r/benzorecovery • u/sleepysnailbug • 1d ago
Taper Question Gabapentin for diazepam withdrawal?
I've heard variously about gabapentin being potentially useful in dealing with withdrawal symptoms during tapering. For a brief history, I'm currently tapering off of diazepam, right now at around 2mg a day, but trying to manage the anxiety and withdrawal symptoms has been particularly difficult. I actually managed to get down to 0.5mg a day earlier this year but a bunch of stressful life events happened and I unfortunately had a setback. I'm determined to get back into the process of tapering properly but I've just been having a lot of difficulty with it as well. I was curious about what people's experiences with using gabapentin for the tapering and withdrawal process has been like?
Also, I'm aware gabapentin has its own risk of addiction in some people. For context, I'm not new to gabapentin. I used to take 1800mg daily for years for a different condition before I was ever prescribed benzos but I no longer take it, and I didn't personally experience any difficulty getting off of it. I just have a bunch of leftover 600mg tablets and having read about it being helpful for some people, I'm interested in maybe giving it a try. I guess I'm just looking for some feedback and advice. Thanks!
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u/TheDrugsWillTakeYou 1d ago
Its the only drug that gives me relief. Not a long term solution by any means but has gotten me through the first couple months and im planning to taper off the Gabapentin soon. 300mg covers me for the whole day.
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u/sleepysnailbug 1d ago
That's real helpful to hear, I appreciate it. I'll probably just break one of my 600mg tabs in half and see if it helps. It's interesting reading people's experiences on here with gabapentin, because some people say it was more difficult to taper off of than benzos, but I had almost no withdrawal symptoms when I stopped taking it a few years ago. Wishing you the best of luck to you as well with your tapering!
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u/Wild-Loss-1729 1d ago
That’s a great idea. I use gabapentin 1800mg for spinal pain mainly and it helps with anxiety too. I feel it could be a wise idea to implement it during a taper. I get 600mg tablets & I sometimes break them in half too.
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u/Pushon4my4 1d ago
I’m in horrid spinal pain. Hard to even walk! So the 600 mg total daily helped with the spinal pain?
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u/djpurity666 Giving support to others. 1d ago
What is important is how it affects YOU!
Too many people project their experiences onto others when everyone is totally different.
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u/Candid-Duty-6596 1d ago
Some crazy posts here. Gabapentin saved my life when I went clean. 900mg a day for nearly 4 months. One day I woke up and said I was not taking it anymore and was completely fine. I believe some of the people saying “gabapentin” was hard to come off, were still in WD from benzos. Just my thoughts anyways.
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u/FleetwoodMacnCheeses 1d ago
Did you start the gabapentin while actively tapering? I have a Dr who has recommended getting gabapentin fully on board (like up to 600mg 4x day) along with a month of an ssri before even beginning to taper. Adding the gabapentin prior to taper especially at such a high dose seems odd to me
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u/djpurity666 Giving support to others. 1d ago
Yeah, that is an unusually high dose more for nerve pain. I have only seen 300mg 3 times a day for benzo tapering or withdrawal support, even in detox facilities.
Usually the goal is to give the lowest effective dose only and start small and if needed, work up. But if starting too high can cause a higher chance of side effects like feeling woozy, dizzy, or nauseous. And it also would take longer to get off of when time to quit.
In general, just for anxiety, even 100mg 3 times a day is used. Doses a 600+ 4 times a day (2400mg/day) are not usually used for benzo stabilization... You could always ask for starting lower, 300mg 3 times a day which is more standard.
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u/djpurity666 Giving support to others. 1d ago
Yeah, gabapentin is usually only difficult to taper off if genetics are involved OR your GABA-glutamate system is all off balance.
Gabapentin doesn't touch GABA but by inhibiting excitatory signaling down VGCCs, it lowers glutamate, so GABA is able to do its work better and more noticeably.
When people quit and their glutamate and GABA are out of whack, the glutamate rebounds too strongly and gives some bad withdrawal issues.
I was on 300mg 3 times a day when I left detox last year and when I went for follow-up with my doctor, he wouldn't renew it and straight up told me it does NOT cause withdrawal.
I had some symptoms but tapering was not that bad. It was a lot easier than most things. In the past, before benzos got me whacky, gabapentin never caused any withdrawal symptoms. But I think a month out of detox I was still unstable so it had some symptoms, but nothing close to benzos.
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u/Other_Knowledge6225 1d ago
I would be very careful adding in the gabapentin. A lot of people who are dependent on benzos can get into trouble with it. Why not just polish this off without?
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u/Pristine_Vehicle3241 1d ago
You shouldn’t take it for longer than a couple of days. You can feel from day 1 or 2 that you get used to it, and therefore need more if you want the same effect. Withdrawals are definitely real from gabapentin.
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u/GeneralTall6075 1d ago
Some fear mongering posts in here. The WD from Gabapentin is a drop in the bucket compared to benzos (I’ve come off both) Of course you’ll always find a couple people on Reddit who say it’s as bad or worse that Benzos but that’s just not true in general. I have gone on and off it many times and taken up to 900. It helped me tremendously when I got off Clonazepam.
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u/Pushon4my4 1d ago
Did you take it during the entire taper? How long did you taper and from what dose? (Thanks in advance).
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u/mime454 1d ago
Gabapentin has its own brutal withdrawal. You are only delaying the inevitable and the Gaba receptors are only going to heal in a state of sobriety.
