I have 600MG tablets. Weird that they say they only come in capsules.
so glad things turned out good...I am taking only 100 mg of gabapentin....hopefully I will be off it soon.......Does anyone knoe anything anything about depakoe......been off it a month with little to no withdrawals a nd now i am getting dizzy and just feel horrible...Can I be getting withdrawals now???
Hi everyone,
I am so glad I found this discussion!
I have been taking Gabapentin since Dec 2015, prescribed for prolapsed disk to help with the pain. My doctor started me on 100mg 3xdaily at first but by February/March I was on 900mg 3x daily. I did n't really have any issues whilst on it, except that I always doubted whether it actually worked to decrease my pain.
Anyway, I finally got a date for surgery on 29th June 2016, and being optimistic about the results I started to taper the Gabapentin dose. I consulted with my doctor over how to do this and he said reduce to nothing over the course of a couple of weeks!
The week before surgery, I was down to 600mg 3 x daily, and continued to reduce the dose every couple of days. In all I took four weeks to reduce to nothing, my last dose being 100mg about 8 days ago.
The trouble started when the dose had reduced to perhaps a third of what I had been taking, this was about 2 weeks ago. Since then I have had all kinds of strange and unpleasant symptoms. The worst is the nausea and bloating, but also diarrhoea, weakness, lethargy, skin irritations. Even if I do manage to sit down in front of a meal, I can only eat about half of it before giving up and feeling dreadful afterwards.
My doctor will not believe any of this is related to Gabapentin withdrawal, and now he's insisted on tests for stomach bugs etc.
Many people pled here have had similar experiences to me, but the doctors seem oblivious to any of these withdrawal symptoms!
I am determined to keep going and never use it again, but I am still worried by how long I have felt so ill despite not taking any now for over a week.
I'll try to post again in a week and see how things are by then.
Good luck everyone,
Rob
Rob
Sorry you to are going through this! I was taken off this drug to fast In February and withdrawal was awful. Finally starting to feel human again except for stomach issues. Appetite is still not great and my biggest problem is the bloating!! Tried Zantac and gas x helps a little. My doctor wants to send me to gastroagist bit I keep hoping things will improve don't want to be scoped.
I had read on here the FDA has said Gabby causes stomach issues. Makes me mad never had any problems before.
It's a nasty drug.
Good luck
Keep us posted!
hi Rob......I am sure you read all the withdrawals symptoms of Gabapentin?? Everyone is different....some people have no withdrawals while others can have withdrawals for months after completely being off of it....Gabapentin can cause stomach problems.....Is it possible for you to see another doctor for another opinion?? Maybe a neurologist?? Remember Gabapentin is a horrible dangerous drug.....I am now down to 100 mg once a day..been this way for months....when I went to every other day all hell broke out after 4 days....had to go bad to 100 mg a day.......a very low dosage but it does effect me when I go lower......going to try again I think the end og August......maybe I can take it 6 days instead of seven.....Completely off of depakoe since une 8....thats another dangerous horrible drug.......Good Luck.....Keep us posted!!
Hi Sandy,
Thanks for the reply.
So, you have been of Gab for 5 months now and you are still having stomach issues?!
Without going into too much personal detail, what are you experiencing?
Thanks,
Rob.
Hi Rita,
Thanks for the reply. Best of luck on your quest to come off Gab.
I consider myself quite robust normally, so I went for it in four weeks, it is horrible but I'm sticking to my guns.
Fortunately I am signed off work until September so I can be as miserable as I like in the privacy of my own home. My wife is a star though, so she does a good job of keeping my spirits up.
God luck with everything,
Rob.
Good luck....Its good that you will be home......Lets us know how things are going......
I attempted to come off of gabapentin following the recommendations of my psychiatrist (I had initially been prescribed it for anxiety). I was on 600mg 4xs a day. He had me go down in the following way:
600 mg 3xs a day for 4 days
600 mg 2xs a day for 4 days
600 mg 1x a day for 4 days
300 mg 1x a day for 4 days
This was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. From the beginning of decreasing I started having horrible nightmares, anxiety like I'd never experienced before, and horrible depression. By the time I was finally off of it completely I was nearly suicidal. I tried yoga, magnesium supplements and epsom salt baths, counseling, etc. Nothing helped. I finally broke down and started the gabapentin again, 200mg 3xs a day. My anxiety did not completely subside but my extreme depression and suicidal thinking went away. I hadn't realized just how crazy I'd been feeling from the withdrawal! I have since begun decreasing the gabapentin but have done it at a much slower pace. I bought a milligram scale on Amazon so I could pour out small amounts from my capsules and decided to decrease by 20mg per dose every three days. This is what I have been doing:
180mg 3xs a day for 3 days
160mg 3xs a day for 3 days
120mg 3xs a day for 3 days
100mg 3xs a day for 3 days...etc.
