The LYRICA (pregabalin) Mega Thread

[Supeudol]

Alright, I currently take gabapentin 400mg four times a day for social anxiety. I was taken off of clonazepam at a low dosage of 2mg a day that I was taking for 7 years, then put on gabapentin to "counter withdrawal". Anyway, that's all over with, and now I'm taking the gabapentin. I've gathered that the bioavailability is bad, the tolerance skyrockets after the first dose, etc. I've been thinking about spacing my dosage two days apart from each other, plus I've even tried asking if phenibut could substitute for gabapentin (since, long story short, I run out of my gabapentin before I can get a refill).

That said, I'm curious if there's a possibility I could be put on pregabalin if I asked my psychiatrist under the right conditions? Or is this medicine prescribed in a different way? Basically, I want a medicine that works like gabapentin, but I don't want to deal with taking 1800mg or more of something when there's something else I can take ~300mg and have the same relieving effects. Is pregabalin something that you can get from through your psychiatrist, or is this something completely different? Is this worth talking to my psychiatrist about if I have problems with gabapentin?

I don't see why your psychiatrist would not put you on pregabalin. Most Psychs now are switching their patients from gabapentin to pregabalin. Although pregabalin is supposed to have less side effects, some people cannot tolerate it, so they are switched back to gabapentin. I was on gabapentin for maybe 1 week, and the stupid psych in the world I had switched my from my pregabalin to gabapentin which I didn't want. All I said was that it was "a little pricey and if he had any sample packs of Lyrica". So right away, he goes and writes me a script from 100mg Gabapentin TID (x3/day) which is totally fucking retarded when I was taking around 375mg/day of pregabalin, and pregabalin is 2x the strength of gabapentin.

I guess they are very similar drugs, and some people actually prefer gabapentin, although I never really got to experiment with it because I was on methadone at the time and he put my fucking gabapentin on daily dispense. Right away I switched to another psych there and got back on pregabalin.

The only thing is that if you are in US or Canada, Pregabalin/Lyrica is fucking expensive as hell! I just payed $128.71 CDN dollars for 60 75mg capsules. My doc is alright, but he is very weary in writing scripts, he will not prescribe even fucking clonidine for me in opiate withdrawals. I have never heard of a doctor not being able to prescribe me some clonidine. He also won't raise my dosage on pregabalin yet, its only 75mg BID (x2/day). Before I went to rehab I was on 600mg/per day of Pregabalin. 8) Even though I don't want to goto that dosage again as I think it is a bit too high, but something like 150mg 2x/day would be very good for my nerves.

Sorry for my little rant story there. I would just ask your psych/doc kindly and say that "the gabapentin is not working that well and I have heard of about Lyrica, and was wondering if I could possibly switch? Something along those lines" So, the only other thing is, how is your financial situation, and most plans don't cover Lyrica (at least in Canada here). Its a very expensive drug compared to gabapentin, but then again it blows gabapentin out of the water IMO! Anyways bud, i'm off to bed, keep us updated on how it goes bro! %)

 

[SizzleSword]

The thing is, I'm on a free insurance here in Texas called ValueOptions NorthStar. I doubt anyone knows about it, but I was denied wellbutrin, seroquel, and something called gabitril because of "expenses". This is what worries me about being able to get changed to pregabalin, and it's also why I feel lucky to be on gabapentin as I've heard that it's pretty expensive as well.

 

[Supeudol]

Well, the choice is probably totally up to you. As I don't see your psychiatrist denying you Pregabalin at all. Why don't you try it out, if your insurance doesn't cover it, just pay for it for the first time, and try it out and see if its really worth it over Gabapentin. Some people find amazing results and find Pregabalin knocks it out of the water. If you don't like it, or don't think its worth it, just switch back to Gabapentin and tell your psych that it was too expensive and wasn't really worth the extra $$.

I hope this helps.

 

[avrolling]

Just felt kinda groggy.

Same thing happen to me..

But weak opiates (vicodin) make me extremley awake...

Would it be okay if I took 10mg (1000mg pill) to counter act the groggy feelng of the Lyrica?

 

[homeydontplaythat]

if your insurance wont cover seroquel it wont cover lyrica. oh, and gabapentin is NOT expensive. well, its not dirt cheap but it is generic.

 

[L0cky]

lucky i live in the Netherlands where my insurance pays my lyrica each month.

 

[homeydontplaythat]

as does mine. medicare kicks ass. suboxone, lyrica, and liquid suspension of lexapro = 500 bucks a month. i pay 3 dollars.

 

[Vaya]

Interesting Study Provides an Interesting Answer

anyone know what doses are recomended for treating anxiety? i know they officially indicate it for that in europe. any europeans wanna chime in?

