Gabapentinoids How long to take gabapentin for.

[Robomarley1]

I recently tapered off of 3 mgs of clonazepam that i had been taking for 7 years, i tappered off over a period of 7 months and since i quit i have been taking 900- 2200 mgs of gabapentin. I have been taking it for 10 days. I completely quit the clonazepam 5 days ago. How much longer should i take the gabapentin, and when would withdrawls start from that? And when will i be out of the seizure territory from stopping the clonazepam?

 

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

I'm assuming you're using the gabapentin to soften the withdrawal from the clonazepam?

Tolerance to gabapentinoids rises FAST unlike with benzos. You may even already start realizing you have tolerance to gabapentin after a couple of days... That's the problem with that class of drugs (unlike benzos and the stronger anti-anxiety things).

I could be wrong--I know that gabapentinoids can often be used to treat the symptoms of alcohol/benzo withdrawal. That amount does not seem so high.. would it be preventing seizures from clonopezam cessation?

I'll wait until others post but it seems like your withdrawal was reduced greatly by tapering off the benzos already (good job). I feel like another week or two of gabapentin use really wouldn't cause that much misery. Unless you become addicted to gabapentin lol (which is possible).

 

[Robomarley1]

I'm assuming you're using the gabapentin to soften the withdrawal from the clonazepam?

Tolerance to gabapentinoids rises FAST unlike with benzos. You may even already start realizing you have tolerance to gabapentin after a couple of days... That's the problem with that class of drugs (unlike benzos and the stronger anti-anxiety things).

I could be wrong--I know that gabapentinoids can often be used to treat the symptoms of alcohol/benzo withdrawal. That amount does not seem so high.. would it be preventing seizures from clonopezam cessation?

I'll wait until others post but it seems like your withdrawal was reduced greatly by tapering off the benzos already (good job). I feel like another week or two of gabapentin use really wouldn't cause that much misery. Unless you become addicted to gabapentin lol (which is possible).

It was too soften the the anxiety and possible seizure from the clonazepam withdrawal. I tried stopping about 8 days ago and starting about 42 hours after that I like my whole body was shaking, had a temp of 99.6, blood pressure of 169/116, and really dilated pupils. Went to the emergency room and they said i was basically having a really extreme panic attack and told me to get back on the extremely small dose of clonazepam, .125 until i could see my psychiatrist and also gave me some gabapentin to help the withdrawals. I have a full months worth of the gabapentin, 120 300 mg pills.

For the first 5 days i had almost no withdrawals. Do you know when clonazepam withdrawal peaks? is it around the 5th of 6th day? Thank you.

 

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

It was too soften the the anxiety and possible seizure from the clonazepam withdrawal. I tried stopping about 8 days ago and starting about 42 hours after that I like my whole body was shaking, had a temp of 99.6, blood pressure of 169/116, and really dilated pupils. Went to the emergency room and they said i was basically having a really extreme panic attack and told me to get back on the extremely small dose of clonazepam, .125 until i could see my psychiatrist and also gave me some gabapentin to help the withdrawals. I have a full months worth of the gabapentin, 120 300 mg pills.

For the first 5 days i had almost no withdrawals. Do you know when clonazepam withdrawal peaks? is it around the 5th of 6th day? Thank you.

Ahh :/ I really dislike how you had a terrible panic attack or worse (?). I don't want to deliver more info when I'm not qualified to, but benzo withdrawal objectively is not like other withdrawals. It does not peak and then steadily lessen and vanish over time. Benzo withdrawal is notoriously returns and then can get worse at random.

It is very hard to treat benzo withdrawal due to the nature of how long it can last and how severe the rebound anxiety or worse can be. I think gabapentin would help at this point greatly and it would be better to stay on gabapentin for a longer period of time then... until you know the benzo withdrawal is no longer that severe. Gonna stop posting here because I don't want to tell people things I don't truly know lol.

But gabapentin is the lesser evil and while gabapentin has a withdrawal that is stated to be very unpleasant, it does not seem to be as dangerous as benzo withdrawal.

 

[Pickledlemons]

First things first, have you spoken to a doctor? 7 years of benzo use is no joke. I mean if that is absolutely not an option, I guess advice from strangers on the internet would have to do. But this is one of those cases where a professional may know best.

 

[BrooklynX]

It was too soften the the anxiety and possible seizure from the clonazepam withdrawal. I tried stopping about 8 days ago and starting about 42 hours after that I like my whole body was shaking, had a temp of 99.6, blood pressure of 169/116, and really dilated pupils. Went to the emergency room and they said i was basically having a really extreme panic attack and told me to get back on the extremely small dose of clonazepam, .125 until i could see my psychiatrist and also gave me some gabapentin to help the withdrawals. I have a full months worth of the gabapentin, 120 300 mg pills.

For the first 5 days i had almost no withdrawals. Do you know when clonazepam withdrawal peaks? is it around the 5th of 6th day? Thank you.

After 13 years of clonazepam use under a doctor's care, I learned from a new doctor how much damage it was doing and that I had a physical dependency. I tried fast withdrawal and almost landed in the hospital. Lots of research led me to a Benzo group where I found the Ashton manual; links below.

Per instructions, I crossed over to diazapam and did a 6 month titration successfully. Good reading, great group. Let me know if I can help.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php

benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002

 

[Robomarley1]

After 13 years of clonazepam use under a doctor's care, I learned from a new doctor how much damage it was doing and that I had a physical dependency. I tried fast withdrawal and almost landed in the hospital. Lots of research led me to a Benzo group where I found the Ashton manual; links below.

Per instructions, I crossed over to diazapam and did a 6 month titration successfully. Good reading, great group. Let me know if I can help.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php

benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002

I have actually been off of clonazepam for 11 days now, and most of the withdrawal symptoms symptoms are gone. I stopped taking the gabapentin for three days but was extremely fatigued and pretty weak. Overall much better than when I had to go to the hospital, no body shaking or blood pressure issues at all. I appreciate the offer for help though.