I spent 4 days in intensive care following a spinal operation. This was found to be the result of the sudden complete withdraawal of Gabapentin.
For 3 whole days I was, to quote my surgeon, 'on another planet.' The only drug, of the many I was taking for pain, the only one that could not been given in an alternative form was Gabapentin. Fortunately, on the 3rd day there happened to be a charge nurse on duty who had seen a previous case similar to mine, also resulting from withdrawal of Gabapentin.
My husband insisted that some way was found of administrating the drug. (I myself was una\ware of any of this until later). There were objections from the staff since I would need sedating and was unable to consent! My husband over-rode them - thank goodness - and said he would take full responsibility and 'just do it.'
Some time after he left they did sedate me and administer the Gabapoentin. Then, as now, I had been taking 900mg 3 times daily for nerve pain, so I had obviously fallen off a cliff in terms of amount taken.
The following morning I woke up back to normal and asked for a cup of tea. When my husband arrived I saw him wipe tears from his eyes. If not back from the dead I WAS back from a living nightmare.
WHAT CONCERNS ME MOST IS THAT THIS WAS DISMISSED BY THE MANUFACTURERS WHEN ONE OF MY CONSULTANTS MENTIONED IT. YET IT IS A TERRIBLE REACTION, ALBEIT NO DOUBT EXTREMELY RARE. IT SHOULD BE MAD E KNOWN:!:
I have been on Gabapentin for only 6 weeks , tapered back to 300g a day and stopped. I had 5 days of hell, insomnia, the shakes, irritable, moody and headaches. I decided to take 200gs to see if it helped and it did so I am now tapering off. I use magnesium supplements to help with the depression etc . May I say i was only on this drug for 6 weeks ! The end is near and never again
I have been on 1200 mg of gabapentin 3 times a day since last June. I have lower back pain, sciatica & arthritis in my hip. I find that my memory is dreadful since starting the gabapentin & tried to do without it but I was forced back on to it as the pain was unbearable.
It does say on the leaflet that comes with it that stopping suddenly can result in death - very scary 
During a recent stay in hospital, they insisted that gabapentin only came in capsule form. I am vegetarian & do not take capsules so I have tablets prescribed instead but the nurse was insistent that I must be mistaken as they were only available in capsules. This does not give me a lot of faith in hospitals.
Glad the OP made a recovery & also glad that pins is now tapering off.
If you ever have any issues with your medication in hospital, discuss these with a pharmacist. That is what we are there for. The source of confusion may have been that hospitals do not routinely stock the tablet version because they are much more expensive, and the nurse may have been under the impression therefore that only a capsule form exists.
Tarun (hospital pharmacists)
I got off the gabapentin and lyrica, both bad news drugs. I still have constant pain and an looking at more natural ways to stretch the muscles, get peace of mind and align my whole spinal body. I think this is the answer. Tired of spending hundreds on tests, trying more drugs, and doctors. I want my life back, plain and simple. I will post results to my next appointment with personal trainer/therapist.
Hi there, I was immediately struck by your article on Gabapentin withdrawal. Apparently the secret is slowly reduce the amount of milligrams ingested: aka 100mgs weekly. I too owned to the misfortune of completing abandoning the tablets in January. The side effects were horrific to behold and similar in content to your own! Returning to the medication, as your husband suggested seems to be the only way to withold the severe withdrawal effects. Although I now fear I will never b able to abandon them completely I wish with all my heart and soul the surgeon had not recommended these addictive medication in the first place, last July after Brest surgery. Its a quandary indeed and if one forgets a dose the pain returns tenfold also one begins to feel very in weird indeed. Good luck coping.
I was on 900mg three times a day and stopped them. I have had no withdrawal effects and note only one change is that I am less iritrable & agitated, I can relax & rest better.... I stopped them about 3 weeks ago!
I have been on Gabapentin for 12 months now, 300mg 3xday. Also Tramadol 200mg day. I needed to keep working after I injured my lower back so went on autopilot taking them as a regular thing with controlled acute pain a lot of the time. I am also on long term anti-depressant Citalopram (10yrs). I take 600mg Magnesium day, plus Zinc & naturopathic herbs for the pain. Over the holidays I stopped taking Gabapentin to see what difference it made to the pain. After 3rd day became very depressed, went to bed, wanted to die for 5 days, just couldn't function. I was very embarrassed as it's just not like me. Took 1x Gabapentin and by that evening was able to get out of bed & eat something. I'm back to 2x day instead of 3 but want to come off them. Doctor not convinced it was the Gabapentin but I'm adamant it is. I believe it is a common enough reaction having looked on various forums such as this one. Just goes to show we have to listen to our bodies and intuition and not just go with everything the doctor tells us.
