Sudden Withdrawal From Neurontin (Page 6)
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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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Thank you Gabapentin Boy! I read your remark & didn't have to read further-Nothing like experience. Have been taking Gabapentin for 2 years for nerve pain and emotional trauma. When I went to Psychiatrist she gave me a higher dosage and I felt worse instead of better. I didn't trust her judgement as alot of shrinks are being told by pharmaceutical companies to increase meds...I may have not worded it right but I know my own body. If you get the least bit of anxiety they up your dosage and give you Ambien. Altho sometimes it helps I knew what I had to do. I started to wean myself off Neurontin to start. I had a couple sweaty nights and two days of migraine. I am still on it but not so high a dosage. I'm being careful because, let's face it, who likes to suffer. The Ambien comes in handy on bad nights but I am trying to not use it every night. For me, I have a tendency to overmedicate and pay for it later. Thanks for your help. Katia

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How are you doing now Are you still on 200 mg?

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"Helpful" Melissa states that withdrawa symptoms from Neurontin (gabapentin) do not include seizures unless one is taking Neurontin for epilepsy or a seizure disorder. She goes further to dismiss the notion entirely with some remark about not believing things you don't understand.
Neurontin, like a lot of drugs, has anticonvulsant activity and raises the seizure threshhold - whether you have a seizure disorder or not. Sudden discontinuation of Neurontin (or any other anticonvulsant) can and DOES cause seizures, - including seizures in people with no pre-existing seizure disorder. I hope no-one suffered any ill effects because Melissa took it upon herself to become a pharmacologist overnight. ALL anticonvulsant drugs must be tapered to avoid seizures.

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My understanding from univ of so cal pain docs is that you should wean yourself gradually.

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Seizures are not part of withdrawal unless you have epilepsy. My daughter was prescribed this med for hypertonic muscle tone. She had cerebral palsy with muscle spasms and she also had epilepsy. I currently take this med for fibromyalgia, anxiety and neuropathy. Don't believe everything u read unless u fully understand it.

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A good natural way to appease the panic attacks, extreme fear/dread, and anxiety is using Kava Kava supplements. I had extreme anxiety from stopping gabapentin—600x5/day cold turkey and took Kava Kava, which almost completely relieved my symptoms. You still sweat from the gabapentin withdrawal, but the Kava Kava helped tremendously. Also, try Valerian Root, a natural supplement that helped relieve the anxiety and aided sleep.

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Wow! I'm sooooooo grateful I looked this up, bcuz I've been on 2400 mg of neurontin a day for about 14months. Recently, within the last few months my husband had been just taking them as he do very well pleased! Well, since I get so many mgs I was able to sliver my way to the end of my script by portioning them differently..... I just had twins and am having memory loss.. bad! So, after hiding the bottle this month, I forgot THEY EXISTED!!! and in this few days without any neurontin, have been chalking up this horrible depression with suicidal thoughts and pure fatigue up to postpartum depression. After reading what you all had to say, it seems like this will always be the side effect from going off the med. Neurontin!!! I wouldn't have guesed that in a million yrs! I've been suffering horribly w the pain from the inside out this time! Not vice versa. Thank you all! You may have just saved my life!!! I'll continue dosage now, but at least I know now how horrific the wd is!!! God Bless

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Thank you for the information on OPC3. I am on the first day of no neurontin & can already feel my nerve endings starting to bother me. I am TERRIFIED of going through withdrawal from this medicine. My pain levels are extremely high anyway with the neurontin,but with it I was able to at least live a semi normal life.
I truly fear what the next few days/weeks are going to be without neurontin. The stories I have read about the withdrawal from this have me to the point of thinking I will end up in the hospital for pain control once again. This not only affects me but more so my 14 year old daughter.
So any advice or help in dealing with the withdrawal is greatly appreciated.
Thanks to everyone in advance!!

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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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From what I see, OPC-3 is a "nutritional supplement" composed mainy of grape seed extract. How it works and what it does are pretty much unanswered questions. There's a lot of "nutritional supplements" out there with alleged medicinal qualitiies.

OPC-3 is not a drug, technically. The FDA doesn't classify it as one. Therefore, no insurance will cover it.

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What is OPC3 & how does it work & where can I get it. I can no longer ( after almost 5 years) afford it my medicaid no longer is covering mire than 4 scripts a month

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I had the same thing happen... Did the symptoms go away with time

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hi, i was taking gabapentins off and on for about a year, had the sweats and feeling not good, til up to last November i ran out of gabapentins and dreaded the sweats so 2 days later i feel weird so i went to er, right there anxiety started and i didnt know what it is then but when it started, i felt pressure on my chest and pain, couldn't breathe...it has been going on almost a month now, er drs say it ll go away in few days but tht is not true!

