Does anyone know anything about Gabapentin for Benzodiazapine withdrawal?

[methMADMAN]

Swim has a friend who has a legitimate need for Clonazepam, but for certain reasons due to his current circumstances, combined with his paranoia, he obtains them illegally. He does not abuse them though but just uses them as one would be directed by a physician to treat his anxiety. His supply is about to dry up though and he has come off them OK cold turkey but it was rough for him. SWIM knows from some online reading that Gabapentin (brand name Nuerontin), has been used with some success in easing withdrawal from benzos and alcohol. Swim wants to know if anyone here has some practical experience and perhaps could answer questions, because Gabapentin is available to SWIM's friend.

[fnord]

Hope this helps:

Gabapentin-Assisted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal In A Multidrug Dependent Patient

Daniele F. Zullino, M.D.
Division of Substance Abuse
University Hospitals of Geneva
Geneva Switzerland

Amos Miozzari, M.D.
University Department of Adult Psychiatry
Switzerland

Martin Preisig, M.D.
University Department of Adult Psychiatry
Switzerland
Citation:

Daniele F. Zullino, Amos Miozzari, Martin Preisig: Gabapentin-Assisted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal In A Multidrug Dependent Patient. The Internet Journal of Pharmacology. 2006. Volume 4 Number 2.

Keywords: Anticonvulsant, benzodiazepine withdrawal, detoxification, gabapentin, substance abuse
Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Case Report
Discussion
References
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in anticonvulsants for the treatment of benzodiazepine withdrawal, and among the newer substances gabapentin seems particularly promising due to its gabaergic and its glutamate-antagonistic activity. We present the case of a rapid benzodiazepine-withdrawal controlled successfully with gabapentin.
Introduction

The most often recommended method for benzodiazepine withdrawal is slow tapering (1), which, however, requires a constant motivational management and is therefore often associated with poor treatment retention. This may be particularly true for multidrug users, who usually prefer to withdraw all substances at once and will not stand for long lasting procedures.

There are different theoretical rationales for using anticonvulsants in substance abuse patients. One important argument is their lack of addiction potential. A further rationale is in part based on evidence supporting the role of kindling in withdrawal syndrome, which has been proposed as a model for understanding withdrawal syndromes (2). Many of the withdrawal phenomena have been linked to modulations of the glutamatergic and/or the gabaergic system. Kindling and learning as well as behavioral sensitization has been described in this context as particular forms of long-term potentiation, which share some neuronal structures and neurophysiological processes. Each of these phenomena has been reported to be established and reinforced during repeated intermittent stimulation, e.g. during application of addictive drugs.
Your Ad Here

Some data on carbamazepine show an effect on a number of behavioral effects of benzodiazepine withdrawal (3). Adjunctive carbamazepine reduces iatrogenic benzodiazepine withdrawal severity in placebo-controlled studies (4,5,6). Similarly, two studies found that carbamazepine reduced benzodiazepine withdrawal in benzodiazepine-abusing populations (7, 8). Despite encouraging case reports of valproate in the treatment of benzodiazepine withdrawal, this could not be confirmed by controlled trials (9, 10). We also have reported recently on the use of topiramate in opiate and in benzodiazepine detoxification(11,12,13).

Gabapentin, a drug used as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial seizures, lacks the shortbacks of benzodiazepines in the treatment of drug dependent patients, such as risk of drug interactions and abuse potential. It has recently been suggested to have some efficacy in the treatment of mild to moderate alcohol withdrawal (14,15,16,17).

Gabapentin is eliminated via renal mechanisms, which may be of particular utility in patients with hepatic dysfunctions. It furthermore does not interact with liver enzymes thus decreasing the risk of pharmacokinetic interactions. Although it has no direct effect on GABA receptors or transporters, it has been shown to increase GABA turnover in various regions of the brain. It binds to subunits of the L-type calcium channels and increases the synthesis and nonsynaptic release of GABA in the brain (18,19,20). Moreover, it may influence the synthesis of glutamate (20). It has been hypothesized that gabapentin may, through its GABAergic activity, restore the feedback inhibition from the nucleus accumbens after alteration through repeated cocaine use (21).

