Gabapentin and Anxiety
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hello All,
Looking for some advice, not keen to go back to the Doctor who prescribed me the medicine given my research. I was prescribed gabapentin to help cope with panic attacks after going through a traumatic event. I have always been prone to anxiety, but was always able to cope on my own without medicine until I went through a traumatic event. He prescribed 300 mg tablets as needed for panic attacks with the max daily dosage being 1200. I started using one tablet daily sort of out of habit then increased to two. This was over the span of about two months. Recently, I found that the two pills were not helping anymore and I was waking up pretty anxious. I have been doing well with therapy and happy otherwise. I decided I didn't want to take this any more because I felt like I was waking up more anxious then I had prior to the medicine. The gabapentin did seem to work at first, but I felt a bit spacey on them. I have been off about 24 hours and feel pretty anxious. I know from everything I have read that I should taper off, but am out of pills and would rather just be done. I am pretty frustrated because the reason we chose gabapentin for treatment was because I didn't want something that would be hard to get off---clearly from the posts thats not the case. Any tips for going cold turkey, I would rather deal with the anxiety than the lethargic feeling and I want to be done with it! Also, my other fear is that the anxiety is going to be my new baseline. Did anyone else experience more anxiety being on the drug or maybe it was from having more than 12 hours between doses?
0 likes, 1 reply
jacque_10032 kelly76770
Posted
I am no Dr but have experience with both panic attacks, anxiety and gabapentin. I was on Gabapentin for postherpetic neuralgia after shingles for approximately five months. Maximum dose I took was 1800mg/day, However, I tapered myself down the last month to 300, and then a couple of weeks ago quit altogether. I really had no real bad side effects from the gabapentin except some memory lapses and constipation. I still have the neuralgia, but after reading about this drug, I thought it best to get off. I would think after only being on a small dose for such a short period of time, that you would not have had more anxiety, but everyone experiences are unique. I have suffered with anxiety all my life as well, but was never prescribed gabapentin. I would talk to ur Dr about it, and maybe try something else. Good luck.