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I'm starting to feel less symptoms, the magnesium supplements and Epsom baths are helping. I continue to have nausea, chills, sweating and some tinnitus, but it's not at the degree it has been the past six weeks. I am able to shop and even go out to dinner. I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, but I still feel like I have a way to go.

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I'm still taking gabapentin 800 mg 4 X day. When I was laid off at my job and it took almost a month before I was added to my wife insurance policy. So I went 3 weeks with out them. It was like I had a really bad case of the flu. My wife just went back to work after having our daughter so I was at home taking care of a new born. I am on OxyContin 60mg 2xday and 30 mg of oxycodone 4xday and I had some stolen from me so I went a week with out them and the withdrawal of the gabapentin was 3 times as bad of the OxyContin withdrawal. So hang in there it is not fun at all.

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Hello,
I have been on Neurontin for nearly two weeks now 200 mg at night only.
I was recently diagnosed with a decreased cerebellum. Which has left slight nerve damage to my legs. Some. Days before taking neurotin i could not walk or even lift my legs.
I have also ben diagnosed with acute chronic vetigo.
Since taking neurotin I feel loads better and my walking is better too, however i do not have an appetite and do not sleep. It makes me drowsy but thats it.
Does anyone now if i can tak an over the counter sleeping tablet.
I lie awake till,all hours bu when i do fall asleep i have terrible nightmares.
Can anyone give any form of advice as i am new to this medication.

I could call my neurosurgeon but i would like some feedback from people who have ben on neurotin for longer than two weeks.
Thank you

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I am having a nightmare reducing my dose. I was on 600mg and ran out and only had enough for 400mg for two days. At this point because it did not appear to be helping my severe neuropathic pain I thought I would just continue on the 400mg dose. On the 5th day I was a total mess suffering with suicidal depression and catatonic to boot - Nightmare !! I could not keep my eyes open. I went back up to 600mg to try and solve the withdrawal problem. Then I tried 100mg reduction but could not tolerate the withdrawals. Anyway I went to GP and asked for liquid solution gabapentin which means you can use a syringe and reduce by as little as 10mg. I tried 480mg for five days then reduced to 460mg. I felt horrible wired hyper couldn't get to sleep and manic then the awful depression. So after 6 days I had to go back up to 500mg. I am suffering greatly both mentally and physically. My legs ache on walking and I have a horrible depression that will not lift. I feel run down and about 90 years old. I have suffered the awful withdrawal symptoms of the anti depressant Effexor/ Venlafaxine really nasty but nothing compared to this gabapentin nightmare. I would never have taken it if I had known that it caused such awful withdrawal symptoms. What makes me really angry is the ignorance of the medical community regarding gabapentin withdrawals and the drugs companies and regulating bodies that keep such information in the wings. Obviously honesty / transparency is not good for the drugs companies sales. I have read many blogs from people who are suffering greatly and having extreme difficulties coming off this drug. Some people talk about it taking months to feel 'normal' and some have returned to taking the drug because months into discontinuation they have still been suffering discontinuation syndrome.

A possible option for those of you who are struggling ;-Try the liquid form of gabapentin. My chemist told me it is £200 a bottle and said that they only gave liquid form in exceptional circumstances ie people with swallowing difficulties. My GP didn't hesitate to give me the liquid form because I have sensitivity to medication that effects the brain. You must insist that your GP provides you with the liquid form if you can not cope with drops of 100mg at a time. I appreciate that for some this medication is helpful but never in my wildest dreams did I think withdrawal would be so awful. I feel so awful mentally that I keep contemplating increasing my dose but I am going to try a little longer and just pray this horrible depression eases off. Sorry for rambling on and good luck.

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I withdrew too quickly and had terrible side effects. So I cut back very gradually, that is I reduced as slowly as possible by requesting help from my Doctor, obtaining smaller doses, and stepping down over many months.
So the first step would be to see your doctor and get the doctor's assistance. Next stay in touch with your doctor.
If you find that stepping down to a lower dose is causing discomfort above a small amount, you probably have tried to do too much.
My Doctor said "some people don't tolerate this medicine"

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I have been taking 800mg of gabapentin for 8 years for neuropathy related to a surgery. I really want to stop. Has anybody weened themselves off of it? How was your pain afterwards?

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This drug from my experience has a worser withdraw then opiat I haven't seen yet but this med.made me feel like I was being cooked all the time and it got worser when I backed off I have to say this is one Med.i wished I had never heard of I'm on it for restless legs and oh the restless nights to come after it's threw its a horrifying drug.

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