Currently my dosage is 1600mg per day
How long would it take to be weaned off gabapentin and at what intervals?
Question posted by JanetMarie on 24 Aug 2013
Last updated on 27 July 2021
This question has also been asked and answered here: How long does gabapentin withdrawal last?
22 Answers Page 2
allenwallach
8 Dec 2016
I have been taking Gabapentin for around 5-6 years and am up to 3000 mg. Since it doesn't seem to be much help more (I have a strong tolerance to drugs), I spoke with my doctor about weaning off of it. I have read numerous nightmares about all the withdrawal symptoms so when my doctor told me to reduce my dosage by 300 mg every 4th day, I was a little nervous. Well, I'm down to 600mg with I will be completely off by next week. Besides a little rash and skin itch, things have been great. I don't have any other withdrawal symptoms to speak of. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I wish everyone the best for those who are going through major torture weaning off.
Thank you!
Allen
Inactive
2 March 2015
Call your doctor right away - you need to tell him how much you've been
taking - that's what he is there for - to treat your infirmities and prescribe
the correct medication. You should never be embarrassed to tell your
doctor what you are taking, how much you're taking or anything else.
Now, go and do the right thing - Call your doctor for an appt. or tell him
over the phone. Good luck - don't be afraid - My spirits are with you.
Get better. God bless you
ashleylbrown4
2 March 2015
I'm currently prescribed 800mgs of gab 3 times a day, and for the last two months I've been taking 8-10 800mg gab a day. I want to we in badly, but not sure how. If anyone could give any suggestions I would appreciate it. I really don't want to tell my Dr I've been taking this much. Please help!!!
beth2616
22 Nov 2016
Did you ever get of the gabs?
Maggie Collins 11
19 Dec 2016
Hi Ashley im on gab and am weening myself off it have been on 1800mg for 5 years its not working the med i mean so Im now down to 400once a night i have been find as far as i know every 2 weeks i go lower but if u are afraid to tell your doc then take someone u trust with after all its your body and life. Just becareful dont go off all at once hope all goes well let me know. Maggie
gginagem
27 Jan 2017
Maggie Collins 11 I'm gginagem @ I'm trying to get myself off of gabapentin @ don't know how much to go down at a time @ how often to go down to next level, any suggestions
noelle55
26 July 2017
I'm in the same boat if not I take a little more,,im also scared to tell my doc... did you ever do it?? I need help
Jan5
1 Sep 2013
You should talk to the Doctor that prescribed it. He/she can give you the proper plan for getting off gabapentin. Doing this without Doctors approval could be very harmful to your system & painful. After all, at 1600mg you must be in great pain. If your pain has lessened or is gone, maybe it's because of your gabapentin. If you are having side effects that are to great to deal with - TELL YOUR DOCTOR. He/she can make an adjustment. I could not take gabapentin on hourly dosages but my Doctor changed me to GRALISE - a time release gabapentin you take ONE TIME a DAY (evening). Now I can tolerate it. Good luck to you.
pickles503
2 Sep 2013
Hi Jan.
I had no idea about Gralise. How cool!
Thx for sharing.
Anna
hmmm2
17 Jan 2014
Glad I started searching for nasty blogs!!! Interesting that JanetMarie would ask such a question?! Perhaps it wasn't even her medication, and she was helping a friend or a few friends.. Morons!
Jan5
17 Jan 2014
So glad I could be of help to you. Good luck through your journey of pain. I'm up to 1200mg of Gralise with my other meds & I can move around better.
Honey14
17 April 2014
I have been on Gabapentin for 3 weeks for nerve damage in my respiratory track .The medicine was doing pretty good with my cough until I started feeling very dizzy a lot . I fell down 3 times so the doctor took me of and said I can stop just like that. Will it hurt me to stop with going slow first.
Inactive
25 Aug 2013
Hi JanetMarie - I, too, am on Gabapentin I am at 300mg, 4 times a day. ue to my over all health, Not good, I occasionally miss one and feel no different. Is it a mutual decision between you and your doc to come off it?? It has so few side effects when taking it, I hardly feel the difference when I do, or when I miss. Coming off completely needs to be monitored by doc. At your dose, I see no problem reducing by one pill a day, as long as your doc knows. Try that for a week or 10 days, then try going down another. I would think that would be the schedule most docs would recommend, depending on other meds, etc. I'll friend you right away, be glad to talk to you more if you want to PQ or will answer anything I can on open floor. Wishing you the best, be well as can be...
lorierux
20 Sep 2016
I am taking 2 300 mg of gabapentin at bedtime and 1 tablet in the morning. Two weeks I was put on Lyrica 75 mg 2 tablets at bedtime. I am stopping the Lyrica due to the side effects. My hands, feet and legs swell so bad. I am having problems that by the end of the day I can hardly walk. I was told I could just stop the Lyrica but would like to know how to go off the gabapentin. I have found that it does help me.
Whitneywhitney
12 April 2018
Hello! I was just told that my doc doesn't prescribe, neurontin. I'm a new patient here. I received neurontin frommy former Pdoc.
