Pregabalin PAWS - Has Anyone Healed?
 

Hi,

I joined this forum due to the thread :"Lyrica Withdrawal - How Long Will This Last?" however I've noticed that many of the responses are from years back. Some of the members who have been updating on their healing process usually stopped once they updated a few times. Some even got up to a year and a half.

Some have reported feeling better but not fully recovered, some reported feeling the same (bad feeling but it could be worse).

I feel absolutely miserable knowing I'm responsible for messing up a really good life. I never was suicidal, and I know that's not even an option... but I wish I could restart the last bit of last year. I would do everything NOT to go to the psychiatrist. I realized I never needed an anti-depressant. I've been through so much worse in my life and I always recovered. This?

I've received a prescription for Pregabalin for 75mg, 2x a day. Then raise it to 4x per day (2 at night and 2 in the morning) for GAD. Around the 1 week point is where I noticed a LOT of side effects, much more so than the first few days. I began tapering around the 2 week mark as I understood it could be even worse with the lowered seizure threshold had I immediately gone cold-turkey.

It took 2 weeks to taper, and in total I spent just over a little of 1 month on it. Around 60-70 75 mg pills ingested. And those ruined my life. I now have passed the acute withdrawal stage, where I don't have much physical symptoms anymore but most of it mental. I have constant ringing in my ears, I have worse vision with visual disturbances (floaters, visual snow, light sensitivity, etc.), I have obsessive and intrusive thoughts of which I've never had a problem like this prior to taking Pregabalin, massive daily anxiety (way worse than I've ever had), my depersonalization (for which I originally took Pregabalin for) is daily now whereas before it was only a few hours. I feel constantly in and out of dp/dr, like a dream-like state.

I'm much less paranoid now, and I feel noticably better than I did last month... but I thought it'd be over by now. It's been 2 months since I've been off Pregabalin.

Has anyone made a full recovery? Or at least partial? How are you guys doing who are 6, 12, 18, 24 months past Pregabalin? I understand I fall in the rare category, as I took it much less and a lower dose than some people report and yet my body took a massive toll.

I can't work, I can't study. I've lost a lot of my dreams and goals. The major thing pushing me forward to live is to be there for my girlfriend. My family and her are perfect. She's there for me as much as she can, especially now when I'm in my weakened state, and I had a lot of long-term plans with her (kids, moving in, etc.).

I don't want to take any SSRIs as I'm scared of furthering my side effects, especially with tinnitus. But if this persists for months more, I may be forced to.

Thank you.

Mr Avi. I'm a subscriber of yours on YT. I'm having the same problem. Lyrica has ruined my life. Like you, I didn't even take that much of it and not even every day but I'm having the same brutal withdrawal that makes every second unbearable. I know the pain you're going through. I'm determined to beat this monster. I don't know how long it will take us to recover fully, but every day is a victory. It's hard to do anything to help yourself when you are barely able to feed yourself, wash or leave the house. Lyrica is an epidemic where I'm from in the UK/Ireland. I know many people who were given it for anxiety and can't get off it. I feel for these people but I'm thankful I didn't take as much as the doctor told me because I would be in even worse trouble and maybe even dead. Let me know if you find anything that helps with the withdrawal. I'm taking cbd, kratom, magnesium and a host of other legal supplements. I'm scared to take anything pharmaceutical for fear of digging the hole deeper but I take a diazepam or xanax if things get really bad. How aew you feeling now man? Hope you're doing better and don't give up.

Take care,

Tristan.

I took Pregabalin December 19th at night, that's when this all started. A few days before NYE the side effects started big time and it went downhill from there.

My tinnitus started I believe January 1st or possibly December 31st and stayed, I'm not sure when visual snow started.. maybe later. But dp/dr, anxiety, paranoia, all of that started a few days before alongside the night sweats and nightmares and suicidal ideation.

It's now August 11th, so 235 days since I started this journey. Quickly approaching an anniversary :mad: and 222 days since tinnitus started. And 200 days free from Pregabalin...

So 8 months later and how am I? I have better days and bad days. But I still feel sick. I haven't worked in a long time, I barely do anything anymore and am angry a lot of the times. Sometimes I just can't control my frustration at my ringing ears or that I have trouble falling asleep. I can't rest, it's extremely exhausting. I'm going to have to move back in with my family next month as I'm pretty much disabled thanks to my 1 month experience with Pregabalin. I'm still shocked at how much listening to a doctor could ruin.

My memory is still pretty ****ed up. I am majorly depressed. I depersonalize often and sometimes forget which language I'm speaking in, or looking back at my old videos I wonder who that is that's speaking. It feels like I'd be stuck between life and death, a purgatory of sorts.

I think part of the reason I'm still feeling this way is because of permanent damage and I have symptoms with no cure in sight. If there would be a tinnitus cure, I'd probably feel way better. I'm sure visual snow and tinnitus one day will have better treatments, but for now it's hell.