Tapering Off Gabapentin

@colleenyoung
Your suggestions are great as usual. As you know, Mayo has a great 3 week pain management program. For those suffering from chronic pain and rely on Nsaids and Gabapentin for relief, there may be hope with programs like Mayo or other hospitals nearby. My wife suffered with back pain for many years after multiple operations, and is not pain free totally today, but it is now manageable. 13 screws in your back is not fun. The bottom line is there can be help available including trained counselors, your doctor, and hospitals to find and minimize the underlying cause. We all hope that @elaine123 gets the treatment she so desperately needs.

This gives me inspiration, this let's me know that one can taper off, I've been taking Gabapentin for going on 10yrs now maybe longer, you give me the inspiration I needed to know that one can taper off

I take 800mg 3 times a day! I have on this for 4 years for my restless legs syndrome and reading all your stories scares me! What or how do I get off it and what alternatives have you heard about that would work for restless legs syndrome

I've been on Gabapentin for about a year. I only take 100mg a day because I couldn't tolerate any higher dose. I don't think I'm getting any relief from it so I want to stop. Anyone know how to safely stop this medication? My dose is so low, I'm not sure of the best way. Advice?

@jipc
I believe consulting with your physician would be your best option although they usually have you stop too quickly in my opinion, so whatever he/she says, I would probably half the amount andc double the length of time. Of course, it depends on how well you tolerate medication and only you know that.
Take care,
Jake

Ditto. We aren't doctors - ask your doctors.

I hope they find something that works for you soon.

I have learned here that different meds affect people differently. We try things that our doctors order until we find something that gives us the most relief and the least side affects.

Best wishes! Peggy

IMHO Cold 🦃.

@jipc, you may also wish to read the comments in this related discussion. I moved your question here:
- Tapering Off Gabapentin: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/tapering-off-gabapentin/

Were you able to make an appointment to discuss how to get off gabapentin safely with your doctor?

Due to severe sciatica, my neurologist put me on Lyrica, 75 mg. She advised to take 2 in the morning because I've been on 600 mg of Gabapentin each night for many years and it's too much to take both at one time.
I want to stop the gabapentin until the sciatica is gone so I can take 75 mg. of Lyrica in the morning and at night, rather than 150 in the morning and 600 mg of gabapentin at night. I feel like a zombie on all this medication.
I've read that you have to taper gabapentin carefully, but my doctor, who prescribed it told me this today:
"Yes. I would absolutely come off the gabapentin while taking the lyrica.
I reviewed the literature to see if there is any evidence re: best way to transition between the 2. It looks like you can either just stop the gabapentin completely, or you can use 1/2 of what you have been normally taking for 4-7 days and then come off of it. Both appeared to have equal results in the studies."
This is contrary to other things I've read. I don't know what I should do now.

@kitty322
You can't go wrong by going slow. Stopping seizure medications too quickly can be dangerous even deadly. Ask your doctor for a taper schedule. If you start to have withdrawals increase your medicine until they stop then restart your taper at a slower rate and possibly wait longer between cuts.
Take care,
Jake