Misc A question about Lyrica sickness after stopping.

[magicmusic037]

Hello community,

I stopped taking 100 mg of lyrica on Saturday and it was bad for a few days. It's still there, I feel chills and am weak and irritable, so I'm wondering:

can an I take a little amount of codeine and not incur any more withdrawals? Since Lyrica is an opiate derivitive is it safe to assume that maybe I should wait to take any codeine until my symptoms from Lyrica are completely gone? It'll only offer an hour or two of relief probably and might keep me up all night, so I probably won't but I'm so curious that I had to ask, and the answer could easily help someone else who can fall asleep on codeine.

Have a a nice day, good luck going through whatever it is you're experiencing. Hang in there !

 

[kleinerkiffer]

Lyrica/pregabalin is a structural analog of GABA, not an opioid, so there shouldn't be any sort of withdrawal

 

[Slow_Mobius]

I took clonazepam for a couple days, and that made my WDs go from bad to pretty much non-existent. Short term (emphasis on short) benzo treatment would help. Codeine might also help, and like KK said, it won't make you're WDs any worse because it's not similar to pregabalin. If you use the codeine, just be careful about only using it short term as well.

 

[SKL]

Lyrica has nothing to do with opiates, but can have unpleasant withdrawals; both benzodiazepines, opiates, and milder things (even some valerian root or whatever) can help out, benzos in particular because they're targeting the same receptors (but really all you are doing is prolonging the cycle so if your intention is to get off GABAergics it would be in your best interest not to take benzos, Lyrica, Neurotin, booze, etc.) Opiates can comfort some of the agitation, though. If you are talking about minimal doses of codeine which you get some relief from this is going to be largely harmless, the only concern of course is trading up addictions, so don't got too far and too often with the codeine; but if you're talking about genuinely minimal amounts (30-60mg or a little higher even)and not escalating it andnot doing it more than 7-10 days then it won't be an issue; but it's pretty easy to fall into the trap, though, especially when substituting one addiction for another, as it is often said. I was on dope, now I'm on alcohol (steady-state, more or less, dosing, from waking up), Valium, maxed out on Neurontin, Suboxone, and three different meds for depression/mood plus something extra for sleep; that's a more extreme example than yours, but just to point out that switching classes of drug can be like jumping from the proverbial frying-pan into the fire.

 

[Snake_Eyes]

Hello community,

I stopped taking 100 mg of lyrica on Saturday and it was bad for a few days. It's still there, I feel chills and am weak and irritable, so I'm wondering:

can an I take a little amount of codeine and not incur any more withdrawals? Since Lyrica is an opiate derivitive is it safe to assume that maybe I should wait to take any codeine until my symptoms from Lyrica are completely gone? It'll only offer an hour or two of relief probably and might keep me up all night, so I probably won't but I'm so curious that I had to ask, and the answer could easily help someone else who can fall asleep on codeine.

Have a a nice day, good luck going through whatever it is you're experiencing. Hang in there !

How long were you on Lyrica for? Lyrica w/d can last for months for some people and if you have been on it for any significant amount of time then it should be treated like coming off a benzo....nice and slow.

Edit: To add to this I was on upwards of 300mg a day for 2+ years and tapered off in 4 months, my drop off dose was around 12mg. The good news is I didn't have any problem jumping off at such dose but I did cut too fast in the beginning which felt like I got hit by a truck.

 

[SKL]

^this, too. withdrawal from this pregabalin and even gabapentin is often underestimated both by users as they start to take it and by the medical profession. jumping off prematurely is not going to be comfortable and can lead to issues with anxiety and such lasting for a while. if codeine gives you comfort as I said above in the short term, it may be worthwhile, but if you're coming off pregabalin and having serious trouble doing so you may have to taper with very small doses of it (even less than are available on the market as pills, by measuring with an alcoholic solution in eyedropper, for instance) or even jumping on very small doses of valium (1-2mg and cutting down from there)

This post or any of my communications do not constitute professional advice nor do they establish a professional relationship of any kind; I make no claim to any specific professional credentials; in person consultation is essential for any medical, psychological, substance-related or harm reduction decisions. While peer support an advice can be helpful, any content posted online, regardless of it's source, cannot, by it's very nature, substitute for an in-person relationship with a clinician who has had the opportunity to take your history in the larger context and provide professional advice with all these factors, and others, taken into account.

