Lyrica side effects?

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Joanie60
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:48 pm

Lyrica side effects?

Post by Joanie60 »

Hey Guys, Looking for info on Lyrica side effects.

I started one week ago on 25mg (added to my usual three tabs of Percocet (5mg) spread out during the day). First three nights, slept like a log. Next three nights, didn't. Doc upped to 50mg yesterday and I slept like a log. Tonight, after taking 50mg, I can't get to sleep because of a) WED symptoms and b) nausea and slight pressure in my chest.

I took my third percocet and am waiting for it to kick in, but a bit freaked out about slight pressure/tightness/discomfort in my chest. Pain is way too strong a word, but I still feel like I am not right (ok, so what else is new, but still.....this is weird!!)

Doc wanted to add Lyrica because 15mg/day of Percocet only works about half the time. The other half, I need a fourth pill in middle of night. I tried gabapentin but gained 8 lbs in 8 days so I refuse to use it. I have only gained one pound this week on Lyrica due to hypervigilance about any and everything that I eat. Reqip is out of the question (can you say "augment train from hell"???).

Anyone have experience to share???

Thanks in advance, Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

ViewsAskew
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Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by ViewsAskew »

Sorry - I took it so long ago and it didn't help my symptoms. I really do not remember it....

I can say that your experience of it helping, then not so much, mirrors my experience with gapapentin. Since they are closely related, that seems a strong possibility. I remember it helping some for 2-4 days, then it didn't. I upped the dose, it helped some for a few days, then stopped. I upped it to 1800 mg, IIRC, over a couple weeks and, once again, it stopped helping.

Hmmmm - no clue about the slight pressure in your chest. Nausea could be the opioid even if it's not happened before.

I have NO idea if this is similar....I get esophageal cramps. Middle of my chest - higher then stomach and heart - feels as if something is squeezing. It can be mild to very severe. I had them for 20 years (since I was a teen ) before I finally figured out what they were! Thankfully it was nothing. I find that some medications and drugs cause this to happen. I won't tell too many tales out of school, but the first time I had them, I was participating in some good ole' college fun - not necessarily the legal kind - when it happened. Freaked me the heck out!

It's likely not similar, but guess it illustrates that there are likely many reasons your chest might feel tight. Of course, I don't mean to minimize it and do hope it goes away and isn't anything terrible.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Joanie60
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:48 pm

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by Joanie60 »

No, I need it to be minimized lol. I am sure panic and anxiety would not help the situation! Pressure is smack dab in the middle of my chest at same level as heart. I am sure I would have been majorly freaked by your symptoms!!

I fell asleep briefly after starting this thread and jumping legs woke me back up. Chest is about 80% better, same with nausea. Trying to decide if I should lay off taking Lyrica over the weekend.

ViewsAskew
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Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by ViewsAskew »

Now that I think about it, mine likely is about even with my heart, too. And, smack dab in the middle. I just looked at a picture of everything to make sure and, yep, it's about exactly even with the heart.

It often is a sort of achy pressure. It's only when it's really bad that it's like a rope being pulled tight around it.

Just for the heck of it, if it happens again, try drinking some ice cold water and see what happens. Likely isn't this...but worth a try!
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

cornelia

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by cornelia »

I notice exactly the same with Lyrica. I have been on Gabapentin 900 mg for I think 10 years and 10 days ago or so I stopped it and started taking Lyrica 75 mg. The first 3 nights:wonderful and then it stopped working. I took (with dr's consent) 150 mg: same thing happened. I now know that methadon isn't working properly anymore. I think I need to stop them for a while and take Neupro .

I don't think Lyrica will work (besides for deeper sleep) for severe patients.

Corrie

Joanie60
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:48 pm

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by Joanie60 »

Well, another magic bullet down the drain! It worked so well for first three nights lol. But first night on 50 mg, I think my legs were jumping all over but I was too "drugged" to care. Now that it is daylight, I am a bit more freaked out about having chest discomfort last night. I think I'll just move on without Lyrica :-)

Frunobulax
Posts: 430
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:41 pm

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by Frunobulax »

Joanie60 wrote:I started one week ago on 25mg (added to my usual three tabs of Percocet (5mg) spread out during the day). First three nights, slept like a log. Next three nights, didn't. Doc upped to 50mg yesterday and I slept like a log. Tonight, after taking 50mg, I can't get to sleep because of a) WED symptoms and b) nausea and slight pressure in my chest.

