r/gabapentin

I have been experimenting with ways to make gabapentin more effective, as I am on 300mg for joint pain and I’ve developed a bit of a tolerance to it. I don’t want to up my dosage, but I do want it to be more effective!

I think I figured it out: Chocolate Chip Cookie and Hot Tea.

Gabapentin is more effective when taken with a fatty meal. I don’t know the exact science behind it but I know it has something to do with absorption. I’ve tried a bunch of different fatty meals and snacks when taking gabapentin, and I’ve had the best results BY FAR when I’ve eaten a nice gooey chocolate chip cookie followed by a nice hot mug of ginger tea. It kicks in quickly and the effects are actually noticeable. It seems to last longer than usual. It’s super convenient.

I have no idea why. Just trust me and test it yourself!

It’s really the only thing that helps me sleep.

Hi All- First time posting on Reddit.

My mom is 76 years old and has always been physically and mentally active. A few weeks ago, her doctor put her on gabapentin to manage pain from a couple bulging discs. She was on 100mg 3x per day for 15 days. She didn't like how it made her feel (confused, drowsy), so she stopped taking it. I don't have all the information here, but I think she went down to just 100mg for a couple days and then stopped completely, so she did taper but still went off of it pretty abruptly.

She has now been off of the gabapentin for 12 or 13 days. I am trying to figure out if what we are seeing right now could be withdrawal from the gabapentin or something else entirely.

Here's what we're observing:

Over the past couple weeks, mom has gone from totally normal cognitive functioning to now seeming like she has advanced Alzheimer's disease. She is having severe short-term memory impairment (can't remember if she ate anything today, doesn't remember what happened even a few minutes ago), seems to be having trouble retrieving information from her long-term memory (she can't remember what she usually likes to eat, which bedroom is hers, etc.), and she just generally seems spaced out and extremely confused. I can't emphasize enough how severe her cognitive/memory impairments are and how rapidly this has come on.

Other observations:

She can't seem to get started with everyday tasks. It takes her hours to get dressed in the morning and to get ready for bed at night (literally 3 hours apiece). She has always used lists to stay organized, but now she will stare at a list for hours.

In terms of mood, she seems quite calm and content--almost "blissed out." She is always a very positive person but is prone to anxiety, but I'm not seeing any anxiety now.

She is having a little dizziness, and my dad says she is moving extremely slowly and needs help walking down hills because she seems to be feeling unstable. She mentioned noticing that her feet felt like they were falling asleep (so tingling, I guess?).

She also mentioned issues with blurred vision the last couple days. Today, she was too confused to really report on that (when I asked, she just said something vague about how she wasn't sure).

My dad mentioned that she also suddenly got sleepy after having lunch today and started falling asleep at the table. This is a woman who I have literally never seen take a nap in my 41 years of knowing her. (By the way, they live in another state, so I've only been able to talk with my mom over the phone while this has been going on.)

Has anyone experienced or seen something like this?

Based on everything I've read, the gabapentin should have been out of my mom's system within a few days of stopping (well over a week ago now). It's possible (I'm making an inference based on limited research on rodents) that she is still experiencing elevated levels of GABA--As in, the gabapentin caused her own neurons to synthesize more GABA neurotransmitter than they usually do. If that's the case, that could contribute to memory problems, confusion, calmness, etc., BUT that's really speculative... Who knows.

I have considered that this could be the early stages of dementia, but I can't reconcile that with how rapidly this has come on. And she hasn't had hallucinations or mood changes like I believe you usually see in Lewy Body Dementia.

A few more things - My dad took her to the ER, and they did a ct scan and a ton of other tests. They didn't see anything abnormal (so it doesn't look like she has a tumor or has had a stroke). They did note that her B12 level was high (she was taking 1000mcg per day), so they had her quit all supplements cold turkey.

She is scheduled for a cognitive evaluation in a couple weeks and an MRI in about a month. In both cases, this was the earliest they could get her in.

One last piece of information - She was on prednisone for several days (not sure) *before* they put her on gabapentin. I've read a bit about "steroid dementia syndrome," but she's been off of the steroid for 5-6 weeks at this point. So, that doesn't seem like a plausible explanation.

Sorry this is such a mess.

Anyway, I am desperate for information. If you have any personal experience with something like this, know of relevant articles/info I may have missed, or know of anything that might help us figure out what's going on so that we can get my mom some help, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much.

I don't understand why was I prescribed this for my insomnia. It really helps my my hyperactivity and drug withdrawals at night but it did nothing for my sleep.

