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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Lyrica

D

doctordog

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
118
I'd like to try Lyrica for sleep and treatment-resistant anxiety.

I have a GP I've been seeing on and off for a year or two, but I'd prefer not to go back to him and I've also made a temporary vow not to step foot in another psychiatrist's office.

I know it has some abuse potential and is scheduled (?) .. but I have no intentions of using it recreationally. Anyway, is it the kind of thing I can go to a new GP and ask for? I suppose there's some precedent in that Gabapentin is the only thing that's helped my anxiety to date, but the hangover wasn't worth it and my IQ dropped like 60 points; plus, I needed really high doses to get an effect.
 
If you ask for any drug specifically, you'll most likely be marked down as drug seeking behavior. Lawl.
Idk what's been up with BL lately, but it seems like we've had an influx of little fuckin' kids & SWIM users. It's making me quite nauseous.
Taking really high doses to get an effect sure sounds like recreational use to me.

Do yourself a favor and cut the shit out. You don't need that crap..
You want a sleeping & anxiety med? Try trazodone or prozac.
 
Did I allude to my age or use SWIM anywhere in my post?

I meant high doses of Gabapentin to get a THERAPEUTIC effect -- i.e. relief of insomnia and anxiety. I explicitly said that I'm not looking for a recreational effect from Lyrica: it's approved for generalized anxiety disorder.

And treatment-resistant anxiety would probably imply that I've tried bog-standard firstline treatments like an SSRI.

So .. thanks for nothing, douche.
 
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Ive got experience with Lyrica. It does help with sleep/anxiety but be careful. In my experience, the anxiety was relieved but replaced with low grade depression. Also, start at small doses (50mg) as it will take a few days to normalize in your system. Take too much and you will be heavily sedated.
I told my doc I suffered from Fibromyalgia and that Lyrica has worked in the past. He gave me the script no questions asked, sadly enough. Good luck!
 
Thanks bugs. Gabapentin induced a similar kind of depression in me, so I think I know what you're referring to. I would happy take that over incessant anxiety at the moment.

I've heard taking it strictly at night can cause rebound anxiety .. however, does taking a second dose during the day result in tolerance to the sleep-inducing benefits?

And do doctors have hesitations about prescribing Lyrica? Again, the only reason I ask is because I'm unhappy with my current GP .. and am searching for a new one, but don't want to look like a tweaker on my first appointment. I would normally wait to see a psychiatrist or sleep specialist or whatever, but I can't use benzos or z-aids, atypical APs give me akathisia in any dose, anti-histamines cause irritability the next day, and clonidine no longer works. I'm going crazy during the day and am so exhausted I just need to sleep.
 
I dosed twice a day, morning and night and yes, tolerance eventually developed and found myself taking more over time. But it definitely helped with the sleep/anxiety. If you could take it temporarily, then that might be a route to consider. Problem is I didnt want to stop and then when I did, I found it tough to kick. I would encourage you to think about getting the source of the insomnia rather than just treating the symptom. If you have the means, perhaps get tested to look at any nutrional deficiences you may have and in the interim use kava kava or valerian root?

And no, in my experience docs are totally okay with Lyrica if they think its to treat pain like Fibro. Although it is a schedule 5 drug, they seem okay about prescribing it.
 
Thanks. I've tried a slew of drug-options for anxiety, with little-to-no success. I eventually trialed Riluzole last month for treatment-resistant OCD, but responded badly to it (more anxiety and difficulty sleeping), but trials show near-unanimous success, so I would like to give it another shot with something on board to temporarily ease the side-effects. Hence, my interest in Lyrica.

The source is probably extreme anxiety, coupled with the fact that I live in a small, very noisy household that's extremely overstimulating. I often end up staying up late because it's the only time things are quiet, but then I get woken up early by dogs barking anyway .. so it's a lose-lose situation .. get up early and don't get anything done during the day, or stay up late and get no sleep. I don't have the means to move out anytime soon, so am unfortunately reliant on band-aids for the time being.

Valerian root didn't make a dent in my insomnia, unfortunately. If I could break the daytime anxiety cycle, that might help a bit, so Lyrica sounds good.
 
I walked straight into my doctors office, asked specifically for Lyrica, told him I bought it online before and it worked for my nerve pain and got a prescription within 5 minutes (I also have a long documented history of polydrug abuse). That's how hard that was. But then again it is not a scheduled substance here.

It's a great anti anxiety med, it works even better than benzos for me. The one big drawback it has is that it's just impossible to quit taking because of withdrawal that makes benzos and opiate withdrawal seem like a walk in the park. You have to decide if you think it is worth it.

Some more terrible side effects inlcude peripheral edema (happened to my dad) and vision problems (happened to me, now I suffer double vision constantly).
 
Okay, thanks Toz. I'm not a very convincing liar, so will have to come up with something .. I could say I've tried basically every other available sleep-aid (which is true), or the ever-reliable my-old-psychiatrist-from-where-I-used-to-live prescribed X and it worked fantastically.
 
It gave a nice calm feeling when I first started it but it quickly faded. Now I'm often anxious in between my benzo usage and I don't find lyrica to be much help, at least at the dosage that I can still function at work. I never got a hangover from it but I do feel a bit slow and often have trouble trying to find the right word.

Withdrawal from lyrica seem to vary from person to person and while I've never jumped off completely I did drop from 150-200mg a day to 50mg overnight and the first week was a little rough mainly a headache that wouldn't go away and some stomach cramping.
 
Lyrica is terrible for sleep...

It frequently causes insomnia than help it...

Lyrica is hard to abuse, because you need a very ample quantity....

The withdrawal is very, very minimal...

I take 150 mg twice a day, and have never had any withdrawal on quitting due to tolerance.
 
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