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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Lyrica (Pregabalin)

S

SKR

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I am interested in members experiences with pregabalin. I have been prescribed this drug for some months now twice daily in addition to oxycodone taken with the same regularity. The nature of the pain I am being treated for seems to be neuropathic - pain begins at my thoracic spine, wraps around my ribs and ends with a patch of pain where my ribs insert at the sternum.

I am said to be on the highest dose recommended by physicians, my father in law who is a paraplegic is on the same dose which maybe neither here or there. It is a strange drug for sure, it does help me sleep and that's the only reason I still take it. I prefer not to take a dose in the mornings due to the strange effect it has on me - wobbly vision, grogginess and mild to moderate anxiety and a generally dumbed down state in a peculiar way. It does not appear to have any positive effect on my pain levels unfortunately. When comes time to get off it I will certainly have to taper the dose...found out the hard way when I forgot to dose for 36 hours and started to fall apart at the seams, got the hot/cold sweats, nausea to actually vomiting...not too bad but certainly uncomfortable and inconvenient.

Oxycodone is effective but has it's draw backs as many of you know, I would much prefer to take something else,
So.....does anyone find this drug effective for their pain?
 
Personally, I found it made a mild difference (akin to the level of relief I'd get taking 4 panadol and nurofen at the same time - which of course is stupid, but I was desperate at the time) - but the difference it made was no where near enough to justify the side effects it gave me, which were similar to what you describe, a kind of bizarre combination of sedation and edginess combined with a slight difficulty with cognitive function (I felt "dulled" intellectually and creatively, if that makes sense).

Given how new the drug is (10 years on the market), the lack of studies on long term side effects, anecdotal reports from long term users and some of the (very worrying) theoretical side effects I've heard described by people who know what they're talking about (google should give you some information on this), I don't think it's a drug worth taking (especially since I've never heard of a case where it's made a dramatic, life-altering difference).

If all it's doing is helping you sleep, there are many, many better alternatives. Melatonin helped me, as did a herbal pill with a combination of hops, blue lotus, skullcap and celandine, which knocked me out harder than any pharmaceutical ever has). Valerian root seemed beneficial as well, although not mind-blowingly so.
 
I've been Rxd it a few times , it's alright for neuropathic pain but it didn't work great as an overall analgesic. I definitely felt a personality change with regular use and a bit manic so it wasn't worth taking for the minor improvements on pain levels.
It's really a strange drug, if I take a couple of 75s as a one off I feel a bit relaxed and sedated, the next day though I feel great and energetic.

On the recreational side the first time use was about 500mg and around 4 hours after consuming I could barely walk and had a not entirely unpleasant K like experience for 12 or so hours.

Expect potentially dangerous benzo like withdrawls if you stop suddenly from regular daily use, which you shouldn't do (READ THE LABEL).

There's some evidence that the related drug gabapentin is neurotoxic, and as mentioned above the lack of long term studies about pregabalin. so take that with a grain of salt regarding it's safety profile.
 
Does it make you groggy in the morning? I'm investigating it for pain associated with fibromyalgia.

So far a bit reluctant because of cross-tolerance to benzodiazapenes (nooooo) but weighing up my options.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, so yeah we all pretty much have the same experiences with it Lyrica - weird drug man.

Yes Sixbuckets, it certainly left me feeling groggy in the mornings. The grogginess starts to subside as you settle into your dosing regime, took me a couple of weeks to get used to a dose increase but at 300mgs the next morning I would always feel groggy.

Well I discussed it with my GP and I'm now tapering down with a view to getting off the Lyrica. Dropped down to 150mgs last night and this afternoon started to feel that shitty nauseous feeling I get when dropping my dose. Felt better an hour after I took my evening 150mg dose. Will be switching to Endep (amitriptyline) once I'm off the Lyrica so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks again guys.
 
OP, I take lyrica & amitriptyline for neuropathic pain. Yes the Lyrica makes me feel a bit slow, & at time my speech can be slowed, but I've noticed a big reduction in shooting leg pains.

Maybe it's just a dose adjustment you require,- or it can be split into three times a day. However if you're not getting a reduction in pain then trialling something else may be better for you on the long run.

Rtp
 
I've been prescribed lyrica for some years now, at first it was prescribed with oxycodone and then MS Contin until I overdosed on poppy seed tea+Xanax and ms Contin got out hospitable I was taken off all opiates and put onto 2 doses of 300mg of lyrica a day.

As time went on and I started abusing the lyrica I found out about the WD effects with are easily on par if not worse than benzo wds they involved vomiting dioriha shaking insomnia gaging ect ect so be careful if u are taking them daily....

