My phsychiatrist put me on Gabapentin to help my anxiety and insomnia. I have only taken 100mg 3 times a day. So far I have experienced side effects of dizziness, nausea, and feeling drunk or high. I also feel like I have blurred vision and just an overall weird feeling in my body. Just wondering if this goes away, and if so how long to I have to take it before the side effects go away. Right now it is making me miserable.
Gabapentin: How long for side effects to go away?
Question posted by Lee on 5 May 2013
Last updated on 19 August 2023
I have been taking it for one week .
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30 Answers

The side effects you mention are common with Gabapentin. They usually become less each day. If they do not start to reduce after a couple of days call your doctor. You may need to take a smaller dose or reduce the number of doses you take a day. Most side effects usually lessen after a short period of time.
For more information on Gabapentin side effect:
https://www.drugs.com/sfx/gabapentin-side-effects.html
Ok. Thanks
I can't really answer your question because I am in the same boat. I started 2 days ago taking 200mg yesterday and 100mg twice today. To be honest I can't seeing staying on this med. Just in 2 days my short term memory is horrible and my eyes are starting to be become very irritated. I am going to have to seek help elsewhere. I am in a one day at a time situation. Any suggestions,
There’s the official answer from Drugs.com that says these are common side effects that generally resolve in days to a week or so.
Side effects should always be reported to your doctor right away especially if they seem severe. Something as simple dosage adjustment could help so get professional advice from your doctor.
When taken to many gabapentins at one time and you want the feeling to ease up , what is the best thing u can do or take to help with that happening
Based on an average Neurontin half-life of 5 to 7 hours, Neurontin would stay in the system anywhere from 1.15 to 1.60 days. Most of the drug would leave the body after two days.
I guess it’s still in my system but that means I’m just feeling the side effects, but the action of the drug is done. I’m a registered nurse practitioner
I was recently prescribed the same medicine and I have your exact problem IAnxiety and insomnia. Like you, I get nauseous and I just don’t feel right even though it seems to be helping my anxiety. It’s like head zaps. I don’t like the way I’m feeling, that alone actually makes me a little anxious and I feel sleepy during the day. I’m not gonna continue on this even though it’s only been 4 days. I did not take it this morning which means my last dose was yesterday and I did not take it tonight. I’m not sure what the half life is but it must be long
The half life of gabapentin is approximately 6 hours meaning that after 6 hours only 50% of the last dose remains in your system, after another 6 hours only 25%, etc. Side effects should resolve within less than a day and probably even less than that as you reach the low percentages.
Always take medications exactly as prescribed and don't alter your dosage without your health care professional's knowledge.
Best regards and I hope you're feeling better quickly.
I am so glad to see this. I have been so dizzy uncoordinated and disoriented and it’s hard to read... I thought maybe I was having a serious drug interaction. Now, I am thinking this may be related to increasing the dosage of my new (2 weeks old or less) Gabapentin prescription. I have taken, in the past, 300 mg once a day or less. Then the other day I increased it to 600 mg, and today I took 900 mg. I can’t even explain how bizarre and scared I feel. I feel like there is a buzzing or fuzziness in my head, and I am dizzy. It’s like I am looking at everything through a very thick haze, and walking through quicksand. I called poison control and they said that it should be not lasting this long but it is so... I am wondering when it is going to stop. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am taking this for both nerve pain and anxiety. I can’t imagine I’m going to continue this medication... this is crazy. I am left feeling if I’m going to be OK.
I am assuming you are Bipolar ? You don’t say in your post. I take massive doses of Bipolar Meds. After being tested twice, I evidently metabolize Medication very quickly. My Father did as well. Since I was taking such massive amounts of medication. My Psychiatrist Prescribed Gabapentin to stabilize my Meds. At first, it worked very well. However, the longer I took it I started to get immensely bloated. I also got very shaky, dizzy, disoriented. I crashed into walls a few times, which scared me. I have a Friend who was also taking Gabapentin. He also went through the bloating, dizziness. I stayed on the Gabapentin for awhile, because I was willing to live with the side effects. I did not want to continuously increase my Bipolar Meds. I finally went off , because the side effects were horrible. I think you should tell your Psychiatrist what is happening. Perhaps he can lower your dose. Let me know what your Doctor says. I am always interested in how Bipolars react to Medication ?
