I don't know anything about Lyrica but I do know withdrawal can be deadly from certain medications such as Valium or any of the benzos. Can you call your doctor and ask them about this? I had a really bad experience with soma after just taking it for a few weeks but I stopped taking it abruptly because it was knocking out my speech and I ended up in the psych ward. I was delusional for awhile. I feel like I have some permenent damage from that episode. So yes I would not take it lightly. Go to the e.r if you have to. This Lyrica sounds like a bad drug.
Brain

On lyrica's official web page it actually lists some withdrawal side effects in small print on the bottom of a page. One of effects is : seizure. Scary stuff people.

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear you're experiencing the nasty side effects of lyrica withdrawal. I encourage you to please read all of my posts, which include detailed information of my painful withdrawal. I've been experiencing withdrawal for almost 9 months since stopping lyrica. I'm also in my 20's and am in school and working. The withdrawal has been devastating, and it ruined my first real job as an engineer. Ironically I stopped taking lyrica BC I thought it would impede my work performance if I continued to stay on it. Who knew stopping it would be worse. I've had many many tests done by doctors which has put me thousands of dollars in debt to try to see if anything else is wrong and the doctors say I'm "perfectly healthy"...the only problem is my body is still adjusting to the lack of lyrica. I understand your lack of energy. It puts me in bed for days at a time and I feel like a zombie. Some days are better than others, but the bad days are exceptionally bad. I tried acupuncture for a few months and it helped to manage the symptoms but it wasn't a cure. I have diazepam to help manage my chronic back pain, but I found it also helps with the lyrica withdrawal. If I have the energy I work out, which sometimes helps and sometimes makes it worse.
I don't know if all this helps, but hopefully you'll know you're not alone. Again, please read my other posts as it will give you a timeline of my withdrawal progression. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. And I hope your experience isn't nearly as awful as mine has been.

I have been on Lyrica since 2008 for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Due to financial situations, I have had to do without, for brief periods of time. The withdrawals I have are terrible. Profuse sweating, chills, nausea, joint swelling and tenderness, IBS, vomiting, crying, severe headaches, inability to eat, etc. Some of these are the effects of my Fibromyalgia. Lyrica has been a miracle drug and has kept me from becoming bedridden. However, the fact that it is highly addictive and expensive is a downside. Also, these withdrawals makes the thought of not having it put fear in me. I start experiencing withdrawals within 12 hrs of a missed dose and the withdrawals had never gone away, until I began taking Lyrica again.

Hello, Sorry both of you have issues with lyrica. This withdraw is worth it, if you can get off a medication you don't need. There will be an end to it. The Sweating is normal in most cases. I did this getting off another medication. Hang in there. One less medicine is a good thing...ginnie

hello all,
I cannot tell you how relieved I was to find this forum and fellow lyrica victims.
I went to a clinic in florida to be treated for chronic fatigue symptoms, was hooked up to an IV daily for a month. this doctor claimed his treatment was 95% natural. I was so desperate at that point I agreed to his treatment without out knowing what all was in the drips. amino acids and vitamins, he said.
He also put me on several prescription medications to take after completing the month of IV's. One of those drugs was lyrica, the other hormone replacement therapy.
I felt great the first month or so after coming home, then started getting some weird numbness and tingling, first in my feet. So, after a little more then 3 moths on the lyrica and multiple other supplements he had me on, I stopped taking everything, cold turkey. To see what the culprit may be. No one had ever mentioned to me lyrica was addictive or that I should taper off. within days after stopping the lyrica, and supplements I felt like I was on a bad acid trip. I ended up in 2 emergency rooms with heart palpitations and anxiety through the roof.
I told the ER docs my history and about the IV therapy that was "proprietary" information, sure that something in those drips had caused this breakdown.
I even mentioned the lyrica. Panic attack they said. I had never experienced one and wasn't buying that in my 50's I would all of a sudden get anxiety.
I am telling this story6 months after the initial withdrawal. I had been on lyrica for 3 months, 100mg. a day for fibromyalgia, he said.
I had no idea my symptoms were from the lyrica, so when the pain came back I would take some for a few days, then feel crazy again. long story shorter, I finally, through my own research realized it was the lyrica.
this drug made me feel like I was loosing my mind. sweating, yet cold. all clothes feeling uncomfortable, pins and needles prickly feeling everywhere.
bowel issues i have never felt before and I still can't even verbalize the side effects as well as I would like to. I have severe memory problems, anxiety still off the charts, I cry for no good reason. I wanted to admit myself to a psych ward. all these last 6+ months not knowing why this was happening because that idiot doctor would not consult with me after he got his 15K.
I have come off of opiates and this withdrawal made that look like a walk in the park.
I have muscle twitches, weird sensory problems, the constant prickly feeling none of which I had before.
so its been 6 months since I took 100mg. daily and just a few days worth here and there since then until 2 weeks ago. The initial withdrawal was so intense for 2 months at least.....I would finally have a day where I felt the exorcism was over and I felt normal, then bang, the jaw clenching, etc. etc..
the worst part is my doctor here does not know of lyrica withdrawals or side effects. But lucky for me I found you folks before I killed myself. At least now I know what the beast is and pray it will end. It will, won't it??
thanks all for your input and any advice on how to minimize the side effects, please let me know,
peace.

