As you search for the magic anti-anxiety elixir you should always take careful note of what you are ingesting. In most cases a so called anxiety busting drug may be of interest to you for obvious reasons but you should always consider the side effects.
One of the fastest ways to get into trouble with anxiety drugs is by using drugs that were not designed to treat anxiety in the first place. This type of drug use is sometimes called “off label ” drug use. In other words you find a drug that was designed to treat kidney infections but you take it because it might help your nerves (so you heard) but this could lead to problems.
One of the best examples of an off label drug is Neurontin . Neurontin (Gabapentin) is a drug that was initially designed to combat seizures in epileptic patients and is also used to treat pain associated with shingles (herpes zoster). At some point however someone figured that Neurontin was also helping their anxiety.
However the Food and Drug Administration or FDA has only approved Neurontin for the treatment of seizures. To date there is no study or series of studies to suggest that it is effective or safe in the treatment of anxiety. Neurontin is an anti-convulsant and not an anxiety medication.
This distinction matters since taking Neurontin can create side effects – side effects which may worsen your anxiety. Now although Neurontin has been used to treat anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression and even restless leg syndrome this doesn’t mean that taking this stuff is a good idea. Why?
There are two core reasons why it’s not advisable or prudent to take Neurontin to treat anxiety. The primary reason for not taking this drug to treat anxiety is related to a Food and Drug Administration report released in January 2008. The report states that people taking Neurontin or other anti epileptic drug have a 50% higher chance of committing or thinking about suicide.
Secondly, Neurontin may increase feelings of depression and increase anxious feelings and thoughts. According to the report “all patients who take anti-epileptic drugs should be closely monitored… for the emergence or worsening of suicidal thoughts or depression”.
Those, I think, are very good reasons not to use this drug for the treatment of anxiety disorder. But just in case you think that suicide and depression can be handled Neurontin may also cause these side effects:
- paranoia
- memory loss
- dizziness
- nausea
- fatigue
- Viral infections
Treatment induced Neurontin depression can also be problematic for an anxiety sufferer because many times anxiety is also accompanied by depression. So exposing yourself to a drug that could in fact worsen your depression can become dangerous.
The FDA is currently thinking about adding a warning label for suicidal thoughts and behavior on the drugs packaging. All things being equal the FDA alert should be just that – an alert, a warning.
We all sometimes get desperate for relief and seek a silver bullet to help us be our old selves. However that doesn’t mean that we should not do our due diligence when thinking about using a new medication to treat our anxiety.
In addition the off label use of drugs to treat anxiety is also of concern because these drugs are being prescribed for ailments outside the scope of their original purpose. Just because someone is willing to prescribe a drug outside it’s original purpose doesn’t always mean that it is a safe bet.
And although I don’t use drugs to treat my anxiety I also understand that many of you do. You know the generic, brand and scientific names for these drugs. You know the different dosages and retailers, etc. Drug use is just a fact of life for some, but just because you are comfortable with using drugs to treat your anxiety doesn’t mean that you should put yourself at risk.
Always talk to your doctor about what drugs you are or might want to take and do some homework. Then and only then should you take a chance on a drug that wasn’t meant to heal your nerves.
Wow so glad you put this out there. I was told this med was safe to use to help me sleep. It was horrible. I became so depressed, so nervous I wanted to die
I was prescribed Neurontin to treat muscle/ nerve pain but it made me feel awful in a short space of time – I stopped it taking it last week. It made me depressed, suicidal thoughts, very anxious, palpitations, confused, uncoordinated etc – I have a been depressed and anxious in the past and at first though it was that but I feel so much better in the space of a few days I need to see my gp but I never want to take it again!
Was making me anxious. (Neurontin) Decided exercise, therapy, L-theanine are tools I will use to combat my GAD. Prescription drugs….most of them anyway…makes it worse. I have Klonopin but never any issues and only take it if absolutely necessary.
SSRI’s make me manic too.
I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet due to nerve damage in my back. My feet are totally numb on the bottom. In the past I had tremendous pain. I like, many others have described it as pins and needles or we say it feels like a bunch of bees stinging. Very painful. I tried other pain medication. My neurologist prescribed gabapentin and have increased my dose until the pain is reduced to very little or no pain. I have read about the side affects. I am bipolar and have a history of depression. I haven’t had any of the mentioned side affects. I’m having problems with dizziness. I do take other prescription medications. All doctors are reducing all my medication to resolve my problem. I will talk to my neurologist again.
