Well although I saw some progress, I'm struggling with the Lyrica withdrawal. I've been completely off for 2.5 months. I'm better than I was 2 months ago, but still feel bad. The acupuncture helped for a while, but it's like I've hit a plateau and can't get better. Help! Lyrica is the worst. You could not pay me to ever go back on it. It is debilitating on my life.
Any advice? Those of you who have successfully gotten off, what did you do to help the withdrawal symptoms?
Thank you!

Well, no great news: every time I cut by 50% to 150mg, I end up exhausted. So, I cut a couple nights ago, and slept for 11 hours, woke up exhausted. Was falling asleep at my desk - had to knock off and nap for a couple hours 2 or 3 times the next day.

So, last night, I took 300mg, slept 8 hours, and was fine all day today.

I'm going to have to schedule a serious down-week, and just bite the bullet, I think.

Of course, my nerve pain is pretty elevated at the same time. Win-Win.

Damn drug.

The only things that I'm suffering since quitting Lyrica is depression, anxiety and the inability to speak as good and as muh as I used to do while on Lyrica. I also became very sensitive and very scared of crowded places. No nausea, no fever no any physical side effects.

I really have no idea how to overcome this anxiety and fear!

If anyone has had such experience, please share.

You are trying a too steep reduction....you need to taper much slower. good luck.

Please read through my comments, LoHo. They are a very thorough account of the withdrawal process over five months--all posts are in this thread, just click on my name and you can find my posts. I hope they help. Hang in there, your symptoms are completely normal and you will make it. It's a very slow process, but it is better on the other end, i promise, i'm pretty much there.

I went from 450mg to 300 in a month, 300 to 150 in a couple weeks, and then went cold turkey. about 6 months withdrawal--all of the symptoms people speak of. Tapering was too difficult for me and I felt prolonged the inevitable. At 3 months I curbed the intensity with 50mg of Trazadone at night. that is what saved me, my life was destroyed. I am now off everything and sleeping again, at will. it is unbelievable really, i though i was broken forever.

Hang in there folks, 6 months and you'll be better. Read my posts for an accurate account of the withdrawal process over the past 5-6 months. Just click on my name, all my posts are in this thread. Hope they help. See you when you get here. Like if beautiful again, I am healed and normal. Stay away from Lyrica!!!

I have successfully gone off, it takes about 6 months and is definitely up and down--that is one of the most confusing parts of the withdrawal. Around 3 months of major struggle, with my life in pieces and emotional being a wreck I took 50mg of Trazadone at night, less than the recommended dose. This helped me quite a bit with sleeping, depressions, motor skills and speaking, before it was hard to look people in the eye remember words, etc. My doc did not think it was a Lyrica issue.

I am now off Trazadone, which was not hard to let go of and I now sleep like a baby. I am actually coming back into my normal self. it has been six months. Please read my account of my Lyrica withdrawal process over the past months on this thread by clicking my name. Good luck and hang in there, you are almost halfway there, and who knows, it might not take you as long.

I also experienced similar side effects. For the first couple months weaning off Lyrica I had horrible anxiety and had to remain in calm environments. If I were to go into crowds/noise/stressful situations I would start to have a panic attack and pain/pressure in my chest. It was horrible. I've been off Lyrica completely for a little over 2.5 months, the anxiety is better. I only have it a couple times week, instead of 24/7, and I'm tolerating stressful/loud environments better.

Thank you for your posts. They really help. It's comforting to know I'm not alone in this process, especially since my family and friends have no understanding of what I'm going through. It's a tough battle, but it's good to know it won't last forever!

I do appreciate the input. I'll keep that in mind. I still think I'm going to push to cut by 50% to 150mg/day. But if it gets too bad, I'll figure out a way to more gradually taper.

In your experience, is switching to an EOD dosing an effective way to accomplish a taper? So, 300mg EOD, 150mg EOD as a dosing scheme, as opposed to working out a way to do a 225mg ED dosing scheme?