Hi Nick,
Of course you are scared, what you are going through is frightening. I have been on Lyrica for several yrs but very low dose, always around 100-150 a day. I experienced a lot of symptoms initially but my doc told me to try and wait then out and then I was OK.

I did get off Lyrica back in Nov 2013 but it ended up being temporary.
I had a lot of jittery feelings, anxiety, headaches, short tempered, that same pinching, tight feeling you described, I was incredibly uncomfortable..I was not fun to live with either. I did do the taper slowly but after just something like 6-8 weeks off I was still having problems of withdrawal and then my partial complex seizures came back( I had them before Lyrica) and My neuropathy had come back as well so went back on Lyrica, am at only 75 mg a day now.

Some folks have had no problems getting off but when you read the various posts on this forum, lots of folks have had difficulty. I wish I could offer you more help but all I can offer is sympathy. Were you on a high dose? Can you go back on a lower dose and taper very, very slowly?

take care, Diandra