Am happy to have found a Lyrica withdrawal symptom group, as well. Holy sakes, no idea about the addictive power of the drug. I have read many have found physicians didn't explain Lyrica was so addictive. I think they just don't know. I was on up to 600 mg/day under a neurologists care. I got what I thought was flu, so went to an Urgent Care and that physician was the one who told me that was far too high and talked about problems. Turns out it wasn't the flu, wasn't w/d either since I wasn't off it, it was a noravirus. Am on 250 mg/day taken once/day at night now and under a rheumatologist's care (she's the best). Have been on Lyrica probably 5 years, maybe more?

Have other underlying disease problems; but, whenever I come down with a noravirus it takes about 3 weeks to get over it and generally 2 weeks of that is chronic, severe vomiting so no drugs stay in system. So guess I do the periodic episodes of w/d.

I have found for other anxiety issues, an herbal remedy called A2X. If I start to get high anxiety, I take it for a week or week and a half and then stop it. No w/d problems. I'm sure all natural remedies carry their certain risks, too. So everyone should do a lot of research and make their own decisions.

Thanks to all who've been so candid on their experience. You are all pretty tough cookies to get through the w/d.

I have been on Lyrica for 2 years. I now take 50mg daily and I cant stop. I have tried several times. I recently tried to go to every other day and had extreme dizziness and nausea. So I started again. That was two weeks ago and I still am having extreme dizziness. I am having a hysterectomy in a week and a half. Prob not a good time to stop but I have vacations in Jan and March. Any ideas?

Hi Heather,

I am just at the end of getting off lyrica. I did it slowly. Was on 100 to 125 mg a day. My doc set up the schedule which was too fast so I just did this:

4 pills...25 mg every 8 hrs for 3 days
3.5
3
2.5 25 mg spaced thru day for 3 days
2
1 25 mg every 12 hrs for 3 days
1/2 25 mg every 12 hrs which is where I am now

I do have some symptoms but I am just trying to eat well and take good care of myself. I am sweating alot with any exertion and I too feel some dizziness and clumsiness and headaches. I do have to say the beginning was worse...I have been on them for yrs, I think something like 5 or 6 yrs.

I have broken apart the capsules to make the 1/2's. I would suggest just going slower instead of doing every other day. Also, maybe not a good time to mess with your meds 1.5 wks before surgery. I wish you the best with taper and surgery. Take care, Diandra

p.s. forgot to mention my doc letting me take lorazepam to calm down all the jitters and racing mind but some folks mentioned Benadryl helps. doc also let me take clonidine but I was really given that because I a going off norco(hydrocodone) next.

Hello,

Am new here. Contracted Transverse Myelitis 4 years ago, and with the 5 spinal operations stemming from an industrial accident giving me 7 fused vertebrae, and the TM I am lucky to be walking. Take 300mg-450 Lyrica and 600 Gabapentin/day for nerve pain caused by the Transverse Myelitis. Really, it was the only thing that could stop the all-over bee sting pain. Plus, due to the previous accident damage to the spine, the TM added to it caused an "anomaly" in the brainstem, causing me seizures, which are mostly under control now, with 300mg/day Dilantin, and - amazingly - a teaspoon of brown mustard morning and night.

My dear, patient and caregiver wife has been telling me that my mind is definitely slipping - memory, etc. Then read that Lyrica causes reduction in new synapses being formed! Must get off it! Have tried before, but the pain came roaring back each time. Only Gaba can substitute for it.

How much coffee I drink just to stay upright and conscious! Maybe 2 large pots/day, plus strong tea in between. Same with any of you others?

Thanks,
Malugssuak