I've been on gabapentin for a little over 3 years now.
Originally prescribed for neuralgia in my left arm from cervical disc issues.
I was taking 300 3x per day for about 3 years. Sometimes I took 4-5 per day, if I felt like I needed it. But most of the time it was 900mg total.
Around 6 months ago, I decided that I didn't want to be on this anymore, so I decided to reduce my dosage and eventually stop taking it all together. I started getting weird feelings sometimes after taking a dose. Kind of like derealization/depersonalization. It's hard to describe. Anyway, I thought, "well, I don't like this at all, so I'm going to get off of this stuff".
I started by reducing dosage to 300mg 2x per day for a week. The first few days sucked. I was tired and groggy, and I didn't sleep much at all. But, I started feeling a little more normal after about 5-6 days. So, then I went down to 300 1x per day the next week. Same story. First couple days, no sleep and really groggy. Toward the end of that week, I was hit with some of the worst anxiety at I've ever felt. It was accompanied by a dull headache that would not go away. Also, I felt off balance and weak.
So, I went back up to 300mg 2x per day to try to level things back out. Unfortunately, the headache lasted about 3 weeks. Sometimes they come back when my neck gets out of whack. The anxiety got better after about a week, but it was really bad. I kinda feel like I never got back to baseline after that initial drop.
I stayed on 300 2x per day until about 2 weeks ago. I told my Dr that I wanted to taper off, but needed 100mg capsules so I could reduce the dosage easier. Now I take 100mg in the AM, 100 in the afternoon, then 300mg before bed.
I feel super lethargic, and slightly off balance.
I'm certain that part of that is the medication. (Part of it could be from the cervical issues as well).
Anyone else have trouble like this when changing dosages? Or just taking the medication general?