Sudden Withdrawal From Neurontin (Page 8)
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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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My health was far too weak to endure that kind of withdrawal. I did painful withdrawals many times of narcotics, tylenol #3 when I go so sick of the side effects, but later the pain would get the best of me. then finally let them try out some of the psych meds on me, effexor, for anxiety related to trying to work a "widow maker" high stress sales job that had every man in the office on psych, and they were talented gifted agents with families and moral, emotional support, and worked on quitting that at the same time I was quitting elavil had such horrible and strange effects that I had to wean myself off of them both separately and over a long time and it was still a slow death like experience.
But Neurontin was worse, the elavil was really quite bad, I nicknamed it hellavil; but neurontin has it's own kind of hell.
anyway, I was just too weak, so I was very careful, perhaps because I got jumped on for going cold turkey on ms contin by my doctor, I realized it was stupid and wreckless disregard for my health, I looked at going cold turkey as good for my health, but the doctor showed me it was bad for my health,
often there is this guilty component that if you take medicine for pain, you are a bad person, or at least we understand, but really we think you are weak, a wimp, incapable of handling your own affairs.
Howard Hughes married Jean Peters, and said, I need to have a wife so they can't commit me, so she stayed faithful to him till he died, so they didn't have much of a marriage, but she was a really special lady who though drop dead good looking, stayed away from sexpot roles and got suspended from the studio because of it.

So I learned after 20 plus years to take better care of myself regarding sudden withdrawal, it's not good for your health.
I still battle with the if you take pain medicine you are weak, a wimp
I resolved to quit tylnol 4 yesterday, but today the pain called, it's just a nightmare, but you know

I wanted so desperately to get that electrical spinal stimulation that helped Jerry Lewis, passed the psych eval, my doctor approved me, the insurance company said no, the doctor was mad, but what could he do?
thanks for you kind words, steve

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Hi Stephen,
Yes Neurontin was the most horrible experience of my whole life. My heart beat so fast and hard for days I am sure I needed to go to the ER. Just rode it out...took deep breaths and prayed.Seven months down the road now and I am not completely over this medicine. The panic attacks and anxiety were over a ten. Seizures at night in my sleep. The list goes on and on. I will never take this med. again. I understand for some it is a wonder drug but I have to wonder what it would be like for them to come off. I also had a very invasive spinal surgery in 1996. Came off some heavy duty pain meds. I just use ice and heat now and some natural products. One is Primrose oil. People like us suffer so much and lessons are usually hard learned. I hope you get better. I share in your pain. I pray one day you can get the stimulator. Best wishes

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the withdrawal I was talking about was Gabapentin (Neurontin) that was so difficult, that is the subject of this forum.
Wikipedia states: Gabapentin (Neurontin) is a pharmaceutical drug, specifically a GABA analog.
So it is not an opioid derivative.
Born with spinal defects that began causing chronic pain (constant pain from that point on) in 1989, Doctors began to give me various opioid derivatives around 1992 or 1993 off and on, starting with milder ones like tylenol #3 -Codeine and Soma (before it fell out of favor, it was commonly prescribed.
I nicknamed it Coma because the first time I took it as prescribed I tried to wake up for about 36 hours, and didn't feel somewhat normal for another day or so during which it caused a hangover type # 9 headache.
So I nicknamed it Coma.
But later because of really severe painful muscle spasms I took 1/4 of a tablet, perhaps it was smaller than that. And I found that it helped the painful muscle spasm without the side effects. And after I would have to because of painful muscle spasms take it every day, I worked my way up to one whole table.
But If I went a while, perhaps a month, or especially if two - six months or longer, I would have to start with the very very small dose.
I could always take a tiny bit more if need be, but if I took too much, then I'd suffer side effects.