Crockford et al. (22) have recently presented a case of benzodiazepine detoxification aided by the use of gabapentin. Their patient, a 49-years old woman with a history of panic disorder and generalized anxiety was dependent on alprazolam and furthermore abused butalbital and diphenhydramine. Gabapentin was given to facilitate clonazepam-based treatment.

We report the case of a gabapentin-assisted detoxification in a patient who, in addition to benzodiazepine dependence, had a long history of alcohol, opiate and cocaine abuse.
Case Report

A 30 year old patient had been abusing alcohol since the age of 15, opiates and cocaine since 19, and high-dose benzodiazepines since 25. She has a history of recurrent depression, which has been treated during the last year with citalopram 20 mg/d. She had undergone several opiate and cocaine detoxifications between 20 and 25 years, experiencing regularly severe withdrawal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, irritability and insomnia. After 8 years of repeated methadone treatments she succeeded to withdraw from illegal drugs 4 years ago, to attend a therapeutic community during 8 months, and not to consume illegal drugs since then. She, however, reports a subsequent significant increase of alcohol and benzodiazapine consumption. She was therefore hospitalized 4 times for alcohol detoxification during the last 3 years, always exhibiting severe withdrawal symptoms including important tremor, agitation and anxiety, needing high doses of benzodiazepines.

Whereas infectious hepatitis as well as HIV-infections were excluded prior to the current inpatient detoxification, the hepatic sonography showed signs of a beginning cirrhosis. During the previous 12 months she was hospitalized twice due to acute pancreatitis. As she presented a considerable alcohol consumption of about 15 standard drinks per day, combined with a consumption of oxazepam 240mg per day, she was proposed to be firstly admitted for alcohol detoxification in the alcohol detoxification unit. The alcohol detoxification was performed adapting the oxazepam dose, stabilizing it finally at 15 mg q.i.d. The withdrawal syndrome was characterized by slight tremor, insomnia and fluctuating anxiety and agitation.

After one week of stable oxazepam dose at 15 mg q.i.d. the patient was transferred to our specific inpatient detoxification program at the Psychiatric University Hospital. The urine screening at admission showed no recent intake of cannabis, cocaine and opiates. As the patient requested a rapid benzodiazepine detoxification, and as she had not tolerated carbamazepine and topiramate during previous hospitalizations, gabapentin was proposed to her. She was informed about the experimental nature of the treatment, as an adjunctive treatment to the benzodiazepine tapering.

Oxazepam was rapidly tapered out over 4 days. Concomitantly, the patient was administered gabapentin 500mg the first day, 800mg the second day, and 900mg from the third to the ninth day. It was then tapered out until day 12. During his 14-day hospitalization the patient experienced as withdrawal symptoms only transient insomnia, which responded well on zolpidem 10mg and trimipramine 50mg. While she was closely monitored with regard to other benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms, especially vegetative symptoms, no further withdrawal signs were observed.

At discharge the patient did receive no more medication beside the antidepressant treatment with citalopram. She has not relapsed with regard to any of the substances during the subsequent month.
Discussion

While a slow tapering of benzodiazepines may take several months until complete detoxification, our case confirms a previous report (22) suggesting that gabapentin treatment can be a more rapid alternative, even in patients with a history of multidrug dependence including cocaine and opiate abuse. Besides transient insomnia, all typical withdrawal symptoms were prevented by gabapentin in our case. The course of our case was quite similar to that reported by Crockford et al.. Both patients also described a “benzodiazepine-like” effect even after definitive wash-out of the benzodiazepines. The maximum gabapentin dose given in our patients was 900 mg/d compared to 600 mg/d in Crockford's case, and the dose was well tolerated by the patient, who had previously only poorly tolerated carbamazepine and topiramate.

Different mechanisms underlying the efficacy of gabapentin in benzodiazepine withdrawal can be considered. Although it has no direct effect on GABA receptors or transporters, it has some GABA-ergic activity, which may be sufficient to compensate the benzodiazepine-related GABA activity. E.g. it has been hypothesized that gabapentin, through its GABAergic activity, may restore the feedback inhibition from the nucleus accumbens after alteration through repeated drug use (21). Furthermore, gabapentin has been reported to influence the synthesis of glutamate (20). Indeed, the role of glutamatergic mechanisms in synaptic plasticity and long-term behavioral adaptation to drugs has repeatedly been emphasized (23).

