Sudden Withdrawal From Neurontin (Page 13) (Top voted first)

I have been taking 600 mg of Neurontin 4x a day for about 2 years and recentlty ran out of this medication due to excrutiating slow service from mandatory mail order RX company.... I was extremely agitated during this time (approx. 5 days), nervous, stressed out, etc. Has anyone else had these symptons as a result of sudden withdrawal from Neurontin? I can't understand why this happened, I felt so scared and lousy for that time. Is this a known reaction for this med? I haven't been able to find an answer. I take it for relief from carpel tunnel syndrom. Thanks

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Stop...you must gradually decrease dosage by 100ml at a time. Like each week or so. Take some and keep taking less over time. That drug has side effects going cold turkey!

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Gabapentin is a very dangerous drug with very serious and alarming side effects and withdrawal symptoms. My doctor did not warn me about a single side effect a whole slew of which I experienced. Nor did she tell me what a nightmare gabapentin is to stop due to the horrific withdrawal symptoms everybody will experienced even after weaning. This drug WILL make you “crazy” over time if for nothing else due to the side effects. All you have to do is Google gabapentin and discover for yourself the well-known and widespread problems with this drug and I was told nothing. Do not take this medication for any off label use. None. There are a lot of other options. I was on gabapentin for 1-1/2 years for anxiety. Due to the efficacy decreasing over time my dose increased to 2400mg a day (600mg 4x) and I still found myself wanting a higher dose for it to be effective like when I first took it. After weaning down it took about a week for the major withdrawal symptoms to subside enough so I did not feel like I was crawling out of my skin. Stick to it. You will get through the nightmare withdrawal.

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Re: Mamaw G (# 269)

I just discovered this today and couldn’t wait to help someone with my discovery! I’ve been having hell-ish anxiety, panic attacks, morning hot waves like my head and arms and hands are on fire, ER trips where tests were run and all was fine besides being malnourished and dehydrated, waking up and not able to leave the toilet the first few hours of every day..missed work. Only thing it seemed to coincide with was the Gabapentin I was told to wean off (it wasn’t working for my panic) and that the month I took to do it was more than enough. I happened to take some Passionflower! INSTANTLY I felt as though I had taken a benzodiazepine. No stomach cramps/back ache/constant nausea/diarrhea/constipation that was plaguing me for days. Nothing else has helped much, actual benzodiazepines, marijuana, Imodium, etc. When I googled it, guess what Passionflower does! Increases GABA in your brain! And I hadn’t had gabapentin in 2 days. Doctors and the pharmacist have never heard of anyone having gabapentin withdrawals. HOW??

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Re: Cheryl (# 272)

Does any passion flower do the trick?

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This is gabapentin, right? Yeah wicked withdrawals that were more uncomfortable than when I came off opiates. They lasted about two weeks. Magnesium helped a bit.

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My son, age 42, has been on mega doses of Neurontin, Celexa, Hydroxyzine, Temazepam and Dilantin for bi-polar and seizure disorders. The doctor added Abilify to the mix and within 3 days my son was so confused that he didn't know his name, birthday or how to dress himself. I took him to the ER and doctors there took him off everything with the exception of 3 (800 mg) Neurontin, 1 (40 mg) Celexa, and 1 (30 mg) Temazepam, and 3 (100mg) Dilantin per day. Soon after this sudden withdrawal he started having abdominal pains and loss of appetite. He has had every test for gastrointestinal problems, gall bladder and pancreas, and nothing's shown up. I am at the point where I don't know what to do. After reading the posts on this site I believe he is having withdrawal from having the doses of all these drugs lowered at one time. His PCP put him on Bentyl a week ago but I don't see much change in his health. Any suggestion?

