Posted by Snowie on October 19, 2004, at 6:51:45
In reply to Re: NEURONTIN - sometimes » Snowie, posted by Barbaracat on October 19, 2004, at 0:26:31
Barbaracat,
Love your name! Snowie is my female cat's name (no my name isn't really Snowie, but I think it's cute...lol)
Yes, I totally agree with you. When Neurontin works, it works so great. When it stops, you tend to keep popping those pills until it does work. I guess I got up on many occasions to 1,600 mg. or more, which is too much for just anxiety. I see my pdoc on 10/21, so I will probably ask to try Xanax XR and I want to lower my Neurontin use to 100 mg. x 3, which should be plenty.
It's so strange how Neurontin works so well at times and at other times, like you wrote, it does squat. And, yes, when it works it has the same very calming effect as benzos do (sometimes even better!) - as smooth as butter. I'm having a little withdrawal right now from Neurontin, but not bad. I get a little tense around lunchtime but I try to eat a healthy protein meal, which sometimes calms me down, but other times I have to tough it out.
Snowie
> Snowie,
> My experience with Neurontin is similar to yours. It was prescribed for my fibromyalgia pain and although it doesn't do squat for the pain, it's wonderful for anxiety... when it works. When I first started, the effect was simply delicious, calm lovely soothing ease, just like what I always hoped for from benzos. 'At last!' I thought, prematurely.
>
> It began to fade and I was up to 2,700mg a day. I think it puts on weight and causes constipation, but I'm also on other meds that do this. So I stopped and had no trouble stopping. Luckily, I'm not needing the extra help of anti-anxiety meds right now and take an oxazepam or valium only occasionally. I've tried taking a break from Neurontin before and starting up again. Sure enough, it's blissfully potent for about a week and then starts to fade.
>
> I read a few articles saying that Neurontin seems to retain it's anti-anxiety properties at lower doses. So you might try taking a break for 3 weeks (the general timeframe for receptors to adjust) and then keep it at a low dose as long as you can. - Barbara
poster:Snowie
thread:365024
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041018/msgs/404644.html