Sudden Withdrawal From Neurontin (Page 5)

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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Benzos help but I've been on them also for years and need to not increase the dose as I'll be weaning off them next.

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Yes, wean off benzos very, very slowly. I had withdrawal symptoms because I didn't.

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Drowsiness? I am experiencing a strange unablity to stay awake during work hours. And infact can fall asleep while talking to people. I also have an increased incidence of errors on a software system I used for 6 years suddenly I put in wrong dates, dont save things. Gabapentin is about to lose my job for me. Anyone else experience this? I had the same thing on Cymbalta. And the withdrawl on that was horrific. Mood swings dont even begin to describe my state of mind. The close proximity to seizures was bad too. I came off it in a week after being on it a year. I have only been on Gabapentin 3 weeks and dread coming off it. But I cant lose my job. I was hoping this was the pill that would take my pain away and I would stay on it for ever because when I dont have pain I feel 30 and when I do I feel 80 cant move cant get up without being bent over. My best bet so far has been pressure point shots, But they only last a month and you cant have them more than 3 months. Surgery is a last resort but its getting close. I cant keep doing this its been 6 years dealing with the pain and even hydrocodone does not work anymore. It isnt as bad as the Cymbalta sleeping during waking hours. That I had a hard time driving home without falling asleep. And talking to people would wake in the middle of a conversation. But its starting to happen with the Nuerotin. It did not happen without those medications. So pain and a job or no pain and no job. Either way the pain affects my job. I either call in with pain or fall asleep with Gabapentin. Im screwed.

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I'm so sorry to hear you're suffering so much. Yes Gabapentin made me feel real drowsy and and brain fogged too. The doctor told me I'll get used to it. It took me almost a year to not feel so drowsy but now it's not helping with the pain much. Maybe you started on too high a dose. Have you talked to your docotor about how you feel?

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I have chemo induced neuropathy which came about after Taxol given to me for breast cancer. Now my feet and hands are burning and tingling something awful. Is anybody taking gabapentin for this problem? I am concerned about adding more side effects to a problem I already have.

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Please try to find another alternative to Neurontin (gabapentin) or Lyrica (pregabalin). They are highly addictive and the withdrawals are horrible. Be careful.

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In working for a physician who was a pharmacist prior to becoming a Dr. Neurontin is a drug we prescribed for patients with chronic pain. To take someone off the drug required titrating the dosage down over a period of time. If you were taking 600 mg twice daily you would cut to 600 mg once daily for 2 wks then 300 mg once daily for two wks then 100 mg daily for 2 wks.

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I have been taking Gabapentin since April 6 for the same thing. Neuropathy from Taxol for breast cancer. I was having sharp shooting pains in the feet & couldn't sleep. I started with 300 mg 3 times a day and after almost a month it didn't seem worth taking but I was told it takes awhile to be effective. I take 300 mg 5 times a day now and have gotten relief. Also, take vitamin B complex (I was told by a chemo nurse). I also sought out an acupuncturist. Between the 3 I have a lot of relief, only minor pain at night. I can put up with the numbness in the toes all the time, it was the sharp shooting pain that was the worst. I would now like to wean myself off the Gabapentin and continue with the acupuncturist. I will meet with my doctor next week to discuss that. Good luck! You will get some relief eventually. Try it all!!

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I wonder why you would want to stop taking the Nerontin if it is helping and not giving you any bad side effects. I had to quit because it was affecting my memory and a lot of brain "fog" my doctor said not everyone tolerates it well. I tried Lyrica and it also affected my memory. So for now I'm just taking T#4, it's not good but doesn't affect my memory as much as the Neurontin

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I want to stop taking Gabapentin because I'd rather go the natural route with acupuncture. I have some side effects from the Gabapentin but it is minor. Lack of coordination. Sometimes when I walk I stagger and look like a drunk but that's about it. I'd much rather take the vitamin & acupuncture route and get off the drugs.

