7 hours ago, RachelSusan said:

@Chippy

Thank you for taking the time to suggest that approach. I really appreciate your kindness and willingness to help.

I’ve been thinking more about it, and one thing I’m still unsure about is the dosing pattern. Since gabapentin has a relatively short half-life and is usually taken multiple times a day, I’ve read that keeping blood levels fairly steady can matter. That made me wonder whether reducing only one dose at a time could create more fluctuation during the day, which could increase the chance of interdose withdrawal symptoms for me, since I’ve dealt with that quite a bit before. Because of that, I’m not completely sure which direction I’m going to take yet. I want to think it through carefully and choose the approach that seems most sensible for my system. I’d be interested in your thoughts on that concern.

I may still reach out to you for help with the maths. For now, I’ve been working through some ideas with AI, and it seems pretty good at that side of things, but we’ll see.

Thank you again for always offering to help. You’re great with everyone here.

It’s my pleasure @RachelSusan

With regard to reducing one dose at a time. I’ve seen this done before with short half life benzos and it’s been fine. I think the reason maudsley suggest the centre dose first is so that drug levels are propped up by the first and last dose to introduce the lower levels to your system gradually. It’s really common to do this.

It would be fine, of course, if you wanted to take the reduction from all three doses evenly. And you can still micro taper, should you decide to do so.

More than happy to help with a taper plan if you would like. 😀

@Chippy and @LostinCanada, Thank you to both of you for your ideas and support. I'll let you know when I start the actual cutting of medications.

8 minutes ago, RachelSusan said:

@Chippy and @LostinCanada, Thank you to both of you for your ideas and support. I'll let you know when I start the actual cutting of medications.

Always here for you. X

On 4/14/2026 at 4:12 PM, RachelSusan said:

@namastejen1 

Thank you for stopping by my thread. I really appreciate it. When you said you felt like a mole coming out of its hole, I could really relate, it made me smile because I feel the same way.

 

I’ve spent the last two weeks transitioning from the capsules to the liquid, so I haven’t really started tapering yet. I think I’ll begin next week. I’ll be sure to let you and the group know how it goes.

 

Trust me, everyone will hear me complain. As everyone here can attest, the symptoms of withdrawal are the worst.

I hope that things are going well for you with the transition to liquid. We all complain and it is good to let it out among friends on the forum. I think small and slow are the way to go! My cuts are around 6% right now. Better to take it easy and see how things develop before increasing. Blessings!

@namastejen1 Thank you. I really appreciate your encouragement. It helps to engage with others who understand the process.

I think you’re right that small and slow is the best way to go. It sounds like you’re being very thoughtful with your 6% cuts, and that gives me hope that patience really is the key.

I actually started a 2.5% reduction last Saturday, and so far I haven’t had any problems. I’m taking it one step at a time and will keep everyone posted.

Wishing you continued stability and progress with your taper. Thank you again for your kindness.

1 hour ago, RachelSusan said:

I actually started a 2.5% reduction last Saturday, and so far I haven’t had any problems. I’m taking it one step at a time and will keep everyone posted.

Hope it goes well! I’m sure it will be fine. Slow and steady. 😀

@RachelSusan

So good to hear, that your reduction is going well. I cheer on you.

And yes slow is good. I am on the same road, and doing ok. Minor WD despite the tiny cuts. So I fully support you taking small steps.

Thinking of you 🙏💕

@Haa Thank you so much for your kind message. It really means a lot to feel your support and encouragement.

I’m glad to hear you are doing ok overall. I read your page and it sounds like you’re handling the withdrawal in a very good way, just noticing it, not feeding it with extra attention, and continuing with your day. That takes real patience. I’m sorry about the lack of sleep, but it also sounds like things are still manageable, which is encouraging.

If I understood correctly, you’re taking half your Oxapax dose as liquid and half as tablet. I’m doing the same thing with my reduction, half by tablet and half by liquid. I’ve only reduced 2.5% so far, and thankfully all is good with no symptoms yet.

I agree with you completely that slow and steady is the right road. We’re both taking baby steps, and that feels wise. Thinking of you too, and wishing you continued healing.

@RachelSusan So good to hear you are doing well and have started to taper.

I am not familiar with Garbapentin and what to expect. But no WD is great. I cross my fingers and hope it will stay this way. 🙏💕

I’ve been reflecting on the severe crash I experienced during my last partial taper of Gabapentin. It took an entire year to recover, which makes me realize that if my brain requires that much time to heal from such a shock, it isn't actually addressing my monthly cuts in real time.

It feels as though I am outrunning my brain's repair crew. If a single reduction takes months or even a year to fully integrate and "upregulate" receptors, then making a move every month is simply building a massive debt in my brain's natural balance in silence. I say "in silence" because I had no warning. I felt fine for the first six months of cutting, but I believe my brain was absorbing the strain until it hit a breaking point where the debt finally came due.

By the time I made that seventh cut, I wasn't just dealing with that one drop; I was dealing with the unresolved repairs from the previous six months all at once. Since symptoms don't appear for me in real time and my brain is a slow restructurer, I am wondering if I need to stop looking at the calendar entirely and wait much longer between moves.

