Symptoms: Akathisia, Brain zaps, Emotional blunting, Cognitive impairment, Severe anxiety/panic
This story is shared by a wife.
My husband had burning feet. His primary doctor, without doing a whole lot of testing, quickly said he has foot neuropathy and put him on gabapentin 300 mg 3x a day. He did this for about 12 months. During those months we noticed his gait was slower and he’s just not himself. He was becoming more zombie-like. He was very active: swimming, mountain bike riding, and working out at the gym.
Well, he tried to talk to his doctor about cutting back on gabapentin. His doctor never advised about slowly tapering. So my husband started taking less for about 2 weeks, then just stopped cold turkey, and then all hell broke out! He experienced anxiety through the roof. Panic attacks, tremors, and his gait and whole body became extremely rigid. He’s been to his primary, numerous ER doctors, a neurologist. They have done tests to rule out Parkinson’s or PSP and they can’t explain it. I tried to tell them that it is because of gabapentin withdrawal, and no one wants to admit it could be a possibility!!
I’m so grateful to you all for having this organization because you have done your research. It’s been only 3 months since he’s been off this devil drug. Praying he’ll return to normal. By the way, the neurologist said he doesn’t have foot neuropathy after all!! So why did we ever get on this horrible drug!!