Presently taking 100mg twice a day for anxiety (off-label). This drug is horrible. Dizziness, double vision, increased anxiety, insomnia. I do not even want get up to use the wash room. I attempted to taper this drug but, the withdraw was horrible. This drug is a nightmare for me. My physician does not believe I am having such side effects! Time to find a new doctor and somehow, stop taking this poison.
I have been on gabapebtin almost a year now. Im on it for migraines and neurological pain from pinched nerves in my neck and 3 spots in my spine
Started out at 100mgs 3x daily. Then about 4 months ago went to 300mgs 3x daily. I still have issues with the side effects. About 1 1/2 to 2hrs after taking it the side effects start. I get a dopey feeling liked ive done drugs, a bad headache, loss of balance, blurred vision, all around weird feeling..i dont know how long it takes before you dont have side effects but i have been dealing with them the whole time ive been on them and the higher the dose goes the worst the side effect. Good luck to you!
I started Gabapentin 300mg yesterday taking 1 yesterday and 1 today the go to 2 for two days the I go to 3 a day after that and yes I am extremely dizzy and yes kinda like being drunk and I really hate this feeling. I was prescribed this I was in a car accident in 2016 and have several issues in my neck. I had surgery in 2017 and now more issues have arrived and looks like surgery again and the old pain pills stopped working so he wanted to try this and see if I get relief and would love to hear people with Cervical issues who are using this and have had the dizziness and how long it last and did this take the pain away?
My primary care doctor put me on it and told me to take one in the morning, one at midday, and then another at bedtime, but my pain management doctor told me to take one of the morning and two at bedtime. I got up this morning after taking two last night and feel a little wonky, a little off so there's definitely side effects to it. I have some serious issues with the nerves in my back not to mention depression and anxiety and he started me off on 300 mg. Going to give it a few more days to see if it stops if it doesn't I'm going to tell him he's going to have to go down on the dosage but it has definitely help me go to sleep and helps the nerves in my back and my legs. I just don't need to have an anxiety attack over three way I feel. You all have helped me a lot!
Gabapentin was only approved for shingles pain and epilepsy.
My nurse practitioner put me on it for nerve pain that would wake me up throughout the night.
I got up to 300mg only at night and it made me feel so off balance... I didn't care too much since I was going to bed. I think I ended up giving it a good try and got up to 500mg very shortly, still woke up pain.
Started to get off of it and the WITHDRAWALS are horrible!! I was fine til I got down to my last 125 ish (I just eyeballed how much drug I dumped out of the capsule) of gabapentin then I just felt sick, like when I take it at night but it makes no sense because you'd think as I got lower and lower I'd feel better.
They don't tell you this when they prescribe it because they don't know any bettter, they just listen to the drug rep and do not look INTO the drug that they are handing out like candy these days, and when you go and tell them you think you are having withdrawals they look at you like you are an alien.
So to get off the last 100mg I dumped it into 100ml of water, shake it and withdraw with a syringe you get at the pharmacy (no needle) about 5ml at a time. This equal 5mg of the drug since I have mixed it at a 1:1 ratio. I still feel like crap so much that I think I am going to jump off of it at 75mg now. I mean, I felt pretty good all day until I took it and then bam, back to feeling head fogginess, my heart rate is all over the place and it just feels like I've been poisoned.
I know for a fact that I am not the only person who has had a problem with this drug. Your vision will NOT get better if it's blurry now. Read all of the horrible side effects you can get taking this drug. It isn't for sleep or anxiety. It's for shingles pain OR epilepsy. Period.
I wish I knew!