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Ran out after taking 600mg 3 x day mega anxiety/stress no sleep/depression some leg muscle discomfort.not sure if thats why but suspect it.almost like benzo/opiat withdrwl combined not as severe accept for extreme anxiety level

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I started taking neurontin about 5/6 months ago due to anxiety and insomnia. Frankly, I was hoping to get something stronger because the sleep/anxiety/depression issues have been ongoing. I had previously been taking celexa and trazodone, but after being forced to detox from the celexa (which was godawful) and stopping the trazodone as it wasn't helping me sleep anymore, the dr prescribed me 800 mg of the neurontin at night. I had read online that most people tend to take much higher doses and I tend to have a high tolerance to most drugs. After feeling no effects from it and my dr telling me if it wasn't helping she'd get me some BENADRYL... riiiight... I took it upon myself to up my dosage. I usually take 4-6 300 mg pills per night. Anyhow, I ran out Friday. Couldn't get my prescription filled till today. Waiting for my husband to get home to do that, but I have been everything from nauseated, to exhausted, to having excruciating headaches. It didn't even occur to me it could be withdrawal. I thought, because I woke up Sunday morning so nauseated I actually threw up. Have woken up completely nauseated both mornings since, spent both Sunday and Monday on the couch ALL day... which is not like me. I also remember there was a gap for a few days between my last refill during which time I just kept sleeping. I was completely exhausted for no apparent reason. I had myself believing I must be pregnant, why else would I be so nauseated and tired? Maybe I'm just hungover? lol When I withdrew from the celexa the symptoms were very obvious, but these symptoms are so vague I didn't even realize it could be the neurontin... or lack there of.

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Does it cause severe headaches, I've had one for 5 days now and I can only link it to neurontin withdrawl

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Thanks Terri, If I decide to go off of neurotin I have some hope now that it can be done with less withdrawal symptoms by doing it very slowly as you suggest.

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I'm sorry you had to go through that bad effect, I'm don't know if ill ever get off this med. I can stop taking morphine and other stony med's and have some small withdraw's but Gabapentin I can't tolerate all the pain an weeks without sleep. And this is on a step down progeram. I'm not hooked i'v been on the same dose for 3 years. God bless to all that having med problem's and I hope the Lord can help us all with or strength. Mery Chirstmas :-)

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Yes, though every individual is different, quite unbelievable symptoms can occur. If I were you, I'd go to the emergency room right now if it won't bankrupt you, or at least call the R.N at the Emergency Room and see if she/he thinks you should come in. I for fortunate to have some neurontin-gabapentin so I was able to take some and very (extremely) slowly wean myself off of it because my goal was to stop taking it. So if I had insurance or just didn't care what happens when the bill comes in, I'd go to the Emergency room, or if it's daytime call your Doctor and tell him/her and perhaps your doctor will have a small amount prescribed for you at a local pharmacy. Because it's so horrible, I felt like I was going to die, I wasn't of course, just felt like it. Read some of the other comments, and it doesn't get better until you take some, it gets worse, (that is it did for me, medications always have different effects upon different people, so your reaction might not be mind, but my health was very weak after 24 years of being disabled, and I felt like I was going to die, I knew i was just a feeling, so I didn't really think I was going to die, but that's just a figure of speech, as in I felt almost like I wanted to die, I didn't want to die of course, I just could not tolerate it. I did not know if that was the reason, so I looked and found this site, found that my reaction was not unique and I began to take some, it took a while before i began to feel better, about a day, though there was some improvement in an hour, two or three. and I didn't feel quite right again for a week. My advice is to get extra so this never happens again, somehow, tell your Doctor that you can't stand having this happen again, and you need an emergency supply for mail order places who are infamous for poor service, at least they were for me, and from what I've heard here. But don't just suffer, get some help, call the 'ER or your Doctor !!! my heart goes out to you!

