[hope7]

My psychiatrist has increased the dose from 300 mg/3X a day to 1800 mg/3x a day for two weeks then will be increased to 900 mg/3x a day. Weaned off of Klonopin 2 mg/day 3 weeks ago. I felt better on Klonopin (of course) but she said I have a 50% chance of developing Alzheimers. I now feel like i'm speeding with muscle rigidity and a feeling of out of body spaciness. I'm tired but wired. Has anyone else had any experiences with this medication ?? Requesting comments please !!!

Hi hope7,

I take alprazolam (1mg, 3X per day) for anxiety.

Gabapentin is used mostly for seizures and nerve damage.

Here's some info, but please don't use this post in lieu of professional advice.

Gabapentin Uses, Dosage & Safety Information - Drugs.com

[avlady]

i am on clonazapine, was trying to get off of it but couldn't do it. needless to say i'm back on it. i was feeling so out of it and nervous this morning, my husband made me some tension tamer tea its called and i feel great now. just saying

[hope7]

[QUOTE=kindness;4295522]Hi hope7,

I take alprazolam (1mg, 3X per day) for anxiety.

Gabapentin is used mostly for seizures and nerve damage.

Here's some info, but please don't use this post in lieu of professional advice.


Thank you kindness for your reply. I have researched Gaba and it has an off label use for anxiety. My physician is not very supportive of it and i will be scheduling an appointment with him to discuss again.

[hope7]

Originally Posted by avlady

i am on clonazapine, was trying to get off of it but couldn't do it. needless to say i'm back on it. i was feeling so out of it and nervous this morning, my husband made me some tension tamer tea its called and i feel great now. just saying

Thank you avlady.

[SnakeCharmer]

I've taken gabapentin for years for neurological issues. It helped me tremendously because it allowed me to stop taking another drug that had odious side effects. As a single med, it doesn't do much, but it sort of acts as a booster to other meds for neurological issues. For me, it was like a miracle drug.

Maybe that's why your doctor has prescribed it. It may help you as you get all the Klonopin out of your system. Klonopin can cause withdrawal symptoms that people find unpleasant and it can take quite a while to get it all out of your system because it has a long half-life. Weeks or months.

As a stand alone drug for anxiety, I don't know if gabapentin is a good choice. It's excellent as an add on drug for neurological symptoms. If you get too high a dose it can give you vertigo, dizziness and bladder spasms (feeling like you have to urinate or not knowing you have to urinate.) There's a whole list of side effects for it and vertigo and bladder spasms are the only ones I've had. Those go away if I skip a single dose (with the doctor's permission) and then take it as prescribed again.

It's possible your wired feelings and other symptoms are a direct result of coming off Klonopin, rather than a side effect of gabapentin. I don't know if gabapentin is a good choice as a stand alone drug for anxiety, but it did wonders for me when I was suffering greatly with a neurological issue. I've been taking gabapentin for close to 20 years. For me, it was a life-saver.

I hope you can work with your doctor to find the right dosage

[ForeverLonelyGirl]

Originally Posted by hope7

My psychiatrist has increased the dose from 300 mg/3X a day to 1800 mg/3x a day for two weeks then will be increased to 900 mg/3x a day. Weaned off of Klonopin 2 mg/day 3 weeks ago. I felt better on Klonopin (of course) but she said I have a 50% chance of developing Alzheimers. I now feel like i'm speeding with muscle rigidity and a feeling of out of body spaciness. I'm tired but wired. Has anyone else had any experiences with this medication ?? Requesting comments please !!!

I don't know how long you were on klonopin but 2 mg a day is a pretty hefty dose. I know I was on that, then 3 mg a day for years! I am almost 24 months off now and still have weird feelings and anxiety. I was given gabapention as a mood stabilizer for a while and it worked great. It is used as a mood stabilizer quite a bit, not just for neuro issues. That out of body feeling you describe I suspect is depersonalization. I have had that now for this whole 24 months and it is lessening now finally.

I hope that you can tolerate the gabapentin, I think it would help with the withdrawal symptoms. I could not take it, I had other weird side effects from it. Good luck.

[Agarwaen]

Originally Posted by hope7

My psychiatrist has increased the dose from 300 mg/3X a day to 1800 mg/3x a day for two weeks then will be increased to 900 mg/3x a day. Weaned off of Klonopin 2 mg/day 3 weeks ago. I felt better on Klonopin (of course) but she said I have a 50% chance of developing Alzheimers. I now feel like i'm speeding with muscle rigidity and a feeling of out of body spaciness. I'm tired but wired. Has anyone else had any experiences with this medication ?? Requesting comments please !!!

How long have you been taking Klonopin. Not to ruin your day, but my doctor tried to say I could wean off Klonopin in 3 weeks too. That ended up being the biggest load of bull I ever heard a doctor utter.

All those feelings sound more like withdrawals than Gabapentin. I have taken that too. Sadly, I found it rather worthless, even for nerve pain. Some think it's a way to ease people off of benzo's. I tried it. I tried buspar. You know what? I almost completely lost it.

So I did some research. Not good, coming off of benzos. Can last months, to years, depending on how long you have been taking them.

I, for one, looked at the situation and decided trying to go off benzos based on what my doctor said was out of the question. I have to do it on my own. Taper down 1/4th a mg a month, if you have been on them a very long time.

It's hard, especially for a person with huge anxiety issues, like me. Going cold turkey or trying to wean rapidly just enhances what issues I do have to the point of intolerance. Never mind some of the other horrible things one goes through.

As far as Gabapentin, I was on 300 mg/3 times a day. Any more than that and I felt like real crap. And it did very little for my nerve pain. But it probably helps a little with detox from Klonopin. There's a certain logic to using Gabapentin in those situations.

So the most important question: how long were you on Klonopin. Without knowing, it's hard to say whether it's too much Gabapentin or you are still withdrawing.