The np couldn't tell me, how to wean off. She's not my regular Pdoc, he's on vacation. I'm on 300mg capsules twice a day. I took one this morning. I just won't take the other one later. I was on this medication years ago and I didn't have a problem when the Pdoc took me off of it. What has been your experience?
cindy-59
16 April 2018
Hi WhitneyWhitney. I haven’t had good experiences with these types of drugs. I’ve had to taper slowly. I’m completely off one and I’m almost off another. I have found antidepressants dangerous for me. The withdrawals are horrible for me; but the side effects were too much for me to take. I do realize that some people don’t have these problems. I sure hope you’re one of them. Take care of yourself. Please let me know how you’re doing. Cindy59
cindy-59
15 Feb 2019
I was reading the other comments on here and I realized that I put antidepressants but I meant to say anti-epileptic medications. I am completely tapered off Lyrica and I’ve slowly tapered down from 60 mg to 4 mg
of Cymbalta. I was prescribed both for chronic nerve pain but neither one helped. In my experience I have found that doctors try to taper their patients off these medications way too fast. I believe that they have no idea how dangerous they are. I am not going on just my experience. I’ve talked to many people who had the same problem.
pickles503
25 Aug 2013
Hi Janet.
I'm just going to tell you how it is for me to be weaned off of Gabapentin. This info is not from the net.
I started Gab 2 1/2 yrs ago for leg pain at 1800 mg.. It works really good. Then it was increased to 2400 mg. This dose was just great until
I started having tremors and loss of memory. I knew I needed to stop it. It's been a month since I've tapered down to 600 mg. I still have tremors and memory loss. I'm going to get off of it completely in the next mos.. My doc and nurse practitioner agree with my decision. My desire is to get off of all my meds, except Klonopin and Lamictal which are my bipolar meds. They may have to be changed, too. I don't know how it will be for you. I HATE the memory loss and the tremors are beyond control. I can hardly write, and it takes two hands to hold a glass of beverage.
We don't know if it's Gab or not, but I wanted to start there because it was the last med I was prescribed, and it just seems logical. When I'm weaned off of Gab, then it will be another med, probably Lamictal. In the main time, I'm waiting. It's kind of scary, but you'll get through it. I haven't had any bad symptoms withdrawing from it. You'll do just fine. As I first said, this is not from the internet, so you might want to research Gab. Maybe some people have great results without the side effects. Maybe you could tell me why you want to get off of Gab. I'd really like to know from a person whose removing Gab from their regimen.
This is a good question. Thank you for asking.
Anna aka:pickles503
angel1662
25 Aug 2013
Hi Anna
Just read your post and wanted to say I am sorry u r having the tremors and all, I hope they find out what is wrong..do they do any type of mri's or anything how can they be sure if it is the med..is that one of the side effects? I wouldn't think it's the klonopin cause I have been on it for 14 yrs, but like they say everyone is differant... keeping u and the poster in my prayers...
pickles503
25 Aug 2013
Hi Angel.
I've done every test that I can think of. I have a heavy duty cognitive test on Monday. The neurologist will talk to all of the other docs next to decide if it's meds or dementia. If it's dementia, I don't want to live.
Thank you for your moral support, cutie pie.
Love,
Anna
ladyrebel799
29 Aug 2016
Ever since I've been on neurontin, my nerves have gotten worse. I cry at rhe drop of a hat. I'm never happy anymore. And this didn't start until I started this drug. I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm on a 1200 mg. Dosage. And I cant really tell much difference in the pain from 900 mg to 1200mg. Can anyone help me please before I lose my mind.
gginagem
27 Jan 2017
I'm having memory loss, don't want to do anything, about weaned myself off tramadol @ gabapentin is next on my list please pray that I can do this ive been taking gabapentin for over 2yrs
gginagem
27 Jan 2017
I'm having memory loss, don't want to do anything, about weaned myself off tramadol @ gabapentin is next on my list please pray that I can do this ive been taking gabapentin for over 2yrs
gginagem
27 Jan 2017
Memory loss is a major side effect I've about weaned myself off tramadol @ now I want to do gabapentin now but, I'm doing this without consulting my physician knowing, so I'm asking how to do it safely
LeAnn98
12 April 2017
Hi there I just read your passage. First off , I'm sorry you're going through that. I'm on gabapentin as well and have been for a year for extreme migraines and bipolar . I'm turning 19 in 2 months in some days so my medicaid won't cover it any longer so that's why I'm weaning myself off now. Since I've been on this medicine I've noticed and my family has noticed as well , that I forget a lot when trying to speak , I use to say phrases backwards ( or out of order ) but I haven't since I down my doses. I started off at 600mg in the morning and before bed and within the past couple months I've downed the dose to 1 a day and now recently I've started to take 1 every other day and I've seen improvement already. I can sleep now , I can think a bit clearer , I can poop now on more of s regular bases ( not trying to sound weird or gross , just putting it all out there ) , I feel more energized now .
My downsides is that my headaches are slowly coming back but I've been thinking of alternatives for the headaches ( any suggestions migraine relief would be much appreciated ) and my bipolar has been off the charts ( any tips on that as well please be free and give some tips )
I'm trying to get off medicine , I wanna go natural ways. Medicine does a lot of harm to the body especially over time.
MacIntosh12
24 Aug 2013
Hi JanetMarie,
You really should get your doctor involved since this is an anticonvulsant medication it's very important how you taper and how fast you taper.
You are on a significant amount, so it's especially important to get your doctors approval and a taper schedule from your doc.
Best wishes,
Lara
pickles503
17 Jan 2014
Hi Lara.
Related topics
Further information
- Gabapentin uses and safety info
- Gabapentin prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Gabapentin (detailed)
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