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I can only tell you what I went through, I cut back a lot, maybe it was all at once, the effect was horrible, I thought it might pass in a day or two, but it got much worse, I thought well, it's got to get better in 3 - 3 1/2 days, but it got so bad I though (felt) like I was going to die. I started taking it again, but it was at least a whole 24-36 hours before I began to see any improvement at all, and a week before I began to feel somewhat normal, and a month before I got back to where I had been, then I started cutting back in the tiniest possible amount that I could, and I spent well over a year- about a year and a half before I was completely off of it. and during that year and a half, I had to take some diazepam to help with the symptoms (all of this I did under a doctors care)

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Using antipsychotic medications to help with anxiety or insomnia symptoms is like swatting a fly with a sledge hammer. Your psychiatrist may believe that some of the newer antipsychotics are pretty benign, especially since they don't cause physical dependency like most anti-anxiety agents and sleep aids. But, the problems they DO cause (metabolic syndrome, weight gain, blood sugar increases/diabetes, mental clouding, lethargy, depression) make them unsuitable for use for any reasons other than treating psychosis, bipolar disorder, and as an add-on to an antidepressant.

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I have been on as much as 1800mg a day of the stuff and let me tell you that the side effects of it are pretty bad..confusion, lots of memory loss and stress! I am now on 600mg and have been since December 2013. Now I am weining off morphine sulfate er 15mg and still on the gabapentin. When I went to my pain doctor she said I go off the gabapentin anytime without any problems. That's BS cause I have already done that and wow can this stuff make you crazy! It is a nerve blocker and that is exactly what it odes it blocks so many triggers in the brain and it is an anti seizure med as well so I had several tremors ie: shaking, drooling, and peeing my pants. I knew when I was having them but couldn't stop them and boy was I worn out from them! Now I am doing the morphine and I am scared of it! I have downed one dose already and that was pretty easy but am afraid of doing anymore! I am not going of the rest of the gabapentin until totally off the morphine! Good luck peeps! This is a tough one! Nancy

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You had exactly what happened to me! The first time was a couple years ago and I was away from home on vacation and had not planned correctly and ran out and I was a big mess! Nervous agitated paranoid and shaky! I too didn't know what was happening and no one tells you or acknowledges this even happens. Even my pain management doctor said there is no problems or withdrawals from it and that is 100% incorrect! A person who takes the drug for seizures can not go off this drug cold turkey so what makes them think someone else can't go cold turkey! DUH! Good luck with this and always make sure you have extra if needed!

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Have been on gabafentin for 3 weeks now, was put on it for sharp pain on right side of head and then the pain went to top of my head, it was like a zapping feeling, started with a sinus infection, never felt pain like this before. I take 300 mg in am and then at supper, I want to get off of it, I feel like I'm in a fog,nervous, and sleppy all the time, how do I Get off of it? I was given the medicine by a Neurologist . Just not comfortable taking it, he said I have trigeminal neuralgia, scared of the pains in the head but need to get off of this med

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I have taken Neurontin (neuropathy)for a year along trileptal(bi polar) and want to quit both. What will happen

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I am currently waiting for a gabapentin compound in the mail and hope it gets me off the last 2 pills I take a day! At one point I was taking 1800mg a day and was only110lbs. Gained a lot of weight and now weigh 124lbs which another side effect of weight gain. I am 5ft short and am walking, doing some light weight workout, going to physical therapy(traction) and the chiropractor 2 times weekly.

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I came off 3200 mgs of Gabby over a period of 3 weeks!! My rheumatologist said he had never heard of withdrawal from this drug??? My family Dr. wasn't aware I had done this for the first month..she was upset..said I should of been weaned down 100 mgs at a time over a period of months..to late now..I have been off Gabby since February 1st..I can finely say that I am feeling better..still having some stomach issues with appetite, bloating and small stomach aches now and then..every so often chest pain..but all in all its so much better than when I first stopped taking it..don't miss the sleeplessness, anxiety, headaches..was not fun..
Glad you are better..I have heard that the higher the dose which I was on 3200 mgs for about 4 months..the length of time taken which for me was over a year that it takes a long time to get it out of your system..I am 4 months out and still feeling some of the withdrawal..hopefully this to will pass in time..dealing with my osteo arthritis if better than the withdrawal..
Keep me posted..

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