I'm just so heartbroken for all of you having to go thru this nightmare with Lyrica.

I've never been able to take Lyrica because it is in the same family as Gabapentin (Neurontin). I went LITERALLY psychotic on Neurontin. It wasn't until I was calling people in the middle of the night telling them, "I know where "they" take you when you go to sleep. DON'T FALL ASLEEP!" that anyone knew there was a problem. I was hearing music that wasn't there. Then I wasn't sure if dreaming was reality or if reality was dreaming.

I was taking the Neurontin for neuropathic pain. So since I couldn't take it or Lyrica, the went with Zonegran - an old school anti-seizure med. Very low-dose that had nothing to do with me currently being diagnosed with Epilepsy (wasn't even high enough dose to be therapeutic for that). The Zonegran was used in conjunction with Hydrocodone 10/325. I'm currently weaning off the Zonegran as I was diagnosed with Epilepsy last week (I had seizures way before I ever took any of this stuff, we just never realized they were seizures before now) and will be taking 1000mg a day of Kepra.

I just want you to be careful with Lyrica or anything in that family - including Neurontin. I can tell you of at least 10 people I know or have met thru my internet talks about what happened with me, who went psychotic on the medication. One woman started beating her husband in his sleep and she was this tiny, frail, girlie girl.

The best thing you can do is be your own advocate. This thread is fantastic - it gives people a place to see that they are not alone and that there are ways to handle things. This entire website is a huge blessing to me.

I hope all are as pain-free as possible, can withdraw easily and can live as normally as you want. That's not asking much, is it? (says the girl with 7 diseases).

This is a known side effect of gabapentin.
I wouldn't necessarily assume the same for pregabalin (lyrica) as it's allegedly better-tolerated, but I do find a similar warning:
http://doublecheckmd.com/EffectsDeta...67412&eid=1192

Good to know.

I GOTTA ask—the curiosity is killing me.... Where DO they take you?

Doc

I stopped taking Lyrica 10 days ago and I feel horrible-I was on lyrica for over 5 years following a car accident with left me with back issues and nerve damage. I am feeling so unwell. I did not taper off I went cold turkey which is indescribable.
The feeling of unease, flu like symptoms, and sleeplessness are the worst symptoms. Going to work is a nightmare because I can't concentrate and I want to lie down all the time.
I am flying out of state for work today and I am dreading feeling so ill

Kgardner, can you take some Lyrica? You can't go cold turkey, friend. You've probably read a bunch of the horror stories here, but cold turkey just makes it worse. Don't try to go cold turkey, ESPECIALLY when you are flying out on business. Just stay on it til you get back and can see your dr and come up with a plan to taper down. Saying a prayer for you, friend.

According to my psychosis (at the time...which differs from my normal weird), when my brother would go to sleep, he'd wake up in this tower where I never saw who "they" were, I just knew "they" had him and were experimenting on him.

The old tv show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had an episode where Buffy was in the hospital but when she'd go to sleep she was in another world where she was awake. She couldn't tell which one was the real world. That's what it was like for me.

I hate Gabapentin, but Doc you actually made me laugh about it. Gotta love a smart *****.

Have you read any/much H.P. Lovecraft? Dream worlds (and dream argument) are very old literary plot devices. The (dream worlds) article doesn't mention it specifically, but I suspect the concept has origins in recurring dreams.

I've never had a psychotic episode (I think after forty-mumble years together, my wife would have mentioned something... ) and I've never gotten into dream interpretation, but I've had my share of recurring dreams (and hence, dream worlds), and I'm (quite often) a lucid dreamer.

Gotta love "normal weird" too...

Doc

I've not read much Lovecraft but am aware of the concept of dream worlds.

I, too, am a lucid dreamer. I actually had to learn to be one to deal with recurring nightmares that ended up playing out a scenario of something tragic that happened to me as a very young child. My family never got help for me and never spoke of it after it happened so I spent nearly 20 years having horrible "dreams". Finally I started therapy and was taught the theory of lucid dreaming and how to "take charge" in my dreams and how to wake myself, and completely move body positions so that I would not drop back into the terrifying dream when I went right back to sleep.

Finally, with lots of guidance from my counselor, the dream "played" itself out and the repressed memory came forward and was able to be dealt with. But since then I've been a lucid dreamer. Of course I talk about dreaming when I'm a World Class Insomniac, but when I AM capable of a few hours of sleep I can choose to be in charge after years of training.

Of course, none of this has to do with Lyrica, but I appreciate the questions Doc. I've read around the site a bit and you always crack me up AND educate me on different subjects.