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10th day off gabapentin/methadone cold turkey

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Shumate
Shumate

After approximately 4 months of 1800mg gabapetin and 15mg methadone daily for nerve pain I made the decision that the long term effects of the drugs were not worth the risk and stopped them cold turkey.  My VA GP was not thrilled with my decision but reluctantly said it was okay and to keep in touch with him if I developed problems with the withdrawal.

Today is my 10th day off of them.  I write this for the benefit of anyone else out there struggling to get off of these drugs.  This is my experience only, and I am certainly not a physician.  This is an FYI only.

The first week off the drugs was horrible...mostly severe insomnia.  I only slept about 1 1/2 to 2 hours each night for a week.  Additionally, I have had almost zero energy.  A walk around the house wears me out, and then I am still unable to sleep.

Two nights ago I began taking some benedryl before going to bed.  It helped a little.  The past 2 nights I have slept at least 3 hours.  I still an extremely lethargic.

I've been tempted to resume a small amount of the gabapentin in order to sleep, but refuse to give in to the evil stuff and am resolved to stay off of it until I am completely recovered.

Please understand that this has been my experience; yours may be completely different.  Just wanted to put it out there.

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  • Shumate
    Shumate

    Posted

    Up and moving after 2 full weeks off of the gabapentin/methadone.

    I took a couple of benadryl and washed them down with a couple of shots of whiskey before I went to bed last night.  I slept a full 7 hours with no interuptions.  That's the most continuous sleep I've had since I stopped taking the drugs.  I actually felt a bit refreshed when I woke up.

    My energy level this morning is still not real high, but, it's much better than it has been at any time during the past 2 weeks.

    I don't know if I'm quite ready to say that I've got it all out of my system and am getting back to normal, but I've got to admit that each day for the past 4 days I've felt much better about things.  I'm really starting to believe that it's the light at the end of the tunnel that I'm seeing, not an on coming train.

    For anyone out their reading this I can only say, hang in there; it does get better once you get off of this stuff.

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