I am on 1200mg of pregabalin a day and the last time I was in the hospital, the ER nurses were skeptical that anyone was prescribed a dose that high. It is fascinating to read about how much more other people posting in this thread are prescribed. My 120 (4 X 300mg capsule monthly allowance is also often questioned when I go to a new pharmacy .
I am aware that an increase in dose is not linear as it relates to bio availability
The FDA, whose opinion on anything doesn't carry much weight with me outlines a maximum dose of 600/mg a day and while obviously physicians are not bound by that it helps me understand the experiences I had with ER nurses and pharmacists when I claimed I was taking a measly 1200mg/day.
Clearly, I am a lightweight.
I have been taking pregabalin for 7 years and it is the only drug I found (and I was previously put on a million other meds before finding gabapentin and then pregabalin). That offered relief from some of the symptoms specific to my menu of mental illnesses.
PTSD
GAD
ADHD
Tx Resistant Depression
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder
Reactive Attachment Disorder
Ad infinitum
I am supposed to take all 1200mg before bed and it has been incredibly (miraculously helpful for me personally for anyone who knows what not being able to sleep for 45 years is like) helpful at "simply stopping" my nighttime PTSD flashbacks that had made it impossible to get more than 3-3.5 hours rest any time day or night for over 45 years.
I haven't seen anyone else being prescribed pregabalin for PTSD but I haven't done a comprehensive search of the site either
Trazadone, seroquel, benzos, Z-DRUGS , ssris ,maois, trycyclics,typical/atyical antipsychotics and even phenobarbital had never provided me with any relief for this particular symptom -AT ALL. Well. ketamine would eventually knock me out but I never wanted to go too far down that road.
Gabapentin at twice the dose of my current pregabalin script offered surprisingly little symptomatic relief for me while pregabalin was an instant blessed panacea. ( I personally don't believe those who espouse pregabalin was only manufactured to offer the same benefits of gabapentin at twice the potency and many times the price even though I generally have little regard for or trust in BIG Pharma as a rule.
I was a little woozy each time I titrated up if took the capsules too late and had to deal with a crying baby 2 hours later and felt its recreationally desirable benefits disappeared after a week or so.
But I was blissfully asleep each night on my dose so never thought of it as a recreationally desirable drug.
And frankly a full nights rest free night terrors was more desirable than any high after 45 years.
In the past 7 years, there has been zero tolerance increase with respect to relief my specific symptoms so my dose has remained 1200mg to this day.
I remember being told to titrate up slowly to 1200 mg when first prescribed it in 300mg increments over the first four weeks- (I had been off gabapentin for over a year.)
But me, being me, found out about its recreational benefits a year or so later. Fortunately 900mg offered me similar symptomatic benefits of 1200 mg so I would save up and have a little binge at the end of each month.
I guess because, I was taking three weeks off before playing around with my monthly 25 or 30 extra 300 mg capsules I never felt the desire to push the 4 gram mark.
I would basically just take one every couple of hours until they ran out and fully support the opinions that staggering the doses is the way to go.
I never have experienced any pregabalin withdrawal from either a few days at the 4g mark or when I forgot to pack my meds and abruptly stopped a nightly 9-1200mg daily dose taken every single night that I had been taking for over 6 years. I felt fine on my month long trip with the exception that my night terrors returned by night 4.
How long and how much pregabalin are people taking before they experience withdrawals.?????
Which I understand suck.
I also have ADHD and I noticed a much smoother come up from my morning stimulant medication when pregabalin was taken the night before BUT there was a really, really nice synergy when higher doses of pregabalin where staggered throughout the day. Lisdexamfetamine is already so much smoother than mixed salt amphetamines or methylphenidate but boosted with pregabalin throughout the day it provided significantly increased euphoria, focus, absolutely no edge , with no negative come up or down from the Vyvanse.
YMMV, but can someone offer some phamacodynamic insight as to why this might be?
This is not related to potentiation but someone had asked and another post responded earlier in this thread whether pregabalin might help mitigate some of the horrors of opiate withdrawal.
Again, this is anecdotal and YMMV, but I jumped off buprenorphine at 2mg after a five year run and experienced zero withdrawal symptoms and I never felt anything approaching PAWS.
I am a total crybaby when it comes to withdrawal in general and I know hard core opiate enthusiasts that were forced to taper down to .25mg every other day over a year to have any hope of enduring the apparently relentless and eternal buprenorphine withdrawal process.
My company suddenly transferred me to their office in the Dominican Republic where buprenorphine is illegal and I was scared out of my mind.
Didn't miss a night of sleep, no RLS, fatigue, sweating, mood, anxiety or GI distress. But I think I have enough on my plate as it is LOL
I would put pregabalin in anyone's (loperamide, clonidine, dxm etc) bug out bag of opiate withdrawal essentials.
I am hoping someone can share a link to a study showing the insufflation bio-availability of pregabalin is as poor as is often mentioned in this thread.
My friend swears by this ROA.
Sorry, this meandered so much but thanks if you are still reading.