So let’s just say I was taking like 8, 800s a day for like 2 months straight. Yesterday I only had 1 300 today I feel like I’m dying. I want to be done. Will I survive this? Help. Me.😭

been prescribed gabapentin for 3 years and i’m in love with it. helps me focus, helps me balance better, helps me talk to people. it feels like a stimulant. i genuinely felt this way on coke, but i was constantly scared i was going to have a heart attack. on gabapentin, you get the focus and stimulation of coke. in my daily life, i have zero motivation for anything. i’m a fucking slob. but on gabapentin i’m a focusing BEAST. genuinely gabapentin has helped me learn so much and just focus entirely better in general. wonder drug, can’t wait for the dementia. and i was prescribed it for essential tremor! it acts as a nootropic for me, i feel wired and interested in EVERYTHING. i could talk for HOURS, just on a low 900mg dose!

I've been on nine 300mg capsules of gabapentin a day (taken as three capsules, three times per day) for nerve pain from a leaky spinal disc since 2014. I'd really like to try to taper down and see if I can make do with less, but I found that when I tried to do that by just skipping one of the capsules in the mid-day dose (which I figured would be least disruptive time), I got very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. So, I'd like to try dumping out maybe half, or maybe even just a third, of the powder from one capsule each day and see if tapering off by much less like that might be better.

I tried opening one capsule (which was difficult) and dumping some powder out, but then I could not put the capsule back together again (it wouldn't fit back together again and, besides, the capsule had chipped on the rim). Would buying empty capsules and filling them with some of the powder be easier? If so, what size capsule should I get? And is there an easy way to measure out a half or two thirds of the powder to put in the new capsule without just eyeballing it?

Thanks, in advance, for any help!

I look it up on line and all I read is how it ruins sex drives. I can't be the only one with this reaction. It also makes me all lovey like the first time you have a crush. I am female if that makes a difference. Can someone else just tell me I am not alone?

My face has been a circle while on this drug. I'm finally weaning off but I haven't noticed a reduction yet. I dropped from 300mg to 200mg a week ago and down to 150mg 2 days ago. (Opening the capsule).

Does anyone have any encouragement? Thank you.

ive been on gabapentin at various doses for around 6 years for anxiety. at the worst of my anxiety I was on 800mg 3x times per day. i never had trouble sleeping but my psych thought it would b a good idea to try taking one gab before bed to see if my morning anxiety would improve. it didnt but i was still taking it nightly and eventually i could not sleep through the night without it despite having mo sleeping problems prior to starting that. im trying to taper off and im down to 1 300mg at night. lowering down to that point has had no issue but everytime i try to go to 200mg i have the worst insomnia and mood the next day. how long does it take to go back to normal?

Seems like it affects me this way.

EDIT; I've been angry texting people at night for years and am just putting two and two together. I ALSO TAKE FUCKING GABAPENTIN AT NIGHT.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hello everyone. First time poster here.

Had previous history of 20+ years of opiate use from a partial amputation of my middle finger when I was 14 learning how to weld working for my old man. Press brake machine mashed it off. Good times.

Anyway, during this 20+ year journey I've been hooked on just about every form of it. The last iteration, was 7oh for me. It was a nightmare. But, I am 38 days clean today.

I used gabapentin for about 3 weeks. Got up to a fairly high dosage for about 1.5 weeks. Approx 3000mg to cover the horrible opiate withdrawals/rls/insomia. However over the last 2-ish weeks I tapered myself down 1200-1800mg. Then 5 days ago after realizing it wasn't helping that much anymore and concern grew over dependence to another substance I pulled the plug. Stopped taking it.

Unsure if the symptoms I experienced were the 7oh withdrawals, gabapentin withdrawals creeping in, or maybe even a bit of both.

For reference, I have two other "quit buddies" who were approx 12 days ahead of me and they mentioned still experiencing some symptoms as well and they did NOT take any gaba.

I had a pretty rough day today and decided to take about 1200mg after going 5 days without any. If I continue on this trajectory of being able to make it multiple days without any and if I absolutely need to take something to feel halfway decent, would I still be able to obtain the freedom from gabapentin if I am indeed dependent on it to some degree after 3-3.5 weeks of use?

Appreciate your time. Thank you.

So what's your gabapentin dose like and since how long you have been taking it for? Any side effects, any issues, can it be taken safely for prolonged period?

Hi there all, I was recently prescribed gabapentin by my dr, specifically for my marijuana withdrawals. I was having terrible episodes of vomiting from high marijuana usages (er visit before claimed it was withdrawals from weed.. anyway)which my dr recommended a slow stop, and said to try to only smoke 2 times around night time. I wasn’t really easily adhering to that, I managed to restrict myself to night, but was smoking way more than 2x (not sure what a dr would measure that as) but that lead me to cold turkey stop because i can’t really help myself otherwise. But regardless it was interfering with my job and I knew I had to do something.

To preface, I only met with this Dr after my 5th episode and since first meeting we have had only 1 virtual follow up. 3 days before the follow up I had an episode at work which landed me at the Er for IV fluids(took 5 different nurses to poke me for IV)

From my 1st meet with doc to my 2nd, she upped my dosage from 1 - 3 300s (gradually take more, not random) to 2 600s at night and I’ve been getting angry and short tempered since then. I’ve been off weed since March 26th and I explicitly said I did not want to develop a dependency on this substance, and at first, I attributed my anger to no weed (she did not correct that) because it made sense to me that id be a little bit off as I’ve been a regular smoker since I was about 17-18(28 now).

