Gabapentinoids The Lyrica (Pregabalin) Mega Thread v 2.0

[Runtoparadise]

Lyrica is prescribed off label for social anxiety, some ppl sleep, some just lighten up..
ta da & now in the States apparently as an opiate wd aid.

I recall reading a post either in this thread or probably the opi withdrawl mega thread, about how long until medico's figured out how helpful it can be.

Rtp

 

[Speed King]

the withdrawls of using this for 6+months put me in a catonicn state that normal iv benzos did not work(ativan etc) and made it worse nearly died and have nerve damage still beware of detox i had a gram a day habit

That is really true. Pregabalin is a great medicine, but it can become evil and dangerous if you don't give it the respect it deserves.

 

[Angelus26]

Anyone has any idea on what can potentiate pregabalin other than opiates and benzos...and am talkin pharmaceuticals...thanks

 

[I B Profane]

Hey Lyrica users. I'm currently prescribed 900mg Gabapentin per day. How does Lyrica compare? Both effect wise, withdrawal wise, etc.

 

[Snake_Eyes]

I've never had gabapentin but pregabalin is supposed to be more euphoric and have worse w/d.

 

[Runtoparadise]

Hey Lyrica users. I'm currently prescribed 900mg Gabapentin per day. How does Lyrica compare? Both effect wise, withdrawal wise, etc.

Are you asking for medicinal or recreational use? Given that it's scripted, I'll guess the first option.

I was prescribed Gabapentin for years prior to pregabalin coming on the market. A while back now, when I took all my meds as ordered. Looking back, I wonder why I bothered with it. Because my PM Dr said it would help I guess :/

All I felt from it was absolute & utter exhaustion. My days seemed to fly by while I sat mindlessly on the couch, wouldn't even have been able to tell you what was on the tv. No pain relief though. Zip, zero, zilch, nada.

Then I went on holiday & didn't bother to fill that months prescription, it's pretty pricey here,(& I wasn't feeling any benefits), & I honestly didn't notice any withdrawl symptoms. I'd been taking 2400mgs in split daily doses.

Then I began lurking around BL & several other sites, & decided to hit my GP up to see if Lyrica would help with my leg pain. Mainly at night, well, when laying down,- I'd have these god damn, freakin, shooting, lightening bolts through the length of my legs. It was a miracle if I ever slept!

Hmm, this is getting lengthy.. So I told my Dr that my specialist suggested I switch from Gabapentin (which I didn't inform her of that I'd been completely off of for several mths), to Lyrica. She immediately printed the script.

I know opinions differ regarding onset, but for my leg pains & sleep, (bonus side effect), it worked almost immediate wonders!!

I've never taken it for lengthy periods, it's not a daily medication for me. I take it more like a prn, or when I'm going through a flare up of neuropathic pain. Weeks at a time at most, so no wds experienced.

I hear reports of tolerance rapidly building, so I keep it specifically for a specific type of pain. Unfortunately I do suffer from more than one. (Also handy for opiate wds, but that's another thread).

Also, it's still a relatively young drug, there's only now a few reports emerging that it's not for long term use, & I'm not particularly inclined to be big pharmas guinea pig!

In saying this though, I wouldn't be without Lyrica. Compared to Gabapentin it's a completely different drug. Metaphorically, not literally, I know the "big brother" label. To me it's a handy med to have on hand.

I've never felt high or any euphoria from it, but a kind of "alls ok" with the world feeling. Like many others, depending on doseage, a bit of a calm, drunk feeling, liable to nod off if I'm comfortable & not being entertained. Or I use it as a sleep aid in higher doses.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say for now. Bring on pregabalin 3.0!

Rtp

 

[Stuckinthecycle]

I'm just throwing my personal experience out there and even the first post talks about a 900mg experience and then advocates shooting the stuff, which we know to be very dangerous. I also have mixed a decent amount of booze, benzos, and in some cases opioids at 1000 and even 2000mg+ doses but I don't endorse that especially since theraputic dose lyrica could have played a small role in my fentanyl OD.

Anyway, 99% of threads on here are about recreational use, aka "lets get high but let's not die", so in a huge sense it is one- no reason to pretend otherwise. There are a small number of threads for recovering addicts and people who have genuine "on label" questions but they fall into that 1% or less which is not what he was talking about. I guess if you have a lot available you should consider starting low, but a bottle of lyrica goes really fast when you are using it to get high more than once a week.

Maybe the sensitivity thing has to do with what people perceive as the lyrica high. I notice a lot of people talk about very mild effects like slight mood lift and anxiety reduction. That sounds like every benzo dose I have ever taken and pretty boring. I guess those people fall into the group who find the benzo "high" recreational. I never have, and the appeal that lyrica had was that it can go beyond what any benzo can and I consider myself high only once the floor and everything around me starts undulating and I see colored lighting and become MDMA level social with a strong weightless feeling body high. For me that is only at 900mg+; At 450mg I might feel the same effects you consider a "high" from your lyrica experience. If you don't get the effects I describe then double your recreational dose and report back, you may have a very different opinion.

