Pregabalin/Lyrica

Hi

I've been on this drug for 6 days. Despite my GP's fretting over how "horrible" this drug is, I haven't noticed a difference at all. I sleep a little easier through the night but apart from that, nothing. No side effects at least.

How long can it take to show some improvements in terms of pain and anxiety?

I'm currently taking 150mg a day, split into two doses.

Thanks
Andy

Thanks straydog, i suspected it could be a while. Im on nortriptyline and it was the same for that too.

Good to hear youre feeling a bit better Derwood. Ill be playing wow legion when its out in a few days so going to be doing some gamimg too :)

Andy1986 said...
Good to hear youre feeling a bit better Derwood. Ill be playing wow legion when its out in a few days so going to be doing some gamimg too :)

Hello Andy, my name is Mary and I am 30 years old. Sorry in advance for any english mistakes.

I have read many of your posts and I would like to have your opionion because I am dealing with the same Health conditions.

First of all I would like to ask you if your Lpr reflux began months after taking mirtazapine?

I was on remeron occasionally from 2012 till the beginning of this year. I have noticed that sometimes after taking remeron, I have excessive salivation in my sleep but I didn't pay much attention.

Unfortunately last May, after an ovarian surgery and after finishing a strong round of antibiotics, I am constantly experiencing reflux LPR symptoms on a daily basis. I have seen an improvement but I am not back to normal.

My manometry test was normal and so the barium test. My endoscopy showed mild antrum gastritis and a tiny hiatal hernia, in the barium test hiatal hernia has vanished. My phmetry results was normal de mester score and my impedance test showed multiple events of weakly acid reflux and a little bile.

As for the bile reflux I firmly believe that taking pantoprazole for one month ( June to July) caused this, because after taking ozepran I started experiencing constant cough, dyspnea and I was vomitting a green- yellowish liquid.

the strange thing is that my initial symptoms were only heartburn, a crazy sensation of lump in my throat and burping. Never cough, sinus problems or green liquid before taking pantoprazole. I stopped cold turkey the ozepran and it was quite difficult time as I had severe chest pain and rhinitis for first time in my life. So I have come to the conclusion that pantoprazole aggravated my reflux.

In August I did the impedance test which shows the above results ( multiple events of weakly reflux and a little bile) all of them in upright position. My doctor put me on riopan gel and a prokinetic drug an told me that PPIS are not for my case.

All this time I was wondering if antibiotics or remeron was the cause reflux for me? What do you believe?

I have read your posts about taking mirtazapine and that after taking antibiotics you had LPR symptoms....

I am waiting for your answer

Mary

Andy1986 said...
Hi Mary

My reflux was way before I started mirtazapine or any medicine so I can't blame them. Mirtazapine speeds up stomach emptying so should in theory help reflux. My heartburn got a lot better after I was put on nortriptyline but I have had a lot of other issues with pain in my chest and other areas since that cleared up. My Dr's think it is all from psychological illness and I've finally accepted that it's the case.

I've spoken to some people that had reflux and other such problems. A lot say the same thing, it happened at sometimes stressful times in their lives, but one day it just went away. So I continue to hope that'll happen with all my pains.

One thing that helped me after antibiotics was a probiotics call Culturelle. It's bacteria stick in the gut unlike others that simply pass through. So over time it builds up. I think the drugs themselves irritated my esophagus and made it more sensitive to things, and nortriptyline helped fix that.

One thing u can take for bile reflux is carafate. U could also try a low fat diet, that seems to help me.

Hope ur symptoms improve soon

Thank u a lot for your immediate answer. One last question did you have any impedance test? was it normal? I have only seen your post about your normal LES pressure according to manometry.

why your doctor correlates your symptoms with your depression and anxiety?

It is true that after surgery I had a lot of stress but my reflux started a week after finishing antibiotics, I am very depressed all this period...

Hi Andy,
What difference did you notice when you switched from mirtazapine to nortriptyline? I have functional dyspepsia and heartburn. The mirtazapine is mostly solving he FD but I still have heartburn during the day. I just took a pH test and suspect it'll show nothing. I think I have functional heartburn or hypersensitivity that comes with FD. I'm interested to see if nortriptyline is better to solve everything than mirtazapine.

