I finally saw my neuro today, who diagonised me with RSD in my ankle last year. After some physical therapy it was decided I was ready to undergo ankle reconstruction surgery. This happened in October. SInce then my surgon has been concern that my RSD might come back. Good news is my neuro doesn't feel my RSD is an issue right now, but I do have underlaying pain. He is going to start me on Lyrica 75 mg twice a day. I haven't had much time to research this drug, but the little I have done it seems to work wonders on many people. Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with this drug that they can share with me? Thx all

I took it for over a year and didn't have any problems. The only side effects I dealt with was some lightheadedness/dizziness for 4-5 days when I first started taking it. Then when I increased the dose dealt with very little of the aforementioned side effect for 2-3 days. It made me really tired and I got some good sleep for 2 nights out of it.

A side effect for a lot of people is weight gain. I didn't gain an ounce even but I'm very weird anyway. When I can't be active I lose weight and am now severely underweight!

It took away the electrical zaps and night sweats. It temporarily helped the numbness in my legs but in the end only made it worse. Not sure why other than maybe it's the way my body processes meds. It's the reason I don't take it anymore. I had gotten up to 150mg a day. The numbness in my legs was way worse than it was when I started it and that is the reason I took it to begin with.

Some people say it really helps with any burning as well. Hope it helps you, keep us updated on how it goes.

Hugs,

Karen

I was recently put on Lyrica. At first it was only 50 mg. But because the nerve blocks are not working to the doctor's delite he uped the dosage to 100 mg. I also had the lightheadedness/dizzyness for the first week of taking them. I still get extremely tired when I take them. Like this morning I took one at 7 am got my son on the school bus came home and passed out for a few hours woke up repeat til 2 pm. I couldn't stay awake for the life of me. I was just drained.

My Pain Management Doctor prescribed me Lyrica when I was first diagnosed with RSD and it didn't really help me that much. It took the tingling pain away that I was getting and some of the "electrical zaps" but I think that was about it really.

I was on it for about 3 months but then started noticing that I was gaining a lot of weight! I put about 30lb on whilst on the Lyrica which isn't very good for anyone, especially at that time, a 12 year old!!! I was also VERY tired and felt really dizzy and would fall asleep all the time! Eventually my Doctor decided that seeing as it wasn't helping me that much, it was probably best if I come off it altogether.

I had an horrible time coming off the med!! I had severe withdrawal symptoms and was evil to everyone for a few weeks!! I would scream and cry at everything and if my mum said anything, I would flip and shout and hit her. I remember once my mum took me to the hospital for PT and I didn't want to go as I was in so much pain so all the way there, I was hitting her whilst she was driving. I hate now that I did that to my mum and it makes me want to be sick but at that time, I couldn't control it at all ... it was like having a severe case of PMS!!!

I think my Doctor took me off the Lyrica too soon as he really wanted it out of my system and that was probably why I had such bad withdrawal symptoms from it. He did warn me beforehand though that there are some withdrawal symptoms whilst coming off it but I don't think we ever thought it would happen to me or that it would be that bad!!

Take care and I really hope that it helps you! If you have any questions, please let me know - I am more than happy to help you if I can!! Please keep us updated as to how you get on!!

Lyrica is a newer, improved version of Neurontin. Another drug used is Topamax. I tried both Lyrica and Neurontin and like Topamax better. Lyrica made me really nuts (I was having outbursts when I was taking it, similar to Ali's when she when was going off of it). I gained weight on Neurontin and was tired a lot. For me, Topamax has caused fewer side effects. Everyone is different.

The best of luck to you.

Sandy

I was dx'd with CRPS a couple of months ago and also have MS. My neuro wanted me to try Lyrica for the neuropathic pain. All I can say is WOW! what a wild ride. And NO THANKS! My comment to the Physiatrist who is treating me for the CRPS when he asked about Lyrica was it's the best hallucinagenic drug I've ever been on!

Everyone has different reactions to medications. I will be the first to admit that I am usually in that <3% range with adverse reactions!

I also tried Neurontin and can only take 300 mg a day without feeling drugged up.

Talk to your pharmacist about side effects or go online and read the package insert.

Lyrica really helped me. But made me gain wait and sleep forever! I then tried Topomax that worked great. I lost weight, started to wake up and then when we increased the dose to two pills a night, I could no longer drive a car the next day. I felt drunk and had blurry vision. I have a 4 & 6 year old. So I had to stop and go back.

Lyrica made me gain weight too and I felt like I was going to go jump off the Lions Gate Bridge, seriously. Not a good medication for me but we are all different. I cut my losses quickly and didn't stay on it for very long because of the serious depression it caused.

MsL

Lyrica didn't help me. I felt I wasn't taking anything at all. I do better on topomax. I also have taken nueronitin but had the weight gain on it. And after awhile it became ineffective. I hope it works for you everyone is so different. There have been people that have done really well on it.

Lyrica helped me alot at first but I found that I started having bad episodes of depression and even day dreams of dying terrible deaths.. it was awful.. I got so morbid and depressed. I finaly researched all of my meds and found that lyrica can cause suicidal behavior.

The dreams and visions,feelings and emotions were so real it was like I was a diffrent person, the way I felt.. like there was nothing left to live for, when in reality I Know I have so much and love in my life, thank goodness I have a good suport system that went on alert.. it was a very bad time in my life.

When I went off the lyrica I went off slowly and the worst of the depression also went away, I no longer get those visions of terible things happening.. I still get depressed, but nothing like the dark cloud that had me thinking there was no hope, I am no longer a danger to myself.

I would sugest that you research any medicine that your doctor puts you on so that you are aware of any possible symptoms as they come along, before they become a major problem.
Lyrica is suposed to come with a suicide warning but my doctor was unaware of it.

Good luck and be well,
Sandra