I use lyrica only as prescribed these days and it also happens to have an edge on and becomes synergistic with benzos for treating normal symptoms like anxiety and depression- but I would not call my 300mg dose recreational; I woudln't even notice it when I would go a few weeks without taking it.

Sounds like someones never forgot a whole weekend fuckin with the xans lol

 

[xrnx]

I recently got cut off of my 10/325 vicodin after takin them for over a year Doc prescribed me some random anti inflammatory and Lyrica. Withdrawals are a motherfucker and I was like wtf is this lyrica shit. I was takin tramadols to kill the withdrawals but I'd only get enough for like 4 days and when I ran out I couldn't sleep. I'd get this weird tickle feeling in my chest when I breathed. Didn't really hurt, was just so annoying that I couldn't sleep. Sometimes I'd get the tickle feeling behind my eyeballs as well. I would be literally exhausted from not sleeping for 24 hours because of the feeling.

Then I googled Lyrica. I really enjoy my Lyrica now. Really helped with withdrawals. Still testing doses and tolerance. I read that you can't really redose after the high hits as your body won't absorb any more or something until you come down. Seems true because before I read that I took like 60 75mg (4500mg) pills in 2 days. Kept poppin them tryin to get higher or high again but nothing happened. That was after getting high on about 3 pills(225). I got a refill yesterday and tryin to get high but not waste them this time.

Not sure how many I've taken so far. I've slept a few times but I still feel weird. Not sure if I've taken too many or if it's cuz I'm coming down, but I keep getting these spazzes. Like I'll be trying to type this and suddenly my arms and hands suddenly jerk forward. Mentally It's like these sudden intermittent 1 second blackouts or mini seizures. After that split second I'll forget what I was doing for a second. I keep seeing images in my mind as I'm typing this. Like a picture of a face. Kinda like a fuzzy daydream but they only last a split second and block everything else out.

As others say the high is hard to explain. When I ran out I snuck some Gabapentin and that was different though I only took 600mg. Gaba made me super tired and gave me a stuffy nose. But did sometimes give me this weird/good feeling that I was..home. Like when you were a kid. Or I could feel like I was in the past and everything was better. Hard to explain. With Lyrica I've started doses with about 150mg to 225mg. Then I usually pop 1 intermittently through the night. Probly wastin them but idk. I just took 2 more earlier cuz I just woke up but I think I'm still high. The high is like...being drunk..sorta. Can't walk straight. A little sociable but not much. Though I pretty much just sit in my room the whole time. If I haven't taken them in like a week and then I take 225mg I feel pretty fucked up. Get kind of a full body buzz along with the high. I think they may potentiate opiates as I took some Lyrica one night after I thought I was comin down from a few vicodin and the Lyrica body buzz was intense. Sorta like an opiate high but different. All I know is it's better than being sober. But I really wish these spazzes would quit. I can't hardly concentrate on anything. I keep smacking the keyboard lol. Like type type type type SPAZ, type type type type type SPAZ. Which is odd because I think Lyrica is sometimes prescribed to prevent seizures. I wonder if it's just an annoying side effect or if I take too many I'll have a full blown seizure. Anyone else get the spazzes or mini seizures as I like to call them?

 

[Runtoparadise]

^Took time to respond as I hate it when kids experiment with shit & lk to the internet for answers.

The "spazzes" are bcos you've taken too much, as is falling asleep.

Vicoden is not that hard to withdraw from surely? If need be just buy codeine otc.

Better than a "real" seizure as opposed to a "mini seizure" as you call them. Hopefully you have parents to check on you.

Rtp

 

[InfectedWithDrugs]

Pregaalin (in high doses) and Gabapentin (in very high doses) is an AMAZING set of drugs for opiate WD & it relives Amphetamine anxiety without killing the buzz, unlike benzo's! BUT I think it kills opiate high big-time...

 

[chrisincville]

First things first, there's a ton of statements and opinions etc that I would like to respond to, but I'll have to save that for later..

I will just give my overall opinion/experience with Lyrica (for now)

I first tried it back in probably 2009. Had no idea what it was or how it was supposed to effect a person. I began enjoying it the more times I tried it..and it'll definitely Fuck you up pretty bad if you take like 700mg at once without knowing how the dosing works. Long story short, I later would have a car accident that caused me a pinched nerve in my neck, which actually gave me peripheral nerve pain. Ironically I was fucked up on neurontin when I had the accident.

To this day, I am scripted neurontin after having switched back and forth between the two meds over the years. I only stuck with neurontin because I can make the bottle last quite a bit longer than the equivalent dosage of lyrica that I had been given. I personally think lyrica is the better of the two, although every doc I've spoken to recently is insisting they're both the same with treating nerve pain. Lyrica is 4x more potent and neurontin has terrible bioavailability.

