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Gabapentin

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R.estless W.

I have had CPTSD, PTSD, And GAD. My anxiety levels can get extremely high because of any of the above and very often crosses the line into panic. Recently I’ve been dealing with a stalker who attacked me and leaves lettters in the lobby of the hotel I work at threatening to do so again. I am also a new manager and we are understaffed and last week I worked crazy hours, double shifts (6am-10:30pm), lots of call outs so working by myself (delivery all the breakfasts to cabins, check outs, housekeeping assignments, coordinating with maintenance, phone calls, making reservations, time-keeping/ admin. tasks)…It’s been ALOT. I reached a point where I felt very manic and overstimulated and could relax (hiking 15 miles on the weekend helps but the second I stop it all came back. Ended up having a debilitating migraine and then passing out at work the following day.

Anyways I finally had an appointment with a doctor who believed my physical symptoms were stress-related and didn’t try to prescribe an SSRI (they make me manic).

I am now taking GABA and felt SO calm today. Not sure how I feel about it long term though. Any advice/ opinions?
 
Has many uses. I use it for pain management, friend used it in high doses for migraines. Also helps my seizure drug as it can keep seizure activity down. People also sell it for drug high, don’t ask me how that bit works. I just know in some states it is monitored. In canada where I am not so much. Take it to the level that it doesnt cause drowsiness or dulls your thinking into memory issues. If a few doses a day work then tell them that’s all you want to take because they can give you up to 5 a day. So do the minimum that helps the anxiety without too much side effects so that you can work and work well. It’s an older med with many off label uses, minimal side effects in lower doses but not something to just quit, pretty much have to taper off the longer on it. Pretty safe, well known.
 
Gabapentin doses logarithmically as well so pick your dose and take it in increments of 300mg every hour until you reach your desired dose. If you take it all at once, you will be wasting it. It's also fat-soluble, not water soluble, so make sure you eat it with a fatty meal like hummus or pizza or whatever.

Withdrawal effects are individual. Personally I've never withdrawn from pregabalin or gabapentin despite months of continuous use, but I know people who have. Tolerance however, builds up very fast, within about a week you'll notice the anxiety-alleviating aspects are less prevalent. The anti-convulsant and analgesic aspects will continue.

I'm prescribed it for pain and anxiety and I've also used it "recreationally" (the "recreational" effects are really just mood uplifting and anti-anxiety properties, nothing particularly psychoactive). The LD50 is so high you couldn't physically take enough to overdose before vomiting. It's an extremely safe drug as long as you don't have heart or kidney problems.

Doses of around ~3000mg are effective for mood uplifting/euphoria, anxiolytic effects and sociability (roughly 10 300mg pills). GABA analogues are very effective at treating the physiological components of PTSD, as are NMDA antagonists like ketamine and DXM.
 
I’ve been taking it for about 3 years now IIRC. I started out with 3x a day dosing which I could never remember, and now I do 2x a day dosing, 300mg in the am and 1200mg in the pm. My doc has approved this dosing as I need more at night to help me sleep. My very first dose made me feel sooooo good! I never felt that again though, lol. Now I just feel the drowsiness in the evening, no real “high” (but then again I don’t feel a “high” from other drugs that supposedly give this feeling). I will likely try to lower my dose again at some point, but not right now. It helps too much with my sensory issues to do that right now.
 
Both my adult son and I are using Gabapentin. I started out with just Buspar, but I can only take lower doses of it. So we added the Gabapentin. It works great for anxiety. I'm taking 400mg 3 times a day, and I'll take an extra one if I'm feeling anxious throughout the day. I hate taking meds, but this one is really helping me so I'm all for it.
 
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