Many years later doctors began to tell me it was a drug that drug addicts like, the doctor said, "it gives a buzz"
But it never gave me a buzz, it knocked me out, it gave me a horrible headache, but never a buzz.
But I was never fond of it. I have a large quantity of it that I probably need to flush because it's probably expired now. Now they give me Tizanidine (Zanaflex) It causes problems, dizziness, blurred vision, and I read that it's important that your Doctor check your liver for the first 6 months because it can caused damage. I don't remember if my Doctor checked my liver. I know he ran tests, but I think they were regular tests, and it was my GP, not my pain doctor who ran the tests. So I probably need to ask to be tested? I better write it down, because I forget.
Later after the pain became much much worse, the put me M.S. Contin, time release Morphine. It was so much easier on the gut, helped control the pain, it seemed to be the answer, (whenever any drug or medicines for pain seems to be the answer, watch out. I just remembered, during the time I was quitting MS Contin, tey put me on Amitriptyline (Elavil) I was able to sleep at night the next day my pain level was lower, and it was a non-narcotic, again I thought it was a wonder drug. I took it for about 3 years, it had a side effect -dry mouth. I thought it was only a minor discomfort. Then I learned too late that our Salivary Glands protect our teeth from decay by washing bacteria off of them constantly. If a medicine turns off that protection, bacteria and eat your teeth up, which is what happened. I just had to spend $40,000 for implants, I have prosthetic teeth, that is to say, I lost all of my teeth. And prosthetic teeth as any prosthetic limb are no replacement for your real leg, real arm.
Back to the MS. Contin Pretty soon, after about two years, I couldn't remember, so I quit, too rapidly on my own, and one day was paralyzed, with no telephone, and no one would check on me, I was going to die there, but like picking up a red hot piece of iron, I was able to move, except it was like picking up and carrying a red hot piece of iron about 10 feet to the medicine, and the telephone. I told my Doctor and got chewed out by my "Never!!! do this on your own!"
So after I was off of Morphine, which took two years, with the Doctors help.
I was back on Tylenol #4, and as always I wanted to quit,
my Doctor put me on Neurontin. It seemed to help, I was able to quit T#4,
I still had a lot of pain, but I could tolerate it. and I began to think I had found the answer.
But soon I could not remember, and significantly worse than the memory loss that I had experienced on M.S. Contin. So I broke rule number one again, because I didn't realize it was a strong strong drug, I quit on my own. I feel bad and in pain anyway all day long every day, so it took a while to realize this was different.
But I had gone through painful withdrawals before, so I thought I could handle it, after about the third or fourth day. Then it was way beyond anything I'd ever experienced before, and I had been through very horrible withdrawals before but Neurontin was so far beyond anything I'd ever been through, Elavil withdrawal was horrible and I had to be extremely careful, but I didn't wait 3 almost 4 days before I realized I needed to take one, but it is extremely dangerous to withdraw from too.
It's been about two years since I stopped Neurontin and my memory is still continuing to get better, even though I have to take Tylenol #4 and Tizanidine and occasional Valium, I'm able to remember so much better.

with Neurontin I was (no exaggeration) turning me into a vegetable. and I was taking 400 3x daily. Possibly because my health was so poor after all the years of all the medicine. And possibly just me, not every medicine affects everyone the same, Doctors have told me that a dozen times. when I told the Doctor my incredibly horrible experience he simply said "not all patients can tolerate Neurontin. But from what I read here. it seems a lot of patients don't tolerate it!
I think the perfect medicine is to take no medicine at all, it's the "medicine" I want to take- none, but unfortunatly the pain is too horrible. My doctor tried to get me approved for the spinal simulator- the electrical device that helped Jerry Lewis get off Narcotics. But the insurance would not approve it. They said the doctor had not tried enough, even though I've had open back surgery, L4-T5 Fusion. My Doctor says they just turn some people down, he says he does not know why.

maybe some people can tolerate Neurontin, but not me, and if you try to quit and begin having withdraws, or your pharmacy doesn't deliver it on time, get your doctor on the phone or go to the ER if it's night time, it's not something you can do on your own. That's just a patient talking who has suffered, and as you can read from many many others here, I think they would say the same thing. You don't want to quit this medicine too fast, extremely slowly, as slowly as possible. Get the 50 mg so you can drop the level 50 mg a day and hold that level for 4 weeks, but do what your Doctor advises, that is how I had to do it. But every patient is different, take care :) sorry I wrote so much, I haven't been able to sleep for over 36 hours. Life is worth living no matter how terrible it gets! Don't give up! Get help!!! I did :)

