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Gabapentin Withdrawal Horror

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G.Allyn
G.Allyn

I want to start by giving an apology for my doubts towards patients who posted about problems with gabapentin withdrawal.  How hard could it be?  It has a short half life.  It is not an opioid.

My plan was to write about my extremely painful and unexpected withdrawal experience after I felt better, but it has been FIFTEEN months.

I was on 1800-3600 mg /day for 20 years.  My physician put me on a six day weaning schedule.  The day I took my last dose my pain skyrocketed, but the pain has changed from low back to toes pain, to pain mostly to my anterior legs below my knees.  Unfortunately, it is a very slow process.  The internal nerve shaking that accompanies the pain is beyond annoying.

I often read patients on forums stating they have no problem with gabapentin.  I did not think my problems were that terrible before I went off the drug.  They all come with cautions and potential problems.  I wish I had known of how difficult this drug was to discontinue before I had ever taken the first pill.  I wish someone had warned me.

Good luck to everyone trying to discontinue gabapentin.  I hope your experience is easier than mine.

18 likes, 1046 replies

1046 Replies

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  • lucie47312
    lucie47312 G.Allyn

    Posted

    Anyone??I'm trying to unfollow this thread and if I click the red banner or the green banner it makes no difference!!!Argh!

    For days I've tried! Just my inbox is all clogged up. ??

    • leenz
      leenz lucie47312

      Posted

      Lucie,

      Try this.... go to menu tab on the top right. Then click on ‘my account’ and go to ‘forum settings’

      From there you can change the notifications for post and mail settings. Hope that works! ☺️

  • garnella24377
    garnella24377 G.Allyn

    Posted

    Thank you Marie for your positive feedback.  I am in hopes of being in your shape after going off of this awful medication but who knew what it would do to our body.  Still am suffering from restless leg the reason I took gabapentin.  Life is a challenge for sure especially when we get old as I am.  good luck to you.
    • marie89364
      marie89364 garnella24377

      Posted

      How old are you ? Bet I'm older than you. As we age I find it takes longer to heal. It's a slow process. I was on Gabapentin 4 months when I had back surgery. Little did I know your not supposed to have surgery while your on this stuff. I'm grateful I was on a low dose. A few weeks after surgery I got an infection in the area of my scar. Thank God it didn't go into the bone. Cleared up in a few weeks. I'm so glad to be off Gabapentin. Will never be on that stuff again. And today was a good day. Had some of the usual tingling and no leg pain. It too will pass.

      Marie

  • marie89364
    marie89364 G.Allyn

    Posted

    On Thur I will be off Gaba 30 days and now it's time for me to get off Meloxicam. Anybody on this site ever take Meloxicam. If you did do you have any advice for me. Have been having horrible headache and found out that is 1 of the side effects as well as tingling in the legs. I though the leg tingling was part of my withdrawal from Gabapentin. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I just have a feeling I should get off the Meloxicam.

    Marie

    • babs99203
      babs99203 marie89364

      Posted

      I do hesitate to say this, but I doubt if you'll have problems getting off Melxoicam, it's akin to Advil and shouldn't cause a problem. My husband was on it and many, many people take it for arthritis and joint pain. It doesn't work anything like gab. BTW, leg issues and weakness and headaches are commonly caused by gab and by gab withdrawal. It could be the Meloxicam, but I'd blame the gab. The M didn't help my husband's pain much before his knee replacement, others have good luck with it. It's an NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.

  • marie89364
    marie89364 G.Allyn

    Posted

    This morning I have jello feeling legs and feet. Still of Gabapentin nearly 30 days now. Also went off pain medicine Meloxicam. Took 1 Aleve today for pain. From what I read I won't have any withdrawal from Meloxicam. Yikes, when will this withdrawal be over. I guess there's no timeline

    Everyone reacts different.

    Take care everyone.

