gabapenten used for 4 years trying to wean off

nightwalker · Post by **nightwalker** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:59 pm

prescribed gabapenten approx 4 yrs ago some bad side effects and now trying to wean off. interested if scripted for anyone else and if removal from system had caused any serious problems?

Hos · Post by **Hos** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:59 am

Of course, everyone's different. But I was on 1,200 mg. per night of gabapentin for about 16 months. My sleep doc weened me off by taking one less capsule per week (300 mg.) so after one month I was off of it.

During this month of weening, he had me on .125 Mirapex then increased it to .25 and now 2 months later I'm off the Neurontin and taking .375 (1 1/2 pills) of Mirapex. The Mirapex definitely helped me through the transition to control the RLS.

I never realized how I was somewhat lethargic on Neurontin until I was off of it. It is a good drug for some but I'm glad I'm taking other things now.

Take care,

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:57 pm

nightwalker wrote:prescribed gabapenten approx 4 yrs ago some bad side effects and now trying to wean off. interested if scripted for anyone else and if removal from system had caused any serious problems?

Hi Nightwalker and welcome to this group. I have never taken gabapenten so cannot give you an input on this med. However everyone's body reacts differently to each meds. Is your dr weaning you off of gabapenten, and if so, what other meds are you going to be taken?

I take .75mg of clonazapem and .125 mirapex ( my dr had me cut the mirazpex in half) and so far both are working fine

Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

Look at the forum New to RLS "Managing RLS" There is an excellent article from the Mayo Clinic Algorithm. If you are seeing a dr, print it out and show it to him/her.

Reading alot of the old and new posts may answer your question.

Good luck and hope that you find the relief that you need.

tashton · Post by **tashton** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:56 pm

I took gabapentin for over a year for RLS. I was taking 1200 mgs. every day. I didn't like the side effects so I decided to quit taking it. I quit cold turkey. I had flu like symptoms for about two weeks. It didn't put me in bed but I did feel awful with headache and upset stomach with no appetite. After two weeks I was okay. As for the RLS I started on hydrocodone the same time I quit the gabapentin and the hydrocodone worked much better.

nightwalker · Post by **nightwalker** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:34 pm

shut down the gaba at 400mg / day cold turkey so to speak. started immediately on REQUIP 0.25mg/day told that it would take a couple of days to get in the system but appeared to assist the calming of RLS on the first night. Unfortunately, the one side effect of upset stomach appeared in the am. Not real comfortable but manageble knowing that it was a known side effect. Did cause a slight panic attack as I had to go out first thing and that did not help meeting a bunch of people with a "am I going to get sick?" question running around in my head forge ahead. testing the powers of positive thinking. John

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:29 am

Hi John When I was taking requip it also made me nauseated. What helped me was to split the dosage. I was then taking 2mg and changed to 1mg and then I would take .5 mg at 6 pm my time and then .5mg about 1-2 hrs before retiring. That definitely helped with the nausea.

I hope this was some help to you.

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