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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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  • Portland
    Portland G.Allyn

    Edited

    I wish you all the best of luck! I took gabapentin for the last time 13 months ago, Sept of 16 - I still have a few side effects but all are pretty minimal but very recognizable. I was taking 3x300mg - 4 times a day for lower back pain for about a year and a half. I had no history of anxiety, panic attacks or suicidal thoughts until July 2016 - and I had a major anxiety/panic attack that I thought was a heart attack. I ended up going to the ER - every test was negative. The panic attacks started happening 5x a day so I quit cold turkey with a few week taper. It was horrible, horrible, horrible! That is putting it mildly. It almost killed me, in fact I was begging for death at times but I have a very solid spouse and doctor who helped me through it. I took some xanax (very little) and I tried every vitamin under the sun but nothing really worked consistantly. I joined a gym about 10 months after I quit and I think that was the biggest help. I finally have my appetite back, very very few panic attack moments (the ones I get now are very short and mild), and I finally sleep through the night without sweating/nightmares, my sinus issues have died down, my brain doesn't feel numb so much, my skin has stopped crawling for the most part, my fear of dying almost completely went away and my worrying about things I can't control have gone away as well. Bottom line: keep at it my friends, there will be some good weeks and some very bad weeks - but slowly the good weeks start stringing together - the bad weeks become a few bad days to a few bad moments that are very mild. It does get better, take care!

    • Patproto
      Patproto Portland

      Edited

      Thank God you are off and have your life back!!! Though your experience scares me. I am not tapering 300mg a month and scared. Not sure if my symptoms are the common ones, depression, lethargy, non-motivated, agitated, basically a b***h!!! I'm just not myself and don't even want to be around me! I still have a long way to go... started at 3600 like you, now at 2100.

      I'm going to start an exercise regimen as soon as I get home, walking, weights, and pilates. As you said I think that may save me!

      Thank you for letting me know there is light at the end of this tunnel!

    • Portland
      Portland Patproto

      Edited

      I'm now at 17 months since I last took gabapentin. Life is pretty much back to normal. Looking back it came and went in waves and i was able to keep going to work but evenings were far and away the hardest times. I am now in the rebound phase where I have tons of energy and feel upbeat almost every day! I don't get the panic attacks or doom n gloom outlook at all anymore. I did a really fast taper so that might have made things worse but that's water under the bridge. Bottom line is that things get better in small steps but they do get better! I was terrified beyond belief to quit and was totally helpless but it was just the GP talking. Keep up the good fight, you got this!

    • leenz
      leenz Portland

      Edited

      This gives so much hope. I was doing so much better last week but this week is a different story. Really hope and pray this passes soon and thank you so much for sharing your positive story 
    • michele51746
      michele51746 leenz

      Posted

      cut yourself slack. youre going to be fine. strong again.

  • shelley_1968
    shelley_1968 G.Allyn

    Posted

    Hello G.Allyn. Because of your posting I joined this forum and wanted to personally thank you in inadvertly giving me a lifeline to hope. I stopped Gabapentin around a month ago. I have felt on top of the world and then I feel emotionally numb. Today I felt angry and depressed not realizing why. My wise daughter reminded me it takes a long time to recover from the effects of gabapentin. So I went searching for support, answers, and discovered your post. Thank you for taking the time to share your simple but empowering story. I want to believe there's hope again but a long road to of recovery and where I was before afflicted by gabapentin. I was dx'd with fibro over 2 years ago and thought gabapentin was my answer to a pain free life. But at what cost? My daughter told me I was a different person and mean when on Gaba. There are times I want to take it again, but something prevents me.

  • valerie53039
    valerie53039 G.Allyn

    Posted

    I’m getting ready to stop gabapentin. I’m really concerned about the lingering side effects of this drug. I’ve only been taking it for 9 weeks but my personality has changed.  I’m on Percocet also and I’m stopping that at the same time. Wish me luck and send prayers of support. 
    • Patproto
      Patproto valerie53039

      Posted

      Oh my you might be trying to do too much at once. I stopped the Percocet first then the Gabapentin. Withdrawals for both were totally different.