I am having difficulty formulating my thoughts on this concept and how to protect myself, especially since I had no warning signs. When I was tapering Zoloft, I would get a clear signal if I moved too fast. That didn't happen here. These drops feel cumulative; even if they are small, they add up to a significant crisis.

I’m wondering if any of you have ever considered this or experienced a similar "delayed debt" where everything seemed fine until it suddenly wasn't. I am still processing this idea myself, so if I am being too vague or convoluted, please feel free to ask questions. I would value your opinions and any insight into whether any of you have faced this.

2 minutes ago, RachelSusan said:

I’ve been reflecting on the severe crash I experienced during my last partial taper of Gabapentin. It took an entire year to recover, which makes me realize that if my brain requires that much time to heal from such a shock, it isn't actually addressing my monthly cuts in real time.

It feels as though I am outrunning my brain's repair crew. If a single reduction takes months or even a year to fully integrate and "upregulate" receptors, then making a move every month is simply building a massive debt in my brain's natural balance in silence. I say "in silence" because I had no warning. I felt fine for the first six months of cutting, but I believe my brain was absorbing the strain until it hit a breaking point where the debt finally came due.

By the time I made that seventh cut, I wasn't just dealing with that one drop; I was dealing with the unresolved repairs from the previous six months all at once. Since symptoms don't appear for me in real time and my brain is a slow restructurer, I am wondering if I need to stop looking at the calendar entirely and wait much longer between moves.

I am having difficulty formulating my thoughts on this concept and how to protect myself, especially since I had no warning signs. When I was tapering Zoloft, I would get a clear signal if I moved too fast. That didn't happen here. These drops feel cumulative; even if they are small, they add up to a significant crisis.

I’m wondering if any of you have ever considered this or experienced a similar "delayed debt" where everything seemed fine until it suddenly wasn't. I am still processing this idea myself, so if I am being too vague or convoluted, please feel free to ask questions. I would value your opinions and any insight into whether any of you have faced this.

I’ve certainly seen this @RachelSusan it is a hard one to manage. what kind of monthly rate of reduction were you making when you last tapered gabapentin and crashed from it?

@ChippyI was originally following the 10% per month rule and thought I was doing well with no major problems. Then I crashed. Now I’m planning to keep reductions closer to 2–4%, allowing for some rounding up to down to make measuring easier. Every few months, I may also pause the taper to give my system time to catch up.

It seems that when someone crashes, recovery often takes many months, and for some unlucky people, even years. That suggests tapers can sometimes move faster than the brain is able to upregulate its receptors.

I was prescribed Gabapentin to help with withdrawal from Zoloft. Overall, it’s a difficult situation. So many of us are dealing with multiple medications that it’s remarkable we can even begin to untangle it all and reclaim our lives, but we do. That, to me, is a real tribute to the human spirit.

Edited April 29Apr 29 by RachelSusan
typo

1 hour ago, RachelSusan said:

wondering if any of you have ever considered this or experienced a similar "delayed debt" where everything seemed fine until it suddenly wasn't.

This makes so much sense for many of us. Some, after a cold turkey feel fine and then at 6-9 months it all hits. Sometimes we push through thinking we have to....but we have to learn from the mistakes of ourselves and others. I personally feel I didn't wait long enough after by reinstatement before trying to taper. Also, though I know many have been helped by the Brassmonkey slide or microtapering, it has caused stacking symptoms for me.

So we just have to do the best we can with the knowledge we have and recognize individually we respond differently. For many of us,10% really just is too much. ❤️🙏

Edited April 29Apr 29 by LostinCanada

1 minute ago, RachelSusan said:

@ChippyI was originally following the 10% per month rule and thought I was doing well with no major problems. Then I crashed. Now I’m planning to keep reductions closer to 2–4%, allowing for some rounding up to down to make measuring easier. Every few months, I may also pause the taper to give my system time to catch up.

Ok yeah. My thoughts are along the same lines as yours. Go slower, and perhaps add in some pauses here and there or longer holds I should say, to give your body time to adjust. It is very hard, if you feel you get no warning. I think mainly it’s been just a case of going quicker than you can recover/adapt to in a month, but the wd is delayed for you, so stacks.

5 minutes ago, RachelSusan said:

seems that when someone crashes, recovery often takes many months, and for some unlucky people, even years. That suggests tapers can sometimes move faster than the brain is able to upregulate its receptors.

Yes I agree. I think if you can stop the crash from happening in the first place, by giving the brain more time to adapt to less changes, that’s the goal. Once it crashes it’s got lots to do to recover so takes a long time.

8 minutes ago, RachelSusan said:

was originally prescribed Gabapentin to help with withdrawal from Zoloft. Overall, it’s a difficult situation. So many of us are dealing with multiple medications that it’s remarkable we can even begin to untangle it all and reclaim our lives, but we do. That, to me, is a real tribute to the human spirit.

Oh that’s such a shame. I’m guessing if you found sa first you wouldn’t have gone that route?

It’s amazing how strong and adaptable our systems are, and as you say how we can cope with more than we ever felt possible before all this.

