Can't get off 100mg!!!
Posted , 11 users are following.
Hello.
I have been trying to come my final 100 MG gabapentin for months now . Every time I try I get severe insomnia and mood swings ( among many symptoms). For four months I have been halfing the dose with a mix of orange juice. I still cannot jump even this little amount without the insomnia and mood swings coming back. I am otherwise a very stable, relaxed person. I am a professional mental health provider that works in crisis situations. I was on 1200 MG of gabapentin for two years before I can begin slowly tapering over the course of one year.
Some background: while in grad school I had two traumatic events happen to my family. This caused me great anxiety and I decided to take medications . Gabapentin was the first among many. I wound up on five different medications for anxiety and depression associated with PTSD. I have recovered and no longer need meds. ( They ultimately caused more harm than good).
1 like, 28 replies
rita52071 emma68070
Posted
about 3 months ago maybe a little longer I tried taking 100 mg of gabaprntin every other day ...after the 4 th day it was so bad but I hung in there for 6 days....at that point I could't function had to go back to every day once a day 100 mg....July I was on it a year....June 8 I took my last depakoe.......I dont have another drs appt till Oct....but I am going to try and go in earlier to see what we can do to get me off of this med....right now I am getting alot of headaches...they think its sinsus inflammation been having trouble for a month....going to call dr..may need antibiotic.......I never get headaches...
Shammah rita52071
Posted
I posted this several months ago... But I will post this again. I understand that the lower the dose, the more bioavailable the medication is to your body. That means your body is trying to use the entire amount and is used to functioning with it. At higher doses, your body is using much less of the medication so it can be easier to come down from very high doses until you get below 1200. Then you need to start slowing down your taper. I'm currently taping off 100 MG. I requested the liquid form for easier measuring the taper amount. I am currently tapering down by 10 MG every 3 weeks. So I went to 90 MG for 3 weeks, then 80 MG for 3 weeks and so on. I'm currently at 40 MG and now it's getting harder, so I may have to taper every 4 weeks now or taper at 5 MG? I will see how my body handles it. I still have withdrawals, but nothing like when I tried 100 MG all at once. I couldn't do it because the withdrawals were so severe. You may need to taper 10 MG every 4 weeks or even taper by 5 MG. The closer you get to the end, the slower you need to go. Make sure you are also getting rest, drinking plenty of water, eating healthy and exercising while you are tapering. Hope this helps!
dorbocon55 rita52071
Posted
Have you tried magnesium . If you don't take the gabapentin you can take it. It will be hard .That's how I did it but I had to go back to the gabapentin because of nerve pain in my arms .I was off of the gabapentin I wish I could of stayed off
rita52071 Shammah
Posted
I never read your post before. But thank you so much for the advice...I didn't know they made it in a liquid form.....going to let my dr know I would like to drop 10 mg every 3 weeks....I will see how it goes.......thank you so much cant wait to get off this crap
Shammah rita52071
Posted
You're very welcome! Best wishes on your healing journey.
rita52071 Shammah
Posted
lol...it's been a long one......
jimbourg8 emma68070
Posted
Are you still monitoring this discussion ? I have some explicit questions for you. I am kind of going thru some of the same withdrawall now down to 100 mg/ 2 X per day........it's slow to come off of huh ? I get the feeling that there is some "permanent" side effects that just will not go away ?
rita52071 jimbourg8
Posted
rita52071 jimbourg8
Posted
Jeshuaschild emma68070
Posted
I was only on Gabapentin for a month and detoxing was hell.
I was put on 1200 a day
Dr had me go three days w 300mg in morning and 300 mg at night
Then 300 mg once a day for 3 days
I felt like I was going through hell.
Literally
Jumping out of my skin, insomnia, anxiety etc
Had to have someone w me
I ended up on ER for a few hours
They had me take Benadryl only because it was the only safe med I wasn't allergic to.
That and magnesium seemed to help me. But don't do it alone. Ask Drs and if they won't help try counselor
I ended up with a trauma counselor because I was given the Gabapentin by mistake from pharmacy instead of ibuprofen and she understood me and the detox part more than my pcp (dr)
Doodlebug emma68070
Posted
jimbourg8 Doodlebug
Posted
that is just astrounding that you would go of that high a dose to cold turkey. How long had you been on that high dose ? I've heard it said that when abruptly stopping a high dose , a person is at high risk of a major seizure! Hope does not happen. But I would beware if I were you. There could still be some great adverse effects-- being only 32 days ago. I Don't think you are out of the woods yet. My opinion of course.
rita52071 Doodlebug
Posted