Depressed from Neurontin/Gabapentin withdrawal

[Cyclingsarah]

Hi guys,

So I'm withdrawing from Gabapentin 900 mg. I'm down to 300 mg every second day. About a month and a half ago I tried going from 300 every day to 300 every second day - skipping a dose every other day. At first it went just fine, but then at the second week mark i started getting really depressed and began crying all the time. I then went back up to 300 every day and I started feeling better again.

Two weeks ago i went back down to 300 mg every other day, and again the first week was fine, but now I am experiencing the same thing all over again.

So - I know this is a popular question - but is this just withdrawal or is it a relapse? I am not otherwise experiencing any other symptoms.

Has any of you gone through gabapentin/neurontin withdrawal? And has anyone else experienced this pattern?

I am taking it for bipolar disorder NOS and anxiety, but it hasn't really helped that much. I am also on Mirtazapine and Depakote

[Blahblah]

Is your doctor monitoring your taper? You'll probably want to decrease extremely slowly (not just skipping every other day) because sounds like you're having withdrawals. Yes Gabapentin is known to cause withdrawal coming off of it, especially if you were on it for extended period.

[Juniper29]

They make 100 mg capsules. Can you go down to 200 for a while, and then 100?

[Cyclingsarah]

On 2/3/2019 at 10:15 PM, Juniper29 said:

They make 100 mg capsules. Can you go down to 200 for a while, and then 100?

They don't in Denmark ?

On 2/3/2019 at 9:54 PM, Blahblah said:

Is your doctor monitoring your taper? You'll probably want to decrease extremely slowly (not just skipping every other day) because sounds like you're having withdrawals. Yes Gabapentin is known to cause withdrawal coming off of it, especially if you were on it for extended period.

Yes, she is monitering. I'm still depressed

[Juniper29]

4 hours ago, Cyclingsarah said:

They don't in Denmark ?

Oh, that's unfortunate. I had trouble even when I tried reducing my dose from 300 to 200 mg.

[argh]

Can you get tablets and cut them into quarters?

[Cyclingsarah]

On 2/7/2019 at 4:31 AM, argh said:

Can you get tablets and cut them into quarters?

They don't have tablets either ?

On 2/7/2019 at 1:14 AM, Juniper29 said:

Oh, that's unfortunate. I had trouble even when I tried reducing my dose from 300 to 200 mg.

Trouble how? What symptoms?

[Juniper29]

3 hours ago, Cyclingsarah said:

They don't have tablets either ?

Trouble how? What symptoms?

Pronounced irritability and anxiety, for me. I'm taking the gabapentin for anxiety so it could just have been recurrence of symptoms, but it was dramatic.

[Cyclingsarah]

21 minutes ago, Juniper29 said:

Pronounced irritability and anxiety, for me. I'm taking the gabapentin for anxiety so it could just have been recurrence of symptoms, but it was dramatic.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's no fun.

It's strange, i'm on it for anxiety as well, but it didn't increase my anxiety. Only the depressive symptoms. 

[argh]

I missed my morning meds yesterday which includes 400mg of gabapentin. Jumbled thoughts, social anxiety, irritability and anger started coming back. Not full on like unmediated, but it was more along the lines of this familiar..like a relapse vs any kind of withdrawal.