 

[Slow_Mobius]

Lyrica has nothing to do with opiates, but can have unpleasant withdrawals; both benzodiazepines, opiates, and milder things (even some valerian root or whatever) can help out, benzos in particular because they're targeting the same receptors (but really all you are doing is prolonging the cycle so if your intention is to get off GABAergics it would be in your best interest not to take benzos, Lyrica, Neurotin, booze, etc.) Opiates can comfort some of the agitation, though. If you are talking about minimal doses of codeine which you get some relief from this is going to be largely harmless, the only concern of course is trading up addictions, so don't got too far and too often with the codeine; but if you're talking about genuinely minimal amounts (30-60mg or a little higher even)and not escalating it andnot doing it more than 7-10 days then it won't be an issue; but it's pretty easy to fall into the trap, though, especially when substituting one addiction for another, as it is often said. I was on dope, now I'm on alcohol (steady-state, more or less, dosing, from waking up), Valium, maxed out on Neurontin, Suboxone, and three different meds for depression/mood plus something extra for sleep; that's a more extreme example than yours, but just to point out that switching classes of drug can be like jumping from the proverbial frying-pan into the fire.

I don't disagree with your general point, but I do want to clarify that pregabalin doesn't bind to the same receptor as benzos. Pregabalin binds to specific calcium channels to indirectly increase synaptic GABA concentrations. Benzos allosterically modulate GABA receptors to induce hyperpolarization, so they're quite unique in their MOA and binding sites. However, I do agree that switching to different GABAergics isnt the best solution if you can properly taper or get by on something like kava root powder or valerian. Taking clonazepam for couple days was nearly a miracle cure for me though when I jumped off of ~100 mg a day, although I'm very benzo naive and don't know if OP also has a history of benzo use.

Another important factor is how long you've been taking this medication and at what doses.

 

[Snake_Eyes]

I can't remember the moderators name but he/she along with a couple others on here have brought up that pregabalin withdrawal could be much worse for those who have had a prior GABA dependence, do you agree with that?

 

[Slow_Mobius]

I can't remember the moderators name but he/she along with a couple others on here have brought up that pregabalin withdrawal could be much worse for those who have had a prior GABA dependence, do you agree with that?

That sounds very plausible to me.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

I can't remember the moderators name but he/she along with a couple others on here have brought up that pregabalin withdrawal could be much worse for those who have had a prior GABA dependence, do you agree with that?

Makes sense
And imo/ime if you suffer from panic attacks etc withdrawal from GABAergics will be much worse

 

[Cdkman]

For me i take 600mg and if I do that for prolonged time, my anxiety and irritability are raised for about half the time I took it..like a week of taking is a few days of wd and 2 weeks using is about a week..chills can happen to me the first day I stop taking it.I'm def sensitive to it because it really gets me high and I can tell when I'm without it

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

In which case, ffs don't take it every day. I take a much higher dose than the OP but only use 2-3 times maximum a week. No WD. No problem. Why does every drug on this website have to become a problem habit?

 

[Slow_Mobius]

In which case, ffs don't take it every day. I take a much higher dose than the OP but only use 2-3 times maximum a week. No WD. No problem. Why does every drug on this website have to become a problem habit?

If it was that easy for everyone, people wouldn't need this site. Many people are taking these drugs therapeutically, and it's an unfortunate reality that many of our most efficacious drug are also addictive.

 

[Cdkman]

I'm glad u can keep your lyrica habit skipping days..sadly with this particular drug I can't..i just take it till I run out then chill for a bit..i can deal with anxiety and irritability..I used to be able to keep it to a day or 2 a week but still get rebound anxiety on the day after being sober..the positives still out weigh the negatives for now,it's not really physically addicting like I get with opiates just mental