Hello and thanks to all on this thread,
I was taking Lyrica for around 6 years with the last 3 1/2 at 600 mg a day. Last year I started to taper off very slowly over many months. When I got to about 300 mg I started to notice the withdrawal symptoms. Last fall I was down to only 100 mg a day and it was terrible so I decided in December to stop. Well long story short, December through March were h*ll. I am still dealing with the withdrawal symptoms and the increased nerve issues from my cervical problems. When will the strange physical feelings go away! I am always cold and feel like I have a fever but do not. I still have a strange numbness. The anxiety is almost all gone now after 5 1/2 months.... but I am still not myself at all.

Thanks to all for posting their experience with stopping Lyrica. I will never take it again.

Hi, so sorry to hear you're suffering from the awful Lyrica withdrawal, but sooo glad to hear you made the choice to stop taking it. I have said the same thing, that I will never take it again!! You could not pay me to take it again.
I've posted often on this site; read through my posts to learn about my experience coming off Lyrica, which was absolutely horrific.
I understand the strange physical feelings, and weird temperature sensations (cold but feverish!) and increased nerve issues.
I found that that in the initial stages of withdrawals (if you can call months and months "initial stages") There was an increase in nerve agitation from my original pain problems (that for which I was on Lyrica), but eventually those nerve sensitivities decreased. I felt like my nerves were super inflamed and irritated without Lyrica, but I think it was part of the withdrawal phase...like it's trying to trick your body into taking the medicine again. My original chronic back pain hasn't disappeared either, but I think the extra agitation from Lyrica withdrawal is gone.
I've been off Lyrica completely for 10 months (after weaning for about 3 months). My last really bad withdrawal day was about 2 and half weeks ago and it's really amazing it's been that long!! This past week I felt like my old self again, probably in the first time since over a year when I first started the weaning process. I just hope it continues to get better. I did have a few days or a week or so that I would feel close to my old self, but always relapsed. I'm hoping this time is different. It certainly would be nice to be over this completely.
Hang in there!! Those first six months are the worst, but the next six months get better, at least for me they did.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I found it helpful to reach out to those on this site who really understand what we've been going through.

Thanks for your reply. I will post updates later. I had a much longer post and lost it... :-(

I was only on Lyrica for 6 weeks, I started off at 150mg per day, then noticed some terrible side effects (sore muscles, swelling, headache pressure) and weaned myself down to 75mg a day. I tried to go cold turkey and felt like I was dying so I ended up reducing my dose by 25mg every 3 days. It all went well and I thought that apart from some nausea I had been successful in withdrawing.

Then, about 13 days after my last dose I started getting a tingling sensation in all my limbs - it has been 6 days of this now and its driving me crazy. I've also got extreme anxiety & panic attacks + the obligatory nausea.

I only started taking this drug for facial pain, which it never really masked and I am so angry at myself for not doing more research before taking it. I don't know how long these symptoms will last, the doctor has no idea about any of it and has now prescribed me Xanax, to help with the anxiety. I'm not too keen about taking that one either.

Since I wasn't on the Lyrica for very long, I am very much hoping my withdrawal wont be as lengthy as others here have suffered.

I too am trying to get off Lyrica, I have been cutting down over the past 3 weeks. I was only on 125mg a day and I am already having a really hard time. I am definitely upset and aching all over. I am scared as to what happens next. I have no energy and am so upset about the weight gain. I have put on about 40lbs since last September. Hopefully when I get free of this horrible drug I will start to feel like me again.

I've been trying to get off this spawn of Satan for quite a while. I'd found that going from 25mg to zero was too big of a drop, so I'd cut one of the capsules in half using scissors, which leaves a little cup in your hand with some of the poison in it, then dump that into a measuring syringe filled with 10ml water *admin edit*
Shake it then squirt out some of the water going down 10,9,8... etc. As absurd as this sounds, I've found I can notice the steps. Day 5 after a drop I feel like hell, day 10 I feel better then drop it down again. That's just the pace I've found that works for me, when I went faster I built up a withdrawal "debt" and had to backtrack a bit. The negative side effects from being on it are virtually gone, now it's just the last little bit that's giving me problems. From my experience getting off this stuff "too slow" hurts less than "too fast".

I've gone down to 50 mg a day. I've noticed a surge of energy (a change from my desire to lay on the couch for as long as I can possibly get away with it). I have been finding that the only withdrawal symptom that really bothers me now is breaking out in cold sweat...I just get soaked, then I find myself chilled to the bone. It happens all day long, and I just loathe it. I could just go cold turkey from here on out, but as the last poster said "it hurts less going slow than fast" (I love that). I really am worried about the final dose.

Just a thought...this is an anti-seizure medication. I know this may seem like I'm reaching, but when my dog had a stroke, he was put on anti-seizure medication. He started wolfing down his food (and he had always been a picky eater). Truly, it was crazy the way he turned ravenous, and when I mentioned it to the vet, he said "oh, that's the phenobarbitol, it makes them eat like that". I think I can speak for all of us who have gained significantly from lyrica, it's not all in our head, or all water as my Doctor told me. It's huge weight gain from taking this f!#;+!ng drug. We're just like my dog!

What symptom do you hate the most?