Hi Neurotalk friends,

I am taking 3600 mg of gabapentin. It deals with most of my discomfort, but it makes me very sleepy.

I understand that Lyrica has many of the same side effects, but is more effective. So I wonder if I could try it Lyrica at a lower equivalent dose and thereby reduce my sleepiness?

This is the study I read that describes the increase in effectiveness, Lyrica over Gabapentin.

The authors concluded that the analgesic effect of pregabalin was about 6 times that of gabapentin.11

http://www.pharmacytimes.com/contrib...rom-pregabalin

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments, and experience.

Hugs, ElaineD

Well coming off drugs you'll know is pretty hard sometimes and your on a high dose already, the thing is you don't know that lyrica won't cause more adverse effects or the same level of sleepiness. I think they say the side effects are supposed to be less with lyrica, but some people find the opposite. I'm going to resist coming off my current meds because it will probably send my neuropathic pain spiralling downhill. It was improving steadily before a bad reaction to a medication 9 months ago, I'm hoping it will start doing it again. I'm on lyrica because I went privately to get it instead of gabapentin, so I've never taken gabapentin. I find it a breeze, but I'm on fairly low dose 200mg per day. Depends how much the sleepiness is bothering you I guess, I work a intensive job so I can't go up that high.

Just as I told you on Sjogren's World, Lyrica caused me (and many others who have said the same thing on forums) to be a Zombie. The sleepiness and dopey feeling was that bad! I also found it didn't help as much as the Neurontin had (but I maxed out on the dose).

Keep in mind that it will take you a LONG time to come off that high of a dose of Neurontin before you can start the Lyrica...which will mean increased pain during this process. I understand why you want to try something different, but it's going to be a difficult process no matter what you end up trying.

Have you had the sleepiness the entire time you've taken Neurontin, or just at the highest dose? If only recently at higher dose, then maybe you can bump it down to where you didn't have the side-effects...and see if you can tolerate your pain at this level again.

Yeah I agree, it seems best to decrease what your already on a bit if that works for you. I'd prefer sleepiness to loads of pain and uncertainty.