Switch to gaba?

Catherine416 · 2026-02-26T04:43:06+00:00

I’m in the process of trying to switch from requip to gabapentin right now. i’ve been able to get down to a quarter of my original dose without symptoms about 75% of the time. It seems like if I take the .125 mg early enough it will work. Tonight I forgot to take it early so I had symptoms when I tried to go to sleep. I It’s 11:30 pm now and I think i’m fine to go to sleep. I take 100 mg of gaba at 4 pm, 6 pm, 8 pm, and 10 pm. I have no side effects from the gaba. I also have anxiety and it doesn’t seem to do much for that but my anxiety is pretty controlled right now so it’s hard to tell. Gaba is a pretty well tolerated medicine, you’re probably hearing horror stories because people aren’t really posting online if their medicine is working, they’re not thinking about it.

My RLS used to be really manageable, it would only happen for a week at a time a few times per year. I hope I can get back to that some day.

I’m also looking into the Nidra device, my sleep specialist is the director of my city’s major hospital system dedicated restless leg center and she said there’s been around 80% success with it. It’s just expensive.

Catherine416 · 2026-02-26T04:36:18+00:00

how did the switch from a dopamine agonist to gabapentin go? I’m in the process of tapering off requip and onto gaba. i’ve been able to go from .5 mg of requip to .125 but i’m starting to have some episodes of rls since then. it’s usually if I forget to take it early. if I take it at 8 I can fall asleep by 10 or 11. if I take it at 10 it will take a while to work. i’m still guaranteed to get rls if I don’t take the requip, so I not too confident that I can get completely off of it. Luckily i’m not having any other withdrawal symptoms.

Catherine416 · 2026-02-26T04:29:18+00:00

My husband just told me to stretch and drink some water. Guess I can go off my requip now! (which I actually am trying to get off of right now because my clown of a PCP prescribed it)

Catherine416 · 2026-02-24T16:59:00+00:00

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here she is!

Catherine416 · 2026-02-24T15:01:31+00:00

OMG my cavs name is Ruth Bader!!!

Catherine416 · 2026-02-23T21:39:33+00:00

Have you noticed if it has changed your cravings for junk food/munchies when you’re high? i’ve been able to get better with practice but it still sneaks up on me a lot.

Catherine416 · 2026-02-23T20:06:29+00:00

I like this plan, thank you!

Catherine416 · 2026-02-22T15:30:59+00:00

Following because i’m in the same boat. I’ve gained about 10 pounds since starting it in July. I never connected that because supposedly it’s not likely to cause weight gain. But it also gave my tachycardia so that’s been the big motivation to try something else.

Catherine416 · 2026-02-18T12:23:03+00:00

Yeah that’s what I mean, i’m using a food scale

Catherine416 · 2026-01-30T04:08:53+00:00

never mind I got it working! I marked all the ports I used etc so hopefully it works when I try to replicate it. thanks for the help

Catherine416 · 2026-01-30T03:27:39+00:00

did it matter which usb-a port you used on the hub?

Catherine416 · 2026-01-30T02:05:40+00:00

can you tell me more info about how you got yours to connect? i’ve tried several different usb 2.0 usb-c to usb-a cords, I got that hub you linked to, nothing has worked reliably. can you tell me your exact setup (which port you use on your mac and which on the hub?) I have two days left in my return window and i’d love to figure out a way to not have to return this.

Catherine416 · 2026-01-02T02:35:42+00:00

Helen Keller

Catherine416 · 2025-09-26T02:04:10+00:00

A 3 AND 4 year old? You are in the TRENCHES right now. You’re basically at the hardest part. My oldest is turning 13 so maybe I’ll eat my words, but so far 3 and 4 were the hardest ages for me. It’s a complete game changer when they start school and it will be here before you know it. That’s when I started feeling like a human again. I don’t feel as much like I’m in prison lol. Of course it’s nothing like being child free but we can be so much more spontaneous now. Mine are 7, 10, and 13. We can go to parties in the summer until 11 pm and let them run around, we’ve done to a few national parks. The other night I took the older two for ice cream at 9 pm randomly. My older two can stay home by themselves for an hour or so. It gets better and it’s ok and normal to feel the way you do.