      Percocet - I felt like I was out of my skin, felt like what I've seen of heroin addicts going through withdrawals. Had to do it very very slow, cutting pills in 1/2, 1/4s, then 1/8s.

      Gabapentin - I'm currently tapering and mistakenly started too fast it threw my entire system out of whack and elevated my white cells. Withdrawals included bitchiness, lethargy, unmotivated, and depressed. I watched myself and commented on me being a b***h and could not control it. Now I decrease 50 mg/dose every 2 weeks

      For both I highly suggest you keep the same number of doses but decrease the milligrams. Then as you feel you can spread out the doses eliminate one.

      Good luck!!!

    • matt96016
      matt96016 valerie53039

      Posted

      Hi Valerie,

      Im wondering how you are doing with your taper? Like you, I've only been on it for 10 weeks. I started at 1200 and got down to 150 in 3weeks, but the withdrawal hit me like a ton of bricks at 150, so I'm now back up to 600 to stabilize me. This last week has been the worst time of my 47 yrs on earth.. I thought I had it, but I couldn't take the withdrawal hell I was feeling so I'm back at 600.. I was wondering how you are doing since you're about a month a head of me with your taper. I hope you are doing great. Any tips or suggestions would be great! Take care

  • beth97678
    beth97678 G.Allyn

    Posted

    I've been prescribed gabapentin for Shingles pain ,and it did help tremendously.My daughter has been taking it for about 7 years.She has trigeminal neuralgia,and is taking gabapentin+ carbamazepine (Tegretol) .The neurologist suggested we work to find out the lowest dose of gabapentin she can tolerate without the pain returning-and as we lower the dose gradually(reducing by 100 mg every couple of months),he suggested we up the dose of Tegretol to compensate.It worked so far without any nasty side-effects.I think most people here have reduced too fast and not had another nerve -pain med to cushion the blow.Also,when I went into hospital recently,the docs there put me on Pregabalin-the newer form of gabapentin which has fewer side-effects.It is more expensive,which is probably why my GP stuck with the old one.This IS the NHS and GP's have tight monthly budgets.I have cut down on my dose too,reducing from 300mg 3x daily ,to 50 mg 2x daily.I did this over 6 months and no problems apart from the gnawing itch from the damn shingles (had the shingles for 8 months now).I can stand that,it was the excruciating stabbing pains that floored me and had me writhing and begging the nurse for my pregabalin half an hour earlier than I was prescribed.Took 20 mins and the pain was much decreased.I'll be grateful pregabalin was given to me.I just have to wean myself off the last 100mg per day as soon as my shingles decreases.I might ask the doc for some Tegretol too,to help me do that.Daughter HAS got water retention problems and brain fog-and maybe a little trouble balancing,so we're going to be reducing this drug gradually till she's off it.Good luck to everyone reducing their doses-and it really is worth persevering to do it as slowly as your body can tolerate,Docs always want you off a drug waaaay too quickly.