In college I used as a source for a paper on psychiatry, GAD and emerging medications a study conducted to compare the efficacy of pregabailn to placebo and alprazolam in the treatment of individuals diagnosed with GAD using DSM-IV-TR criteria. In it, three pregabalin groups were used; 300mg/day, 450mg/day, and 600mg/day groups. One alprazolam group was used, at a daily dosage of 1.5mg. And then there was a control group, which received a daily placebo (inactive) pill. Measurements were conducted over a 4-week period to quantify and compare improvements in both psychic anxiety symptoms (mental manifestations of anxiety [disastrous thinking, etc.]) and somatic anxiety symptoms (physical manifestations of anxiety [racing heart, etc.]).

By the end of the 4-week study, the 1.5mg/day alprazolam group, as well as all three pregabalin groups, demonstrated a significant reduction in psychic symptoms of GAD over placebo; interestingly, though, only the 300 and 600mg pregabalin groups demonstrated a significant reduction in somatic symptoms of GAD over the placebo group, whereas the 1.5mg/day alprazolam group and the 450mg/day pregabalin groups did NOT demonstrate clinically significant improvements!

Here's a free link to the full study:
Archives of General Psychiatry Vol. 62 No. 9, September 2005.
Pregabalin for Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
A 4-Week, Multicenter, Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Pregabalin and Alprazolam

Personally, I'm not *entirely* surprised about the alprazolam group not showing physical anxiety symptom improvement, simply because alprazolam has less musculo-skeletal relaxant properties than some other benzodiazepines, such as diazepam, but what really perplexes me (and the study's authors) is that the low-end and high-end pregabalin groups showed physical improvements, but the middle group did not. But, for the purposes of answering your question, if I were to base my answer to you off of the results of this study, I suppose I would suggest either a dose of 300mg/day or 600mg/day, since both these groups were the only groups to have shown improvements in both realms; 450mg took care of half the symptoms, but for someone in the US diagnosed with GAD who is scripted Lyrica for it (off-label, obviously), I *need* those somatic anxiety symptoms taken care of as well as just the debilitating psychic symptoms. Both psychic and somatic symptoms of anxiety can be equally as uncomfortable for me and in terms of treatment, they must be inseparable.

Interesting thing, though, is that my own scripted amount of Lyrica per day happens to be 450mg/day - the one pregabalin dosage that *didn't * work for somatic symptoms in the study, and I should note that it *does* work for all of my symptoms

Hope all of this maybe h elps, although now that I've typed it all up, it seems rather more likely to confuse the issue rather than answer the question. However, for what it's worth

~ vaya

 

[Vaya]

Same thing happen to me..

But weak opiates (vicodin) make me extremley awake...

Would it be okay if I took 10mg (1000mg pill) to counter act the groggy feelng of the Lyrica?

Weak opiates "awaken" me (in a sense) too, 10mg of hydrocodone is NOT likely to do this in combination with Lyrica. If anything, it will probably make you much, much more tired, as pregabalin potentiates the effects of opiates.

as does mine. medicare kicks ass. suboxone, lyrica, and liquid suspension of lexapro = 500 bucks a month. i pay 3 dollars.

...
what??
I hate you, dude!!!!
btw how much pregabalin are you scripted?

~ vaya

 

[L0cky]

Weak opiates "awaken" me (in a sense) too, 10mg of hydrocodone is NOT likely to do this in combination with Lyrica. If anything, it will probably make you much, much more tired, as pregabalin potentiates the effects of opiates.



...
what??
I hate you, dude!!!!
btw how much pregabalin are you scripted?

~ vaya

i dont know how you get away with only 3 dollars a month , thats insane , i pay 99 euro's for medicare covering.

i got scripted 4x150mg a day but i mostly take about 300-450 mg a day otherwise concentrating at work becomes very hard.

lyrica can give some confusion, especial when you take it over a long time.

 

[homeydontplaythat]

3 bucks for my suboxone. the lyrica and lexapro are free actually.

vaya, thanks for the links. 300mg is what i am scripted but i basically decided my own dose. does anyone have any links to prescribing information in EUROPE???? i am curious what drs are dosing patients with as an optimal, in their eyes/experience, dose of pg. i just took 5 days off in hopes of reducing my tolerance and maintaining efficiency of effects. im going to take 450mg today as that is the recreational dose the monograph cities. i do just fine with only 150mg a day. i started taking 300 just because my tolerance was going up. first time i ever took it 300mg had me feeling fucking amazing. it was incredibly euphoric. i would like to see if i can regain that now. therapeutically 150mg is ample though.

im hoping some europeans will chime in. cmon, share your uncircumcised knowledge with me!

 

[homeydontplaythat]

another question:

how does food affect absorption? im talking about from PERSONAL experience, not what the monograph says. i know it says it decreases it by 15-30%, but i would like to know what it is in practice. i fucking hate having to wait like 3 hrs after i eat in order to feel like im not wasting a dose.

