Hi,
I have been treated off and on for anxiety for about 10 years. 9 months ago, I took myself off Zoloft cold turkey. I was fine for about 8 months, then I had a setback. My anxiety began returning. I went to my primary care doctor because I could not get an appointment fast enough with a psychiatrist (I had been seeing a psychologist and still am, but he cannot prescribe meds) and asked if I could go back on Zoloft. He put me back on my usual 50mg (not a smart decision) and I took it for 2 days. I got instantly sick, vomiting, nausea, horrible anxiety, for 2 days, and immediately stopped taking it. I made an appointment with a psychiatric APRN and she told me that I had most likely experienced a form of sertraline toxicity, and/or that sometimes after stopping a medication, when a person tries to get back on it, they have no luck and have a bad reaction and can no longer take that medication. I asked her what I should do, and she put me on Gabapentin. I had never heard of this drug and had no idea how it worked. She prescribed 100mg 2x a day (a very low dose, I have read), and I started taking it 8 days ago. HOWEVER, I did not take it as prescribed. I took it ONLY at night, as it made me very drowsy and I did not feel safe driving and going about my day if I were to take it in the morning. So I only took it at night. During this time, I also quit smoking marijuana. I experienced night sweats, headaches, diarrhea, and vivid dreams. These are symptoms of BOTH marijuana withdrawal AND Gabapentin side effects, so I wasn't sure which was causing it. I kept taking the Gabapentin. Then, on Saturday night, I was in the grocery store at about 6:30pm and had not yet taken my nightly dose of Gabapentin. I began to feel very dizzy. This was odd, as I usually took it about 6-7pm every night. I decided I might just be getting sick as I have had some post nasal drip and congestion as well. I went to sleep that night (Saturday, 2 days ago) without taking my Gabapentin because A) my APRN told me I could take it as needed but that it might not be as effective because it should build up in my system to be effective (even thought I had read that you should NOT take it PRN and going more than 12 hours without a dose can be bad...) and B) I was already drowsy and thought why would I take it if I was already drowsy. I continued to feel dizzy and woke up the next morning (Sunday) with depression. Bad depression. Crying, super sad, listless, no energy, didn't even laugh at funny things. That night, I also felt some "brain zaps" and a heavy feeling in my head. I suddenly realized that these must all be some sort of withdrawal symptoms from not taking the Gabapentin the night before. I immediately took one. That was last night. I felt a little better, but woke up this morning (Monday) with extreme anxiety, a headache, diarrhea, and the weird grogginess/heavy head feeling. I went to a walk in clinic and the doctor there had no idea about anything concerning Gabapentin management and told me to stop taking it and call my prescribing APRN. I have called her but she is unavailable and I doubt she'll call me back today. I have an appointment tomorrow with her, anyway. Here's my questions: at 100mg 1x per day for 8 days.....is it safe to stop? I cannot taper because I have the lowest dose, and it's a capsule so I can't break it up. I do NOT want to be on this medication anymore, as I realize it is prescribed for seizures and nerve pain and there are very few, if any, studies on its therapeutic effects for anxiety. Also, I refuse to be on a drug that, if I miss a dose, I feel this badly. Second, am I experiencing these feelings because I did not take it as prescribed? I need some answers, and no one is helping me. I have a headache right now, anxiety, and feel very tired. Please let me know what is going on and what to do. I am a female, 29 years old, 5'5" and 108 lbs with an extremely fast metabolism and a history of anxiety and OCD.