Lyrica

It made me have thoughts of suicide. And Cymbalta made me walk around like a drunk for a week. I'm on gabapentin now, only 300 per day. It's helping with my nerve pain in my leg.

  I tried it a few years ago.It did help with the pain, but I gain a huge amount of weight in just a couple weeks. I take gabapintin now and have for a few years. It doesn't seem to have bad side affects and helps, but not as much as Lyrica. Have you tried Savella? I'm thinking of that next.

Unfortunately, Lyrica caused stomach upset and I couldn't continue on it. I guess we're all different. I seem okay with Neurontin (gabapentin) and Flexeril, though I prefer not taking any prescribed meds at all and would prefer malic acid/magnesium, vitamin D, and such. There is more info on those at Fibro 101.

Best wishes!

Lyrica helped to control my pain very well, but I went off of it because it was making me gain weight (which I def. don't need to do). The withdrawals to this med are horrible for many people. My pain going off the med was much worse than what it was before I started taking it. This lasted for about 3 mos.

I'm going to try MTX injections. I've never done that before. The pills give me headaches and severe nausia and vomiting. Wish me luck!

Hi!

I am new here, but have had fibro for 12 years, so 2001 was when the symptoms started. I went to a barrage of dr.s, and would just go to the ER or urgent care when I was doubled over in pain for a shot of morphine in my behind. GREAT pain management, Right??? I finally found a Dr. after all of that who decided that since I had been in pain for a full year that he would prescribe me ultracet, even though I was still clueless about the cause of the pain.

Interstitial Cystitis, IBS, pulled muscles, arthritis, lupus, lime disease, cancer etc.... It is the weird thing to be told "you MIGHT have..." What do you mean MIGHT or MAYBE? Are we just guessing and throwing out names of random conditions? Seriously people, seriously?!!

OK... please excuse my tirade, back to medications I have taken for fibro. Then I moved from the remote area where I lived to the DC area and got out of the small town scene of dr. In 2006, other conditions were eliminated, and I was diagnosed with fibro. I couldn't afford the cymbalta for a year, but knew it was out there. Finally, my insurance started covering the prescription. I was on cymbalta from the end of 2006-2011. I was doing alright. I could go to work. A little fatigued after really bad flare ups, but all and all it was ok. But then...(of course there is a "but, then" or I would be able to say why I am on lyrica now)...I got into a car accident. My new doctor upped the cymbalta, because I was in more pain.

That is when my symptoms went haywire. I was seeing a light out of the right side of my vision and had a migraine for 4.5 wks that made me so sensitive to light that I was wearing sunglasses most of the time...even when I was driving at night because the lights from oncoming traffic felt like they were shooting straight through my head...(gotta looooove that commute in rush hour traffic.) On top of that, my mental clarity was horrible. I was embarrassed that I couldn't remember common words sometimes several in one sentence. The day I was writing a check out and had to write it a third time because I couldn't write the words I was thinking of is when I decided to go off Cymbalta. That was brutally painful, so after a month and a half I tried Savella.

Savella, dear, savella, thank you so much for the worst anxiety of my life. I would start sweating at the grocery store….”There are SO many people!!! I have to get out of here before my heart beats right out of my chest!” I have NEVER even cared or noticed other people while shopping except to find the shortest line or if it was someone I knew. I ended up going on Zoloft just to counteract the ridiculous fear of Everything. In addition to developing anxiety, there were the shutters and muscle twitches in the evening as the medication was wearing off. I think I earned a lot of “cool points” in the evening while I was in public. I think people might have wondered, “So, do you think that lady has untreated tourette syndrome?”

After getting sick of those side effects, I went to a pain dr. in DC. The insurance wouldn’t cover lyrica even though I felt much better on the samples, so I tried gabapentin. Man, was I ever goofed up loopy on that! “You’re sooo purdy! I love you! Hey, what was you name again?” It’s nice to be friendly and all, but I was opting with being able to drive to work and actually perform my duties on the meds treating my fibro. After showing I tried gabapentin without success, my insurance company was willing to cover lyrica. Along with shots in my spine and going to a chiro and pt who use ART and Graston muscle release techniques, it has worked out pretty well. I also stumbled upon adderall helping my fibro after taking it in desperation for my ADHD while working fulltime and going to school fulltime last summer. I could actually exercise…like I got better blood flow from the stimulant…and finish that dang chapter in my test book too. ☺ My one whine is the dry mouth. I have to carry water around constantly. No wait, one more whine! The lyrica cannot prevent the flare ups I have been having with this nasty cold winter we have been having in VA. It is driving freaking nuts. The second I feel the cold, my spinal column gets angry, but weather whining needs to be a new post. ☺

Thanks for reading my book! (It is really hard to be succinct on a muscle relaxer…or if you are me in general.)

Go for it! As long as you have a support system around you, you might as well try it. If it isn't working then you can try something new.

to: keep going......we also have a lot in common. ADD, anxiety, you name it! The dry mouth is ridiculous. I use a mouthwash for dry mouth in a sprayer for quick results.

I take gabapentin and it doesn't really work for me. I really want to try something else, but I'm scared to change meds again. I've heard horror stories and good things too about the meds my doctor has given me the option of taking. The things that worry me are the horror stories and the possibility of weight gain. I am trying to lose weight right now, my doctor wants me to too, taking something that will make me gain weight isn't an option. The gabapentin I know doesn't make me gain.

I heard really good things about Savella, and it's the one that I would be willing to try right now. When I asked my doctor about it she said she has never heard of it... I kind of deflated when she said that. I want to change meds I don't like how I feel on gabapentin, and the one med I want to try she knows nothing about. Sigh.