Thanks for that link.

it was an interesting weekend. Painful, puffy and now it's interesting.

I quit taking the lyrica sometime last week. Due to being stoned from that crap, I dont exactly remember what day I quit...wednesday or thursday?

Thursday and friday, my left leg felt so painful. There was a painful line thru my inside thigh that hurt and burned when I touched it or walked. (I nearly became a nudist. Clothing made it hurt!) It went from about mid-thigh, just above the knee, to behind the knee and into the top of the calf.

Friday morning, I started having withdrawal from the lyrica. Was only on it 10 days, 75mg capsules. I woke up after being asleep for about an hour to go use the potty, and was in the potty, about to go back into my room when I had a sudden feeling of YUCK! hit me. I thought was going to be physically sick, and felt like I was going to faint and was really really really warm. I never did get sick, but had to sit with wet washcloths on my back and shoulders and head to cool down. My dad thinks from my description that was my blood pressure suddenly dropping for some reason. Lasted about 20 minutes.

And friday afternoon my leg hurt really bad, my feet had this weird tingle to them and were more numb. Talked to my aunt, and she was going to get me the ever-attractive edema-wear stockings. Store was out of them, so she said she'd get me some later this week. (might not need them...hopefully!)

Friday night, I didnt really sleep well, but in desperation what sleep I did get was done with my feet elevated. Which triggered an apparent improvement. All that fluid started coming off. (it's TMI, there was a bathroom involved.) The pain in my leg started to go away yesterday afternoon. Some of the numbness started to get worse in my feet tho.

Saturday night/sunday morning, I didnt sleep at all. Maybe about 20 minutes worth. Slept with my feet elevated again. Got up around 8am to take a shower since I wasnt sleeping anyways. After I took the shower this morning, at some point all of a sudden my feet felt lighter. Still have tingles, but holycrap the numbness went away like it got washed off! (knock on wood that I didnt just jinx my improvement by mentioning it!)

I had been numb from the right side of my head all the way down to my toes. I can still feel the numbness in my head, but it's not what it had been. My right hand feels almost normal. I still have numbness in my ribs and stomach on the right side. (cant have everything I guess, but my leg and foot...yay!

I've been getting rid of that fluid like crazy all day. I do not know what was going on. I'd had that swelling in my ankles for months and it got really bad after I started using the lyrica. Really bad. I was freaking out about it. I think I'd been having the problem with whatever this edema was for a few months, the Lyrica just made it even worse tho. Which made the numbness worse.

I'm guessing that after I stopped the lyrica, and started laying down on my back with my feet raised on pillows the past couple of nights, that helped trigger the release of all that fluid into the usual escape for waste fluid in the body.

Really freaked out about the edema issue. I'd been feeling like total crap for months. That edema was apparently making my MS symptoms worse! I felt so bad last week on the lyrica that I really felt like I was dying. I hadnt felt that bad ever. Not even when I had mononucleosis back in the pre-MS days.

I'm going to my regular doctor tomorrow to get blood tests to see if my kidneys and other innards are still working normally. I might be asking to get my heart checked by a cardiologist because having all that fluid on me couldnt have been good, and since I think I'd had it longer than the time that I was taking lyrica, I dont think the lyrica caused the edema. I do think taking the lyrica exacerbated whatever my problem was and was responsible for feeling so sick the past 2 weeks. I think it made the edema worse and was making me crazy.

Something had to be causing that edema and I want to know what it was. I'm never taking the lyrica again, but if it actually made me notice that something was really wrong, it's probably a good thing that I took it and went thru all that crap this weekend to find out there was something going on that should be looked at. I can feel my toes getting puffy again, so I probably need to go to bed in a bit and put my feet up. Plus I'm really really really really tired.

It just scares me. My dad has cardiomyopathy, and his brother died from that. So, it's apparently genetic. I want to make sure I didnt inherit my dad's heart, and I want to make sure my kidneys are ok. (my sister has kidney problems...so yay, there's family history there too)

I am going to bed now. (it's almost 3am, I'm actually starting to feel tired. I hope I still feel as good as I do right now in the morning. Cant wait to talk to the neuro about this and go to my doctor and get a blood draw. (and probably a UA to make sure my kidneys are working)