But the anger hasn’t gone away in the time I stopped until now. When I mentioned my irritability my dr wanted to put me on anti depressants… but I do not want to take more pills and told her as much, I mentioned my sister had a hard time and would feel “zombie” like on that stuff. She backed off but kept going into how it may not have been beneficial for her because at the time of being prescribed she was a teen, not a 28 year old with a fully functional brain?regardless of my sister, I have not heard great things about anti depressants and my whole goal is to have no daily pills or anything so I feel a bit dismissed to say the least.

Is my dr full of it? I feel like I’m tripping but the weird push for gabapentin and now anti depressants is making me feel like I should seek out a different doctor entirely. She told me there is nothing to worry about dependency wise but have the posts here around telling me different stories. To sum it up, I feel like it was never withdrawals from weed making me angry but the gabapentin, and now she’s trying to prescribe a fix to that which just puts me onto another thing. Maybe I am baseless but it feels like meds are being pushed on me. I’m a cautious person, but don’t want to disrespect her or her experience during our meetings.

I take anywhere from 100-300 mg but honestly i dont feel a thing and have experienced many sleepless nights on it as if it had the adverse reaction to it.

Every time i tell people im on it, they say its a medicine for pets and are thrown off by the fact that its used for a sleep aid, is it an effective sleep medicine because i feel like its a placebo?

I am trying to ween myself off and usually gabapentin helps me sleep and when I don’t take them I’m awake over 24 hours. I already have some melatonin ready 😂. Anyone have any solutions that helped them? I also get the WORST restless arm syndrome when I don’t take them which I didn’t even know was a thing.

Used Gabapentin since July 2025 Average dose of about 1800. Decided to quit and I’m currently 8 days no gaba. First 3 days were pretty torturing but I feel so much better. I’m having issues with lingering anxiety/restlessness and also getting to sleep but I am sleeping as opposed to only sleep an hour or two like the first 3 days.

I drank a good bit Saturday and I think drinking after coming off can trigger the brain a bit. Just a heads up to anyone who is currently in cold turkey.

Could anyone share their experience with drinking while in a recovery stage or their recovery after gabapentin use? I’m mostly hopeful but the success stories are a nice positive reinforcement to hear from.

I started taking Bupropion XL 150 mg about a weekish ago (time is hard tor me sometimes). I also started taking Gabapentin 300 mg at the same time, twice a day. Third thing I started is Quetiapine (usually two a night due to anxiety and insomnia). I am also on Lamotrigine (200 mg) but I’ve been on that for years.

Today, I felt fucking amazing. All day. I was hilarious at work, got so many things done and the guests LOVED me (I am a server). I just feel so hopeful and happy. It does get me wired so I take it when I wake
up (3 pm because I work late due to the industry I’m in).

I felt like the best version of myself. I started listening to music again after months of not listening to it due to depression.

Should I expect a crash? Or did I finally find the right combo of meds? Please let me know what I should expect as time goes on. My alcohol cravings have gone down significantly as well. Thanks!

I quit like three weeks ago. I did a lot of gabs for like two ish years, maybe two and a half. My usage probably peaked around 4k mg a day. I’m coming off a weird cocktail of substances also. 2 weeks off all drugs (had a day long coke alcohol and Xanax relapse 1 week off gabs). As much as other drugs could complicate my withdrawal the only thing I was to besides stimulants was kratom, so gabs is like majority responsible for my withdrawal. Also I’ve been tapering for like six months prior to jumping.

I feel like someone gave me a lobotomy and autism and then made me take ten clonidine pills and run thru the desert with a parka on. I’m drinking so many energy drinks and I can’t stay awake. I know things are getting better but mentally everything is so cloudy it all feels like a total fever dream. The anhedonia is killer and the anxiety hurts. I’ve been exercising and writing music and working on stuff which has been good. I held my own at a work thing and did a pretty good job. I still feel so shaky. Don’t even get me started on how gnarly doing stuff outside is. The good thing is that I am doing things outside, but the intrusive thoughts and the social anxiety are eating me alive. I feel like my skin is too tight and I have no clothes to wear. I’ve also been binge eating like CRAZY. Like scary. Entire pints of ice cream and donuts. I was severely underweight before this so it’s fine-ish for right now but I can only imagine it’s my nerves turning back on. Like depression so bad I can’t move followed by two days of a kind of loopy cloudy normal and then a week of messed up sleep and depression. So fucking weird.

I got off because of how severe it made my depression and anxiety and things genuinely have improved compared to what I used to be like but it’s still really really bad right now. It’s coming in strong fucking waves.

Just ordered some NAC so I hope that can help me. I’ve been taking magnesium and zinc also.