Good morning. I'm hoping for some info from others taking Lyrica. I started taking Lyrica last Friday to help with two issues. The first one is for nerve pain in my arm and thumb after a disc rupture in 2009. My thumb tingles all day and if I move my wrist backwards for too long, the muscle in my arm with tighten and tingle. The second one is from surgery I had almost two years ago to lengthen my Achilles tendon. I have a large ball of scar tissue in my calf and the doctor believes a nerve has become entrapped in the scar tissue. Because of the nerve problem in my leg, my toes cramp severely and my big toe will bend backwards in a 90 degree angle and I'm unable to stop it. I get Charlie Horse cramps now just walking down the stairs.

So, now that you know why I take it, I wonder when will the symptoms of the meds taper off? I get extremely dizzy and tired about 3 hours after taken it in the morning. I'm a secretary and it affects my typing and my speech as I'm not able to get out what I want to say some times. My mouth feels try and my the area around my lips feel weird. It also makes me extremely tired. After about 4/5 hours it seems to go away. It doesn't seem to bother me as much at night or I've just fallen asleep before I notice it (although it's really hard for me to get up in the mornings now).

I'm taking 100 mg 2x/day. Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Laura

Hi Laura,
I used to take Neurontin and had some problems so my pain doc switched me to Lyrica. It made me quite dizzy and spacey, a bit of trouble walking, felt like I was on a ship. I wanted to stop but my doc assured me in about 2 weeks the side effects would wear off....he said, you don't have a lot of nerve pain med options left so try to stick with it. I did stick with it, did not drive and limited any activity I had a problem with and the symptoms did wear off.

Lyrica did help me a lot, and I have only been on very low doses, 100 - 150 per day. Currently am on only 100 mg per day.
My problem was when I tried to get off, the withdrawal was unexpected and difficult. I only got off because I wanted to get off all my meds(I am on many) to see where my pain level was at because I was not getting a lot of relief and taking a lot of meds. I did manage to get
off all the meds but after about 8 or so weeks off Lyrica some partial seizures came back...it was a weekend, no docs around so I just started taking the Lyrica again to help avoid seizures and it worked.

Talk to your doc, if you are working and the Lyrica is interfering with work maybe either back down on the dose or if you can, take some time off work until accommodated to the dosage you are on. Lyrica can be a very helpful drug for nerve pain but, as you can see from this post, there can be a lot of issues with side effects and withdrawal.

I wish you the best, Diandra

Hi Laura, welcome.

Meds can affect each of us differently. Some of these effects may last a few days, others from a couple weeks to a month or so, and others may last indefinitely. I was at the far end of the spectrum; the side effects were intolerable, never tapered, and I had to discontinue. Some of the effects this med had on my brain were (so far) permanent. This doesn't happen to everyone, and I'm not saying it to scare you. Lyrica makes a positive difference for a lot of people too. It's always an equation of the benefits we get from medication vs. the risks (downside of side effects). Most of the side effects should resolve in a month's time (or less), at which point you can re-evaluate and discuss what to do with your doctor.

Best wishes,

Doc

Hi everybody,

I've been using Lyrica for 5 years now. I use it for Fibromialgy and for my general anxiety disorder.

Life has been GREAT with lyrica and I've almost become fearless with it. I've had a good life with it and NO side effects whatsoever.

But now I've moved from Holland Europe to Florida and the insurance company here doesn't cover. So i thougt......well i quit cause I'm happy and no stress and anxiety and thus no problem.

Well.....that seems like a big big mistake. My husband has bought GABA, but that doesnt help. When I don't take the Lyrica, something happens with my DOPAMINE. i have no motivation to do anything and i cant sleep. I have severe burning sensation in my feet too.

I feel empty and all.

My husband suggest that i should take NEURONTIN/GABAPENTIN instead. That is a lot cheaper and he thinks that it works more or less the same way.

Does anyone know more about that?

I have come of many addictions before; benzo's, speed, anti depressant, alcohol. So i am some sort of withdrawal expert. But LYRICA is the hardest of all.

It has a PSYSICAL addiction and PSYSICAL withdrawal despite that docters say that isnt true. I'm a nurse myself and i know darn well that this is just as hard as coming off HEROIN OR OXYCONTIN.

Im not giving up though. At some point it must get better. Tomorrow I'm gonna start quiting again. I have enough Lyrica to last me 4 months. And then it's simply GONE.

Hi Martine, welcome.

Yes, that's pretty much true; as a nurse, you can easily verify it with a little goggle time.

Being a newer version, Lyrica is supposedly better tolerated, but if it helped so much, gabapentin may be worth a try. Certainly something to ask/discuss with your doctor.

Others here have made the switch both ways. Search the archives for "gabapentin to lyrica" and/or "lyrica to gabapentin" or just use both without quotes.

Doc

Thanks for the tip. Ive done a little research and maybe its a good idea to transfer to gabpentin.

But in the end i dont like to be hooked on something and pay 75 dollar per month for the gabapentin just to avoid the withdrawal.

I am very angry at the manufacturer cause nowhere is found that this is even more addictive than benzo's and the withdrawal is just as hard as coming of heroin!

Tonight im gonna take 75 % of my normal dosis of 300 mg. I really wanna go through with this.

I have a whole jar of seroquel that i got of someone who doesnt use it himself. Maybe that will help me with the insomnia?

I'm sorry, I thought this was because the Lyrica worked well for you, and my meaning was that hopefully the gabapentin will do the same for less cost. I get the anxiety part, but is your Fibro suddenly cured?

Doc

Yeah, thanks to the Lyrica medication my Fibromialgy is totally cured. For a long time I've been promoting Lyrica to other people too. Saying that it was some sort of wonder pill. An all purpose pill and it is.

But the Gabapentin will still cost like 75 dollars a month and that i think is too much so i decided to quit the Lyrica.

I'm all focused on doing so and I'll start a blog to share my findings into detail. I'm a very positive person, but it scares me that im just so positive and happy and not worried because of a pill.

I thought that it was my character, but it seems to be all fake! Weird weird weird.

I'll share my findings cause right now i refuse to believe that my happiness is pill depending.

I would caution you NOT to use Seroquel that you obtain from someone else. Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic with a boatload of serious potential long term side effects, including tardive dykinesia, diabetes, and many others.

Here is a link with FDA reports:
http://www.drugcite.com/?q=seroquel
This drug is not for sleeping, it is an antipsychotic for schizophrenia, and bipolar psychosis.

In fact it can make insomnia WORSE in some patients.
Antipsychotics affect dopamine receptors in the brain...and since you mention this already, you don't want more problems with that.

This is my first post here. I've been on Lyrica, 50g at night, for 3 years. I was put on it because of fibromyalgia and burning sensation under my skin. During the time in which I've been this drug, the classification was changed to "controlled substance" and I have to go to see my doctor each time I want a prescription renewed. On one occasion, I was without pills for a weekend and it was terrible.

Two weeks ago I decided to withdraw from Lyrica completely. My doctor changed my prescription to 25mg, which I took for a week. Now I am taking 25mg every other day. I have symptoms which are unpleasant, but, so far, manageable. I feel blue and have lost my appetite. I am hoping that it continues to dissipate as I further wean myself off this medication. I am totally turned off by the awful Lyrica commercials and by the physical dependency.

Judy