I have been on Gabapentin for more than two years and in the beginning it helped me with pain and anxiety. Over the past 8 months or so I have been battling depression, constant debilitating fatigue. I even changed doctors and they are still pill pushing the anti-depressants at me and none of them have worked with no improvement whatsoever. Now I discover this information with regard to Gabapentin and it is all starting to make sense. I started out with 900 mg. a day and currently take 2400 mg. a day. I am going to struggle to be rid of the pill as my salvation. I have not in truth been to a doctor that hasn’t try to help me with some real truthful honest information. Just my luck. Wow, what the doctors and the pharmaceutical company’s will do in the name of profit. Guess I should have been looking into this sooner instead of playing the fool.
i have taken Gabapentin for around 6 months, the pills aren’t mine. but i was in the doctor’s office with the person who was getting prescribed them..
they got prescribed the medication because of opioid withdrawal, i am on hydrocodone and tramadol. when i run out i take Gabapentin to help ease the pain which helped, but today i took 2 of them. without eating a normal meal. just quick snacks.
but after 2-3 hours. i started feeling like ive wanted to die.
feeling like life has no hope.
honestly feeling like im scared of my own mind because i don;t want to die
thinking crazy things like.. i will suffrer either which path i choose in life.
i have anxiety as well and a heart problem. so when i get anxiety attacks, (which is rarely) i am rushed to a hospital.
tonight at 6:24 happened, im still here feeling that ugly pit in my stomach, feeling like i have nothing to life for.
thinking crazy things that im not able to remove from my brain
but then i came on here and read other peoples comments and alot of blogs on this medication…
for the sum of my situation. i feel better knowing that im not crazy right now.. if your using this drug for opioid withdrawl, only take one.
don’t twice the dose or even triple it.
because things like this can happen..
please stay in doors when you are on this medication. do not drive or operate any type of hard machinery.
blessings to you all.
xx –
My wife was prescribed these for her l1 backpain (given to stop crampimg/seizes) initially this seemed to have a plus effect (first week my wife said she had never thought more clearer in her life) I noticed she seemed more confident just about straight away…About 3 months later my wife startyed to get very anxious,cry for no reason whatsoever and started calling herself a loser ,seemed to me she got very depressed almost overnight one day and its not her at all…I am going to see a psychiatrist with her this week…Im hoping he will stop the meds because if he doesnt I will throw the lot in the toilet. The doctor saw this as a great alternative to a mild opiate pain reliever…I see it as a nightmare from hell…I will get my wife thru this…My own view is this drug is not a pain reliever its a drug that interferes with neurological pathways too much…
You must wean off this medicine if you’ve been on it for months or more. It has horrible withdrawal effects. You have to wean slowly-a tapered schedule and most have to slow it down as they go as it gets worse the less mgs you are on to get off. I have been on Gabapentin for 15 yrs. I have multiple progressive neurological degenerative diseases but the gabapentin really only helped the pain for the first year. I’ve been trying to less or get off of it ever since. Six months ago my doc raised me to 2400 mg a day because my condition worsened. Twice a day (which is when I took the medication) I wasn’t myself. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop crying, felt psychotic, felt like it was my mission to kill myself in order to free those I loved. Not myself at all. I do have anxiety issues but not depression. This went on worsening for weeks. I feared for my life. I talked to my doctor and we lowered it to 1800 right away. Instantly better. And then I thought, what is the 1800 doing that I don’t know about so I lowered it to 1500 then 1200 then 900. I’ve been stuck at 900 for a couple months, pain too bad that I worry about going lower but I want to be completely off them-gabapentin, lyrica, neurontin they are all the same to me.
I also have been prescribed this drug since 2005 and 2400 mg perday along side affects and warnings im reading about seraquil. Suffering from colitIs. F these man made drugs and let me have my 2 5- 325 percacett. 2 times. A day xr
Was shocked to find out gabapentin and anxiety can be related I have severe neuropathy caused by the medication Humira! I have Crohn’s disease. It works great for my nerve pain but I’m miserable with depression and anxiety. Feeling very frustrated, I am on the fentanyl patch for pain, but until the dr. Raised me up to 600 mgs. Of gabapentin 3x a day, my anxiety wasn’t as bad. Praying for a Dr. that will listen and not just writ a prescription. I want to be on as little medication as possible without being in horrific pain
I just started gabapentin for anxiety. Went from 600 mg a day to 900 mg day and am starting to feel depressed now. Think I’ll drop back down to 600 as that was ok. We have to remember GABA (your brain chemical, not the drug) has a depressant effect overall in the cns so augmenting it with a medication will potentiate this action possibly with adverse consequences…
I’ve had anxiety most of my life, usually controllable. I was on lorazepam but it didn’t work too well so my psychiatrist prescribed gabapentin, as needed. I instantly started to feel 100 times more anxious, having random panic attacks about nothing at all. At night, it would get worse and I started to feel hopeless, and absolutely miserable. I constantly tried to fight it and it was exhausting. Because I was worse, I thought the dosage was too low, so my doctor increased and told me I could take it multiple times a day, and when I did I got worse and worse. I stopped taking it completely when I found out there were others experiencing similar things. Really hoping I go back to normal soon because I cannot live like this anymore.