Gabapentin - Going Cold Turkey

[MichaelJH]

I have been getting increasingly convinced that Gabapentin is actually aggravating my phantom pain and and not helping with the neuropathic pain occurring in my remaining foot. Feeling a lack of support I am thinking of going ""Gabapentin Cold Turley" this weekend. Has anybody done this and what was it like?

[Madlegs1]

How long have you been on it?

At what dose?

Generally it would be recommended to go down by increments and as slowly as your body can take it.

Good luck.

[MichaelJH in reply to Madlegs1]

Update at end of thread.

[lupus_01]

Do not just stop gabapentin. You must taper down. It took me three weeks to completely stop. But I am glad I did.

[MichaelJH in reply to lupus_01]

Update at end of thread.

[Sunrisedrp]

I take Gabapentin and it’s a lifesaver for my neuropathic pain. The Dr did tell me you need to taper off rather than quit cold turkey.

[MichaelJH in reply to Sunrisedrp]

Update at end of thread.

[Heythrop51]

I will not advise you MichaelJH I know you are sick and tired of it. It may be worth herding other's advice though.

[Tonynatella in reply to Heythrop51]

Regarding tapering Gabapentine!

Although the web says anywhere from 6-7 hours half life you likely will feel it sooner. It’s more like 4 hours. I can feel the migraine come back like clock work every 4 hours.

Good luck. Sorry about the pad outcome; I also suffer from that with stents.

Tony

[MichaelJH in reply to Heythrop51]

Update at end of thread.

[kev60]

Hi, I personally would not go cold turkey as it can have an adverse effect specially if you have been on them a while. I wear pain patches (30mcg) and when I forgot to renew them it affected me within 24hrs and I was bedridden. I don’t take Gabapentin as it has an adverse effect on me, I was on a low dose for only 5days and ended up in hospital with stroke like symptoms. Now have FND because of it. Talk to your doctor or seek advice from a pharmacy. Hope it works out for you. Kevin

[MPMjewell]

What dosage are you taking?

[Leighjoanne71]

I wouldn't if I was you withdrawals are horrible. Your supposed to be weaned off of them. I would suggest going to see your gp and doing it properly.

[Lillypot]

I have done this and strongly suggest you DO NOT go cold turkey. I did it about 4 years ago and wish I could find my journal I did through it to send to you. I did however find an amazing page on Facebook that got me through it, I think it was called “Lyrica survivors” please find that page and post your question there. In short, I wasn’t on Gabapentin long and on a relatively average dose. On stopping said medication I suffered a torn ligaments and muscles in my shoulders due to all my muscles being so tense and in spasm, a large streak of hair at the back of my head turned grey, literally within 2 weeks! Apparently this was due to the shock my body went into. I could not sleep, eat, rest, concentrate, function and I had dots in my eyesight that stayed there for a whole year after stopping this terrible medication, I had restless legs, arms, everything for weeks, it was horrendous, I would not wish this on anybody. I am definitely not remembering the worst of it but I have never been right since stopping that medication, my nerve pain was heightened and stayed heightened and my ME worsened and I have never recovered from that. Please go to that Facebook page, if you don’t have Facebook just join it to do that, they will tell you exactly how to get off it safely with as little damage to your body as possible. Good luck with it.

[mamahill]

I would advise you not to go cold turkey either. I attended a pain management course at St Thomas's and we were advised to drop by 100 mg every 2 or 3 weeks if we could tolerate it. If our pain was bad stop on the dose we were on and try to stay on that lowered dose where we could cope for a while and then try to lower the dose at a later date. I know when I accidentally forgot to take my night time dose of 1200 mg I couldn't sleep and was twitching all over. It was horrendous.

[Phillylou]

don’t do it cold turkey . Wean off by reducing 1 capsule a week from your daily dose . I was on 4 x 300mg x 4 a day so reduced evening one first , then t-time, then lunch , then morning. If you do it over a few weeks the side effects will decrease & you’ll cope more easily . GABAPENTIN does mask pain, I had melanoma surgery and never felt a thing. Now I get the sore arm after injections . Good luck , gently does it xx

[lm2471]

Hi. I was on the highest dosage of gabapentin for about four years and was literally losing my memory. I didn't realize at the time as no doc had told me (ugh) that I needed to taper to be safe. I was on it for nerve pain, not seizures etc. As I had no idea I simply stopped one day and was absolutely fine and my memory came back within about two weeks and I felt a heck of a lot better. Ended up being put on pregabalin but that seems to be not great either. I now realize I was extremely fortunate that nothing bad happened to me and so I would strongly suggest asking your doctor how to taper. I mean cold turkey had literally zero effects on me, but, as I said, I think I was just incredibly lucky.

