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Stopping Gabapentin - cold turkey or wean off?

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Posted 1/15/2015 1:05 AM (GMT 0)
Well, I've been on Gabapentin for seven months now and while it's helped me sleep a bit better, it's done nothing for my pain. So with my doc's agreement I'm going to stop taking it and see if the muscle relaxer at bed time is sufficient to help with sleep. She said I didn't really need to wean off of it.

My question - Have any of you stopped Gabapentin and what was your expereince? Did you stop cold turkey or did you wean yourselves off slowly?

Thanks and have a blessed day!
Mari
Posted 1/15/2015 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
If you're taking a low dose I think you can go cold turkey. If it's more than 300mg then you need to wean.
Posted 1/15/2015 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
Without knowing how much Gabapentin you're taking, I am surprised that you were told to just stop. It must be a very small dose. I wonder if the problem is not that you need to stop, but that you need to take more. Gabapentin is an odd drug, you barely know you're taking it, but when you stop, you really know it was doing something.
Posted 1/15/2015 5:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all, thanks for the feedback.

I've been on 700mg total daily, spread out over 3 doses and I'm usually very sensitive to meds. I was a bit surprised too when the Dr told me to just stop. I asked if I needed to wean off slowly and she said based on the nature of the drug, it wasn't really neccessary, but I could if I felt better about doing it that way.

I guess I'll spread it out over about 2 months. That's what I did when I weaned off of Lyrica and it seemed to work pretty well with little to no withdrawl affects. I dropped off one dose (200mg) already with no noticable impacts . Though I've been struggling with vertigo for over a week now, so that may be masking any impacts.

Thanks and have a blessed day!
Mari
Posted 1/15/2015 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't wean off. They were upset with me because I stopped taking it cold turkey. However, my one blessing in all this is that I normally don't have any withdrawal symptoms. Gabapentin made me hungry and irritable all the time. I figured out the issue and stopped then.

My husband and daughter both need to wean off of things. We are always very careful to slowly reduce whatever they are on and sometimes they have issues anyway. I think you are right to take it carefully Mari.

I'm having a lot of vertigo too. I think its because of the Lyrica, but for me it mostly revolves around any time I don't eat right on the button. If I keep my eating regular, it's little to nothing. Just curious - do you know what is causing yours?

Thanks,

Jenni
Posted 1/15/2015 8:28 PM (GMT 0)
Not sure if it is identical to Lyrica or similar. I had to wean off Lyrica. My Doctor took me off due to weight gain. I still had some side effects from the withdrawal. I would get chills and itching. I really did not have side effects while taking Lyrica, except weight gain and I can't blame that all on Lyrica.

I realized when off that it was helping as I was having a hard time coping. Nerve spasms at night began when off Lyrica. I would get all kinds of jumping in my back and behind. For whatever reason Nortriptyline has stopped the spasms.

Loring

Osteoarthritis in Multiple Joints, Fibromyalgia, Neuralgia, Chronic Daily Headaches, I.B., Hard of Hearing...
Posted 1/15/2015 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I've mentioned this before. My Mom hates the side effects of Gabapentin but gets some pain relief from it. Her doctor swears up and down it's not addicting but every time she tries to stop it, she goes through terrible withdrawals. She finally went down a hundred mg's and had to take in account she needs the pain relief more than the side effects bother her at this dose.

700mg total for the day isn't too much of a dose but I think it's smart to wean off anyway. We don't need withdrawals on top of the daily pain to deal with (on top of your vertigo).

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you!

Dawn
Posted 1/16/2015 3:17 AM (GMT 0)
PLEASE wean yourself! You could start getting seizures if you quit cold-turkey. I was on 3600 mg/day - six 600 mg pills each day. I went down a pill a week, so finished over six weeks. That was considered fast, but I don't absorb pills very well because I have Crohn's disease.
Posted 1/16/2015 12:18 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks all, I'm definitely going to wean off slowly.

Jenni, the Dr thinks my vertigo is "benign positional vertigo". She's got me using Meclizine and doing epley manuevers. She said if that doesn't improve in about a week then she'll send me to an ENT specialist. It's only been a couple days but it does seem to be a little better.

Have a blessed day!
Mari
Posted 2/12/2015 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
So, I've been weaning off of the Gabapentin, dropping 100mg a week. I'm down to 300mg daily and my pain levels have ratcheted back up, my TMJ symptoms have returned, having more trouble sleeping at night, and I'm noticing some depression. I guess it was actually helping more than I realized!

So, having checked with my Dr, I'm slowly ramping the dosage back up. Thanks for all the input!

Have a blessed day
Mari
Posted 2/12/2015 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Mari:

Yes, it is hard coming off some meds. They do help in some way. I, too, have jaw pain. I can't remember if Lyrica helped my jaw pain. Never was completely without pain. I wish I could pull my head off and clean it out somehow to start afresh.

Take care.

Loring

Osteoarthritis in Multiple Joints, Fibromyalgia, Neuralgia, Chronic Daily Headaches, I.B., Hard of Hearing...
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