    • Rener
      Rener marie89364

      Posted

      Congratulations on 30 days gabapentin free!  Almost feel like You deserve a chip!  Not saying You were addicted  but I know I’m still taking that dang non addictive medication. Get too sick and excruciating pain if I don’t or forget. I’m at 300 mg compared to 3600 mg and that took a year!  Yet,  I haven’t been back into the hospital ICU in this last year!  I had been over 20x in a year half. Not only this medication where My Doctor confused symptoms with side effects!  Taking Me from 4 medications to 22. Steroids that I also need to stop taking. I really don’t think the crisis is really known. If it happened to Me I wonder how many People have died or are as extremely ill as I have been with medications to fix a side effect and that has side effects. My adrenal glands have actually failed because of this medication. That’s why I take steroids!  Time for healing to begin. Keep letting Us know it’s possible to do and how Your life improves.  Weight gain!  Wow!  I’m 55 have never weighed more than 124 yet I now weigh 194!  Don’t even hardly eat!  My Family said They can see Me now though because I got lost in gabapentin. Dementia type symptoms..no side effect. My Doctor couldn’t believe it when I walked in talking for myself. I was like I was in there not knowing how to get out!  Good luck! Reneer
    • Rener
      Rener

      Posted

      Forgot you can stop breathing on this medication. I did it crystallized in my kidney!
    • marie89364
      marie89364 Rener

      Posted

      Rener, thank you for replying. I am so sorry you are going thru so much. You do have to congratulate yourself down from over 3,000 of this terrible stuff. I was only on 200 mg for 14 mnths. I lost over 33 lbs in those14 mnths. Had no interest in food. That wasn't a bad think as I was overweight anyway.

      Take care of yourself. Marie

    • babs99203
      babs99203 Rener

      Posted

      Oh Rener, that is both heart-breaking and inspiring. It's extremely rare to hear from people who say, "my doctor said cut back, my problems are because to the gab.  We need to get more of these stories out. Yes, the cognitive issues are so very hard, but in time the memory and skills do come back. Sometimes we don't know what we lost until we get it back. My long-term memory is now improving and I'm connecting items to memories more often. But I still completely forget about things that I own. I try and think positive, Oh look!! I have pants I can wear, I DON'T have to go by any like this! Even tho I wore them just a few days ago, I forgot...Keep up the good fight and healing.  The side effects can still last months, so be prepared.

    • marie89364
      marie89364 Rener

      Posted

      Help, Sunday I went off Meloxicam. Big mistake. Yesterday I had the most terrible nerve pain from my left hip all the way to my foot. I was in the most horrible pain. I was thinking as I'm still detoxing off Gabapentin perhaps I should stay on Meloxicam for a while more. Meloxicam is for pain. I guess it controls the nerves too. Any suggestions will be welcome.this is the scariest experience I have ever had. Am so glad I found this web site and people like you.

      Marie

    • garnella24377
      garnella24377 marie89364

      Posted

      My first question is did you report this to your doctor?  I have been off of gabapentin for six weeks and still suffering from the effects of this awful drug.  I know nothing about meloxicam.  As I said, I would make an appt. with your doctor and if he or she cannot give you a diagnosis then see another doctor. good luck.
    • babs99203
      babs99203 marie89364

      Posted

      I've read of many people that still have withdrawal type symptoms after being off gab for week, months or even longer. When tapering, the gab can actually cause an increase in the pain, but then usually lessens as the taper goes on. If the Meloxicam was helping, which it seems to do, I'd go back on it. But don't try and mix it and other NSAID's like Aleve with it. You may want to check with a pharmacist to see when you can start it again. Tell them the dose you were on, when you stopped, when you took the Advil and when you can start the Meloxicam again. Maybe you also had more pain because of something you did to the joint. It's not always our meds, but it's often the first thing I think of.  If the increased pain continues, definitely call your physician. Particularly if it's a different type of pain.

    • Rener
      Rener babs99203

      Posted

      My pain just tapering down gets so bad that I have to grit my teeth and refuse to go back up. It seems the worst pain comes and then the next day it’s a lot less. It almost like a war between me and the gabapentin. I wonder how many people are suffering because of it and don’t know it. I actually had to quit working as I could no longer function!  It’s a battle that I pray ends soon. 300 mg per day to go and I’m done. Starting 3600 mg a year ago....it’s possible!
    • marie89364
      marie89364 babs99203

      Posted

      Thank you for getting back to me. I will check with Dr. I did take meloxicam last night and didn't take Aleve or Advil. Meloxicam you can go on and off. It's not addictive. Like you said I may have hurt a joint

      I see chiropractor tomorrow. Perhaps he can help.

    • marie89364
      marie89364 garnella24377

      Posted

      Thank you for getting back to me. I will speak to doc

      I do hope you are doing well.

      Marie

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