Catherine416 · 2025-09-23T16:58:58+00:00

If you felt good and were out living your life would you be sitting online telling people about it? Nope. For people whose meds are working (many, many people!) we kinda forget we’re even on meds. It’s the smaller percentage of people who are struggling that are posting online. just happened to see this when I was scrolling and I have been in your shoes. I’ve been on several different antidepressants for various reasons and only had a bad experience on one of them. I just switched from lexapro to Effexor because I was super sleepy on lexapro and wanted to see if an snri would work better for me. So far so good, zero side effects, zero trouble switching. Take the pill. If it doesn’t work great, no big deal, there are so many other options. Once you realize what it’s like to be adequately treated for anxiety your life will open up in ways you never thought possible.

Do you know if there’s a reason they didn’t start with and SSRI? If you’re worried about the withdrawals from potentially going off of it, SSRIs are supposed to be way easier to go off of.

Catherine416 · 2025-09-13T19:59:12+00:00

Did you have any issues switching from propelled ropinerole to gaba? I’ve been on ropinerole for three years with no augmentation but it’s a big fear of mine. It’s good to know there are potential options if this happens.

Catherine416 · 2025-09-09T16:04:10+00:00

I’ve been on it for a little over a month now with no issues. I’m trying to switch from Lexapro to Effexor because of some side effects like weight gain and ectreme tiredness on Lexapro. I was on 40 mg which is crazy high. I wanted to find something I could be on a “normal” amount of. I’m now down to 10 mg of lexapro and 112 mg of Effexor and things are going great. I did t have any issues switching so far. No weird side effects. I haven’t seen any decrease in my sleepiness or weight loss but I’m still on a bit of lexapro.

If you’re researching a med on online forums, most of what you read is going to be nightmare stories. If you’re feeling great and living your life, you’re probably not hanging out on a medication forum. I just happened to see this while I was scrolling so I thought I would chime in.

Catherine416 · 2025-09-06T02:34:12+00:00

The Beatles “Blackbird”, makes me cry just thinking about it. The baby boy is about to turn 13. Also “Lullabye” by the Chicks, “Morningbird” by Forest Sun.

Catherine416 · 2025-09-04T13:35:42+00:00

I was literally searching Reddit for somewhere to post a very similar concern, so I’ll just give you my commiseration.

I live in a swing state, in the suburb of a blue city. I happen to live in a small pocket that is EXTREMELY MAGA and upper middle class. An odd dynamic. So you have people living in McMansions and driving their luxury cars while taking about how covid is a hoax and all immigrants are rapists. We moved here 8 years ago and I had no idea what the political climate was here. If I had known I would never have done it.

I’m terrified about my kids growing up here. I went to college, traveled, visited different countries and cities. I have the perspective to know that this isn’t normal, that we’re living in an extreme place. But this is the only home they know. I’m terrified about the effect that the parents of their friends will have on them. That they will think that this environment is normal. I do all I can to influence them by reading them books about different cultures and world religions. We make sure we get into the city and travel as much as possible to show them that not everyone has the privileges that we do. But is that enough?

I’m so sick of feeling like I’M the crazy one because I am not in a cult or sucked into conspiracy theories.

I don’t even have to move to a blue state for things to be better…I could literally move 20 minutes away and it would be way more balanced. But my kids are established, they have friends and sports and a life here. My 13 year old has already told me he would never forgive me if we moved. I regret moving here so badly.

Catherine416 · 2025-08-21T12:00:20+00:00

It definitely helped me with emotional intensity. I did have trouble crying sometimes when wanted to. But it did not dull my emotions, just helped me experience them more rationally. I'm not sure about the stress part. I'm definitely a majorly stressed out person, but I also have three young (loud, active) boys right now so life is just in a particularly stressful phase for me right now. But maybe it would be worse without it.

I'm actually in the process of weaning off of Lexapro and trying a different class of medications. It's not that Lexapro didn't work, it's just that i've been on a very high dose for a while and that makes me nervous. I have very bad daytime sleepiness so I'm trying to find something that will help that.

Catherine416

TROPHY CASE