 

[L0cky]

another question:

how does food affect absorption? im talking about from PERSONAL experience, not what the monograph says. i know it says it decreases it by 15-30%, but i would like to know what it is in practice. i fucking hate having to wait like 3 hrs after i eat in order to feel like im not wasting a dose.

food affects absorption quit a lot in my experience, i always take my lyrica 1 hour before i start eating in the morning to get max absorption effect much stronger come up and plateau 1-2 hours.

If you want less of a high feeling then taking it with food is a option, effect comes up much slower and is harder to notice. plateau at 2-4 hours.

 

[homeydontplaythat]

yeah i take it when i wake up, i generally dont eat breakfast at all either. i just took it 1 min ago and i ate two slices of cheese pizza at 12:30, so 3 hrs. i just couldnt wait any longer. i have been really irritable, tired, slightly anxious today. i like taking 450mg, letting it kick in and drinking 1 or 2 glasses of wine and then taking a 1mg shot of suboxone. its like nodding on heroin.

 

[Vaya]

vaya, thanks for the links. 300mg is what i am scripted but i basically decided my own dose. does anyone have any links to prescribing information in EUROPE???? i am curious what drs are dosing patients with as an optimal, in their eyes/experience, dose of pg.

Well, wasn't that study conducted in Europe? I believe it was... and sine it's from 2005, I'm quite sure that European psychiatrists have since taken note of it and are prescribing somewhat in accordance with documented research paradigms... again, though, neither am I a European patient nor am I a psychiatrist (though well on my way!), so I can't absolutely answer your question

One question I can answer (that's already been anecdotally answered by two previous posters, but whose answers I can support) is that food affects Lyrica's absorption like a motherfucker for me. I mean I would hazard a guess that, subjectively, it decreases what I can feel from Lyrica by around 50% (!). Since it takes around 2 hours for it to work for me, but probably only about 45 minutes to actually digest the drug and absorb it on an empty stomach, I don't find it too much of a pain bc I only need to wait 45 mins - 1hr after taking my dose to begin eating. Which, by that point, I'm eager as shit to do because pregabalin increases my appetite as much as does cannabis (especially when I take my Lyrica with my daily, or even half of my daily, Valium). Ridiculous amounts of food have been consumed by me during these times!!

~ vaya

 

[Vaya]

one thing i would like to share is that i received a full monograph in the mail today. riteaid has some patient are program associated with lyrica so they sent it to me. god.

I'd overlooked this until you mentioned it today. Is it entitled anything special so that I could look for a PDF or HTML version of this pregabalin monograph? I'd love to have a copy but if it's really long (as monographs tend to be 'of essay or book length' [freeonlinedictionary.com]) I would never ask you to type it up for me lol.

~ vaya

 

[L0cky]

Well, wasn't that study conducted in Europe? I believe it was... and sine it's from 2005, I'm quite sure that European psychiatrists have since taken note of it and are prescribing somewhat in accordance with documented research paradigms... again, though, neither am I a European patient nor am I a psychiatrist (though well on my way!), so I can't absolutely answer your question

One question I can answer (that's already been anecdotally answered by two previous posters, but whose answers I can support) is that food affects Lyrica's absorption like a motherfucker for me. I mean I would hazard a guess that, subjectively, it decreases what I can feel from Lyrica by around 50% (!). Since it takes around 2 hours for it to work for me, but probably only about 45 minutes to actually digest the drug and absorb it on an empty stomach, I don't find it too much of a pain bc I only need to wait 45 mins - 1hr after taking my dose to begin eating. Which, by that point, I'm eager as shit to do because pregabalin increases my appetite as much as does cannabis (especially when I take my Lyrica with my daily, or even half of my daily, Valium). Ridiculous amounts of food have been consumed by me during these times!!

~ vaya

yes lyrica makes very hungry, food taste good while on it,i try to eat nuts and fruits to still my hunger
still i lost about 30 pounds in 10 months from when i start using lyrica, it helps me a lot to deal with pain, i became a more active person , i can go finally outside again withouth bothering to much about my pains.

 

[El_Toro]

another question:

how does food affect absorption? im talking about from PERSONAL experience, not what the monograph says. i know it says it decreases it by 15-30%, but i would like to know what it is in practice. i fucking hate having to wait like 3 hrs after i eat in order to feel like im not wasting a dose.

Lyrica is expensive. Don't waste it by taking it on a non-empty stomach. As always, take your recreational drugs on an empty stomach

 

[homeydontplaythat]

yes, it is incredibly expensive. thank god for uncle sam. thank you tax payers!!! the system is working just as it should in my case. im getting help i need and in turn im becoming a productive member or society. normalcy here i come!

 

[Vaya]

As always, take your recreational drugs on an empty stomach

I don't debate this statement, El. It's just... well, for some people, pregabalin isn't for recreation... but I get your point lol

~ vaya