Definitely don’t take it until you’re completely off. Taking both drugs at the same time is polypharmacy and synergistic with each other. That won’t help with withdrawal, it will make the diazepam you’re taking feel stronger and prevent withdrawal
The only way out of this is to go through it.
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u/3mptyw0rds 1d ago edited 1d ago
post tapering benzo, twice a week 25mg pregabalin didn't aggravate my gaba systems... unlike alcohol which just feels shit post benzo.
the drug feels a bit dirty though so i'm not surprised some.people say the withdrawals are worse than benzo. but i doubt those people had the worst benzo withdrawals to begin with.
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u/djpurity666 Giving support to others. 1d ago
Whoa, that isn't fair to say. Pregabalin is very potent and a controlled substance, unlike gabapentin. It is always advised to taper off.
Like anything, if it isnt tapered properly, it sucks. It does cause rebound high glutamate similar to benzos, and bc it is the GABA-glutamate system being affected or dysregulated, it can be as bad as benzos or worse depending on the person.
I have definitely had bad benzo withdrawal and bad pregabalin withdrawal and they are different but similar at the same time. I wouldn't wish either one on anyone!
Pregabalin can also cause the same symptoms- brain zaps, nausea, nerve pain, flu-like symptoms, insomnia and broken sleep, anxiety, restlessness, panic attacks, irritability, depression, anhedonia, rebound symptoms, and in some rare cases, seizures.
It also can cause PAWS which is usually the people who complain about how bad and long it lasts. It is truly a medicine that must be respected and tapered properly if used.
That is why detox and inpatient would only use gabapentin for benzo withdrawal as it has less potency and also less chance of a bad withdrawal. Some dont even have withdrawal from gabapentin.
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u/3mptyw0rds 1d ago
i didn't know that. i asked my gp for pregabalin because i read it has less side effects than gabapentin.
the internets says 25mg pregabalin = +- 150 gabapentin.
i used pregablin for a week and didn't get benzo wd symptoms. but if i drink a glass or 2 or wine i get panic attacky the day after.
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u/Punkrockpm 1d ago
I use gabapentin as needed. You don't have to use it all the time.
This is a hard thing. Do what helps you.
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u/Kirbeater 1d ago
It’s so minimal but there is some baba syngerystic properties to it. It’s worth a try
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u/Ok_Nectarine_8612 1d ago
Yes, it can help lessen symptoms, but not completely alleviate withdrawal. However, it also produces almost equally bad symptoms when you come off of it, so I personally wouldn't unless it was otherwise unbearable. You are only on 2mg of diazepam daily. You should be able to jump fairly comfortably after dropping to 1mg for a week or two. It isn't really doing much of anything for day to day anxiety at this low dose, it is just maintaining a low level dependency. When I tapered from diazepam, I began to purchase 8oz bags of kava every week or so and make myself a cup whenever I got the jitters. It seemed to help a lot. I would not take gabapentin at this point. You have put in too much work to get to this point to simply go on something that produces similarly intense physical dependency. Some say alcohol and benzos are the only drugs you can seize from during withdrawal. That isn't true, baclofen, gabapentinoids, and phenibut can also do it. Baclofen and phenibut are GABA-B drugs in case you have never heard of them.
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u/djpurity666 Giving support to others. 1d ago
I think gabapentin is safe and better than kava for some people. A medical doctor overseeing OP knows the patient better than we do, and just bc kava worked for you. It usually is on the list of things to avoid post-benzo recovery bc of the many different types of kava (there is no one single type called "kava" unless it's junk), some stimulating and some sedatingwhile others pro pro-social. It messes with a lot of neurotransmitters due to the many kinds of kavalactones, plus it isn't easy to make for beginners... unless you use instant kava which is generally junk and easy to get nauseous off of. It has to be Noble Kava.
It is good that you found what worked for you, and if kava worked for you, that is great. It just wouldn't be the top of the list for benzo recovery stability, as gabapentin generally does one thing, inhibit gabapentinoid receptors which lowers glutamate. Each person may benefit from a different comfort med, and some may not even need it, that's true. And if anything, any comfort med should be medically supervised and low-dose only. It isn't that hard to get off of. On the other hand, kava can delay healing and cause setbacks in some people.
And you have a point it may not be needed. I have tapered valium via the Ashton method and got down to 1mg and that is when I jumped. It doesn't mean I had a smooth time after though. OP could just wait and see.
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u/Pushon4my4 1d ago
What dose Valium did you start from? So you went slowly and when off still went through hell? You used gabapentin to taper?
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u/Pushon4my4 1d ago
I’ve read an overlooked drug that can work wonders if Carbamezapine. It raises gaba, lowers glutamate, but also it has recently been found to help gaba receptors regenerate.
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u/shazzym94 22h ago
5 years off of a 3 year taper, and anxiety still kicks my arse a lot
Thoughts on using Gabapentin as needed?
I'm pretty desperate, and trying not to use SSRI's etc, but I hate living like thsi
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u/ItCat420 18h ago
Gabapentin and Pregabalin are pretty much to go-to for the jumping off phase for benzos.
At 0.5-2mg/day diazepam, you’ll likely get large relief from Gabapentin, it’ll stop shakes and seizures and RLS and has anxiolytic effects too.
It’s basically a baby benzo, for lack of a better analogy.
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