Gabapentinoids Stomach damage?

[Quickfixgrrl]

I frequently chew up my Lyrica as they otherwise take around 2-3 hours to hit. I've been doing so almost daily for months.. sometimes I'll do it with a low dose (for me, 600mg) but I've also eaten upwards of a gram in one go many, many times.
I can't find anything online regarding possible damage to my stomach, but the other day I chewed up 900mg and I've had terrible stomach pains and waves of nausea since. I didn't link this to my Lyrica use until today.. the fourth day of the same pain.
Does anyone know if eating Lyrica this way could actually hurt my gut? It seems highly possible and obvious now that I think about it but I have no idea.. I can't find anything online, either.

 

[Zonxx]

did you eat prior to it? somtimes anything can irritate the stomach, plus if you're putting in a large amount of powder ontop of an empty stomach it could be irritating to the stomach (i too use very high doses of lyrica) and occasionally i'll get alittle nausea if i haven't eaten in awhile

 

[Nicomorphinist]

Were they crampy types of pain? It could be the action of the drug, maybe sensitivity to excipients in the capsules or tablets . . . I used to get cramps from paracetamol with codeine and number of other such preparations, and I used Sexy Trihexy and Bentyl and to counteract these effects, and coating the stomach with milk, yoghurt, ice cream or whatever . . .

 

[Sertürner]

Got this data about GI symptoms, it seems pretty common to have stomach problems like nausea when taking pregabalin. I'll look and see if chronic use can cause long-term stomach issues.

Gastrointestinal
Common (1% to 10%): Dry mouth, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, flatulence, abdominal distention, gastroenteritis

Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Gastroesophageal reflux disease, salivary hypersecretion, hypoesthesia oral, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, colitis, dysphagia, esophagitis, gastritis, GI hemorrhage, melena, mouth ulceration, pancreatitis, rectal hemorrhage, tongue edema

Rare (less than 0.1%): Ascites, granuloma

Postmarketing reports: Reduced lower gastrointestinal function events (e.g., intestinal obstruction, paralytic ileus, constipation)[Ref]

Postmarketing reports of reduced lower gastrointestinal function events have been reported when co-administered with medications that have the potential to produce constipation, such as opioids.[Ref]

 

[Zonxx]

Got this data about GI symptoms, it seems pretty common to have stomach problems like nausea when taking pregabalin. I'll look and see if chronic use can cause long-term stomach issues.

Gastrointestinal
Common (1% to 10%): Dry mouth, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, flatulence, abdominal distention, gastroenteritis

Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Gastroesophageal reflux disease, salivary hypersecretion, hypoesthesia oral, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, colitis, dysphagia, esophagitis, gastritis, GI hemorrhage, melena, mouth ulceration, pancreatitis, rectal hemorrhage, tongue edema

Rare (less than 0.1%): Ascites, granuloma

Postmarketing reports: Reduced lower gastrointestinal function events (e.g., intestinal obstruction, paralytic ileus, constipation)[Ref]

Postmarketing reports of reduced lower gastrointestinal function events have been reported when co-administered with medications that have the potential to produce constipation, such as opioids.[Ref]

but you're not taking into account that she/he's biting the caps and the stomach's being exposed to the active ingredient (i tried opening 40 caps once, my god i remember it because it took so fucking long vs swallowing them) and it didn't make a huge diff for me (usually pregab always takes 30min-1hr capped) for effect but in my exp when drug powder be it morphine or whatever hits the stomach it can upset it, a good trick would be to have a buttery meal before hand, or drink some milk that'd coat the stomach lining and make stuff alot less irritable to it.

 

[Sertürner]

@Zonxx I didnt forget, I just posted the list of symptoms that come with pregabalin use. I would expect these to be worse if the caps were opened and the drug is exposed to the stomach lining immediately. I dont know how caustic the drug is but if it can cause inflammation of the stomach lining via a capsule then it is safe to infer that it is more damaging when taken without it being encapsulated.

OP do you have GI issues when taking the pill without opening it?

