Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I can't remember, does gabapentin cause any hyper alertness? Gabapentin **withdrawal** causes hyper-alertness for me. Actually it comes in the form of exaggerated startle response. I will startle at anything, even receiving a txt on my phone. Not good. I started tapering it in Feb 2019 and I am sti...

Costco is refusing to fill my controlled rx at the next refill unless the MD changes the diagnostic code from RLS to...something else. I've been filling same rx at costco for almost 2 years I think. The pharmacist really bit my head off and said, "This is being used for RLS, which is UNHEARD OF!!! H...

The reason why gabapentin withdrawal causes twitching and spasms is because the neurotransmitter gaba is a nervous system calming agent. Our brains don't make as much gaba when we're on gabapentin, so this interferes with the delicate gaba/glutamate balance. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitt...

Hi, welcome! Gabapentin can cause muscle tightness, twitching, and soreness. I have tightness and twitching from gabapentin. Tightness is a side effect of gabapentin. I feel it mostly in my hamstrings. It's pretty severe, to the point where if I try to stretch them, they either don't stretch, or sna...

Amazing the way sugar creeps its way back into people's lives. I go a day or 2 or 3, and the same thing happens to me.

Re brain being done with transitions...that came from my neuro whp basically said every time you stop or start a med that crosses the blood brain barrier, it "shocks" the brain because it has to rewire itself. It was helpful to me to conceptualize it in this way. That explained a lot of my mental fo...

Good. I suspect that some of whether or not you may have difficulty depends on how many medications you were exposed to and taken off quickly before. Sometimes the brain just gets to the point of being done with transitions. I think that's part of why this happened to me.

I'm on oxycodone. Working very well. I take 5-10 mg.

OK, hope you find something that helps! Gabapentin withdrawal, if one is unlucky enough like me to have an issue with it, is one of the worst. If one falls into that category, you have to go incredibly slow to get off and it takes months. MDs don't know how to advise; mine put me on a fast taper tha...

Brynmr wrote:Apparently all or most of these drugs used to treat RLS have bad withdraw symptoms. We are not swimming in friendly waters.

True.

If gabapentin stops working for you, I'd consider switching to another class of drug.

I woke at 5 am with symptoms this morning so I'm thinking my second dose of Gabapentin at 10 pm rather than 9. I'm finding my RLS is expanding to a 12 hour cycle up from an initial 6-8 hour cycle 6 months ago and the mg has increased to 1200-1500 mg. Yeah, timing is pretty important. It's possible ...

Yes there can be withdrawal symptoms. Gabapentin has a half life of 5-7 hours from what I understand. I don't understand why any MD would think it's a good idea to hit your brain with 1800 mg of gabapentin in one dose. Even if it's not being used for seizures, it is an anti-seizure med and as such s...

Gabapentin is not safe to just stop no matter why one was taking it. This is an anti-convulsant med that changes brain structure. It can be dangerous to stop it cold turkey or even with a quick taper. Some people need a very slow taper, depending on the person. I was put on a quick taper and it prac...

It was the gabapentin. I don't recommend that drug or any of it's cousins. Be very careful. It caused all kinds of side effects while I was on it, and coming off it was even worse. MD put me on the standard "fast taper" of a few weeks. I had to stop and stabilize and now I'm microtapering. The withd...