours of  dosing Neurontin. When I was increasing my dose of Valium after my cross over to it I was on 300 mg of neurontin. So I became symptom free at 20mg of Valium but I was also on Neurontin. Had I not been on Neurontin I think I would have needed more Valium to become symptom free. I may have needed 30 to 40mg of Valium. Now that I am reducing the Neurontin. I am starting to get back the symptoms I had before the cross over to Valium. One of the BB members had suggested that I increase my Valium dosage if I were to decrease my Neurontin dosage. The Benzo wise Doctor I saw Told me to cold Turkey Neurontin and Trazodone. He may know about slow tapering Benzos but I doubt he know about the interactions or tapering of Neurontin ,Trazodone and benzos. I think If I had stayed on the 300 mg N this would not be happening. I may have to go back up to 300mg N. I don't know which would be better to drop the Neurontin and increase the Valium dosage or increase the Neurontin and keep at the same amount of Valium. I need to find out from an addiction specialist which would be better.

i want to share, since i lowered my dose last night i've had really bad tinnitus - so annoying i'm hoping it will go away..and soon - such a terrible side affect, but all part of the process..

 

does anyone else have the very loud ringing in your ears???

Hi Cagr1,

Just saw your profile, I live on the West coast too. When someone "bumps a thread to the top" all they have to do  is reply to a post. When you reply to a post (no matter how old the post) the post goes to the top of the section it is in.  People tend to read what is at the top, so if a "buddy" is looking for advice, sometimes it is good to bump it so those on line will see it.  Does that make sense?

 

I have loud tinnitus too. It started in my left ear and now it is in both ears. I got it while I was on Neurontin and have had it ever since. I believe the Neurontin gave it to me. Most on bb think the benzo gives it. I am sure it does, but I think mine is from Neurontin. 29 days off Neurontin for me and it has not got better, I think it is worse. Why do you think it is Neurontin?  I am glad someone else thinks it is Neurontin too.  I am glad you like this thread, thanks for posting. Stay safe, keep posting and heal well.

Rob,

Great idea going to ask an addiction specialist. I hope you can find a good one. All the ones around here seem clueless. They are good at handing out the rx cocktails, but seem not  up on all the variables. Please let us know what they say. You deserve to heal. You will heal.

Islandgirl, I don't even know if I will see an addiction specialist. They may end up putting me on more drugs or on a higher dose of Neurontin. I am trying to get off of 3 drugs. Neurontin, Trazodone, and Valium. Neurontin is used by detox places to mask or cover up the symptoms after a cold Turkey withdrawal from benzos. When they stop giving you Neurontin then you get the symptoms back from the benzo withdrawal. When I was taken off 3mg Klonopin in a week. I was immediately given Neurontin and baclofen. I did not get Tinnitus until I came home from detox. at that time I was on no medications at all. If you read the benzo forums you will find Tinnitus is common to benzo withdrawal. The Neurontin in my case was just masking the Tinnitus. If I were to up my dose of Valium it would probably make it easier to stop the Neurontin but I am trying to avoid this

 

Today the ringing in my ear was not as loud. I don't know why But I am hoping it does not get louder again

Rob,

Congratulations for staying the coarse and not upping anything. I know it is hard but you can do it. Keep posting and healing. I got of Neurontin and trazadone so can you.  Be safe

Hi There. So glad to find this thread. I am currently tapering Xanax and am also on Neurontin. I have been on both for 7+ years. I have tapered from 11mg of Xanax daily as prescribed to .0265 mg so I am nearing the end. It has been absolutely brutal. I will taper Neurontin next. I was on 2700mg of Neurontin for 2 years but for the past 5 years have been on 900mg. I am currently on 900mg. I get extremely overwhelmed when I think that I still have this drug to go. I know it can help with benzo withdrawal and as horrible as mine has been that scares me to think that without the Neurontin it could be worse. I am not sure when I should start my Neurontin taper. I know I do not want to start it until I finish my Xanax taper but I am wondering how long I should wait. I don't really want to wait much longer but I don't know if it is better to stabilize after the Xanax taper and then start or if it is best to just keep pushing through and get off all. I know there is no easy way so I'd like to just get it over with. If anyone has any insight or thoughts on this, I'd love to hear it! I am currently finishing my benzo taper with water titration and will plan to taper Neurontin the same way. I think someone in this thread was asking for some help with how to titrate. If you are needing help with this, let me know and I am happy to give details of how I have done it and plan to do Neurontin.

