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Gabapentin Neurontin
Just wanted to let everyone know how things are going. I can't believe how well gabapentin has worked. I've been thru the withdrawals going cold turkey 3 times in the past without anything to help. I was presribed gabapentin about a month ago for pain. It didn't help for that. I did some research on it and it is used for withdrawals. It has been 90% easier than before and trust me, I know how bad it is. The only syptoms I have had this time is I'm just a little cold and a bit of anxiety but nothing like before. I guess it's not normally prescribed for withdrawals because it has not been approved for that but I would think most docs would prescribe it because it can be used for pain and is a non narcotic. There are many other uses for it. I read there can be a withdrawal effect when stopping it so I only plan on taking it for a week. I only had to take 1 today and I was taking over 25 hydros a day until Sunday. I stopped completely monday. I just want to let people know about this because of how well it seems to be working.
Brian
Brian
One other thing I forgot to mention are two other very important things.One is drink lots of green tea.Green tea has GABA in it which is what will help to replace the gaba in your brain that it has grown accustomed to in excessive amounts. This was something very simple and inexpensive that helped me immensely.The other is the supplement NAC or N-Acetyl Cysteine.This supplement will help to replace glutathione in the brain which helps with free radical damage that occurs when going through with-drawls.I took up to six of these a day and I cant tell you how much it helped with those awful sensations in the brain and body.Just get what you can with these supplements.I know they can be somewhat pricey but dont under-estimate their power in helping the process.They really work esp when you dont have insurance or many other options. Good luck!
Hey well I made it back to post. Anyways I have been addicted to pretty much any substance over the years and didnt always have a drug of choice since they ALL were potential addictions for me,lol. But I am off all the crap finally and doing very well for the most part. I was placed on neurontin initially at a rehab facility to help with coming off of opiates. It helped immensely yes, but would lead to yet another type of addiction that was extremely hard to end. For those that dont know.... do not think for a second that that Neurontin isnt up there with all the other difficult meds to come off of. IF it is not done correctly and if you have been on it any length of time and taper too quickly it can be a living nightmare.
In fact it was a process that took me almost two to three years to fully come off because I would end up taking more just to feel really good again and would kind of have to start again.Since usually I would then wallow in that mistake for well, a few days,lol. I'm sure you can relate, its the mind that is going to be your biggest obstacle in those times. But the way that I ended up doing it was what I feel is the best way and suffered little to no with-drawls.Most doctors do not have any clue of how difficult it is to come off of this med and they will try and taper you FAR too quickly.
First off the key is to come off of this drug very slowly.But let me first rather say that the real key is that you must be completely committed to coming off of it. For me it helped because Neurontin started to cause me bad hair loss and awful fluid retention and thus weight gain and made my whole body heat up like it was being cooked from the inside out.But yes I still loved the way it made me feel.I would mess up constantly and get down on myself but just expect that you will mess up sometimes but dont wallow too long and try to get right back on track.Remember some progress, even the smallest bit at a time is what will finally be what all the difference in the end.
At your amount you can perhaps try reducing the dosage by one 400 mg cap per day.If thats too much then reduce it by 100 mg per day.If thats too much then do even less like 50 mg or even 10mg per day.Try dividing the piles up evenly say if youve got 400 mg divide it up in to 4 equal piles and then count evenly 10 equal segments from each 4 rows.Then you can figure out your amounts easier.Its a pain yes but kinda has to be done if your really wanting to taper the right way but dont worry it doesnt have to be exactly perfect just roundabouts. At some point, the lower your dose gets you will have to go even slower. When I got to around 600 mg that's when I had to start reducing by 10 mg a day.You may have to go that slow at an even higher amount and remember thats okay.If you stay as consistent as possible your body will adjust fairly easily and even if you mess up it only takes about three days for your body to get back on track. Just keep at it cause every little bit counts.
Even if you have to reduce by 5 mg a day the progress is what will give you the fuel to wake up that next day and do even more.When you get to the last ten mg this is where it is actually the hardest.Going from something to nothing even at that low of an amount can be very tough.What you need to do is start pushing the dose.If you have to take the ten mg in the morning at 10 well the next day you just make sure you take it later than 10...take it at 11 then 2 the next day, then you will skip a full day then two days and so forth. It will eventually break its hold easier this way than you just stopping altogether at once.
