Insomnia after coming off Lyrica (pregabalin)
 

Hi I was only on Lyrica for 10 days at 150mg then stopped without tapering. I was fine for the first 3 days after I cam e off it but have gradually stopped becoming able to sleep. Its been 10 days now since I stopped and have slept 2 hours a night for the past 4 days. This is the only withdrawal symptom I am experiencing and don't feel all that tired. But I'm worried the damage that is being done and if ill ever actually recover from this.

I surprised at the lasting negative effect from taking it for such a short period of time. Can anybody give ms some advice? Should I start it again and the taper off or should I wait longer? Its just I've seen people on this thread say its taken months to recover. Is the withdrawal time related to the amount of time on the drug? Any help would be really appreciated as I am really getting scared. Thanks.

Response on other thread.

Doc

Hi Mathew,
I am surprised also because 10 days is a very short time on a relatively low dose.

I was on Lyrica for several yrs at 100-125 mg per day. I stopped this past November with a very slow taper but after 2.5 months had to go back on it because a previous problem of complex partial seizures came back rather aggressively. Honestly, Lyrica has helped me with my neuropathy but, I have found it to be a bizarre drug to taper off. I will be seeing a neurologist to figure out what happened as I had not had these seizures in decades. My pain doc wants to see if it is related to the Lyrica withdrawal.

I also had insomnia, jittery/anxiety, loss of appetite, headaches,and just felt very trippy like I had been doing hallucinogens(sp?).

Have you taken anything to help you sleep? My suggestion is to take something to help sleep, like Ambien or a tranquilizer like Lorazepam for a brief period to get some sleep. Or if you don't want to take prescription sleep meds take chamomile tea and a hot shower before bed. Or get to a local health food store that sells supplements and ask for advice on what supplement they recommend for sleep.

If it were me, I would not go back on, just to taper off. What advice is your doc giving you? When my doc gave me Lyrica the first time he said I may feel dizzy and that I should not drive for 1-2 weeks until I was feeling acclimated to the drug.
I hope you get some sleep soon, Diandra