• N&PD Moderators: Skorpio

neurontin, lyrica, benzo's and dependency

^ Thats what I'm saying. And if I remember the diff w/ neurontin/lyrica is an amine in lyrica and a hexane ring (I think) in neurontin ... so thats more drastic than the next alkane... H,CH3,CH3CH2, ETC WHATEVER

Bilzie, wouldn't you concede they are similar? No, not pharmacologically, but in structure. The pharmacological difference was the point afterall, since that accounts for why lyrica would cause dependency and neurontin wouldn't.

booyah! (just kidding, jim cramer)




(edited, hexane, not pentane (I think))
 
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*shrug*

If you did a percentage similarity, water and ethanol would be less similar than pregabalin, gabapentin.... But it doesn't matter.

The thing here we're talking about physiology, not chemistry. Supposidly, gabapentin and pregabalin are pharmacodynamically identical, maybe it's a difference in pharmacokinetics that leads to the dependence/withdrawal effects.
 
Hmm, so it is DEFINITELY decided that neurontin causes does not cause dependency but lyrica does? How is this even possible as some one said it does not affect GABAergic synapses? It seems to act like 5-htp but for GABBA.
 
bob123 said:
It seems to act like 5-htp but for GABBA.

Whereas it may have a distal effect analogous to that of 5-HTP on serotonin, the proximal causes are definitely not the same. AFAIK neurontin and lyrica are not precursors for GABA nor do they increase activity in that biosynthetic pathway.
 
I don't know if Gabapentin increases the GABA levels, but I'm sure that Lyrica does enhance GABA transmission or increases GABA levels, if it doesn't, I don't know what would cause the noticeable GABAergics effects it causes...

Lyrica's effects are exactly the same than Gabitril/Tiagabine effects, and Tiagabine increases GABA levels...
 
As I said earlier I though it was a precurser for GABA like 5-htp for serotonin ect.?
 
No, It's not.
Lyrica (pregabalin) blocks voltage gated calcium channels. Gabapentin does the same, and does not alter GABA release [1].

Tiagabine blocks the GABA reuptake transporter
 
Alright, it appears we have covered dependency fairly well. Let's move on to an equally important point, tolerance. Which of these drugs causes tolerance? It appears all of them do, but I could be wrong. Gentleman, your input...
 
bob123 said:
Alright, it appears we have covered dependency fairly well. Let's move on to an equally important point, tolerance. Which of these drugs causes tolerance? It appears all of them do, but I could be wrong. Gentleman, your input...

I used Lyrica and Gabitril for approx. 3 weeks, and I didn't notice an increase in tolerance...
I think tolerance can build up, but it takes much longer than benzos....

Neurontin produced an effect on me only the 1st time I tried it (~4800mg), I felt weird psychedelic effects in my mind... (a bit like Melatonin; nothing strong...). I've never felt this effect anymore....
So concerning this effect, tolerance builds in 1 day for me....
Neurontin never produced any effect on me anymore.....
 
4800 mg sounds like a ridiculously high dose. One of my cousins got mild psychadelic effects from neurontin.
 
They are both relatively selective ligands at the a2-delta auxiliary subunit of N-type voltage-gated calcium channels--pregabalin being a far more potent ligand. I say ligand because I am not sure if gabapentin/pregabalin are agonists or antagonists at this site, or if the terms 'agonist' and 'antagonist' are even appropriate for such an aethereal target. I suppose because the overall effect of the two compounds is to decrease calcium flux into presynaptic neurons, they could be considered antagonists, unless, of course, the function of the a2-delta subunit is to attenuate calcium channel mean open time. I'm a little (way) too drunk to care to look that up at the moment...so I digress. Any hoodily-doodle, I don't think that either gabapentin or pregabalin exhibits cross-tolerance with GABA-A potentiators like benzos. As for dependance, I think any anticonvulsant has potentially dangerous withdrawal effects. However, the C-V rating of pregabalin in the US is (as is the case with a number of scheduled drugs) relatively unjustified. This scheduling simply ensures that people who may benefit from this medication will never be able to receive it.
 
Lyrica used to be given to prison in-mates, once they kept coming back for more and more and reporting euphoria and drunkenness off Lyrica is was swiftly moved to SCHEDULE 4.
 
Lyrica used to be given to prison in-mates, once they kept coming back for more and more and reporting euphoria and drunkenness off Lyrica is was swiftly moved to SCHEDULE 4.

Prison inmates are also known to get off on ground nutmeg, so they might not be the best barometer.
 
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