I’m taking 800mg three times a day for anxiety. It works great. The max recommended dose is 3600mg daily, but I’ve read where some people take up to 4800mg a day. I guess it depends on the person and how they metabolize it.
Although the FDA says 3600mg/day in most places, they have a more extensive doc about gabapentin/neurontin usage and bioavailability. First, your body can only process a certain amount taken and the rest is excreted, so large doses over their bioavailablity chart don’t give larger effects.
Lyrica and other meds have different bioavailability, so use smaller dosages. Since your kidneys do much of the work with gaba/neurontin, you want to make sure you do not have any kidney problems.
A person may need lower doses or not use it due to that. Second, calcium channel meds like gabapentin are nonlinear, so side effects and benefits vary from person to person.
What works or doesn’t work for one, may be the opposite for another. That is why dosage benefits and side effects vary so much from person to person. Even a small dose might make you sleep, but not to another person.
I have heard from some people their doc may prescribe smaller doses during the day and a larger dose at the time of day more problems appear such as at night.
Gaba/neurontin has a short half life so needs doses spread out during the day. One challenging thing is that people that are on gaba are also on other meds too, so there is going to be confusion about what caused what and if there are interactions.
After a couple years, I was only on gaba. For me on maximum dose, I did sleep more, plus several other side effects. It all comes down to finding the most benefit with the least negatives including cost or as docs say, benefits outweigh the risks. Suggest reading more of this forum for a patient viewpoint.