Knee replacement

thank you for your advice

you are absolutely right about Gabapentin. My family doctor gave it to me for neck disc degeneration, assuring me it was not addictive, eight years later I am on 300 mg once per day which I cannot get off due to it causing severe withdrawal symptoms. All doctors I have warned against this drug are surprised that it's addictive. Drug sale reps must be very convincing.

You need to titrate off the drug slowly if you want to stop. This involves reducing the dosage over time based on the drug's "half life", which for this one is about 7 hours. Aside from your doc, a good pharmacist can recommend a titration schedule for you. Make sure you consult with your doc and tell him/her that you want to stop.

For example: Instead of taking one pill a day, you would take one on Monday, a half on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, etc. Once your body is used to the lesser dosage, then you only take a half each day, etc. It may take a week or two for your body to adjust to each lower level so be patient. If that schedule is too fast, then you may have to do one, one, a half, one, one, a half, etc. You are the only judge of the schedule being too fast or slow.

Some of the worst drugs to get off of are the SSRI and SNRI anti-depressants (Cymbalta, Effexor, Prozac, etc.) as the withdrawal symptoms are a nightmare. It may take someone one to two months or more to titrate down to zero.

Again, talk to your doc about stopping and a pharmacist for the titration. They always know more about the drugs than the docs do. Believe me on this. I was married to one for 25 years!

I have tried on several occasions to go off of Gabapentin, working with a compounding pharmacist who gave it to me as a liquid so that I could reduce very slowly. I started having withdrawal and chickened out as the headaches, etc were awful. Tried a second time, and the same thing happened. I have worked with two different doctors trying to get of this nasty drug, and called a rehab centre to see what they suggested. Every person tells me that this drug is not addicting and just stop taking it. One doctor told me that since it is such a low dose, that I should just take it and not worry about going off it. The thing is, I don't need this drug as the diagnosis that I was provided with my neck issues was misdiagnosed and did not justify this drug. I am going to try again and thank you for encouraging that. Never did I think that I would be in a situation where I was going through this. I went off of my pain medication after surgery very quickly as I was in fear of having another drug my body needed.

Rule: No one should be taking a drug that they don't need. The less meds the better. I love that liquid idea since you can really control how much you take. Understand that: 1. titration and withdrawal for some people is really hard; and 2. you may be very sensitive to a change in dose.

I would recommend that you titrate down just a little bit and stabilize. Yes, you may have some symptoms but they do go away as your body gets used to the lower dose. When you feel OK, take a tad less. Rinse and repeat. Gotta stick with it. If you are having major withdrawal symptoms, you probably reduced the dose too much. Add a bit back...stabilize. Talk to your compounding pharmacist for professional guidance. They really know this stuff.

You can do this!!! And your life will be so much better off the drug especially because you don't need it. Think longer term than just today's feelings. Hang in there...

Both times that I have tried to go off of this drug I worked with the pharmacists. They also told me that it was a non addictive drug. I insisted it was addictive and asked them to work with me. I did follow what they told me as far as reducing, but they seem to think that this drug can be reduced and eliminated within two weeks, I know that is not true. I am going to go extremely slow and try again. The gabapentin in capsule form is very inexpensive, but when it is compounded it is extremely expensive. As a capsule, the lowest dosage is 100 mg, I am at 300 mg per day, which doesn't even make sense since the medication needs to be taken every eight hours and I am taking it once a day, I should be going through some withdrawal in missing two doses per day, but don't. However, reducing that one pill by more than a day, puts me in a bad state.

I am going to try this again and again until I no longer take it. I really appreciate your advice and when I am no longer taking this medication, I will let you know and thank you again at that time. I am happy to find someone who actually understands this drug and what to do to get off of it. I really do appreciate your help to myself and everyone else on this forum that you reply to with your words of wisdom.

If the half-life is 7 hours, then 7 hours after you take the 300mg pill, you have 150mg in your blood, 7 hours later you have 75 and then by the next day, you have 37.5 at which point you take another 300mg. The purpose of timed dosages is to keep a therapeutic level amount of the drug in your bloodstream at all times. Sounds like you are on a rollercoaster!!!

Note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR PHARMACIST!!! That said...

You might consider getting only 100mg pills. If you take one every 8 hours, that will maintain a steady amount in your bloodstream at all times. Now you have to titrate down. An interesting method would to take the pills to your compounding pharmacist and ask him to turn a 100mg pill into two 50mg pills using empty gelatin capsules. This may cost a few bucks but now you can titrate down gently combining 100's with 50's...just 50's and then off. HOWEVER...

I can't believe there isn't a way people have used already to titrate off gabapentin. Google "titrate off gabapentin". There seems to be a lot of help out there from reputable sources and clinics.