In addition to its increasingly corroborated efficacy in the treatment for alcohol detoxification, gabapentin seems to become a promising alternative in benzodiazepine detoxification, for benzodiazepine monodependence as well as for patients with multiple drug abuse.
Corresponding author

Daniele Zullino
Service d'abus de substances
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
Rue verte 2
CH – 1205 – Genève
Tel.: + 41 22 372 55 60
Fax: + 41 22 328 17 60
e - mail: Daniele.Zullino@hcuge.ch
References

1. Schweizer E, Rickels K. Benzodiazepine dependence and withdrawal: a review of the syndrome and its clinical management. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 1998;98(suppl 393):95 - 101.

2. Halikas JA, Kuhn KL. A possible neurophysiological basis of cocaine craving. Ann.Clin.Psychiatry. 1990;2:79 - 83.

3. Martijena ID, Lacerra C, Molina VA. Carbamazepine normalizes the altered behavioral and neurochemical response to stress in benzodiazepine-withdrawn rats. European Journal of Pharmacology. 1997;330(2-3):101 - 108.

4. Schweizer E, Rickels K, Case WG, Greenblatt DJ. Carbamazepine treatment in patients discontinuing long-term benzodiazepine therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1991;48:448 - 452.

5. Roy-Byrne PP, Sullivan MD, Cowley DS, Ries RK. Adjunctive treatment of benzodiazepine discontinuation syndromes: a review. J Psychiatr.Res. 1993;27 Suppl 1:143 - 153.

6. Klein E, Uhde TW, Post RM. Preliminary evidence for the utility of carbamazepine in alprazolam withdrawal. Am J Psychiatry. 1986;143(2):235 - 236.

7. Ries RK, Roy-Byrne PP, Ward NG, Neppe V, Cullison S. Carbamazepine treatment for benzodiazepine withdrawal. Am J Psychiatry. 1989;146(4):536 - 537.

8. Lichtigfeld FJ, Gillman MA. Combination therapy with carbamazepine/benzodiazepine for polydrug analgesic/depressant withdrawal. J Subst.Abuse Treat. 1991;8(4):293 - 295.

9. Rickels K, Schweizer E, Garcia EF, Case G, DeMartinis N, Greenblatt D. Trazodone and valproate in patients discontinuing long-term benzodiazepine therapy: effects on withdrawal symptoms and taper outcome. Psychopharmacology. 1999;141(1):1 - 5.

10. Rickels K, DeMartinis N, Rynn M, Mandos L. Pharmacologic strategies for discontinuing benzodiazepine treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 1999;19(6:Suppl 2):Suppl - 16S.

11. Cheseaux M, Monnat M, Zullino DF. Topiramate in benzodiazepine withdrawal. Hum.Psychopharmacol. 2003;18(5):375 - 377.

12. Zullino DF, Cottier AC, Besson J. Topiramate in opiate withdrawal. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. 2002;26(6):1221 - 1223.

13. Zullino DF, Krenz S, Zimmerman G, et al. Topiramate in opiate withdrawal- comparison with clonidine and with carbamazepine/mianserin. Subst Abus. 2005;25(4):27-33.

14. Voris J, Smith NL, Rao SM, Thorne DL, Flowers QJ. Gabapentin for the treatment of ethanol withdrawal. Subst.Abus. 2003;24(2):129 - 132.

15. Bozikas V, Petrikis P, Gamvrula K, Savvidou I, Karavatos A. Treatment of alcohol withdrawal with gabapentin. Prog.Neuropsychopharmacol.Biol.Psychiatry. 2002;26(1):197 - 199.

16. Chatterjee CR, Ringold AL. A case report of reduction in acohol craving and protection against alcohol withdrawal by gabapentin. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 1999;60(9):617.

17. Myrick H, Malcolm R, Brady KT. Gabapentin Treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1998;155(11):1626j.

