[carolynpolack]

carolynpolack
Hi anyone and everyone,
I am a new user to Lyrica and would really appreciate any sharers to my questions about: does it get into your system quickly sometimes? Maybe it's a psychological effect that I feel less nerve pain after 4 doses of 50mg. Also, if you have a really good metabolism and work out regularly, will it counteract the common side effect of weight gain? Do some people in general NOT gain weight on it?
Oh, a little history. I have osteoarthritis and multi level degenerative disc disease throughout my neck, with nerve compression in and around the area that had gotten much worse and more wide spread in the last months. Not a classic fibro patient, but found out from MD that the nerves could definitely be way out of control, causing much pain, and needed to be calmed down. Suggested Lyrica - after Cymbalta. (taking both)
All the best, and glad to be a part of all this. Please advise/share!

Carolyn

[azoyizes]

Hi Carolyn, and welcome to NT!

I can't help you regarding Lyrica, but maybe I can point you to the right direction.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum72.html

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

[Trishann]

Carolyn I noticed for myself that Lycia at times makes me sleepy. If I am out and doing something active, some of the time I can fight it. But if I have to sit, read on computer, things like that, it seems harder to fight.

I personally think being active helps better with it, as long as you don't overdue it.

Trish

[Hockey]

Hi Carolyn and welcome to NT!

In July another member called Bassman, started a thread called "New Lyrica User." You might want to read through that as it garnered quite a few responses.

I was on Lyrica for over a year and I have nothing good to say about it. Of course, I was taking it to control a different sort of pain, so it might work out great for you. If some people didn't like it, it's hard to imagine they would be selling so much of it.

Anyway, Lyrica left my mouth was so dry I had to dust my tongue. It made me foggy and my "sleep" was more like a dreamless coma from which I couldn't be roused from easily. And weight gain....I think there's a cheese cake in every pill. I don't know about my metabolism, but before Lyrica I had always been trim.

However, the worst part of taking Lyrica was stopping taking Lyrica. It's addictive (but not habit forming) and you have to wean off slowly or face unspeakable pain and possible seizures.

And, of yeah, it didn't do as good a job at controlling my symptoms as the older drug I take now.

Good Luck

[(Broken Wings)]

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/member.php?u=2455

Welcome

Glad you're asking about Lyrica. I took Neurontin. It helped my symptoms but caused a lot of side effects that were hard to deal with. There's always a trade.

Here is Bassman's profile.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/member.php?u=2455

Keep asking questions...

[NurseNancy]

hi carolyn,

welcome. i've been on lyrica for some time after getting more pain on neurontin. the past few months my neuropathic pain has been very bad.
my pain doc suggested doing 300mg twice a day instead of 150mg 4 times a day. and, miraculously it worked. my pain has been cut by 50%, maybe more.

i hope it works for you. it may take a month or so to get your blood levels up for you to start seeing a difference. i hope it helps.

[pdonnenfeld@hotmail]

I'd love to share my story. I have chemo-induced PN and have been on Lyrica since July'08. I was originally prescribed 375mg per day which I did do for a couple of weeks but it gave me such a cloudy head in the afternoon and made me sleep like a dead person at night. And I did gain weight. I had already put on a few pounds from my colon cancer surgery, but then I started putting on weight with the Lyrica. The doctor was useless when I asked him about it so I started reducing the dosage to see if I could manage the pain and my weight at the same time. In total I put on 15 additional pounds from the Lyrica. I am down to 75mg per day which takes the edge off of the PN and I joined a gym in April to try to counteract the weight gain. I have managed to not gain any more weight and 2 weeks ago started Nutrisystem so I am down 5 pounds. My goal is to get rid of the Lyrica weight if I can. Your dosage is minimal and you are working out already, you should be able to battle the weight gain issue. Best of luck to you, Pearl

[supermoo]

Hi My doctor tried me on Lyrica for TN But because I have problems tollerating drugs at times stated me on 25mg slowely got up to 75mg no help to pain My fluid retenion got worse and my breathing as well. So stopped now want me to start Tegratol except gp has swapped it for a generic brand. (whats new) I am a little scared. xx