Hey.
I've been on Lyrica for just about 3 months now. I was on it three years ago for about a year and tolerance to the incredible side of it is def not permanent because when i resumed it in late July, 75-125mg had me, as you all have so aptly put it, convinced I had found the perfect drug for motivation, irritability, depression, anxiety and insomnia. I am now scripted (from 75mg/day in July) 450mg/day. The stuff still promotes a refreshing 2 hour siesta for me, but otherwise, I feel almost no effects from it - even when I take my entire daily dose (and then some) all at once. So minimal are the effects now that on multiple occasions I've dropped 900mg in one day because I had forgotten I'd taken ANY Lyrica that day! NOT a good feeling, that.
When initially the feeling had been nothing less than 'ecstatic,' I need to take at LEAST 5 days off to even achieve 'well-being.' It no longer works at all for motivation, irritability or depression, but works great for insomnia and sub-par for anxiety. It has become very difficult to take off 5 days now because of my prolonged exposure to the chemical; I withdrawal too negatively and have to take a 150mg cap every other day or else I'm fucked.
When I wasn't quite as dependent as I am now (at around 200mg/day), taking breaks was simple enough and it took 3-10 days before I could classify the feeling as euphoric again.
If I've learned anything from my cumulative 1 1/4 years' experience with this material, it's that, and let me stress this, LESS IS MORE!. It is going to be a tough road reducing my dose, but I am resolute to do it. The most perfect regime I ever had was when I arbitrarily created a "2 days on, 3 days off" schedule for myself. The euphoria and sense that I'd found the perfect medication for me persisted for weeks that way; I believe my current woes with Lyrica are a direct result of my having gotten too greedy and eager to feel 'that way' all the time.
And a comment on judging breaks by half-life alone: I do not recommend this. Although I have no literature to back me up, extensive anecdotal experience tells me that the duration of pregabalin's influence on the body is independent of its literal bodily presence. It is my conjecture that prolonged exposure (2-4 weeks and above, like with benzos and GABA) causes medium-term changes in the way calcium channels are modulated in the brain that may persist for a relative while in some (most?) individuals. Our goal as hopeful users of Lyrica for GAD and other mental illness ought to be regulating our intake of the medication such that a detrimental build-up of the drug does not occur; so that on the days we do consume it we are relieved, and on the days we don't consume it we can rest easy knowing that it will work next time.
~ vaya
and feel better for it, it truely is an awful awful awful substance if not taken as perscribed. idk man good luck with it and try not to raise your dose and if u start to run out do a taper. no body deserves that withdrawl.