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I have been taking neurotin on and off for years. Im up to the max dosage of 1200mg 3 times a day. I want to get off of this bcause i dont want to take it the rest of my life, i have diabetic neuropathy. I was without my meds for 5 days last oct. and it felt like i wanted to die please help me i dont know what to do

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I have been on neurontin for quite a few years now. I currently have a script for 600mg. x 4 a day but I will admit I sometimes take more to ease the pain when it's bad. For me it's a wonder drug. It helps me out so much, better than anything else has. I also suffer from Bi-Polar and epilepsy and I have to say it has helped with all my conditions. It makes me more active and more personable when I take it. I think it's great. But when I do run out early ( which is almost every month) I suffer terrible. I get pain through out my body, I get nervous as heck. I feel withdrawn and have no interest in doing anything or talking to anyone. The withdrawls from neurontin are very under rated. It's similar to withdrawling from opiates and benzodiazepams at the same time. All I can say is make sure it stays in your system and your golden but if you don't you'll suffer. It's definiltly a medication worth trying and I feel that it's a medication that can be used for so many problems other than what it is currently being prescribed for.

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You should talk to your doctor because I know they don't want you to stop taking it without talking to them first, I don't know what they will say about taking too much, but if you run out that's much worse. It's not a narcotic. I don't tolerate it well, so I have a huge excess of them because I don't take them, first I cut back, then stopped taking them all together. The doctor tried me on Lyria, which is absorbed better, so you take a smaller dose, but it was worse for me- probably would be more effective for you, maybe you should ask your doctor. The only thing about Lyrica is it is not generic and incredibly expensive. the copay was 80, and I just got 60 15 mg, the total cost was like 300.00! So see if your doctor can increase your dose, either way you need to keep your doctor informed about what's going on and why -because you are in pain and it helps- (that you take more) the doctor needs to know, take care, glad it helps you, it helped me for a while, then my brain couldn't handle it, and I had to cut back very slowly. hope you get to see the doctor soon.

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Ok Cymbalta 1 year. Works but puts me to sleep on my job...had to come off or be fired. Lyrica...bad things to the eyes couldnt get past the first month, couldnt see, now Nuerotin, works rather well, though I was on a low dose, but within 3 weeks fell asleep at the job. I dont mean putting my head on the desk, I mean talking nonsense and sitting straight up and talking to people on the phone, complete brain fog. Try to explain that to the boss, its not narcotic....You dont even know when you are going to do it so I had to stand up for 5 hrs. But eventually it caught me and again I had to come off or lose my job. So its pain, and eventually not being able to work, or its drugs and loosing the job anyway, even though the pain is diminished. Cymbalta detox was a horror. I was severely affected for months. Almost lost everything, family, friends, job. I did not stay on Lyrica long enough but Nuerotin held promise it makes me so angry that they cant find something that works without the side effects. NO one wants to do surgery. Its not even guaranteed. So I stay on hydrocodone and dont have a life because it helps very little and doesnt stop it from hurting in the beginning. Almost gets to be the last straw. You know.

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Yes, I went from 118 lb's to 126 lb's in 3 months. I know that 8 lb's sounds like nothing but I never gain weight, I am not eating any different but now all my clothes are skin tight & miserable to wear. It had to be the neurontin which I'm now weaning off of & have such terrible withdrawal symptoms( severe headache, mucsle pain, weakness, mental confusion) that I can't totally stop & still take 300 mg. a day.

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Lyrica is a scheduled controlled substance now, which to me means that in the future Neurontin/Gabapentin will be as well, or should be. This medication defintely has very high potential of dependence and/or abuse. Your body builds tolerance to it fast and you begin to rely on it just to function, not just for the pain anymore. I agree with others here that it is a wonder drug in many ways, and I too think that there are many uses for this drug other than pain, including depression. It has helped me very much with anxiety. The downside is the withdrawl it can cause and the dependency. I guess each person just has to weigh the pros and cons and make the choice on their own. The choice for me is clear though, if given the opportunity to go back and never take this medication I would defintely do things differently!

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Lyric actually makes me forget things, simple things, but it helped with my neuropathy so I took it. But after I had a lateral ankle reconstruction surgery my neuropathy has spread up my thighs and into my arms and hands so nothing really helps the pain.

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I have been taking Neurontin since 2004. I am taking 800mg 4xday I was laid off and my wife insurance didn't kick in time. so I went a week in an half with out none of medication at that time I was taking 8 different I felt like a bad hangover. I didn't know what medication was causing it then I found a pill of Neurontin under the bed when I took it I felt so much better. So it does cause issues when I don't take it.