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How did you wean yoursel off? I am suppose 2 take 3600 mg a day (900 4x). I have not been doing anything close to this. Now,,my mind and vision are completely blurred, I feel awful, afraid to go outside. I have been having nightmares...I started taking it again, bc I figured this was def withdrawal from gabapentin, but, I am only taking 1200 mg a day. I'm hoping this will help me get back to normal and be ok. I am going to ask my dr to help me wean off....what I feel right now is awful! And, I know how dangerous it is to just stop like I did ...I also take percocet and xanax. But, they don't seem to help ease the dizziness or feeling that I may fall.

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What opiate where you on? For how long? What were the withdrawal symptoms from them?

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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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Idk if what I'm feeling is withdrawal from neurontin. I was on 3600mgs a day for 4 months..I recently became sick from another illness an had 2 take 2 more meds..and I stopped the neurotin,,without weaning off. Now..I am so dizzy, weak, shakey, and in a fog. Very scared. I started taking it again..but it hasn't helped at all...I just stopped bc I was taking way to many other meds...

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get a Doctor's advice, always do things like this, even if you get yourself into a horrible mess, the doctor doesn't want you to suffer or die, and will help you, and physician would want to help. It's not something you want to do on your own

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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 too am an addict. I was taking 24,000 mg neurontin daily. At one point I took 64,000mg. I have died two times. I am sober now. That many mg of neurontin will cause hair loss, memory loss, and more. I do not care if it is considered non-addictive. To me, if I like it, I am addicted. Get help. Please. It only gets worse until you do.

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OK so i'm prescribed neurontin, 600 mg 3x a day for klonopin withdrawal (p.s. worse withdrawal EVER)... i got a huge bottle of it, and as an addict, i decided the past like 5 days to experiment with it and take like 4800-8000+ mg a day... and it does give you a little buzz. now i'm afraid bc i'm going to have to wean myself off and maintain enough for my withdrawal. can i just go back to my 600 mg 3x a day starting like tomorrow? or do i have to wean? i figure when i start getting low i'll wean lower and go to 300 mg 3x a day. i'm a nurse, but i'm an addict, ugh help.

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My son has been prescribed Gabapentin 800mg 4 times a day for Opiate addiction, he has been on it 4 weeks..I want him to get off it how did you stop?

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Stay away from Neurontin. It is a wicked drug. Came off in Oct 2012 and as of Feb 2013 am still suffering withdrawal. Came off too quick and suffered from protracted withdrawals and when this happens it can last for months. Right now am left with neuropathy pain in ribs and back. Coming off was more than horror. Thought one day I was having a heart attack. Maker of this drug was sued for over $400 million and pled quilty to its off label use. Drug reps were paid to lie to Drs. about its safety. Drs don't believe it is addictive or can cause withdrawals. They should listen to people who are trying to come off it. I had all kinds of horrible withdrawals. Neurontin is wicked. My advise to people STAY AWAY

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my doctor only said "some people don't tolerate it very well. My memory is slowly coming back, about a year after, and I still have to take 4 tylenol #4 a day, which isn't good, but at least I can remember a little

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I have been on neurontin for years now I am taking 800mg 3 times a day, sometimes 4.When I don't have it I feel so lifeless,stressed,agitated,very nervous,along with many other serious side affects including,I get very short tempered and the least little things tic me off causing me to out rage to where i can't even stand myself. I have no apatite,and it is the worse feeling I have ever felt, or been through in my life.
Other side affects while taking this awful drug includes dizziness,and extremely bad memory loss. Just about everybody in my family has taken this awful drug called neurontin. Obviously,most doctors don't realize the side affects, or risk of this awful drug when prescribing neurontin, otherwise it wouldnt be handed out so often.
I have been on many bad narcotics in my life, and have never experience side affects, or withdraws like I have with neurontin. My advise to anyone that has not yet taken this awful medication is that I would talk to my physician about other options.