[Smilesalot]

Michael JH, I'm sorry ur experiencing these painful problems😭

I hope you find the solution that helps you hugs Dawn 🤗🤗🤗🙃🤗🤗🤗😍❤❤

[Tonynatella]

Michael

I am sorry for your discomfort. Having been on gabapentine 7 years 400mgx9/day , the maximum dose for chronic migraine I understand.Tapering makes sense however Gabapentine is quite easy to eliminate. My experience is the migraine and severe ear ringing are back at double without gabapentine. You will likely learn the gabapentine is actually helping you. This drug is not like psychotropics that are almost impossible to to ever get off.

Good luck . Even well meaning Drs only know what the reps tell them. Not 1 dollar has been spent by the drug manufacturers on tapering research or studies. The manufacturers lie and mislead all in an effort to sell product. Sites like this are the only way to learn the truth. 78 year old who has done his homework . You must no your own research and even then no studies have been done , just word of mouth.

Wiser through misinformed Dr advice. Anytime someone recommends a drug ask if they have used it; then ask about patients who have tried to get off it and to speak with them.

Good luck Tony

I have been o

[DumplingsLover]

I refused to go on it when the doctor suggested it. Anything which might affect breathing is poison to me as my breathing is already compromised by a right thoracic Scoliosis which affects my lungs, apart from which I have never heard anything good about this Pill. If it's doing you no good you probably won't notice it anyway. Just Make sure you tell your Dr. you are intending to terminate it. God Bless. Lauree

[ActiveFeet]

Gabapentin had such side effects that I was close to stopping work. I changed to Lyrica which had better pain control and much lower side effects. I think we all react differently so. keep a diary

[Maybee1961]

Hi there i had 4 years ago preglapali abd gaberpenten having looked for info found they not chronic pain they lied not pain relief i went cold turkey so glad i did having looked everywhere for prper info said in an artical psicsematic on both hence why i stopped thankgoodness i did very early into just having a week of them well i was amazed pain specialist lied to us hard to beleive them anymore everyone haz to decide for themselves i have mother and daugter taking the the mother is conviced they work i think shes told her brain good for her daugter says they have no value not helping so spoke to both the mother did not beleve me but daughter did agree she has no benifit at all explained i looked everywhere about info on them

[MichaelJH]

Apologies! I know quite of you are waiting for an update and one person messaged me. Anyway I just did a long'ish update, went to save and the screen went black! When it came back everything had gone. Absolute nightmare so maybe later today or tomorrow?

[MichaelJH]

Sorry for the delay in updating you all. I was, very much, doing my own thing. Despite the advice to the contrary having done Cold Turkey with Tramadol following a serious accident I just went for it.

Quite a few of you asked was what dose was/am I on. After the initial amputation I was on 3 x 300 mg daily. This was supplemented by Tramadol (also musculoskeletal pain at that time) which after I was moved to the second hospital was changed to Oxycodone as the consultant was unhappy with Tramadol for the over 60s , Basically most evenings the phantom pin tended to get worse as you went to sleep, as it is to this day! Eighteen months later I had reduced this to two times 300 milligrams daily A few months later after revision surgery the Phantom Pain came back with a vengeance. Ignoring the initial days after surgery I have been on 3 x 300mg, 4 x 300mg, 3 x 400mg, and 3 x 600mg. Ay one stage I was on a 300/300/400mg schedule. At differnet times I also had 500mg Paracetamol with every dose. Until a week ago I was on 3 x 300 milligram, with Paracetamol with every dose. However after I developed diabetic nerve pain on my remaining foot where I have ongoing issues with macerated wounds and was told that to Gabapentin could help with this I nearly laughed!

So what happened. For the first two days I perspired very heavily at night which I put down to the change of weather and the central heating here. There is basically a central boiler for the block of flats with a rather complex control system in each flat. Despite the complexity seems to do the little more than an on /off switch. In retrospect I think it was probably me detoxing. Both Phantom and Neuropathic Pain seem no worse than normal until last Sunday night when both struck would a Vengeance. In some ways I wonder if this was just the Gabapentin having a final fling as on Saturday my neck and shoulder muscles we're also quite tense. As before I have two or three bad nights a week so nothing to complain about there.

My weekly painkiller consumption was 21 times 300 mg Gabapentin plus 500 mg Paracetamol, about 4 extra Paracetamol for the occasional headache and the occasional Oxycodone for severe pain

Now is is about 6 Paracetamol. of which 2 are singularly for neuropathic pain. and about 2 Oxycodone.

Although I did it on my own I would suggest most people talk to their GP first although I know some have the view ”Carry on taking the tablets”!

[Madlegs1]

Thanks, Michael.

All the very best in your journey!💚