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I have been on Neurontin since 2002 resulting from a work related head injury. An attempt to wean me from the drug caused my symptoms to return with vengeance! Since then, I have been on just enough to keep the symptoms from returning and was told that I would have to continue taking this Med for the rest of my life. I attempted to renew my prescription today and was told that Comp is refusing to refill my prescription any longer. Compensation closed my case out from under me, but gave me 'Medical for Life'. Might I add that all records involving my case were purged. Now this! I am very afraid that my symptoms will return along with the symptoms mentioned above.

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I have been taking this drug for two years. I was originally put on it because I had a terrible xanax addiction (prescribed). It was going to kill me and I am lucky to be alive. So, my psychiatrist at the time thought it to be a good idea to put me on neurontin. He said it was not addictive. I did some research and kept telling him it was going to be addictive. Within a month or two, I realized that I was indeed correct and addicted. It did jack s*** for xanax withdrawals. Nothing could. I felt like a dead man walking anyways. This was at McLean hospital in Massachusetts. I was not an inpatient, just went to see a doctor there.

Long story short, I am very bitter about him prescribing it to me and wish that I never went on it. My parents were my voice at the time of prescription, because I may as well been a delirious, deaf mute. They didn't know how else to get help, I couldn't think or make decisions for myself, so they put all of their trust in the doctor and discarded what I had to say about the research I'd done on neurontin.

A lot of the symptoms you guys and gals are reporting as to coming off of it, feels like when I'm ON it. I take 600mg, four times a day. I get mood swings, anger...just generally pissed off and not mellow or humble. I get very assertive and short. No fuse whatsoever. I have trouble focusing and am a guitarist, so this has become very problematic. My brain just feels scrambled and ping-pongy. I am a music junky and have notes in my head a lot of the time. I have this problem where I'll can't stop a series of notes in my head. OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I just can't stop it. I feel like it makes me delirious sometimes. Last night I was losing it. The mood swings are horrid. I was so scared and depressed/upset last night that I had to take extra ativan and that helped somewhat. First I thought I was withdrawing from the ativan, but I didn't go that long since my previous dose. It has to be the neurontin. I also get terrible muscle tension and my throat gets sore/tight. I take the neurontin every 4-6 hours. I haven't taken it in nearly eight hours and am starting to feel better. I am afraid to take another does and feel s***ty. I take ativan, so I don't think I will get a seizure. I swear things around me seem more real and palpable. I get so antsy on the neurontin. I take it before I go to bed and when I wake up, my heart is racing, I am scared, and if someone tries to wake me up...it makes me feel like I want to punch EVERYTHING. It infuriating and feels like there is a whirlwind in my chest. After merely eight hours of not taking it, and I am about to go to bed, this is the first time I've felt tired enough to lay down and go to sleep without having to hold onto my pillow tightly, curling up in a ball. My stomach doesn't feel like it's in a knot for the first time in days. I don't feel like I'm in turbo mode or uncomfortable in my own skin, my jaw isn't stiff nor is my tongue (which happens EVERY DAMN DAY ON THIS CRAP), my throat isn't tight, and my chest isn't tingly. Every damn morning for the past two years, I've woken up with a tingly chest/airway. I can't tell if it's from withdrawing in the morning or if it sits in my stomach over night as the digestive system slows way down during slumber. Sometimes I will feel flu-ish in the morning, too. I noticed this did not happen after I refilled the script last time. Same pills, same dose, same color, same manufacturer and I'm not sick. This makes me question as to what else the manufacturer is putting in this. But, I also didn't feel so moody before I picked up my refill. Something shady has to be going on and this is not the deliriousness talking. I just realized this as I was typing it. Did not even think about it. I just yawned too. I can't remember the last time that happened. I think I am just going to try and stop cold turkey, because the ativan should keep me from seizing. Going to keep 600mg of neurontin next to my bed just in case. I just can't take the mood swings anymore. It is so scary. Being ON neurontin for me, almost feels like a fraction of a fraction coming off a xanax. Same kind of feeling, but not as hellish as that. I get retched stomach pains on it as well. It has been debilitating since I've been on the crap. No stomach pain at the moment and haven't had any for the past couple hours...again, I haven't taken it in roughly eight, probably closing in on nine. I haven't felt this comfortable in my own skin since last week. Praying I'm not speaking too soon :( It seems like this drug has extremely varying effects on people.

How quickly do you all feel withdrawals from the neurontin? Wish me luck everyone...I wish you all luck as well. If you just started this medication or are looking into it, thinking twice and consider alternatives.

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