Gabapentin and loss of balance

[Maximus01]

I had a scary experience this morning. But first: I take 600 mg Gabapentin at 8:00 pm and 600 mg at 10:00 pm, and go t bed at 11:00/11:15 pm. I also took 2 mg of Lorazepam at 10:00 pm with the Gabapentin. (usually take 1 mg but am allowed 2 mg--but had something planned today and wanted to be more rested) With all that, I still woke up at about 4:15 am. I got up briefly, and then went to bed again, but couldn't really go back to sleep. At 6:15 I tried to get up but felt totally off balance and let myself fall back onto the bed. This was very scary and is the first time this happened. I then got up again very slowly and after a little while, I was doing better and able to move about. But I am very aware of it and walking slowly. I have been taking the Lorazepam for forty plus years and never had this happen. When I started taking the Gabapentin for PLMD, I experienced this off balance feeling in the mornings, but went away after moving about but was not nearly this pronounced. I believe the problem is that the combination of the Gabapentin and the Lorazepam (Ativan) is causing this problem. I don't want to run to the doctor because I already know what they are going to tell me. The big question I wanted to put forward is that I need to get off the Gabapentin. I will do so slowly. I have 300 mg capsules. Please correct me, but my plan is to go down from 1200 to 900 for a week or so, and perhaps to 600 mg for another week or two, and then ask the doc to prescribe me 50 mg so I can then go down even slower. According to my recent sleep study, the PLMD is still happening anyway but more moderately so it hasn't helped much after a whole year. Also take them more distributed during the day. That is what I think is happening and that is what I think I should do. Any thoughts are very much welcome. Thanks.

[SueJohnson]

Going down by 300 mg every week is much too fast. Ask for 100 mg and go down by 100 mg maybe every 2 weeks. If you go down slowly enough you won't have any withdrawal effects except the return of RLS symptoms.

[Maximus01 in reply to SueJohnson]

Thank you Sue, good advice and I shall do so.

[rlsagain]

Go slowly! I began to augment on gabapentin (rare, apparently), and also hate the side effects, so in July I reduced from 900mg a night to 600mg, which was too drastic a drop (as Sue rightly pointed out), and I suffered worse RLS symptoms as a result. By taking CBD when I woke up in the night ( again, recommended on this forum), I usually managed to get back to sleep, with the occasional exception when I twitched and flailed about until around 5.30 am. For the past ten days I’ve gone down to 500 mg, again with mixed results- some good nights, others awful - but have found CBD mostly helps on the bad ones. I hope to reduce again next month to 400 mg. Having said that, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the side effects yet: brain fog, dizziness and the weight I’ve put on since starting gabapentin isn’t dropping off, but I must be patient… When I am completely off it, though, I’m going to need something to cope with the RLS, but just what I don’t know: I’m certainly not going back on the dreaded DAs, that’s for sure.Good luck with your own ‘reduction journey’🤞

[KickininAz]

I had similar issues with gabapentin. My doctor helped me wean off of ropinerole and put me on gabapentin. At the very low dose of 100 mg I was fine but it did not help my RLS symptoms at that dose, so I gradually increased. As I went on a higher dose I developed dizziness, insomnia, feelings of panic, and my RLS actually got worse. I told my doctor and he removed me from gabapentin. He said that some people, particularly elderly people (I am 71), are more sensitive to the side effects of gabapentin. I also use CPAP and my doctor informed me that gabapentin can also affect breathing at higher doses. It was not the right drug for me. I know it is recommended as first line treatment in the new Mayo Clinic algorithm, but if you read the algorithm closely it does say that not everyone will benefit from gabapentin. I was one of those people who did not benefit from it. As bad as gabapentin made me feel, it was difficult to wean off of it, and I had to go through the same hell that I went through when weaning off of ropinerole all over again . I hope that gabapentin will work for you. I hear that when it works it is very good for controlling RLS.