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The doctors do not usually tell you that gaba is a seizure medication therefore it will interfere with brain function. I recently decided to take myself off of it after a year of severe digestive problems, slow speech, irritability, acute memory loss etc. It was not worth the side affects vrs the benefits of minimal relief from neuropathy. The problems you describe are due to the anti-seizure properties that the drug was original made for. So many doctors nowadays are prescribing drugs that were meant to treat for one thing to use for a totally different thing. I have a seizure disorder and take a seizure medication that is now a popular anxiety med. Medicare would not pay for it because they do not pay for anxiety medications even though I am prescribed it for the seizure benefits. I was even placed on disability for the seizure disorder and denied the very med I need for the disability. It is crazy. I even asked my doctor the last time I saw him if he knew WHY he prescribed the drug to me and he told me for anxiety. Scary eh?

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I recently stopped taking Neurotin without easing off of it and I have been experiencing withdrawls that include nervousness, hyperactivity, and also night time seizure activity. Neurotin is a seizure medication therefore it will mess with your brain waves. I have a seizure disorder and take medication for that but was taking Neurotin for diabetic neuropathy. It has been my experience that the symptoms will eventually go away once the med is out of your system. But like any drug withdrawl can be very uncomfortable and disconcerting.

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Its so strange that my husband was prescribed 600 mg of Gaba in the AM and 1800 at night. He says it does nothing for the pain of nueropathy. Cymbalta seemed to help but they only give him one a day. He also claims no withdrawl if he stops Gaba. However he has had a very strange nausea that comes on daily and he sweats in his upper body but freezes below. He has had no weight gain, which he could use, but I would like to see him lower the immense amounts of Gaba and perhaps increase the Cymbalta. He will need something the rest of his life. He is suffering terribly. I do notice he is angry and short tempered but he doesnt feel angry and short tempered. I dont know what else you would call it if you sit and stare at the tv with arms folded across your chest for hours at a time and dont even know whea your watching. Since lost my job I take Gaba on occaision when I hurt bad but wont take it daily wish doctors would listen to ttheir paitient.
Right now I am going through insomia. Will have to detox from Hydrocodone since I run out each month. Dr wrote for amount that I needed and nurse refused to give me a script for correct amount. Likewise she wont refill early. Thinks she is the pill nazi. I hate painkillers. I would not take them if I could help it. And the pharmacy had a generic that is very weak. They say it is the same as the name brand but it is not. You need to take more to get relief. Yet with no insurance its all I can afford. Looks like bed is the only option for me. What a life.

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I used to take 24,000mg a day. 30 800mg pills a day. I took up to 64,000mg one day. I swallowed them like candy. My doctor documented everything when I told him. He then gave me the. 30 pills. I waited 4hrs. He then tested me. My levels of neurontin was only 600mg. It is a good mood stabilizer and some help for leg pain. I lost 180lbs and now take 1800mg when needed.

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I absolutely hear you. I slow tapered from a 900-1200mg daily dose over 7 weeks. The last dose was in August and I have sporadic symptoms. Some days are fine while others are just as bad as when I was on the med. I gained 40lbs on 2 years I was on gabapentin and another 20lbs since going OFF. I still sweat (hair sopping wet, underarms too) for no reason, my skin is a mess, rash on my neck and chest, the arch of my left foot has itchy pustules (like tapioca under the skin), I sometimes lose my balance, concentration, memory and speech problems and I alternate between high anxiety/restless and fatigued. I also have indigestion/heartburn often and my blood pressure is very high. I have never had high bp in my LIFE, always low! My doctor is at his wits end trying to determine the cause...adamant it cannot be the gabapentin w/d. I just went in for my second round of blood tests and have been referred to a dermatologist.
I wonder when or IF this will ever end...

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