Hi All
First time for me writing here, I have a nerve damage. Its in my nerve center. I have problems in my right arm, both hands and my back due to the damage.

I had for the last 2 years both Garbapentin and Lyrica.

Both medications can be used for nerve damage, but with my "experience" Lyrica are a far better medication, or at least with less side effects. My doctor wants me to quit with lyrica, and go for Garbapentin, but I think I will ask to change for Lyrica instead. (and drop Garbapentin from my medical list).
The medication are more expensive, cost here like 1 x lyrica for 10x garbapentin. - But I do belive it can be worth it, if Lyrica are better medication then im willing to change, I only have one life, at least what i can be sure of

For now i take:
3x300 mg Garbapentin 3 times a day
2x150 mg Lyrica 2 times a day
1x50 mg Diklofenak 3 times a day
2x50 mg Tramadol/Tradolan 3 times a day
2x250 mg Paraflex 3 times a day

Then I often have mega pain in my brain, for that i do take up to 8 Treo like 4-5 times pr. week.

Side effects of all this:
Blood pressure got very high, almost critical (might have to take medication for that as well).
Waight increese 20+ kg. in the last two years. (since i got my damage)
Feels foggy, sometimes like high feever without temp.
Nose blood.
Dizzyness, and can be very tired very fast, not easy to ex. to drive a car, watch a tv program etc.

the list goes on...

My question here is, any chance that Lyrica (without Garbapentin), can remove that dizzyness, or take out some of my "brain killers"... As far as i could see there have been more people here that had problems with concentration, and yes I have big problems with that. (never had that before).

Hi - I'm new to your site today.

It isn't just the weight gain with the two drugs - it's how they made me gain: I had to be actively crunching something in my mouth ALL the time. I was manic and out of control. I was on them one at a time - couldn't handle either one.

Right now, however, I am in some of the worst neuralgia of my life. I have MS and it will set off the trigeminal nerves in my face. I take one Cymbalta at night for the pain - I won't take more because it also makes me gain weight, and I use heat, Lidoderm patches, and Lortab when it gets really bad. Lortab just takes a tiny edge off, but I think the placebo effect makes me think it SHOULD be working. Anyway, the past 2 weeks have been non-stop pain, plus reacting to sound and movement - I have never been so out of my head with it like this for so long before. My neurologist cut down my Amitriptyline 3 weeks ago (she gives it to me at night to help me hold still) to see if I would be more wakeful in the daytime. As I tossed last night I began to wonder if Amitriptyline was used for nerve pain and on the web today found that it used to be a drug of choice in the "old days" before gabapentin. Have any of you used Amitriptyline for nerve pain? Has it worked?

I found this article about Amitriptyline:**

Garpabentin gives some side effects, that can be very annoying, pain in throat, bad smell out of mouth, noseblood, dizzyness etc. In order to work against nerve damage, I was taking 900 mg. 3 times a day, in order to reduce my nerve pain.

(Noseblood can be caused from Diklofenak, witch I also have.)

Lyrica is what I can read me to, almost same medication, but in an improved version. That they managed to take out at least some of the side effects. But the drug cost a lot more, but I think it can be worth it.

Im on my way out of my use on Garbapentin and changing to Lyrica atm. And I can feel a big diffrence. My dizzyness are not as much as it was before, and I start to beeing able to think and concentrate a bit more than before, when i was taking Garbenpentin.

I have found Amitrypaline to be very helpful for pain, and nerve pain, and find it mentioned on more and more places I search for information on neuropathic pain. I find 25 mgs of Amitryptaline to be even better than taking 22.5 mgs of Oxycodone (1 and 1/2 of a 15 mg tablet). It does make me sleepy and I do use 50 mgs at bedtime for sleep and am finally getting 4-5 hours of sleep at a time, I'm up for an hour or so, then back to deep sleep for another 2 hours. Bliss! I haven't gained (or lost) any weight.

As far as Gabapentin, Cymbalta and Lyrica go - I see a pharmacist for Wellness Counseling. She is a homeopathic practitioner and also knows a great deal regarding herbs, and supplements. She tells me that these 3 meds, along with Savella now ,are prescribed mostly because they scramble the nerve pain signals, which I can see that they do, along with a lot of other brain signals. She said it is VERY important to only take 1 of these medications at a time. Gabapentin has been around for awhile and if you've been on it you will see just how it scrambles your brain. Cymbalta and Lyrica are equally as bad as side effects go - mostly because your brain doesn't know what to do with them, and the effects can be cumulative and quite horrible. I know your pain is out of control so it's a tough
decision of which to try. As long as price is not a factor I would suggest Cymbalta or Savella - only one at a time though! I hope you can get to where you can function better - life was not meant to be lived in bed!

You might check out this thread to learn a bit about lyrica... IMHO it should be banned the side effects I had were horrible and was on it 2 weeks one "it takes a week for your brain to adjust to it" and the other getting off it.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread122847.html

davelikesfish


quote your words

'The worst is not knowing what the hell is wrong with me or what causes it. I've had problems with depression, anxiety, chronic pain, stiffness and severe fatigue' end quote


well i understand what you said there dear friend.........my thoughts and empathy go out to you....

...Welcome to Neurotalk...i'm sorry for your ailments that brought you here though................

David

Hi there,
This is my first time at this site and I was in the process of checking out info on Lyrica when I found this site.
While I am not taking the Neurontin, I have been on Lryica for about 2 years. My pain mgmt. doc started me on 50mg twice a day and I noticed some dizziness and confusion in the morning.I was taking it later in the evening and and just before bed time. It did help me sleep, but left me feeling so out of it in the a.m. Doc said I would get used to it. He upped the dosage because of my severe neuropathic pain in my legs ( 75 mg twice a day). He wanted me to take it 3 times a day, but I just couldn't take it early in the day. Makes me to foggy to function. Had a car accident last Sept.and my back and leg pain went through the roof. Anyway, he has now upped the dose to 100 mg. x3 a day. I have tried taking 2a day and I feel so out of it , I can barely function and my depression id worse than ever.
I can certainly sympathize with your situation. It seems to be so difficult to find the right combination and still feel like a human being. I just don't think I can handle the higher dose, so I will probably talk to my doc about going back to 75 mg.
i hope things get better for you soon !
Hugs, Connie

I have fibermyalga. My dr put me on 225mg of Lyrica twice a day. I just received a certified letter today from my insurance company saying they are no longer paying for Lyrica. I have a script of Neurotin and my pharmacist says they are the same thing but Neurotin does not even come close to relieving my pain the way Lyrica does. Does anyone else know if they are truly the same drug????

My pharmacist told me that Gabapentin and Lyrica were the exact same ingredients...does anyone know if thats true?

Gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) are NOT the same ingredients. Lyrica was designed as a more potent successor to gabapentin. Check out the chemical compositions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregabalin

Gabapentin and Neurontin are the same, and
Pregabalin and Lyrica are the same,
generic and trade names, respectively.

HTH,

Doc