Hopeful Girl

Hopefulgirl, I am at 19 mos out from 1mg xanax. I have been on 300mg Neurontin night only the whole time. My main symptom during xanax withdrawal has been and is burning and pain in my "saddle region" for want of a better description. This is all day long pain and burning. When I take the Neurontin at night, this pain and burning stop. I will tper Neurontin at some point, but will not until xanax withdrawal is over. Neurontin allows me to sleep without pain and burning. I don't know how to taper neurontin--if you can help, I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks and good luck to you!

Kris - I was on Neurontin for over 4 months, but it was after the benzos. I feel the Valium screwed up my CNS so bad that the Neurontin grabbed a hold and kicked my butt. I got every side effect there was and to add to worse matters I did what the Dr said and stayed on it. Not until I found BB that I realized what was going on. I confirmed everything once the only drug I was on was Neurontin.  I would start it and my eyes got better, but my face and ears would burn and the Akathisia really got bad. I would stop and things would calm down.  I truly believe most of these horrible things are Neurontin caused. You see on many threads and other sites that Neurontin wds are just as bad as benzos and could take up to a year to heal. You might have had an easier time because it looks like you were not on benzos the first time you ct of Neurontin if I am reading your post right.  If I got it wrong I do apologize. Based on my limited experience and bad sxs I would stay away from the big N.  Thank you so much for your post. Keep us informed on what you do and I truly wish you the best...

 

Notkafka - When you feel you are ready to get off Gabapentin I would suggest you taper very slowly. The smallest dose I could find was 100mg. I decreased by 100mg. Once I got to last 100mg I opened the capsule and halfed the powder.  Others have gone to a compounding pharmacy to have this done for them.  Good luck and I wish you fast healing so you can get off this crap. I had to get off it quickly because the sxs it was giving me was unbearable..  Keep us posted here on this thread on how you are doing....

 

Hi IslandGirl

 

Wow you tapered off 100 MG at a time that must of hurt!!! I diden't start my taper yet because am scared/ I truly went through hell with the benzo w/d's and am 30 months clean/ so i really don't want to do this right now but i know I have to because I am up to 3 x 300 a day now and still going through tolarance w/d and i refuess to tak 4 a day! my dijestive has been over active since the first week of Feb, I have to eat somerhing every 2 hours 24/7 or my stomach burns like hell and I can't gain weight not to mention feeling like I want to vomite all the time or most of the time anyway……

 

May God truly hold all of us

Watchman

 

Hi Hopeful,

 

Wow congratulations on your xanax taper. You've really come a long way.

 

I am 19 months benzo free today and I am still waiting to start my titration off of gabapentin. Like you I have been daunted when I think about having to go through another difficult taper. I started titrating 3 months ago and went way too fast and hit a brick wall so I have been holding until my body stabilizes. I have been lurking around another forum that strongly recommends to its members to throw out the calendar, listen to your body and taper at a rate that keeps things manageable even if it takes a whole lot longer than you had planned. The folks that take this approach seem to have the most success with staying off their meds and not reinstating or adding any other meds to alleviate the suffering.

 

I think I'll be starting my taper in another couple of weeks and I plan on taking it as slow as necessary to find my way to being med free!

 

Take care Hopeful!

