I thank all of you who shared your struggles on this forum, it gave me great comfort in the beginning knowing I was not alone.

I started on Lyrica in the winter of 2006 for fibromyalgia and neuropathy pain. I went toxic on it and had to do a 3 day withdrawal. When I started my withdrawal 20 days ago it was pure hell. I did not think I would survive the ordeal. But I'm still Lyrica free. The first day of coming off of lyrica all my major nerve pain ceased (not the neuropathy though). Lyrica created more pain. (there are several articles on this) My doctor gave me a shot of Oxytocin (Pitocin) for the rebound pain on day 5 and now my pain level is about the same as it was while on the Lyrica.

I ended up the the ER with an over the top heart rate. Turns out that going off the Lyrica sent my Thyroid levels way way up. Since then I quit taking my synthyroid. The shakes, anxiety, chest pains, hot/cold spells, sudden rapid heart rate, lack of appetite and sweating, are now under control. It won't hurt to have your doctor check your THS levels if your heart rate increases.

That said, sadly my mind is now broken. I think differently and have developed all kinds of mental, emotional, cognitive and memory problems. The last 6 months of my life are a blur. There are articles of the effects of Lyrica on the hippocampus that explain why this can happen. So now i pray that my mind will heal.

I truly sympathize with your struggles and agree with you. I have a theory that lyrica severely changed my brain chemistry as I was on it for many years..I went off of it for 2.5 months and it was very difficult but then I started to have seizures. I had them before the lyrica but from brain infection due to Lyme Disease decades ago. I was scared and went back on the lyrica because I was pretty sure that going off it was the cause of the seizures.

I wish you the best in staying off it and I do hope your brain will go back to normal. I know all these withdrawal symptoms are so frightening but as many of us have learned, our docs tell us we don't get withdrawal. Most of us know otherwise. Diandra

P.S. Can you direct me to any articles where you learned Lyrica causes more pain? thanks


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sorry i forgot to bookmark them. But the terms i use in the search were odd and took me to sites that were from collages and such. not the usual sites. something like pregabalin, brain damage, hippocampus. i had to dig deep. next good thinking day i'll try to find them.