On a side note to help you beat this you kind of do need something that will minimize the anxiety or withdrawls. With this slow tapering it should be minimal but there will be times when it may be worse the lower you get. First off if you can get to an ER, walk in clinic,or a free clinic if they have one in your area you walk in and tell them your trying to get off of neurontin but its been extremely hard.Tell them you have a friend that was also on neurontin and was given clonidine and that helped her to come off of neurontin without nearly as many problems.It may be better to go to a walk in clinic to get the pills instead of a patch so you will have them to take for a longer period.For some reason the Er likes to give patches and you need the pills since the patch is usually good for only a few days.Clonidine is a blood pressure medication that is given mostly for opiate with-drawl but is REALLY helpful for neurontin with-drawls as well.Half of the discomfort is from your blood pressure rising and this is a life saver.The other things you can buy from the local health food store is something called GABA which we know is related in some way to neurontin-gabapentin. This is a natural GABA supplement that will work to restore your natural anxiety blocking and calming brain chemicals.The other two things that will help you are 5HTP, for any depression you may have which is the precursor to serotonin.Its natural but the stuff really works, and L-tyrosine. This will help not only your anxiety, but energy levels and help to restore some of the dopamine effect you may have gotten used to as neurontin has been said to trigger dopamine production at high enough levels.
Anyways and all the rest such as good sleep, wow verrry important, try to exercise if you can, eat well and drink plenty of water.I know all of this sounds like alot and may sound overwhelming but trust me if you do just a little bit it will give you the fuel to keep on going and before you know it your free! I am here if you need any support and trust me your not alone, weak minded or different from many other people who get hooked on this med.I like yourself also ended up taking copious amounts that would shock a regular individual, but towards the end I was able to master it little by little and the secret with neurontin anyways is the less you take the better it works.At your amounts its probably not even doing what it once did at all.But just stay the course and If you need to vent Im here lol.I have all the compassion in the world for what your going through and Id love to see you get to the other side as well. U can and things will be better than u can imagine! God Bless and keep me posted, (:
In fact it was a process that took me almost two to three years to fully come off because I would end up taking more just to feel really good again and would kind of have to start again.Since usually I would then wallow in that mistake for well, a few days,lol. I'm sure you can relate, its the mind that is going to be your biggest obstacle in those times. But the way that I ended up doing it was what I feel is the best way and suffered little to no with-drawls.Most doctors do not have any clue of how difficult it is to come off of this med and they will try and taper you FAR too quickly.
First off the key is to come off of this drug very slowly.But let me first rather say that the real key is that you must be completely committed to coming off of it. For me it helped because Neurontin started to cause me bad hair loss and awful fluid retention and thus weight gain and made my whole body heat up like it was being cooked from the inside out.But yes I still loved the way it made me feel.I would mess up constantly and get down on myself but just expect that you will mess up sometimes but dont wallow too long and try to get right back on track.Remember some progress, even the smallest bit at a time is what will finally be what all the difference in the end.
At your amount you can perhaps try reducing the dosage by one 400 mg cap per day.If thats too much then reduce it by 100 mg per day.If thats too much then do even less like 50 mg or even 10mg per day.Try dividing the piles up evenly say if youve got 400 mg divide it up in to 4 equal piles and then count evenly 10 equal segments from each 4 rows.Then you can figure out your amounts easier.Its a pain yes but kinda has to be done if your really wanting to taper the right way but dont worry it doesnt have to be exactly perfect just roundabouts. At some point, the lower your dose gets you will have to go even slower. When I got to around 600 mg that's when I had to start reducing by 10 mg a day.You may have to go that slow at an even higher amount and remember thats okay.If you stay as consistent as possible your body will adjust fairly easily and even if you mess up it only takes about three days for your body to get back on track. Just keep at it cause every little bit counts.
