Lyrica (Pregabalin)

FidgetBoy · Post by **FidgetBoy** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:52 pm

ok-last night was my first night on Lyrica and this stuff is STRONG. I am still hungover. I took the lowest dose possible, and to be honest, since I am on 1200 mg of Neurontin, I thought that 50 mg wouldn't make a dent in my legs. I cut back on my neurontin, popped a 50 mg at 10 pm and at 11pm I couldn't get up from my computer due to the room spinning! I went to bed but had the bed-spins so bad... and the stupid things come in capsule form... I think I will dump out half the capsule and try it again tonight. The good news? My legs have never felt better- and maybe I might be able to cut back on my narcotics if I can ever stop the room from spinning. :roll:

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:00 pm

Wow, that is great news - in a way. . . The spinning part is not high on my list of things to experience, however. The last time was many, many years ago and involved Canadian Club, some contest, other dumb teenagers, and a toilet. :shock:

But, that it was that effective is too cool. I hope it works as well for others.

Speaking of drugs that really make a difference, there have been two or three people of the last two years who have had incredible results with Xyrem. Here is one of the posts http://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?t=1526

I haven't had much neuropathy and hadn't given Lyrica a thought (the antiseizures have all been so strong and I had a perpetual hangover on Neuronin for two months), but the Xyrem sounds interesting.

rfishburn · Post by **rfishburn** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:32 pm

The side effects have subsided for me and sleep is much much better, Hang in the fidget boy. I had heard of xyrem, which is GHB, I used that while weight lifting in the early 90's and never slept better..well till it was banned. By the way I have been posting under guest rfish1966 since my old id went inactive and not sure what user id or e-mail address it was under.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:09 am

Randy, it was probably me who accidentally killed your old ID. I just went to find it and it's not here anymore. We have had hundreds of spammer addresses. A few weeks ago I located them all and deleted them. I remember that there were a lot in the R's. Yours must have been in a bunch and I overzealously deleted it. My apologies. I'm glad you just re-registered and didn't take it personally!

pam47 · Post by **pam47** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:45 am

I am brand new to the foundation and to the boards. I have been on Sinemet for a number of years, but it is beginning to stop working. So my dr. has prescribed Lyrica at night (100 mg). I have tried it two nights and have been unable to get to sleep. My RLS was totally unaffected.
My 89 yr. old mother had just had surgery and I was at her home and really needed to sleep. A horror.

Given that I am new to this message board, I have so many questions. My RLS has gotten progressively worse as the years go by--meaning more frequent, starting earlier in the day, getting harder to control with the Sinemet. I have no other conditions in addition to the RLS.

Any suggestions about diet--for example, is caffeine a contributor? smoking? I was taking Zoloft for depression/life stresses and weaned myself off it when I read that it could aggravate RLS, but I have seen no improvement. Also took Ambien for a while, until insurance refused to allow my prescriptions.

I'd be grateful for any comments/suggestions. I'm 59, still working and trying to find the best way to handle this condition.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:01 am

Hi Pam,

Sorry you had to find us, and more sorry that the RLS is progressing. It does for many of us, though some people are lucky and it doesn't.

My suggestion is to start reading posts. The "sticky" posts in the New to RLS section are a great place to start. In the one about managing RLS, you will find information on diet, drugs to avoid, and lifestyle changes. There are many options.

There is also information in the Pharma sticky that may or may not help you at this time.

Once you start reading posts, you'll notice that there are NO drugs that work equally well for all of us. While Lyrica may be the best thing Josh has tried, it may not work at all for you. It's one of the hardest parts - finding what works.

Welcome to our community.

rfishburn · Post by **rfishburn** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:07 pm

Ann-
I did not take it personally, glad to be back.

