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Still having terrible withdrawal after 8 week? Any advice?

Posted , 5 users are following.

pam5133
pam5133

It has been 8 weeks since I took my last 100mg, after stepping down from 3600 to 100 over about 18 months. I was on the 3600 daily for four years before that. I am still having bad rebound spine pain, insomnia, anxiety so bad I can just about not stay in my skin, and terrible nausea. Now I do not have every symptom every day at this point, but on days like today I feel as bad as I ever did at the beginning of the withdrawal. Has anybody else experienced this? Any advice? Getting pretty desperate and ready to look for alternative diagnoses cause I still feel like I'm dying from this.

2 likes, 18 replies

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  • jimbourg8
    jimbourg8 pam5133

    Posted

    My question to you is this :  were / Are you taking any other kinds of medication with the gaba. ?  And are you still taking any medications at the present ?  3600 mg of gaba daily seems an incredible and dangerous  dose and I am surprised your Dr. ever got you that high. It looks like you  did the right thing  in very slowly decreasing it to 100 mg and finally quitting. So it is puzzling that you still have horrible symptoms....thats why I am asking what else you may be on.......regards 
    • pam5133
      pam5133 jimbourg8

      Posted

      I am taking nothing else - not an aspirin. I had terrrible Lyme pain for a long time that only the Gab seemed to cut through - thanks
  • jimbourg8
    jimbourg8 pam5133

    Posted

    What a dilema you are in !  I wonder what you were feeling before your withdrawal process?  It could not have been good either because if you read the literature info (and you must have been aware since you took a high dose for 18 months ) Gaba's side effects..... at that high dose must have been very bad indeed. It seems to me that you should look for an alternative diagnosis and even another Dr. (?)  Beware (in my experience) Doctors always seem to want you to try yet another medication  but I am now very suspicious of that view.  We are introducting yet another drug into our very sensitive brain and definite side effects to come.........there just has not been enough research into the long term effects of most drugs so we are the  guinea pigs !  Only we know how our own bodies react to any given drug.  Doc's don't know this for each one of us. I don't know what else to say on this except Good luck on your search. It's a difficult journey  we all have to travel.  Regards.

  • ped123
    ped123 pam5133

    Posted

    Why dd you decide to come off it as a matter of interest? I have been on 2700mg a day for 6 months and it helps my peripheral neuropathey pain. Don't know about long term use though.

    • jimbourg8
      jimbourg8 ped123

      Posted

      As a user of Gaba. I'll tell you why I deicided to reduce and come off if it.  Its because of the mulpiple debilitating side effects.  I was prescribed it for RLS.... (to me it was more like  neuopathic pain.....a burning sensation on pressure points when I sit for even short periods of time) My Doc said it was RLS but Im not convinced .  I don't fell this ansy restlessness in my legs just a short of burning feeling that is relieved upon moving or getting up.  Use of Gaba. does relieve the discomfort of burning sensation but not completely...of course the high the dose yes, then more relief but also more side effects some of them very terrible (dizziness, clumsiness, balance, trouble walking )....ev ebn at the so called low dose of 300 to 1200 mg.  I wonder is it worth it ?

      Just what is an accepatable dose ? What is a low dose ?  maybe 300 mgs is too high ?   The research and studies on this is just inadequate.  Are you having any adverse and troublesome side effects ? I had been taking it for for years along with another drug Klonopen which has it's own adverse effects.   Just thought I would contribute to your post...regards.

    • ped123
      ped123 jimbourg8

      Posted

      I seem to have had very few side effects and seem to function quite normally - perhaps I am lucky because I have read so many bad stories on this forum

       

    • jimbourg8
      jimbourg8 ped123

      Posted

      Yes, you may be one of the lucky ones......but you have only been taking it for 6 months.......I had been taking it for 4 years.........beware that there may be a point when your body/brain says "enough" and you start getting a toxic effect and hence side effect you didnt have before.  For a while I seemed to be OK and then started noticing problems........ just a friendly tip.........regards  Jim B.

    • ped123
      ped123 jimbourg8

      Posted

      Thanks for that, I'll watch out for anything out of the ordinary.

  • Jeshuaschild
    Jeshuaschild pam5133

    Posted

    Unfortunately I was only on for a month

    But 45 days of withdrawal type symptoms

    Still dealing w anxiety on occasion but much better.

    I was advised to take magnesium to help but check in with your pcp

    It's different for everyone

    • pam5133
      pam5133 Jeshuaschild

      Posted

      Im doing mag and some minerals and I do believe they help with sleep
  • pam5133
    pam5133

    Posted

    I had terrible neuropthic pain from Lyme for 4 years. Neurontin was the only drug that dealt with the pain. As the Lyme yielded to treatement, I came down on the Neurontin - pain would 'rebound' a bit each time, but by the time I got to 100 mg I really still had no pain, and thus no reason for the Neurontin. But I was having symptoms that my doctor thought might be side-effects of Neurontin (not Lyme) and so wanted me off to see what was really going on. So I am at 0, with more pain than I've had in years, and still not sure if it is still the rebound/Neurontin withdrawal, or a Lyme relapse, or some other thing

    • rita52071
      rita52071 pam5133

      Posted

      forgot to mention  many people say they have withdrawals for months after stopping.......
  • rita52071
    rita52071 pam5133

    Posted

    hi......I know you may not want to hear this but call your dr...he/she may need to put you on a low dosage for a few months...How did you feel when you were on 100mg??  About 3 to 4 months ago I was on 100mg and was doing fine....then i went to 100mg every other day......by day 4 i had such headaches and dizziness...but I stretched it out to day 6...by day 6 I was so bad I couldnt function...went back on 100 mg daily  only once a day........the next day headaches were much better   after 3 days I felt wonderful......going to see the headache specialist soon........going to suggest I go on liquid gabapentin...I want to drop down 10 mg every 3 to 4 weeks........maybe when I hit 50 mg I will only drop it down 5mg.......I heard the lower the dosage the harder it is to get off and the longer you may need to be on a specific dosage........100 mg is not alot........I know believe me I want off the crap so bad....the last depakoe I took was une 8 ....taking these meds for migraines asociated with vertigo...honestly it got me to function not great but function.......i felt like a zombie ...I didnt like they way these meds made me feel.....felt much better off of depakoe.......felt like me again.....well almost..still having some dizzy issues
    • pam5133
      pam5133 rita52071

      Posted

      That's what I was doing - it was actually my doc who said I should make that final drop frm 100 to 0. Maybe it would have been good to go slower, but I am not going back on it after 8 weeks.

    • rita52071
      rita52071 pam5133

      Posted

      i know how you feel...if you can stretch it out then go for it.......if it really gets back you might want to go back on 100 and drop from there....i definetely know how you feel.....I can't wait to get off this stuff

    • rita52071
      rita52071 pam5133

      Posted

      oops.....  definitely......and really gets bad not back....lol
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