@LostinCanada I agree with so much of what you said. One of the hardest lessons in all of this is realizing there is no single formula that works for everyone. What helps one person can be too much for another, and sometimes we only learn that the hard way.

You’re right, we do the best we can with the information we have at the time. Then we adjust, learn, and keep going.

@Chippy I think you’re exactly right. For some of us, the issue is not the cut itself, but that the nervous system hasn’t fully recovered before the next cut comes along.

I also think another big issue is making medication changes once a crash happens. We’re in so much pain that we want relief, so we try going up, going down, adding something, or stopping something else. That was a hard lesson for me. I had to learn that all the adjusting was making things worse, and sometimes the best path is to hold steady and let time do its work. I know you’ve often suggested to others that they hold with no changes, and I can see the wisdom in that. At the same time, desperation can make any of us reach for solutions in the moment.

Also you are 100% correct, if I had found SA first I would not have ended up dependent on Gabapentin.

12 hours ago, RachelSusan said:

but that the nervous system hasn’t fully recovered before the next cut comes along.

For sure, I have seen what I think is this happening a number of times.

12 hours ago, RachelSusan said:

I also think another big issue is making medication changes once a crash happens.

This is massive. Once the nervous system is irritated, more drugs just makes it more angry. It takes finding SA or here now, to start to realise this and learn to leave the brain to do it's incredible work of healing and putting these things right for us. We know so little about the brain. I really don't think we should be messing with it IMO, these drugs are not our friends. We also know so little about WD and tapering still, we have some basic ideas and guides but there is so much that isn't understood, and everyone is so unique. No rules, just trust your body and go steady and cautiously forward.

@Chippy I really appreciate this. It aligns with what I’ve been thinking, and it was helpful to read. Thank you.

5 minutes ago, RachelSusan said:

@Chippy I really appreciate this. It aligns with what I’ve been thinking, and it was helpful to read. Thank you.

Glad it helped @RachelSusan

@RachelSusan

Thank you for bringing this topic up. I have been wondering the same. I was tapering oxapax and everything went fine until I crashed. So I now think that accumulation was the main reason for the crash.

So now I am holding tapering Oxapax, while I microtaper Zoloft. I am planing to taper one month and then hold for a month before tapering again. Now my main goal is to stay functional.

How are you doing with your taper?

Thinking of you. 🙏💕💕

@RachelSusan I definitely believe that sometimes our crashes are from cuts done months before ,we metabolise the drugs at different rates ,I've mentioned before that when I jumped twice I didn't feel anything until six months later ,that could be happening when I taper . Personally for some people I think dropping every 4 weeks is quite short ..as we don't see what's building up from previous cuts its like waiting for that Tsunami to hit .I'm in favour as we get lower on long holds maybe not all the time but now and again just to see what happens and if that Tsunami hits .

Edited May 3May 3 by Beehive

3 hours ago, Haa said:

Now my main goal is to stay functional.

@Haa This is my main goal too. I'm done with trying to get off fast, I just want functional!

3 hours ago, Haa said:

So I now think that accumulation was the main reason for the crash.

Yes, I agree. So the cutting or tapering goes far beyond just the cuts we make each month. No matter how good I'm doing at each individual month reduction I probably still need to hold every now and then just to be safe.

So far I have only made one cut and no problems with it. Let's see how I feel a few cuts and a few months in.

Haa, as always, thank you for responding. It's good to hear from you.

@Beehive

3 hours ago, Beehive said:

Personally for some people I think dropping every 4 weeks is quite short ..as we don't see what's building up from previous cuts its like waiting for that Tsunami to hit

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. You said it so clearly. The tsunami analogy is brilliant. You were able to say what I was struggling to make clear in my mind. I agree. I also think I am one of those people where every four weeks may be too frequent for me. I think I am going to start to factor in a hold now and then just because I don't know if that tsunami is building up offshore. I would rather be hit with three months worth of cuts than nine months or a year worth of cuts.

@RachelSusan how are you doing atm?

I am often thinking of you and of how carefully you think of how to proceed your tapering journey.

I am wiser now. I know that 4% cut was too much.

I think I’ll try by 2% when I start again in a while.

May you continue to be functionally

🙏💕💕

@Haa Hi HAA,

Thank you for thinking of me and saying hello. So far I am doing OK, just continuing to move very carefully and trying not to rush it.

I read your posts this morning and have been thinking about you too. I am really sorry you have been dealing with the persistent nausea. I experienced that a lot with the Sertraline and I can understand why it would make you feel discouraged.

Your question to someone else about whether they tried going back up a small amount, or just waited it out really resonated with me because I struggled with that exact question many times myself. I don’t want to tell you what to do because we all have different physiological make-ups and nervous systems can respond so differently, but after much increasing and decreasing of doses during the withdrawal/taper process, I ultimately got to a point where I waited out every cut, even the really bad ones. My thought process was that it would be one more change to the nervous system, and for me personally I wanted to make as few changes as possible.

I think the insight you gained about the 4% cut being too much is valuable information about what your system may tolerate right now. Your idea of trying 2% when you restart sounds very wise to me.

How are you feeling now?

Edited May 12May 12 by RachelSusan
My clumsy fingers made typos