Gabapentin Side Effects and Withdrawal - the madness!
Posted , 2 users are following.
I have read the forums on Gabapentin withdrawal and I am fully in the midst of extreme withdrawal. The forums helped tremendously to reassure myself that i wasnt losing my mind and that i was in fact experiencing withdrawal. While reading the posts I wondered how this madness can be stopped. i have only spoken to one doctor that is aware of gabapentin withdrawal and all others assured me that you cant withdrawal from gabapentin.
How do we, those who have suffered from this medication, raise awareness? I submitted a complain on the FDA website but wondered if there were other similar things that could be done.
0 likes, 3 replies
babs99203 kevin59851
Posted
There are a few schools of thought. Two of which I disagree vehemently. Here's a bit of my story: October 2016, undiagnosed shingles due to a lengthy trip and no rash, lead me to being put on gabapentin. I was at 2700 mg until I learned how to slowly and safely taper. The first few tapers were pure hell, as I went too quickly, I eventually realized I had to slow down to 10% or less drop in my daily dose over 8-15 weeks. I waited until I had improvement before I'd drop again. My last gab was the Day after Christmas, 2019. Now 7+ months later, I'm almost fully back to normal. I've been active in other gab support groups, worked as a medical secretary for 30 years.
So, the options are doctors will give you more meds--it rarely helps, just causes more problems. Resort to "natural", herbal or illegal/legal medications. I hate to mention them as the Bots here are very sensitive. But it's stuff that can be smoked or eaten if you get my drift. Some use the oil with some relief. Unfortunately, if you're very sensitive (like I am) even those may cause problems.
That leaves one of the last options. Accept that this will be your life for a while. Find ways to get support from groups, family members or therapy to deal with the mental health changes such as anxiety, confusion or depression. Find ways to distract yourself such as music, exercise, movies, hobbies etc. BE KIND TO YOURSELF. Others may not understand, but a good therapist will and can help you with ways to get through this. It helped me tremendously as did support groups. One on FB is called Gabapentin Awareness. Others exist, but may not be as knowledgeable. The Gab Withdrawal Horror thread here, is very long, and can be depressing and scary, but it's the truth. We all have variations to our story.
VERY few doctors understand this drug. They dismiss us by saying that there are no side effects and no withdrawal. They are ignorant in the true sense of the word. Even a glance at the patient info sheet would tell them of the problems of the drug. You CAN get through this and you can get better.
kevin59851 babs99203
Posted
Thanks for the reply, I have read many of your posts as Ive worked my way through my withdrawal from 900mg down to about 125 now (liquid suspension). Not having good information was one of the biggest challenges I faced when I started my taper. I was originally recommended to drop 300mg every 3 days and then stop. I knew within the first taper something was terribly wrong.
When you google Gabapentin withdrawal there is very little what i would call official literature. Most of the information (outside of forums) is coming from recovery centers, who although Im sure do great work, are always somewhat biased toward treatment/detox and are not entirely reliable. Alternatively, when the doctors we typically turn to for advice, like our pcp, dont acknowledge withdrawal symptoms or the severity of symptoms, we have to either believe they are wrong or believe that we are going crazy. What a position to put a patient who is suffering!
babs99203 kevin59851
Posted
It’s obvious that you have done your research, and found out what most of us also have found. Unfortunately, many rehab centers just give more drugs, and really don’t do a very good job of dealing with Gabe. it’s obvious that you have done your research, and found out what most of us also have found. Unfortunately, many rehab centers just give more drugs, and really don’t do a very good job of dealing with gab. I hope you found my previous comments helpful. There are organizations like inner compass and the withdrawal project that are very helpful. The Ashton manual is sort of the Bible for dealing with these issues. Personally I think her recommendation of two weeks between drops is too short. many of us need much longer than that, most people can tolerate two or three weeks. But if the first drop is bad, you are really caught in a spiral. That’s what you found out. I hope you feel comfortable waiting for quite a while before your next decrease. Everything I’ve read suggests listen to your body and allow it time to heal to some degree. I found that if I waited at least 1 to 2 weeks after my withdrawal started to get better, I would have an easier time in the next withdrawal. We put our bodies through a lot during that and it’s good to have some breaks from the ordeal both physically and emotionally. I will apologize in advance if there are errors in this. I’m using my iPad and speech to text, and patient Info does not play nice with iPads. I’d rather get the information out to you with some typos, then spend the next half hour trying to fix them!