 

[Speed King]

I use Lyrica a lot, only at 300mg/day now. I discovered if taken with Vyvanse, it seems to last longer in combination. The Lyrica stretches the time between pain killer dosages.

 

[Gothmog]

I'm prescribed Lyrica for neuropathic pain associated with my lymphoma that's now in remission and it was a lifesaver for me coming off heavy oxy use for over a year from cancer treatment. Basically eliminated most of the withdrawal symptoms when I quit cold turkey and made it bearable

 

[P0kemama]

I took 150mg Lyrica early this morning, as I am tapering off my opiates, again for about the 5th time. It was weird, though, I felt high, but no euphoria at all, fell asleep and now I feel anxiety about going out to get some food. It kind of sucks. I think I will keep the rest of my Lyrica if/when I stop my oxy's completely or get cut off by Pain Management doctor.

 

[white55]

Completely non abusable for me, but it does help my social anxiety a little and nerve pain in my back a lot (basically don't even feel anything while on). It does boost benzos however. I take 100 mg per day. But tried 300 once just to see if you get high.

 

[chrisincville]

I took 150mg Lyrica early this morning, as I am tapering off my opiates, again for about the 5th time. It was weird, though, I felt high, but no euphoria at all, fell asleep and now I feel anxiety about going out to get some food. It kind of sucks. I think I will keep the rest of my Lyrica if/when I stop my oxy's completely or get cut off by Pain Management doctor.

Well, you're not going to feel as great from the lyrica if you're coming off opiates. It's leveling your system to whatever extent your body is feeling any withdrawal.

You say you felt high, but no euphoria? Aren't those sort of one in the same?

 

[P0kemama]

Well, you're not going to feel as great from the lyrica if you're coming off opiates. It's leveling your system to whatever extent your body is feeling any withdrawal.

You say you felt high, but no euphoria? Aren't those sort of one in the same?

Hey Chris: Thanks for the response... makes sense about the Lyrica just leveling out my system as I have cut my oxy usage by 33%. As for saying I felt high... hmmm..how to explain?? I was a bit off balance when walking, sounds were distorted, music sounded better, and definitely not feeling like myself, didn't feel like doing anything but sit on the couch, surf BL, and watch TV and felt anxious. On my oxycodone, I don't experience any type of this high feeling... I feel euphoric, in that I feel very happy, no worries, and have hope and motivation. I also have no problems mixing with others or being in public. I will take euphoria over that high feeling anytime.

 

[chrisincville]

Hey Chris: Thanks for the response... makes sense about the Lyrica just leveling out my system as I have cut my oxy usage by 33%. As for saying I felt high... hmmm..how to explain?? I was a bit off balance when walking, sounds were distorted, music sounded better, and definitely not feeling like myself, didn't feel like doing anything but sit on the couch, surf BL, and watch TV and felt anxious. On my oxycodone, I don't experience any type of this high feeling... I feel euphoric, in that I feel very happy, no worries, and have hope and motivation. I also have no problems mixing with others or being in public. I will take euphoria over that high feeling anytime.

Yes, that's exactly how Lyrica feels. It sounds like you're trying to compare it's effects to that of opioids, which are very different experiences, as they work differently in the brain. Having said that, most people tend to become more sociable on lyrica..sounds almost like a marijuana type of paranoia that you get from it. Everyone's body chemistry is different.

 

[Mr excuse me sir]

I'll get the first run on the board and add that my experiences with this drug as something that would get me 'buzzed' were conclusively busted. I experimented at various doses up to 300MG and found for me there wasn't anything to go back for which is rare as I react very typically to almost every substance I have used. My housemate is on 300MG/ day with MS Mono and it seems to be a safe effective medicine that works for its designed purpose.

 

[lavendermew]

Newb here. Prescribed 100mg of lyrica per day for severe fibromyalgia. I've been taking it for a week (as prescribed) and so far it's not doing anything, although there were unpleasant side effects (wooziness and clumsiness) for a few days that have since worn off, so I'm assuming my body is getting used to the dosage and I'm developing a tolerance.

Pain has been horrible all week, for no apparent reason. I woke up today feeling like shit. It's been really hard for me to get out of bed because I just don't want to do anything. So, kind of on an impulse, I decided I needed not to be sober. (ftr, I just got certified for medical marijuana, and I'm waiting for my registration to go through.) So, I took 300mg of my lyrica.

WOO, it fucked my shit right up. In an okay way, I felt pretty good, aside from the whole stumbling and uncoordinated thing. And I managed to banish some of my self-hatred and anxiety! Not that I'm advocating this. I'm not.

So the problem is, now I'm coming down, and I feel all woozy and I can't focus on anything, and I'm wondering how y'all deal with lyrica comedown? I might try to titrate and take a lower dose...I don't want to burn through it and end up without any to take therapeutically. :x