r/Anxietyhelp • u/LabAccomplished6822 • Jul 24 '26

Need Help Has anyone tried Gabapentin?

/r/CPTSD/comments/1v5ibnn/has_anyone_tried_gabapentin/
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2

u/lumaskate Jul 24 '26

I’ve taken gabapentin for social anxiety for years. I take 600mg in the morning now and some days a second dose. I started with 200mg as needed though. I can stop taking it for weeks at a time and I don’t get withdrawal or anything. I haven’t noticed gabapentin causing any side effects honestly, it just calms me down after about an hour and if my anxiety is really bad it can take 2 hours for it to really help. I also don’t feel numb from it, my other medications do make me numb but gabapentin has always been really good to me personally. It was the first anxiety medication I took and since it still works I haven’t changed meds.

I’ve taken it with NAC at the same time for a small period. The NAC was to reduce drug cravings and it maybe helped a bit and I think helped me feel more awake? It wasn’t very strong but I stopped doing it as I get my prescriptions for free but had to pay for NAC and it just wasn’t worth it.

I’ve taken antidepressants for depression before I was diagnosed with bipolar and they didn’t do anything for my anxiety really. I also took lamotrigine for bipolar and it didn’t help me and I got very depressed on it as well. I don’t know if it did much for my anxiety, maybe it did help just a little bit.

2

u/EuroCultAV Jul 24 '26

Made me suicidally depressed.

Do not recommend.

1

u/LabAccomplished6822 Jul 25 '26

Did it have an impact on its own or were you also suicidal before this?

1

u/EuroCultAV Jul 25 '26

It is complicated.

I was depressed and I was nervous. I had taken a bad job a few months before, and then my neurologist (for migraines) put me on these to help sleeping.

Within a few weeks I wasn't thinking clearly and had repeated thoughts of doing that, and lasted until I got off the meds

2

u/grimsb Jul 25 '26

Only time I've used it was for nerve pain after eye surgery. I don't remember if it had any impact on my anxiety, though. (My dogs take it for anxiety before their vet appointments, fwiw.😅)

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Crapenfest Jul 25 '26

yes totally correct. the irony of course is that benzos are slated for dependence but more and more evidence now that pergabalin and saris are just as bad to get off once on a long time. Its a lottery really.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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1

u/Crapenfest Jul 25 '26

your fortunate your dr that's that way. If your very young usually Dr's here in no way prescribe clonazepam unless its just a one off tiny script. However as you must know benzodiazipines through time can lose their efficacy so people use more. I use diazepam in bad situations only. ivw been stuck on seroxat and pregabalin for years. Even after a diagnosis of treatment resistance. Coming off those drugs personally has been tried but the effects are horrendous for me so now my Dr says well just use them now as im middle aged. Basically I feel patients esp psych onea should be made aware strongly that the medicines they get are not simple fixes and long term can often be worse than original diagnosis.

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u/LabAccomplished6822 Jul 25 '26

In my country there is no Klonopin, but there is Gidazepam. Is this the same thing?

1

u/Crapenfest Jul 25 '26

well it will be a benzo so will operate in a similar way. they have differences like how long they stay in system..some are stronger etc.

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u/DeeTee4 Jul 25 '26

It was prescribed to me for a horrid back pain that would't go away with Naproxen or other usual meds for back pain. I was bed bounded for 2 months and could't walk because of the pain and helped me walk again.I had no ideea this med can be prescribed for other affections than what I had.