Even if you have to reduce by 5 mg a day the progress is what will give you the fuel to wake up that next day and do even more.When you get to the last ten mg this is where it is actually the hardest.Going from something to nothing even at that low of an amount can be very tough.What you need to do is start pushing the dose.If you have to take the ten mg in the morning at 10 well the next day you just make sure you take it later than 10...take it at 11 then 2 the next day, then you will skip a full day then two days and so forth. It will eventually break its hold easier this way than you just stopping altogether at once.
On a side note to help you beat this you kind of do need something that will minimize the anxiety or withdrawls. With this slow tapering it should be minimal but there will be times when it may be worse the lower you get. First off if you can get to an ER, walk in clinic,or a free clinic if they have one in your area you walk in and tell them your trying to get off of neurontin but its been extremely hard.Tell them you have a friend that was also on neurontin and was given clonidine and that helped her to come off of neurontin without nearly as many problems.It may be better to go to a walk in clinic to get the pills instead of a patch so you will have them to take for a longer period.For some reason the Er likes to give patches and you need the pills since the patch is usually good for only a few days.Clonidine is a blood pressure medication that is given mostly for opiate with-drawl but is REALLY helpful for neurontin with-drawls as well.Half of the discomfort is from your blood pressure rising and this is a life saver.The other things you can buy from the local health food store is something called GABA which we know is related in some way to neurontin-gabapentin. This is a natural GABA supplement that will work to restore your natural anxiety blocking and calming brain chemicals.The other two things that will help you are 5HTP, for any depression you may have which is the precursor to serotonin.Its natural but the stuff really works, and L-tyrosine. This will help not only your anxiety, but energy levels and help to restore some of the dopamine effect you may have gotten used to as neurontin has been said to trigger dopamine production at high enough levels.
Anyways and all the rest such as good sleep, wow verrry important, try to exercise if you can, eat well and drink plenty of water.I know all of this sounds like alot and may sound overwhelming but trust me if you do just a little bit it will give you the fuel to keep on going and before you know it your free! I am here if you need any support and trust me your not alone, weak minded or different from many other people who get hooked on this med.I like yourself also ended up taking copious amounts that would shock a regular individual, but towards the end I was able to master it little by little and the secret with neurontin anyways is the less you take the better it works.At your amounts its probably not even doing what it once did at all.But just stay the course and If you need to vent Im here lol.I have all the compassion in the world for what your going through and Id love to see you get to the other side as well. U can and things will be better than u can imagine! God Bless and keep me posted, (:
I kinda just forgot to keep taking my neurontin after 10 yrs...just had moved it from my daily med group and forgot it for a few weeks...i noticed my neck and back started hurting way worse than usual but still didnt remember for over a week that i hadnt been taking it. got back on it a few days ago and it is doing much better. T be honest i didnt think it did as much as it does to relieve pain....i couldnt take lyrica cos it took my for a loopy ride...hangover from it in the morning and the nuerontin works well for me..and safer...good drug
Hey, I saw your post about the hell you've been going through with Neurontin and I have a few things that I think can help and I will post asap as soon as I can tomorrow.I am a long time addict to everything,lol but I am now clean and sober and am in school to be certified in addictionology. I just wanted to let you know to check back. I just have to go to work now but I DO FEEL YOUR PAIN! My post will be rather long because there's quite a few tricks I learned but maybe it will help you in hearing how I finally got off it. You are not alone. Please hang in there because although yes its very rough if done the right way, it can be beat!
I have been subscribed gabapentin just today and I feel so disoreintated ,tired and finding it hard to even use this keyboard,how long will I feel like this ? Will it setle down soon?
I am takeing it for severe sciatica but so far I feel strange.
I am takeing it for severe sciatica but so far I feel strange.
You have to stop man. 65 pills in a day? You're right you are not going to live that long at that rate of consumption. Have you ever thought about a detox center? A lot of times you can find some that are free, or really cheap. When's the last time you were sober? Trust me, even though things seem dark and irreparable now, everyone has something to live for, and it's never to late to rebuild a damaged life or relationship. What is this neurontin? It's non-narcotic or no?
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