Happy New Year! I am new to the forum and will see my PCP on Friday Jan 3. I have been on gabapentin for 1 year, 300mg/d x2. I wake around 5 am and take one and then take another around 2-3 pm.
I'm 65 and was prescribed this drug for hip and neck pain.
I am seeing a great chiropractor who read my entire neck MRI, not just the center slice that radiology writes up. The neck pain has decreased notably under chiro treatment.
However, the right hip has been killing me for the entire year on gabapentin. Sure, the drug dulls the hip pain a bit but the effects are minimal and the hip pain makes it very difficult to work.
I just had an X-ray of the hips and my chiro has figured out how to teat the problem. The first adjustment let me sleep through the night and not awaken in hip pain that continues all day.
When my friend heard I was taking gaba, she said, "Oh, you're on stupid pills!" She had taken them and found her memory slipping fast so she quit.
After 1 year, I can agree that the pills make you stupid as far as short-term memory is concerned.
I have gained at least 25 pounds and I don't overeat. I am losing more hair than normal, I am weepy, irritable and angry a lot.
With the excellent chiropractic treating the source of the pain, I now want to withdraw from taking gaba to actually assess what pain remains. I know you cannot quit this stuff cold turkey and, reading other people's messages, know I have to have a withdrawal plan.
Whatever quit info my doctor provides, I will get a second opinion from the pharmacist.
I do take 1 10mg Valium per night for sleep. As I phase out the gaba, I may call on the Valium for withdrawal symptom relief.
Gaba is excreted through the urine. It does not have a long half-life in the body according to nih.gov so I think flushing with water as often as possible may aid the excretion and hasten clearance from the system, maybe a cleanse after a couple of weeks?
Wish me luck, please, I am a bit nervous about
quitting after reading horror stories.
I did quit smoking cold turkey 6 years ago this month, so I have a strong will.
Thanks for listening!
I added "I'm New" to your title so more people would notice your thread. ~ Debbie
Post Edited By Moderator (Acheybody) : 1/2/2014 11:09:49 PM (GMT-7)