As with others I took Gabapentin for 7 months for the excruciating pain caused by intercostal pain and other pain from fibromyalgia. It seemed a wonder drug pain reduced significantly. However over the next few months I developed anxiety attacks, rushes of adrenalin at various times through the day, severe insomnia, depression and paranoia. I took myself off it over a couple of weeks and now feel so much better though of course pain has returned. I had discussed this with my (excellent) GP but she seemed not to connect it to the drug but my own research showed it to be likely. Now just relying on usual analgesia again neurofen, paracetamol and thankfully my visits to the pain management clinic for injections - my anaethestist tells me that all of this group of drugs are likely to have side effects. None of them are licensed specifically for fibromyalgia in the UK though of course they are safe.(ish)!
I took neurontin for only one week for nerve pain. The problem turned out to be something else, and because I'm in grad school and it was making me fuzzy-headed, I didn't want to keep taking it. Going off it was pretty horrific, even after only one week. I had night sweats, night terrors, was completely unable to sleep, had high anxiety that I never had a problem with before, and experienced hellish rebound pain even though my physical issue had been resolved. I know this drug helps some people, but please be warned, it is highly addictive, and weaning off takes absolutely forever. Weeks after I stopped taking it, I was still experiencing the side effects I mentioned. I couldn't sleep normally for about a month, and that's after only one week's usage!
Sounds like me - I was given it for a nerve pain problem that turned out to be something else. I took it for only one week and since stopping it two weeks ago I've had bad sleep and terrible daytime anxiety/ restlessness/palpitations (which I've never had before) and it shows no sign of easing. Did your withdrawal eventually calm down?
Yes, it did, and I'm fine now, but it took so much longer than I would've ever thought!
Thank you Asteria - that's so reassuring. It's a powerful drug for sure.
Hi Pins. I have been on Gabapentin for about 6 months. First 300mg x3, then 600 x 3 and finally 900mg x 3. At first it seemed to help (Osteoarthritis in lower spine, hips and knee), but then it stopped and when I was put on 900mg it just didnt work at all and my sleep was very bad. I decided to taper off and I went back down to 600, then 300, but at 300mg I stopped altogether. I wish I had never done this as I have been ill for nearly 10 days now. Achey, flu like pains in my joints, headache, nausea, loss of appetite and insomnia. My doctor wants me to start something else, but I am very close to being drug free so I am loathe to start anything else until my system is clean and I can tell what pain is due to the osteo and what is just due to withdrawing from this drug.
I would imagine sometimes people are too ill to enter into discussions and arguments with people about drugs. We just want to trust that the doctors will do the best for us. Being vegan, I can relate to Sheep Ali completely.
Have you tried Alexandra technique? I went to my first session last week and I think this might be the answer. I do yoga, pilates and swimming, also meditation etc. but Im really hoping that this Alexandra technique helps!
Mine did too. Its been ten days now and I still feel rough. Exhausted too from lack of sleep.
900mg is an awful lot to be taking 3 times a day my GP said I can take 1x 300mg 3 times a day I take 600mg in total a day 300 in the morning and 300 at night so you are taking 2700mg a day no wonder you ended up'im ITU
hello Asteria,hubby has the same probs, he is 8 months into coming off gabapentin, it's awful, apart from having nobody to help me, or, to talk to its an awful time, he has all the symptoms, fed up, can't sleep, stomach pain etc, i wondered if anyone could just come and chat to me, or are you suffering too and want somebody to talk to, it seems a lonely path, Jan
Hi, Janet. Sorry to hear you're going through this. I'm not suffering anymore, but it was terrible while it lasted. Just know, it will end someday, it doesn't last forever. I honestly don't know why doctors prescribe this drug so freely, without even any warning about side effects. At the same time, my current doctor refuses to prescribe me my migraine medication, which I took for years and never experienced any side effects or withdrawal symptoms from. When I looked both up, the information did make it seem like the migraine med was some sort of scary, addictive thing, and neurontin was perfectly great, with no potential problems. I don't understand, since I found them to be very much the opposite.