Your spine is full of nerves. If those nerves pathways have been disrupted somehow (MS lesions, trauma from an injury...) then it's a nerve pain. A medication for nerve pain, Lyrica, Neurontin, Cymbalta, might help. Your doctor has suggested Lyrica...you can always tell him you dont like the sound of the side effects, and you can ask him if there are any other medications for nerve pain that dont have the same side effects.

I was Rx-ed an antibiotic a few years ago. I read that one of the side effects of that particular antibiotic was numbness/perhipheral neuropathy. Seeing as how my toes were numb, and I had numbness in my right thigh at the time, I asked for something else...since I already had numbness, how would I know if the antibiotic was causing it, or if it was a new symptom. They wrote me a script for something different.

You are allowed to ask if there's something else you could take. You're also allowed to ask if you can have them change the dosage. Ask if you can start off with a lower dosage if it's allowed.