Gabapentin/ anxiety

Hey guys,
Please bear with me cause I just got back from ( yet another ) awful doctor appointment & im totally fried.

I had to quit taking the doxycycline about a week ago, I never wanted take it to begin with, wanted to go the natural route ( which I also am) but as most of u probably know by now, my family doesn't believe in herbals etc, and so I agreed to take 2 months of doxycycline as well.

Lyme gave me anxiety, but treating Lyme has increased it to intolerable levels. The natural treatments do this too, but the doxy made my anxiety so bad I had to get anxiety meds.

It's been this whole long ridiculous process ( with multiple expensive appointments) to give me drugs which I know from my past make me suicidal, depressed etc. The results were the same ( big surprise).

Finally I was given clonazepam, but it only aliviated the physical anxiety & did nothing for the mental anxiety ( which is worse, for me) . I've been sent to a psychiatrist & she upped the dose but reduced the frequency- even though it already wasn't helping.

It started making me depressed , not as badly as the antidepressants did, but still depressed. If it had relieved the anxiety, maybe I could've traded that for depression, but I just had both.

I began to wonder If it was just the Lyme depression that everyone talks about. I couldn't take anymore , and also just needed to know what was causing what- Lyme or dieoff or meds? so i quit the doxycycline , and was able to quit / greatly reduce the clonazepam (only take it at night with hydroxyzine & melatonin to get a few hours sleep. )

My depression went away. Still have anxiety, but not as bad as when I'm on doxy. Conclusion- the clonazepam was making me depressed.

I had to cancel my LLMD appointment this week as I'm not taking the meds. Went back to the phychiatrist instead at her suggestion, to give me something that will help so I can get thru treatments with antibiotics.

This time she gave me gabapentin/ neurontin , which I've been on before- to be honest it didn't work back then & may have had bad side effects , but I'm not sure because it was so long ago.

She gave it to me for anxiety, and im not feeling very hopeful that it will help me. I actually got the feeling that she intentionally prescribed me something she thinks will be useless so that I'll have to come back in for (yet) another $215 follow up appointment ( the first was $ 400) before I can resume the doxy. I know this sounds paranoid, but it's still how I feel.

I'm also distrustful as she told me there are literally NO side effects. When I looked at her strangely she did admit some people have nausea, dizziness etc.

I specifically asked if it could make me depressed & suicidal ( like antidepressants & drugs like lyrica do) and first she said no. Then she said no gaurantees and gave me a paper with the suicide prevention hotline number & a bunch of info that is useless to me. (Not trying to put down the usefulness of those types of organizations, but I wont call them. I think it's great they exist, but I'm just not going to use them. Ive been on meds that made me feel that way before, and I toughed it out & at my lowest points asked friends to babysit me . ) However, I would prefer to just not be repeatedly given medication that makes me feel mentally unwell)To me, it seems she's just covering her *** .

Anyway...
I've tried searching the forum for gabapentin info ( and also the internet) but my brain is too fried to make sense of it all.

Does anyone on here take this for anxiety? What are the arguments for & against etc? Typical dosages? She gave me 100 mg 3x a day.

Casa - I didn't know Gabapentin was for anxiety.

I tried it for my nerve pain - I think it was 300 mg 3x day.
It didn't work for me but other people have good results.

A few years ago I had anxiety mixed with bouts of depression - it was horrible to be both at once. I'm so sorry you're experiencing that.

I was told I could go higher with the Gabapentin.
Your dose is low - but maybe that's the dose recommended for anxiety.

I only get anxiety now and then and it doesn't last long - generally less than 5 minutes. The Gabapentin didn't help with it.

Thanks for responding everybody.

Lapis, maybe I will try your formula as I'm so fed up with doctors at this point! I would much rather be able to handle the anxiety on my own. Thanks for sharing what works for you!

Girlie, I didn't realize it was used for anxiety eaither. When I was prescribed it years ago it was for pain too. Yeah, the anxiety & depression combo is awful! Sorry you went thru the same!

Hey ChickenArise, yeah I had no idea it was so difficult to get prescribed a decent anti anxiety medication eaither! Especially as it's just short term... ugh! Anyway, thanks for the warning that it could cause some issues with thought/ speech- at least if that happens I'll know it's just the med! And also thanks for the warning about the contradiction between gaba & gabapentin, otherwise I definitely would've tried them together!

Thanks so much for the info & support guys... don't know what I'd do without you all.