I am on my last day of 80mg 3xs a day and this time the withdrawal has been minimal. I am trying to eat healthy, I have been exercising nearly every day, doing yoga, and trying to maintain a positive attitude. I want to be off of this medication so badly. I recommend to anyone dealing with extreme withdrawal issues to try decreasing as slowly as possible. Drs do not know enough about this medication and do not warn you what you will go through if you ever want to quit it when they prescribe it to you-my doctor described it as a completely benign medication. I wish I'd never started taking it, but with the method I described above I finally feel like I will be able to be off of it someday. If I start to have the extreme depression again I will probably start taking a low dose again and decrease at an even slower rate, however, this rate seems to be working well for me so far. Good luck and much love to anyone dealing with this, the withdrawal is certainly real and severe for many people, but I believe it's possible to come off of it if you do it slowly.
I was only on 300 MG at night decided to go off .Awful time after 2 weeks of 100mg .First week 2 100 MG second week 1 100mg then stop .After that I had withdrawals.used magnesium then started to have nerve burning .Had to get back on it .Now I'm having side effects that I didn't have before. Cant stop again because of nerve pain .Don't know how long side effects last never had before. Wish I hadn't stopped in the first place.
I did make it off but had to go back because of nerve pain . Now I have side effects .Doctor says that she doesn't think they are side effects.i am only on 500mg .Will they go away with time ?
My dr prescribed me 200 mg of gaba 2x a day so far to start out (major tendinitis in right hand/ nerve pain in whole arm now) and now my nerve pain has sky rocketed after surgery, but when I started I was already on 50mg of Topamax a day as a migraine preventive. I wish he read my chart and realized I was already on an anticonvulsant ugh. So for over a month now I take the gabapentin at night and during the day I was still fitting in my topamax and started having all kinds oF side effects thinking I was crazy until my bf looked it up is when I realized the interactions. It's so scary how some drs put you on medications and not see the risk in your current. I take 25 mg of my topamax every other day to keep my withdrawals from that down.
I received capsules first time 300mg. Then prescribed 600mg no capsule, pill form. So I'm confused also why they advertise it does not come in pill form.
Am having the awful stomach and gastric issues after stopping gaba (had a pretty awful time on it, joint pains, tummy etc so decided to taper it). Just wondering how everyone who commented here is doing now and just how long after stopping did folks start to get back to 'normal'.
Maureen
Have been off Gabby since February. Withdrawal was nasty! Just in the past month I finally started to feel like myself again!!
Been a long road. The last of the withdrawal left me with stomach issues. Not much of an appetite, bloated just didn't feel good. Zantac helped some. Think hopefully it's finally letting up!!
It's a nasty drug that I wish I had never taken.
Good Luck be patient. Takes time
Thanks Sandy. Starting to think I have become a complete hypochondriac and that all I can think of is my ailments. Only been a few weeks but hopefully it will calm down in time. I reckon tho it causes more problems than it solves. Hope things continue to go well for you.
Hi....I was on 400 mg once a day since uly 2015 I am now on 100 mg once a day......about 3 to 4 minths ago I started taking it every other day...by the 4th day I felt horrible stretched it out for 6 days....by that time I was not able to function had to go back on 100 mg everyday....I was told by someone on a site that they make a liquid gabapentin....I didnt know that.......when you get to a low dosage it makes it harder to get off of it and you need to do it even slower...she suggested dropping dowm 10 mg every 3 to 4 weeks and when you get to around 40mg then drop it down by 5 mg for a month or so...it depends how your body reacts.....going to get an appointment with my doctor soon....headache specialist...and I am going to try this....medicine is doing me no good.....dont know if this helped anyone Good Luck
Thanks Rita. Keep in touch. Good to have a few folk to share experiences. Maureen
Don't give up!! One day at a time... My Rheumatologist said there would be no withdrawal from it lol. So wrong!
Keep me posted.. Hang in there!!
Looking online Sheliab, Gaba only comes in capsule form in 100mg, 300mg and 400mg - all other strengths are tablet form. I am interested as i want to come off it for the bad side effects i'm experiencing and it looks like i will need all 3 strengths if i'm going to only drop 100mgs per few months from 1200mg.