 

Legos

Hi all!  I am new here.  I am on 300 mgs gabapentin for anxiety.  It's been 2 years, and my doc had me taper to 200 for a week then 100.  I only made it to day 1 of 100 because the withdrawal effects were so horrendous........panic, anxiety, nausea, weakness, shakiness.......  I had to go right back up to 300! 

 

It's now been a week and I still have anxiety and nausea even though I increased my dose!

 

I have read that it is hard to taper down once 300 is reached.  I guess 100 mg cuts were way too much for me.  When I recover from this in a few months, I may try to taper using liquid form and only come down 20 mgs every month!

 

I'm just wondering what other people's experiences have been.  I am so scared of what this drug taper did to me! :'(

Hi Ugal,

 

Gabapentin is a very powerful drug and can be difficult to withdraw from. The folks that taper slowly and listen to their bodies seem to have an easier time. I think you are wise to hold on tapering until things settle down for you. You're fortunate that you only have 300 mgs to taper. I'm at 1500 and am looking at a very long hard road ahead of me. 

 

Legos

 

 

Thanks Legos.  It really upset me to have such a violent reaction to it.  I still haven't recovered and its been a week!  I'm still a bundle of nerves.  My stomach is a mess and I can't stand t he thought of food!  This has got to end.

 

I was really hoping to read some success stories.

Hi Hopeful,

 

Wow congratulations on your xanax taper. You've really come a long way.

 

I am 19 months benzo free today and I am still waiting to start my titration off of gabapentin. Like you I have been daunted when I think about having to go through another difficult taper. I started titrating 3 months ago and went way too fast and hit a brick wall so I have been holding until my body stabilizes. I have been lurking around another forum that strongly recommends to its members to throw out the calendar, listen to your body and taper at a rate that keeps things manageable even if it takes a whole lot longer than you had planned. The folks that take this approach seem to have the most success with staying off their meds and not reinstating or adding any other meds to alleviate the suffering.

 

I think I'll be starting my taper in another couple of weeks and I plan on taking it as slow as necessary to find my way to being med free!

 

Take care Hopeful!

 

Legos

 

Congrads on the 19 months!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Quote - I have been lurking around another forum that strongly recommends to its members to throw out the calendar, listen to your body and taper at a rate that keeps things manageable even if it takes a whole lot longer than you had planned. The folks that take this approach seem to have the most success with staying off their meds and not reinstating or adding any other meds to alleviate the suffering. End quote……

Wow thats just about the best advice iv heard yet!!! How much will you be cutting at a time when you start your taper? I read someone say that their doctor told them do not cut more than 10% at atime/I am at 900 a day so that would be no more than 90 MG for the first cut and so on and so on…… what do you think?

May God truly hold all of us through this……

 

Watchman

Watchman,

 

I'm so sorry to hear that you continue to suffer at 30 months out.

 

Since you are still struggling it's probably a good idea that you hold off tapering gabapentin until you are feeling better and then start out at 5% and hold for 3-4 weeks. If you feel you can handle a bigger cut you could try 10% to see how you do.

 

I'm really really sensitive to these drugs so a cut of 10% would send me to the hospital. I plan on starting out at 3% or even lower. I plan on making micro cuts (make a cut and then hold 4-7 days and then cut again) I really don't care how long this takes just as long as I get off.

 

You will be in my prayers.

 

Legos

 

 

Watchman,

 

I'm so sorry to hear that you continue to suffer at 30 months out.

 

Since you are still struggling it's probably a good idea that you hold off tapering gabapentin until you are feeling better and then start out at 5% and hold for 3-4 weeks. If you feel you can handle a bigger cut you could try 10% to see how you do.

 

I'm really really sensitive to these drugs so a cut of 10% would send me to the hospital. I plan on starting out at 3% or even lower. I plan on making micro cuts (make a cut and then hold 4-7 days and then cut again) I really don't care how long this takes just as long as I get off.

 

You will be in my prayers.

 

Legos

 

Thank you so much my precious sister your in my prayers also belive me! thanks for the great advice.....

 

God hold you

Watchman