Hi newme66. I sure wish I would have known about what these drugs can do to a persons life too. I tapered off Lyrica and finished last year and I’m slowly tapering off Cymbalta now. Almost all the horrible side effects are gone now; even my eyesight is back to normal. I’m still so tired and I have to lose the 80 pounds I’ve gained. It’s been a nightmare for me. I am down from 60 mg to 15 mg and I have found that the lower I get in dosage the slower I have to go. I was going at 10% reduction until I couldn’t handle the withdrawals and had to taper slower. I have heard from many others who have had to do the same thing. I hate these types of drugs and personally I don’t think they should have ever been put on the market. In my opinion they are poison ☠️ I don’t understand how doctors don’t know how dangerous they are when so many of their patients are having so much trouble with them. At t
imes I thought I was going to die and at other times I wanted to die. I have lost 10 years of my life and missed so much time with my children and grandchildren. I just hope and pray that I will be done taking Cymbalta by the new year (2019) and I will work at getting ‘me’ back again. I hope you’re doing better and I wish you the best. Take care. Cindy
I was prescribed 100mg at night to start. My doc wanted me to start off really slow and increase it by 100mg every 3rd night. The morning after taking the first 100mg dose, I woke up feeling hung over and no I don't drink anymore. After taking that for 3 nights then increasing that by another 100mg and feeling like crap. I was extremely dizzy and just felt unwell. I have Sciatica, osteoarthritis and fibro. My Dr wanted me to continue with that until I reached 600mg but he said to not go over that and just take at night. I took my meds at night and after about 2 hrs later my head felt funny, I got up to make it to my bed I had to hold onto my bed frame and just lay down I was so dizzy and the room was spinning. My sciatica was getting worse to the point that I had to use my cane again but I can't drive on these pills and I've just been in the house sleeping for days and not being able to function. Imagine how it would be if I took them during the day.
The only benefit I got to taking the Gaba was my hot flashes went away at 300mg. I would have about 8 hot flashes a day it was horrible. If this med makes us feel like this imagine what its doing to our mind and bodies. I think I will go down to 300mg just for my hot flashes cause at 600mg I feel like crap. I need to get out the house. I went to bring in my garbage can and staggered out to the road, my neighbor must have thought I was drunk, its not fun.
I spent 2 yrs of my life on gabapentin. Took up to 1800mg daily along with trazodone and flexeril. I have sticklers syndrome, so I took it for my chronic joint, muscle and connective tissue pain. I have to say that I would like to have the last 2 yrs of my life back . Gaba ended up causing pain, weakness, stomach problems, eye problems, skin and hair problems, and I just might have realized what was going on if it hadn't made me a complete zombie. My previous doctors kept telling me my problems were from my genetic condition and prescribed me increasing doses of gaba. I also have trouble remembering the last 2 years in detail, as it have me some memory loss. Before getting on this I was prescribed cymbalta, which made my brain feel scrambled and made me stare off in the distance, eyes rhythmically twitching.
Hi everyone. I took Lyrica for 7-8 years thinking that the side effects would get better. Well; they didn’t. They got worse for me. I even had side effects that aren’t listed. I was miserable and lost all those years. I have tapered off slowly and I’m hoping to get my life back. Some of the side effects are gone; but still not back to normal yet. Please be careful with these types of drugs. For me they were poison. Do all the research before taking or continuing these medications.
I wish that I knew the answer to your question. I am having the same experience, Lee. I took 200mgs of Gabapentin the day before yesterday and another 200mgs yesterday. I am so dizzy! I can't shake it! I have been dizzy and uncoordinated all day long! I lose my balance. I just am not going to take any more. It, obviously, is causing me to feel very sick. Maybe for some people the dizziness goes away. Maybe one has to keep taking it and adjust to this medication. I am taking no chances. I feel too miserable. So many people state that they experience dizziness when taking Gabapentin. I hope that somebody else can answer your question. All the best to you! I suggest telling the doctor who prescribed it!
Related topics
anxiety, insomnia, generalized anxiety disorder, gabapentin, side effect
Further information
- Gabapentin uses and safety info
- Gabapentin prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Gabapentin (detailed)
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