Hi Andy,

I have read a lot of your post from the GERD forum as well as here. I feel like we have the same GI tract! For almost two years now I have been suffering from symptoms of major gastritis and GERD. I have had the burning/gnawing stomach, nausea and pain. My esophagus has been on fire and food gets stuck all the time. BUT EVERYtime I'm scoped (which has been three times, one just last month) they all come back saying everything looks beautiful. I have had biopsies done on my stomach which showed nothing (that was two years ago) and just recently (again last month) I had biopsies done on my esophagus because of my swallowing difficulties and those showed nothing too. I'm now experiencing lower left rib cage (or I guess stomach) dull pain. It seems to be pretty chronic and i usually feel it at least once a day but usually more. I have had this pain before when I thought I had gastritis but then Again my scopes always come back super clean. I'm to the point now where I think I have IBS of the upper abdominal area? I was just wondering what you finally did that got you into a better place? I'm also thinking my mind is what is making all these pains up, but it's so hard to ignore your body when it's in pain. Any help/suggestions or just encouragement would be great.

The mind-gut connection is real - in more ways than people often realize.

What we think and our emotional set-point has a direct influence on the gastrointestinal tract - its functionality, the secretion of digestive enzymes, motility and peristalsis, and the bacterial flora.

The GI tract is a long muscular tube that extends from the mouth to the anus. You have 15-20 feet of small intestine alone. 5-6 feet of large intestine/colon. And 6 inches of rectum + internal and external anal sphincters.

The act of swallowing is an intricately choreographed orchestration of muscles and the closing/opening of the epiglottis to protect the bronchus and air ways. We take for granted that we chew on a slice of pizza and swallow it without negative effect. If you ever have the chance to observe a barium swallow study (look on You-Tube if you are interested) do so . . . it is a marvel to bestow. The microsecond timing of the jaw and muscles of mastication that take each bite and forum a food bolus, moving the bolus to the back of the throat, that triggers the automatic reflexes that enable us to swallow. Amazing.

Add in the specialized secretion of digestive enzymes starting in the stomach and which continue through the small intestine. The metabolism of food and the uptake of its nutrients is nothing short of a mesmerizing.

The muscular layer of the small intestine and large intestine have embedded small motor nuclei that enable the digestive tract to retain motility even when there is damage to the vagus/vagal nerve bundles. It is like a back-up generator service.

But these independent motor nuclei can have unforeseen effects that can result in symptomatolgy of irritable bowel syndrome and gastric reflux. These motor nuclei have receptors for the hormones norepinephrine and adrenaline, among others. An increase in one's perceived level of stress will trigger the adrenal glands to produce cortisol and for the hypothalamus to secrete activating hormones adrenaline and norepinephrine. The circulating stress hormones act directly on the receptor sites of the embedded motor nuclei - the result is increased propulsion and motility of the GI tract, which can be both upward in direction (nausea/vomiting, gastric reflux) or downward in direction (diarrhea, strong muscular spasms, bloating).

Your emotional state and perceived level of stress will affect your GI tract and its functional response.

Physicians, and patients, often get too focused on scans, x-rays, and endoscopies in the quest to uncover a definitive cause of GI distress. GI distress is usually less physical or anatomical in causation but rather more physiological or in how the GI tract functions. Problems with the functionality or motility of the GI tract will not be seen in scans, x-rays, or endoscopies. People can become discouraged with an imaging test or endoscopy is otherwise "normal/within range" and yet they continue to experience distressing symptoms. People begin to feel like their distress is "all in their heads" without an organic cause.

Which is simply unfounded. GI tract distress is real and it usually has an underlying foundation of physiological dysfunction. That is, the working of the GI tract, how it works and how it functions, is at disarray.

That IBS is "all in your head" does have a truthful component in that our psychological well-being (or lack of) has a direct influence on the functionality of the GI tract. But it is not an "all in your head" origin that can be quickly wished away with positive thinking, optimism, or happy thoughts. It is now quite that easy.

The take away message: Take care of your psychological and emotional well being as a means of assisting your physical body to be the best that it can be. Stress management is an important aspect of GI well-being. Progressive relaxation techniques, rhythmical breathing, regular physical exercise (walking, swimming, yoga, whatever interests you), reading of affirmations, diversion techniques - all can be helpful tools.

As a physical therapist, I actually worked for a large gastroenterology physician practice. The role of the physical therapists was to provide classes on active stress management using exercise and stretching and body-on-body work (massage, crania-sacral release, soft tissue mobilization) to ease individuals with a wide range of GI disorders. For most people, there was positive benefit to be found. The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind.
- Karen -

It could be that. The problem I've found is the pain being psychological doesn't really help, because just being cheery or distracting yourself doesn't make it go away. The pain is real, and it there whether ur happy or sad.

For stomach pain I'd try cabbage juice. It really helped me and it's been show to heal stomach ulcers in only 3 days. Gastritis can come and go but it shouldn't cause u so much pain. Most people don't feel anything from gastritis. If your scope is clear that's good that there's nothing wrong, but I know how disheartening it is to not find an answer. It's scary to think that you're in pain with no cause because there's nothing to fix and you see no end in sight.