gabapentin withdrawals

[crazy joe]

Just came off gabapentin and feeling very strange....Doctor is increasing requipp to 1 mg with trazadone or loratab as needed... Was on 2mg of requipp and doctor thought it was time for a change----to get off it and switch to gabapentin/horizant....Only took gabapentin for 3 months upto 2400 mg but absolutely had way too many side effects... My body aches, confused, depressed, lost weight..... day 3 without gabapentin and coffee....Has anyone else had similiar sxs with gabapentin??????...... how long was the ugh feeling go for.... what should I take or not take with this????

[ViewsAskew]

Here is an article about with withdrawal from gabapentin can feel like:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/722526

A quote from the article: "Patients who have abruptly discontinued gabapentin have reported symptoms of anxiety, diaphoresis, irritability, agitation, confusion, tachycardia, catatonia, and status epilepticus.[16–22] The symptoms that have been associated with gabapentin withdrawal tend to mimic some of the same withdrawal symptoms associated with ethanol and benzodiazepine withdrawal, possibly because gabapentin augments GABA levels, as does ethanol and benzodiazepines."

Sounds to me as if it might be better to taper when stopping at doses as high as yours was.

[badnights]

Your dose was fairly high, which may account for your side effects and withdrawal symptoms. I was on 1800- 2400 mg when I stopped, plus I was at the same time on a large dose of codeine - I forget, 150-180 mg daily? The withdrawal, from both of these, was the most horrendous RLS/WED thing I've ever lived through. And the gabapentin when I Was taking it was very unforgiving of any slight change in my routine - if I Was a bit late taking it, my mood went to sh**. If I ate the wrong thing for breakfast, if I breathed too fast or slow, if a horse stepped on a rock in Sweden, my mood went to sh**.

Withdrawal was the worst RLS ever. Some of that may have been opioid withdrawal without the expected nausea, I suppose, but it felt just like insane RLS/WED. On teh third nigth I slept for about an hour curled up in a tight ball in the armchair. Took 3 weeks to get to a point where I was coherent enough to talk to my doctor, and even so, I could tell from her eyes and body language that she was scared of me. I was barely holding to the world, just to get through that appointment. I was so tired I couldn't stand up but I had to - the symptoms were alive in me - so I walked around being stupid, clinging to walls for support.

I took my zopiclone already and am beginning to slip into dreams while I am standing up typing, so I had berrter get safeyly to bed.

[ViewsAskew]

How is it going now? Maybe, if you stopped too abruptly, your doc would want you to start taking some again and then taper more slowly. That is what I did with a benzo withdrawal. Not sure if it would work for you - your doc would be a good contact.

Sounds like, from your other posts, you want to stay using non-pharma options if possible.

If you haven't yet started the ropinerole, based on the work at Johns Hopkins and what people here have done, I wonder if your best option would be to not take anything for at least ten to fifteen days - then see how things are. You augmented before, right?

Before I'd take ropinerole (*or any dopamine agonist), I'd make sure my ferritin was at least 100. Years ago, after augmenting on 3 or 4 dopamine agonists, I was told I could never take them again. My serum ferritin was between 8 and 40 in those days. I was able to take it - but only a few days at a time - I originally augmented in about a week and started to augment each time I took a DA more than 3-4 days.

But, I've had two infusions now - my serum ferritin has been hovering over 150. I've tested the DA now - and have managed up to 4 weeks, so far, without issue!

Guess I am trying to say: 1) if it is not, get you ferritin over 100 and keep it there; 2) don't use a DA unless you have the ferritin over 100, and C) take as long as possible and at least 10-15 days (but 4 to 8 weeks if you can) off of all pharma drugs if possible.