I have taken gabapentin 300x3-900mgs day for 3 months!!! I have been off 11 days today!! At times during the day I think I’m getting better then all of sudden the withdrawals come back!! Everyday is like a crap shoot!! Don’t know if I will have a good or not!! Has this happened to anyone else???
I hadn't been on as long. I'm grateful for that after reading. I was on 300 a few months and recently increased to 600 within the past month.
I have no withdrawal symptoms. I'm completely off. It hasn't been 2 weeks yet. I hope it gets better for everyone else. I really feel my vision issues started with gabapentin. Those issues still exists but no actual withdrawal symptoms.
I sure wish these Drs would understand this!! I really wish I would have read all these comments before I even went on it!!! Now I am suffering!! I just don’t understand why these withdrawals last so long!! I’m glad you didn’t have to go through this!! It is hell!! I can’t seem to get any answers from Drs. Thank you for your response!!!
Hello Diane Yes I have gone through what you have done.
Can I ask did you weane yourself off the Gabapentin or just stopped taking them ??!
I was still on 400 mg a day when I stopped and it took me a little over a month to recover from side effects.
JohnAK, I weaned myself off with Dr. I was on 900mg a day for 3 months! She told me drop 1-300mg capsule every 5-7 days! Then after 5-7 days on 300mgs just go off!! That is what I did!!
Arneluis,
Thanks for the info! I am beginning to think this will never go away!!! If they told me I was dying and gabapentin was the only thing that would save me I would rather die than take this med again!! NEVER!!!
I went from 600 to 300 for a few days then stopped completely. My choice and I let me doctors know. I believed that it was causing me vision loss and I wasn't about to take it for 1 more day.
Gabapentin is a drug that should be taken carefully try reducing 100mg at a time
I'm on 800mg 1 3 times a day and it's space in me out
I've been told. So please don't think I'm advocating quitting. My experience has been that since taking it, I've had a decline in vision that went to complete blurriness in one eye. I didn't have vision problems before starting and lost vision in one eye once increased. I would suggest no one stop this medicine without weaning. I only shared my ordeal. Please do not wean without a doctors order and supervision. My doctor did warn me of further withdrawal issues that were possible.
b94365,
I did wean off with a Dr. I don’t have much faith in her anymore!! I have been off 10 days now!! Did it exactly how she told me!! It still is a nightmare!! When I told my Dr. about all the side effects I was having she said she didn’t understand why I felt so bad!! UGH!!! So I told her I wanted off now the withdrawals are horrible!! Won’t put another mg in me!!!
Stulee09,
I have been off for 10 days!! Did it the way my dr told me to do it!! I went crazy when I was on them!! Bad depression, weakness in legs, blurry vision, chills/hot flashes, prickly itchy skin etc. Now withdrawals are horrible!!!
I'm glad to have gabapentin out of my life
I haven't expierienced any off these symptons and I'm on the highest dose and there putting me on lyrica next 20mg one three times a day and don't see any way off them so what did your doctor suggest when you want off them
Lyrics for me sent me into a deep depression. Uncontrollable crying, I couldn't leave the bed. I was first prescribed Lyrica and gabapentin and it didn't work. My doctor suggested weaning off. I heard them.
I heard lyrica was worst to get off than gabapentin!! I don’t know never was on it!! I am trying to become prescription drug free!! After this ordeal with gabapentin I don’t trust anything!! This is a nightmare drug for me anyway!!
I trying to get prescription drug free!!! Was on two meds that alter brain then they threw me on this!! Took a toll on me!! Has taken me down so far I don’t think I will get back out!! Everyone is different! Some meds work better for some and not for others!!!
I agree. I'm trying to reduce medications. Increasing minerals, fruits, vegetable, alkaline water.
Diane
yes, it is a crap shoot! The longer you are on it, the worse and more severe the withdrawal effects and the longer they will last. I have reinstated twice now because the withdrawal was so horrible. I was taken off them too fast and my body has never recovered. I can have a couple of days where the withdrawal effects don't seem as bad, then the next few days are absolutely horrible. I was started on it July of 2016. I was put on it by a neurologist (headache specialist) 300 for 10 days, 600 for 10 days and then 900 for 10 days. Couldn't handle it so back to 600 for a couple of weeks then 900 again. I tried 1200 but couldn't do it so was told to go back to 900 and stay there. I felt so awful I couldn't eat a lot, was dizzy and light headed, I ended up in the hospital. They said to go off the Gabapentin since it wasn't helping the headaches and I was cut down too fast. It started with horrible waves of heat every morning that lasted for a couple of hours, and this is on Estrogel for hot flashes. But I kept cutting back. Then the skin crawling started. I got down to 100 then stopped for a few days but felt so awful I was told to go back to 200 but that didn't help, I ended up going back to 600 again and still I suffered from the same symptoms. Determined to come off of it I started going down again but slower. I couldn't function so I am gradually going back up again to see if it helps with the withdrawal. I am back at 500 and still suffering from the same withdrawal effects. Sometimes during the day I will also get short waves of heat and nausea. I hate this drug. I have other health issues as well and combined with this I feel so awful at times that I rarely get out of the house. I am a retired phys. Ed teacher and used to being very active. I hate my life and I hate this drug.
So to make a long story short, yes you can suffer from withdrawal symptoms that change daily or weekly. Since you were only on if for the 3 months, hopefully the withdrawal will not ne as long. This is actually the second time on this drug. The first time I was only on it for a few months. I was fine until I went from 300 to nothing, then woke up and had horrible waves of heat and nausea. It was the same the next morning too. Since it was the only thing I had changed, I took 300 that night and the next morning I was fine! I stayed on it for a month, then 200 for a week, no problems. Then 100 for a week, no problems, then off of it with no issues. This time I was on it for 6 months and down too fast and have never recovered. I wish I had remembered what had happened the first time I went off, then maybe I wouldn't have agreed to take it a second time and tried to come off it too fast.
Hang in there, I hope things improve for you soon. It sounds like you definitely came off it too quickly.