Now I have managed to stop myself from taking them daily and now when I get them I pretty much binge and shout mates

So yeah just be careful if u are taking them daily and u start abusing them....
 
A bit off topic,- but don't you guys find you simply fall asleep if you take a large dose of lyrica?

I'm prescribed it but I keep it in store for opiate wds. Which helps tremendously but I've gotta watch my dose or else I find I've nodded off accidently.

Rtp
 
I was prescribed the lowest dose lyrica for thoracic pain myself, it did a small difference in managing the pain.

25mg for a week, I was a zombie the entire time and ended up having to stop taking it after developing a rash and it aggravated my sinus issues.

Also tried endep, which was great for sleep but I ended up with suicidal thoughts..
 
Well it is good to hear some of you got some pain relief using this drug. I note that you found it effective for your leg pain RTP, that is what my father in law is taking it for on account of being a paraplegic, widely used amongst those with such a condition for the same reason apparently. Yes I certainly experimented with frequency of dose and my doses ranged from 150 - 600mgs daily but no reduction in my pain at all indicated this wasn't going to be very useful to me, but great to hear it worked really well for your leg pain.

Ashstorm it certainly sounds like you were more sensitive to the drug than myself, as taking less than 75mgs didn't appear to effect me negatively, the most notable effect being the mental aspect for me - anxiety and dark thoughts etc, the sinus and rash issues don't sound like much fun though, but I suspect I would persevere if the pain was reduced. Bummer to hear that Endep had you thinking heavy Ashstorm - I'll find out soon enough how I handle it, hopefully I get some bloody pain relief. Thanks again for the feedback folks.
 
Well I am prescribed 300mg twice a day but dose 600mg at night because I dont like it in the morning well now it probably would be fine. It was great for me for neuropathic pain it stopped mine in its tracks.

Recreational its ok, it gets chicks horny I have heard 8). I have dossed up to 1.3 or so grams and it is nice at the start but towards the end I wasn't able to walk slipping in and out of consciousness standing up in the kitchen waking up facing a wall and walking into it hard as, then doing the same thing but into a head high shelf... its crazy stuff but you need to relax if you want to get the best out of it. chill out watch a movie and munch on some food. You will be quite surprised.
 
ashstorm said:
I was prescribed the lowest dose lyrica for thoracic pain myself, it did a small difference in managing the pain.

25mg for a week, I was a zombie the entire time and ended up having to stop taking it after developing a rash and it aggravated my sinus issues.

Also tried endep, which was great for sleep but I ended up with suicidal thoughts..
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25mg A WEEK!? what the hell since when have they been making em at 25mg doses!? The last time I checked the lowest dose was 75mg jeeze if u think 25mg a week messes u up try taking 600-900mg PER DAY :/
 
My doctor put me on 50mgs a day to start for week then wants me to go to 100mgs a day for a week then to 150mgs. I don't know if I'll keep going up because of swelling in my feet and legs.?
 
Lending hand said:
Well I am prescribed 300mg twice a day but dose 600mg at night because I dont like it in the morning well now it probably would be fine. It was great for me for neuropathic pain it stopped mine in its tracks.
Click to expand...

Well that's a great result. I was hoping for the same. Yep 300mgs twice daily was my dosing regime but much like you I dropped the morning dose due to the effects seriously impeding my ability to perform my job. It never appealed to me recreationally but yet nothing much does for me these days. Great to hear it helped your pain though.
 
The swelling doesnt sound like fun. Are you still on your first week of 50mgs a day? You'll have to chat with your GP about the swelling though.
 
Yeah I'm done taking them. It's not worth it to me. He'll have to try something different when I go back, unfortunately that's not for 7weeks! Oh well, just have to deal!?
 
It's a weird drug no doubt. I was told that I needed 5-6 weeks of dosing before I, we, could assess it's effectiveness. Needs to build up in your system but your side effects suck so I can understand you wanting to cease the drug. My GP reckons half (1 in 2) patients she has prescribed Lyrica to cease the drug shortly thereafter due to a myriad of side effects each of them experienced so it's got form that's for sure. If it helped my pain I would have definitely persevered but I had no noticeable improvement so tapering off now.

PMUP38 - surely you could get in to see your GP sooner? Unless it's a specialist prescribing you perhaps?
 
He probably would see me if I called his office but, I'm on Oxys and xanax and Zanaflex, so I'll make it through. He'll just have to try an alternative when I go back to him. He's really great, I lucked out when I got him as my dr.
 
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