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Lyrica experience

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Posted 7/19/2010 2:23 AM (GMT 0)
I just started 3 days ago at 75mg twice a day. Have had fibro for 20 years along with CFS. Have had flares of leg, hip, knee pain since beginning of year. I finally decided to try lyrica. I know it may take a week or so to see a difference. Just wanted to hear from others who are currently taking it or have taken  it in the past. I did notice some drowiness the last few days which I understand can happen. I also take lots of other meds so could be a interaction.

Thanks,

Tru

Posted 7/19/2010 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
Hey trublu -

I have been on Savella and all the other meds we all try for awhile now, still having issues with sleeping at night and just waking up in pain and so 3 weeks ago my doctor added the Lyrica to the mix. I will tell you that I have been tired more than usual every day, but I can also tell you that I am feeling the pain at a duller level and have had my 1st full nights sleep in years. I literally have had about 3, mabe 4 hours of sleep a night for the last 10 years and in the past week I have been waking up once or twice a night and am able to get back to sleep fairly quickly. My doctor told me that the Lyrica would make me tired, didn't think it would be all day all the time.

I'm not the expert on the subject but that's what I have experienced.

Good luck
Posted 7/19/2010 4:50 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tru!!

And it's a pleasure to meet you. I took lyrica for all of a day or was it two, and the side effects were too much for me. Anything that messes with my head or mental faculties is very hard for me to take. But there are a lot of members who are on or who have tried lyrica with mixed results. They'll be along to share they stories.

A couple of things I have read in research papers on this medications is that it seems to be an all or nothing type of thing...it either works fairly well or not at all, no in between. And another thing I learned was that lyrica and cymbalta both seem to have an effective life of about 2 years. At that point most of the participants in research studies lost the pain relieving qualities of the medication. Please remember that these are statistics and not you nor me. But they are good pieces of information to file away in the 'fog'...lol

I do hope this works wonderfully for you!
Chutz
Posted 7/19/2010 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
It worked well for me, just had to increase the dosage more and more over the year I took it. I felt alot better, but decided to stop it instead of upping it again because of the weight gain I experienced with it. It was a booger to get off of, but the weight went down fairly quickly. I am thinking about trying Savella, maybe i'll ask the pain doc next appt.
Posted 7/20/2010 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
Lyrica has really helped my sleep as well. I gained about 30 pounds, but I'm still on it because of the sleep benefits. I was up to a high dosage, but I went back down and only take 100 mg. now. It took a couple of weeks for the side effects to wear off.
Posted 7/21/2010 7:50 PM (GMT 0)

Lyrica scares me.  I think I might be 'allergic' to these type of brain rewiring drugs. I took it for 3 days & had to stop because I got 'brain zaps'.  I don't know the technical term, but they feel like little bolts of lightning in my head.  I made me think of those electric bug zappers.  Zap, zap.  It was awful.  I had a similar reaction to Paxil years ago, but it didn't start until I'd been on the Paxil for a few months.  On day 2 the 'brain zaps' began with the Lyrica.  Even if it had completely eradicated my pain, I would have stopped taking it.  No more for me!  

Posted 7/21/2010 11:29 PM (GMT 0)
Lyrica - I remember trying that after a lot of pressure from people who had seen the ads, this was 2 years ago. I didn't want to try it - new drugs are scary and I know the FDA approves meds that they really should not approve (and the drug companies are not all up front about potential risks).
At first it made me drunk and clutzy but did relieve pain - I could deal with this med. Then it made me act bold - said things to people I would usually keep to myself! Got me in trouble a couple of times. My ex-husband blamed the Lyrica for our divorce!
I did like taking it, even with the side effects, but it suddenly stopped helping with pain after only 4 months. So I stopped taking it.
I am another like Dotcom...most meds that mess with brain chemicals are just too much for me. After just one bedtime dose of Celexa I could not remember how to make coffee in the morning and had a lot of trouble with balance. Suffering from depression on top of fibro I have tried all three classes of anti-depressants and cannot deal with the confusion and mind-altering side effects that are NEVER mentioned in the side effect list that comes with the meds! Maybe it's just me. I can tolerate opiods and benzodiazapines fine, I take them and Soma, and an extremely low dose of gabapentin (200mg/day). Cannot tolerate the mind-freaks with any higher dosee of gabapentin. My son takes it as a mood stabilizer at 900mg per day and he has no problem, so again, I think I just am very sensitive to a lot of meds. Sorry, got rambling (avoiding the dishes in the sink!)

Lyrica is worth a try for anyone who has not tried it (and is not taking any meds to contraindicate it's usage). Everyone seems to have a different experience from what I have been reading over the past couple of years. We take what works for as long as it works always hoping for a real breakthrough.
Good luck trublu!
Rose
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