  • MIACRAZY
    MIACRAZY G.Allyn

    Posted

    I have type 2 diabetes. My blood sugars ran consistently in the 400-600s and possibly beyond for almost 2 years (I know keep by sugars under 150-200 and lower). I’ll never really know because my meter would only read up to 600. I suffer from bipolar depression, anxiety and PTSD so needless to say, I didn’t really care what happened to me. I wanted to die. As a result of my negligence, I developed a pretty painful case of diabetic neuropathy in my feet. The pain is unreal and as a result I can no longer walk without a lot of pain. Of course with pain comes regret and so on. I was prescribed 100mg and gradually went all the way up to 600mg. One night I had forgotten to take my evening meds and just combined them with my night meds. About 15-20 minutes after that is when I had a full blown panic attack. The room began spinning and everything felt clear and unreal, like a dream. I immediately sensed danger and for the first time in a long time I was afraid to die. I began the usual inner monologue Torture: “You know you’re going to die tonight.” “No one will save you.” “They’ll all be glad you’re dead.” “You’re death will be painful.” And so on. I tried slow deep breaths but my mind kept showing me images of my Mommy finding me dead on the floor or only 2 people showing up for my funeral. It took a while but eventually the panic slowed but didn’t stop completely. I still felt mini attacks and have for several days. I stopped gambapentin, cold turkey, about 3 weeks ago. I’ve had quite a few panic attacks and dizzy spells when sitting or standing. My anxiety is unreal. It hits at night too as do the voices in my head on repeat. I’m tired and feel like I’m finally getting my misguided wish. I’ve never, NEVER felt this bad in my life. Every day is a huge struggle. I love Christmas so much that I start playing it in October. Yes I’m one of those. I’ve not decorated a thing. I haven’t made cookies and other baked goods. I don’t have the motivation. My blood pressure is low but my resting pulse is constantly 120 and over. I’m already on lots of meds (psych meds too). I hate popping pills. Does anyone know what I can do to stop these attacks? I’m sorry my message was more of a book but I felt it necessary to give the back story. The sad thing is I can’t blame anyone but myself. I was warned by doctors and family members. That’s what hurts the most. If I had just listened and acted. Hind sight is 20/20. I know. I just hope these issues are reversible. I don’t want to pay for my lack of better judgement for the rest of my days. I want to remember what it feels like to be pain free both mentally and physically.
    • diane80014
      diane80014 MIACRAZY

      Posted

      Miacrazy,

      I am on psych meds too and they threw gabapentin at me for crushing headaches! So basically 3 meds that mess with the brain! After upping my dose of gabapentin to 900mg a day all hell broke out!! I told my dr and she said she didn’t know why I feel so bad! I am trying to get prescription free! I have been off gaba for 23 days today!! I still have withdrawal symptoms! Are you saying you regret going off gabapentin cold turkey?  Yes you shouldn’t have done that, but I do understand I was so scared of all the side effects I wish my life was over! I still have withdrawals! I have been told it does get better, but some days I wonder if it will ever come to an end!! I have heard people say they felt better after a couple months, some longer! So I guess what I am saying is that they say it does get better, but it takes a long time!! I’m not sure how long you were on it! I’m not sure if  the longer you took it the longer it could take! Quitting cold turkey probably made things worst! Hang in there I know it is hell!! Good Luck and I hope you recover soon!!

    • MIACRAZY
      MIACRAZY diane80014

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply. I was on it over 6 months. It has gotten a little better since my Cardiologist put me back on a beta blocker because my resting pulse was always over 120. I still feel panicky at times but the frequency has lessened. I was feeling awful the other day and thought of ending it all. So far I feel better. Sick of the mood swings. I was like this before the meds. I’m trying to think positively and am avoiding the news and many other bad subjects. Though I’m Muslim, I still celebrate Christmas with my Christian family so watching the Rankin and Bass specials help a bit. The nasty looks and comments don’t help. I’ve read some pretty racist and upsetting posts. Trying to avoid reading comments. Going to make cookies today and finish decorating. I have to push myself to get out of the bed and carry on. It’s  harder now that my Daddy is gone (11-years-ago of small cell lung cancer). It hurt so so much I can taste it. He was my best friend and always knew how to make things not better. I’m working hard to stay above it all. I hope it gets better for you and me soon.
    • diane80014
      diane80014 MIACRAZY

      Posted

      Miacrazy,

      Sorry about your Dad! It sometimes feels like the loss will never get easier!! Are you talking about racist comments on here or society in general? I don’t watch the news either, because it is so depressing! Hopefully making cookies and decorating will take some of your feelings away! Hang in there! I wish you the best! 

    • Shewholvs
      Shewholvs MIACRAZY

      Posted

      I am sorry about hurtful words. No matter who it is like I'm Native American I get it and I'm a medium and I get it from there. I'm a very spiritual person., I have friends who are Muslim and we respect each other's beliefs. Some just can't do that., I'm sorry for the pain. I'm sorry about your fathers passing. I lost my brother in 86 he was 29.i lost my dad on Valentines day in 99. My father was my life. We never get over the pain of a lost love one. The loneliness is horrible. My brother was my only sibling., don't give up. If you ever need to talk I'm here. I do not mind giving out my fb page to you and we can go from there. I know you'll be ok. Just go slow and keep holding your head up., blessings to you

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