Gabapentinoids Fear of prescribing lyrica

[soulwentmia]

The imense fear created around pregabalin (lyrica) made it so that my 90yo grandmother has to take experimental,make it or break it shit for neuropathic pain

For what she describes i’d try lyrica starting from 25mg once then twice then 75 once and 25 and so on and so on until the pain stops. She’s given gabapentin, 300mg 4 times a day i think, lorazepam god knows what for cause she isn’t dosing for sleep nor for anxiety mitigation she ain’t dosing at all and then her pills vanish and she’s a ball of confusion.

For the pain, the pussy man doctor gave duloxetine (!!!!) and dad without asking docs gave mirtazapine for insomnia. The metabolic stuff around these 2 is crazy especially in the elderly not mentioning the horrid snri withdrawal that is at least as bad as lyrica. And her pain is still there.

I kinda feel i saved her life 3 years ago when i overheard she is taking clonzapam given by a family connection and it clicked why she keeps falling and reinstalling her windows. So fam listened to me then. Wonder wassup now i For sure will not consume myself anymore. Yeah well rant over.

 

[moonyham]

Medical system tries to kill old people bro. Unfortunately it's what they do.

 

[TheFunkeeJunkee]

For many people, SNRIs such as duloxetine can be effective for treating neuropathic pain, and the research suggests it is at least as effective as, and in some studies slightly more effective than, pregabalin for this indication.

Pregabalin is of particular concern in elderly patients. Falls and hip fractures are well-recognised problems in the literature, whereas duloxetine is not strongly sedating and is not Associated with the same risk of potentially life-threatening falls.

You also mentioned that duloxetine has withdrawal symptoms as severe as pregabalin, but this isn’t accurate. Gabapentinoid withdrawal can involve seizures and, in rare cases, death, which would be especially dangerous in a 90-year-old woman. That’s not to say duloxetine has no withdrawal syndrome—it certainly does, but it does not usually produce the kind of withdrawal that necessitates hospitalisation.

Doctors don’t always make perfect decisions, and disagreements about a loved one’s care can be fucking frustrating. It does look like you’re advocating for her, which is good, too many older people don’t have anyone doing that. Just remember more often than not, clinicians do have more experience in these situations. How many patients in similar circumstances has your mother’s physician treated? Likely quite a few. I'm not saying don't push back, the more involved you are in her care the more time and resources they are likely to invest in her.