P.S. Even though I have been sleeping thru the night, the first time I did get up while on the lyrica, tripped on the fireplace and woke up with a purple foot(no clue till morning), going pretty soon for and x-ray....

walkindafloors · Post by **walkindafloors** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:37 am

I've been noticing some of the times of the posts and realize how unusual it must be for any of us to sleep thru the nite - glad the Lyrica has done that for you Randy! I am still getting up 1-2 hours at a time each night on Lyrica, having now increased to taking 100 mg. tid. It doesn't make me sleepy to the point of non-functioning, and really calms my legs down completely (for about 3 hours per 100 mg. dose) so the trade off thus far has been worth it. My doc wanted me to try 200 mg. at bed time so did that on Friday and was still foggy with difficulty motivating as normal until afternoon on Saturday...back to 100 mg. at bedtime! Luckily it did not bring on the dizziness rfish experienced (good thing cause I tend to fall into the "dizzy blonde" catagory even though the blonde is mixed with grey now!). Just continues to prove that nothing works well for everyone unfortunately. I got on here tonight (standing up as I type due to the RLS waking me with my legs in a jerk) to see if any of you have advice for avoiding the waking up from a short but deep sleep with your legs almost like stretched rubber bands - it's not so much "pain" as it is the need to just jerk and kick them to get the tension out. Sometimes both legs being effected and other times one or the other - no rhyme or reason to this. ~Kim

walkindafloors · Post by **walkindafloors** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:45 am

me again...just noticed after posting my "time" said 6:47 am but it is really 2:38 am here. Is this my "dizzy blonde" feature or are the posting times incorrect

Sure hope your foot is only bruised, Randy! Ambien gave me similar results! Everytime after taking the full 10 mgs, my husband & kids would tell me stories of things I'd done after taking my meds that I hadn't a clue remembering and it was crazy! Once they said I rode the clothes basket down the steps! Now I've vowed to never take more than 5 mgs. of Ambien at a time. Live and learn!

Walking After Midnight · Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:40 am

Thought I'd post this here...
I stopped taking Lyrica for about a week...cold, and I'll tell ya it's no fun. Cold sweats, clammy, puky, naseau. I recommend that if you stop taking it, do it gradually.
You know, it's one of those drugs you need to show a driver's license to buy. I guess I found out what that means when I tried to get off it.
I really had stopped getting dizzy, after taking it a couple weeks and it was working well for me.

walkindafloors · Post by **walkindafloors** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:16 am

Can you share why you stopped taking the lyrica if it was working for you? Thanks for the heads up on stopping the med...makes you wonder if the "help" is worth the costs later...
I've been up most of the night and decided I might as well go on to work and be productive...dead tired, but hopefully productive. Guess the lyrica is not helping in the sleep department for me. I'm scared to take anything besides the tramadol with the lyrica yet.

rfishburn · Post by **rfishburn** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:04 pm

it is still working well for me, as a caution to anyone on seizure meds like lyrica and gabapentin, taper down the dose. Stopping cold turky can put you at risk for having seizures.
This is still working fine but I would love to try xyrem if my doctor will try it. Who knows, if enough people have success with it maybe doctor won't be so afraid to perscribe it.

Walking After Midnight · Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:59 am

walkindafloors wrote:Can you share why you stopped taking the lyrica if it was working for you? Thanks for the heads up on stopping the med...makes you wonder if the "help" is worth the costs later...

A different Dr. prescribed it for me...I mean a Dr. other than my Neurologist. When I told my Neurologist about it on my next visit, he suggested I stop taking it for a while to see if I really needed to be on it. At the time it was prescribed for me, I had been working lots of Overtime, so my Neuro wanted to make sure that the Overtime wasn't the Main reason for all my foot and leg pain.

walkindafloors · Post by **walkindafloors** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:25 pm

Walking after midnight - can you tell a difference not taking the lyrica yet? I have tons of stress in my life right now and I'm wondering (really knowing) that this is the reason for my increased symptoms with the RLS. I also have ADHD but have quit taking those meds in order to see what is working for my legs/arms. The Lyrica seems to work great - for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours before my legs begin again.

Walking After Midnight · Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:08 am

Hiya Walkin'...you know, I'm always anxious to respond to your posts since after all, we have the same first name. Walking and Walkin practically the same anyway...its kind of like Terry and Terri...right?
OK
Anyway
I noticed a difference after about two or three days of being off Lyrica. Foot and leg pain was starting to get worse and worse. I'm back on it now, only a smaller dose...75 mg. twice daily. Hopefully that will be all I need.

God Bless
the other Randy

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Lyrica (Pregabalin)

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Lyrica--It's not working