18. Kelly KM. Gabapentin. Antiepileptic mechanism of action. Neuropsychobiology. 1998;38(3):139 - 144.

19. Magnus L. Nonepileptic uses of gabapentin. Epilepsia. 1999;40 Suppl 6:S66 - S72.

20. Kwan P, Sills GJ, Brodie MJ. The mechanisms of action of commonly used antiepileptic drugs. Pharmacol.Ther. 2001;90(1):21 - 34.

21. Raby WN. Gabapentin therapy for cocaine cravings. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2000;157(12):2058 - 2059.

22. Crockford D, White WD, Campbell B. Gabapentin use in benzodiazepine dependence and detoxification. Can.J Psychiatry. 2001;46(3):287.

23. Nestler EJ. Total Recall-the Memory of Addiction. Science. 2001;292(5525):2266 - 2267.

[PsychoActivist]

SWIPA has no first hand experience with this unfortunately. He does have experience in coming off of Benzos however - just not with Gabapentin. He found this though which suggests it would not be efficient:

Neurontin (Gabapentin) and Benzodiazepine Withdrawal

By

Dr. Reg Peart

Victims of Tranquilizers

The attached information indicates that the pharmacological properties of neurontin (therapeutic actions, adverse reactions, and withdrawal symptoms) are similar to those of benzodiazepine and other sedative/hypnotic drugs. Neurontin and the benzodiazepines are cross dependent and cross tolerant drugs and therefore neurontin will alleviate adverse reactions and withdrawal symptoms produced by the benzodiazepines.*
Neurontin does not meet all of the criteria needed for use in tapering from benzodiazepine withdrawals. (See the notes on Diazepam vs. Clonazepam) Firstly, it has no active metabolites; secondly, the elimination half life is short and; thirdly, the drug equivalence is not reported for the various therapeutic actions.
The range of the short half life i.e. 5 – 7 hours is small compared with most CNS depressant drugs. For most the upper value is 3 to 5 times the lower value. The limited range quoted may be the result of few studies and could very well be significantly larger. The problem of a short half-life is to some extent overcome by three divided doses/day. With a half life of 7 hours or more accumulation of about times 2 or more can be expected, but with half-lives of 5 hours or less very little accumulation is produced and may cause interdose withdrawals, especially if tolerance occurs.
I have been unable to find the drug equivalence between benzodiazepines and neurontin for the different therapeutic actions but, I have estimated the value from the anticonvulsant action for neurontin and klonopin. This value is 1 gram neurontin is equivalent to about 5 mgs. of klonopin.
From a few reports I’ve had, patients have been prescribed the anticonvulsant dose of neurontin for benzodiazepine withdrawals. This is cause for concern because such a dose is equivalent to high levels of klonopin (5-15mgs) and could lead to difficulty in tapering from neurontin. It would be helpful to have reports of the doses used and any difficulty or otherwise in tapering from neurontin.



http://www.drregpeart.org/neurontin.html

He also found this case report from the Internet Journal of Pharmacology. Not gonna copy and paste it though as it is a little longer. He is the link:
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php...ol4n2/gaba.xml

There are some more case reports out there as well.

Sorry SWIPA does not have any first hand experience on this subject to share with your friend. I know that is what you are really looking for but I figured I would chip in what I could as I found this to be an interesting question myself.

Looks like fnord beat me to it as I believe one of the links is the same.

[wonky]

SWIM went through terrible valium withdrawal for well over a year. SWIM believes the seizure meds saved her life, and kept her from going insane or committing suicide. SWIM was not on neurontin/gabapentin, but another seizure med. SWIM knows of a friend that had to cold-turkey ativan. She was put on neurontin and clonidine. She feels the same way as SWIM does, that she could not have gotten by without them. The dosage also makes a difference, although even a small amount will help when your friend is in benzo withdrawal. Hopefully he can take at least 1800mg neurontin a day. SWIM'S dr. first tried her on 900mg neurontin, and it barely touched the withdrawal. Hopefully, he is getting this from a dr. who can can give him a high enough dose and also give him some clonidine. It is a very rough road.