 

[Quickfixgrrl]

I hadn't eaten, no. I usually don't eat until late in the day and I'd have taken my Lyrica by then.
As for it being caustic when chewed, I definitely suffer from a stinging tongue and sometimes visibly damaged taste buds if I've chewed them continuously as opposed to swallowing them.
And no, no GI issues at all prior to these last few days. It's kinda crampy but not a stabbing or sharp pain. It's constant now.
I will be getting the hell off of Lyrica altogether very soon, I've had to taper some other meds first and I think going through withdrawals from more than one drug at a time will ruin me mentally. I have a love/ hate relationship with it.. It's amazing when it's good and life shattering when it's bad, iykwim. I have used and abused it for EVERYTHING.. anxiety, hangovers, getting high.. not that I get "high" from it anymore.. if anything 900mg will get me out of bed and motivated, but the buzz days are gone.
Thanks for the advice. I can say for sure that dry mouth was a side effect I had in the beginning but I haven't noticed anything else since.
I've slowed right down to taking just 3 x 150mg a day as of today. Should be fun! I swallowed my morning dose whole but chewed the midday dose simply because I was out and didn't have a drink handy.
If this pain continues I'll have to tell my doctor what I've been doing and get checked out ?

 

[Zonxx]

I hadn't eaten, no. I usually don't eat until late in the day and I'd have taken my Lyrica by then.
As for it being caustic when chewed, I definitely suffer from a stinging tongue and sometimes visibly damaged taste buds if I've chewed them continuously as opposed to swallowing them.
And no, no GI issues at all prior to these last few days. It's kinda crampy but not a stabbing or sharp pain. It's constant now.
I will be getting the hell off of Lyrica altogether very soon, I've had to taper some other meds first and I think going through withdrawals from more than one drug at a time will ruin me mentally. I have a love/ hate relationship with it.. It's amazing when it's good and life shattering when it's bad, iykwim. I have used and abused it for EVERYTHING.. anxiety, hangovers, getting high.. not that I get "high" from it anymore.. if anything 900mg will get me out of bed and motivated, but the buzz days are gone.
Thanks for the advice. I can say for sure that dry mouth was a side effect I had in the beginning but I haven't noticed anything else since.
I've slowed right down to taking just 3 x 150mg a day as of today. Should be fun! I swallowed my morning dose whole but chewed the midday dose simply because I was out and didn't have a drink handy.
If this pain continues I'll have to tell my doctor what I've been doing and get checked out ?

you should take a lyrica break, i did *do not take these doses * last month i was taking 40k gabapentin / 3k pregabalin for days straight and using rediculous amounts of amphetamine to try and use less pain meds which i infact succeeded with in the end but i ate through a years worth of saved pregabalin/pentin oh well it was a good month but when i actually ran out, i got cravings for pregabalin infact i lied to my pharmacy to say that id lost them and ended up getting more but i used those to take less till i ran out, recently got more a few days ago i've already taken 60 but i went 3 weeks without them (i still have benzos though) but, the pregabalin worked much better after a 3 week hiatus, almost triple the effect from a normal dose (500mg is norm for me) was much better, but the tolerance really fucking racks up FAST with gabapentinoids unfortunately i'm already up to 1k easily for the same results in about a week of taking them, probably best not to take them everyday appearently but they do wonders, i try to avoid taking them with my morphine as a matter a fact, pregabalin and morphine tend to actually guarantee a good nod which i try not to have often

 

[Quickfixgrrl]

you should take a lyrica break, i did *do not take these doses * last month i was taking 40k gabapentin / 3k pregabalin for days straight and using rediculous amounts of amphetamine to try and use less pain meds which i infact succeeded with in the end but i ate through a years worth of saved pregabalin/pentin oh well it was a good month but when i actually ran out, i got cravings for pregabalin infact i lied to my pharmacy to say that id lost them and ended up getting more but i used those to take less till i ran out, recently got more a few days ago i've already taken 60 but i went 3 weeks without them (i still have benzos though) but, the pregabalin worked much better after a 3 week hiatus, almost triple the effect from a normal dose (500mg is norm for me) was much better, but the tolerance really fucking racks up FAST with gabapentinoids unfortunately i'm already up to 1k easily for the same results in about a week of taking them, probably best not to take them everyday appearently but they do wonders, i try to avoid taking them with my morphine as a matter a fact, pregabalin and morphine tend to actually guarantee a good nod which i try not to have often

I have experienced a nice little kick if I haven't had any for a couple of days. I should take a 3 day break and maybe even enjoy them again ☺ I guess that because my primary use for them is to treat my anxiety, I fear skipping those days.. not that they've worked for treating my anxiety; pretty pointless, hey?
Oh I've also lied to my chemist about losing my entire box after taking 56 in 3 days. They seemingly believed me as I got a new box but they had also called my doctor and told him. He knows me very well and is pretty much like a counsellor to me as well as my GP so I thankfully wasn't cut off. It's incredibly hard to get Lyrica here, it's not even "technically" available for anxiety so my doctor allows me to take them for "back pain" ☺

 

[KS78]

Omeprazole seems like a good medication that is prescribed sometimes in combination with other medicines which is bad for the gastrointestinal system.