I took my third percocet and am waiting for it to kick in, but a bit freaked out about slight pressure/tightness/discomfort in my chest. Pain is way too strong a word, but I still feel like I am not right (ok, so what else is new, but still.....this is weird!!)


Pretty much the same happened to me. My doctors tried to put me on Gabapentin and Lyrica, and adding 50mg Lyrica worked for one night. The next night, my severe WED symptoms were back. Went up to 100mg, 150mg and more, after each increase I would sometimes have one decent night, sometimes not. I experienced nausea and low blood pressure shortly after going to 100mg a day. Then I started experiencing severe depressions, along with the discomfort/pressure in the chest, which is often described as a physical manifestation of depressions. In the end I was on 400mg Lyrica and 1600mg Gabapentin a day, when my doctor decided to taper both drugs and put me on an opioid. Both the chest pressure and the severe depressions vanished about a week after completing the Lyrica tapering.

Another funny side effect: On Gabapentin I started to develop "restless arms", that is, occasionally I had strong WED symptoms exclusively in my arms (my legs were calm). After tapering Gabapentin this went back to normal too: WED symptoms always start in the legs and may spread to the arms (and the torso), but I never have "restless arms" without "restless legs".

BTW, Lyrica is very similar to Gabapentin, and if you gained weight with Gabapentin then chances are you will gain weight with Lyrica too.

.f

Joanie60
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:48 pm

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by Joanie60 »

I have a great relationship with my doc and she really wanted me to try the Lyrica. I think I am just going to suck it up and stop expecting 100% relief from this I$)#(W()$*(#) disease. I am usually at 70-80% relief most of the time. And that is good enough for me...I have HAD it with side effects from the Gabapentin/Lyrica family and Requip, well, we all know the ending to THAT story (for most of us). So I am lucky to get opioids. I'll leave it at that!!

Thanks for all your help, stories, and support!

Joanie

ViewsAskew
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Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by ViewsAskew »

Joanie60 wrote:I have a great relationship with my doc and she really wanted me to try the Lyrica. I think I am just going to suck it up and stop expecting 100% relief from this I$)#(W()$*(#) disease. I am usually at 70-80% relief most of the time. And that is good enough for me...I have HAD it with side effects from the Gabapentin/Lyrica family and Requip, well, we all know the ending to THAT story (for most of us). So I am lucky to get opioids. I'll leave it at that!!

Thanks for all your help, stories, and support!

Joanie


That's pretty much where I ended up. Every once in awhile I try again. But....hadn't worked yet :-).

One thing I did learn. I am one who has problems with tolerance. So, every 8-12 months, my dose is no longer enough. If I'd known then what I know now, as soon as I needed an increase, I'd have stopped the opioids for a couple weeks, then restarted. If I'd taken breaks every so often, I'd not have needed to increase my dose so many times.

I avoided it for over two years by just taking one pramipexole dose every 2-3 days. I never augmented, and I never increased my opioid dose. Unfortunately, the other side effects that I hated by tolerated were finally overshadowed by intense depression every time I would take the pramipexole. If that hadn't happened, I'd still be doing this today. In many ways, it was the best period in my treatment - it was the most stable and probably had the best coverage. I was far from perfect, but it prevented many worse problems.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

mapleleaf
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 5:22 pm

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by mapleleaf »

I tried Lyrica 2 years ago and sounds the same where my doc up the dose to the max. of 250mg twice a day. I was having such terrible side effects like memory loss, weight gain, irritability and no help with the RLS. So of course I stopped and went into horrible withdrawl!!! So went back on and took over a month to wean myself off this crazy med. Be careful how much you take and do not just stop like my specialist told me to do!!! You need to wean off slowly!! Good Luck!!

Chipmunk
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Location: Madison, WI

Re: Lyrica side effects?

Post by Chipmunk »

I was taking 75-100 mg Lyrica every night and at the same time I went to the cardiologist for a check-up (due to a genetic condition) and was diagnosed with tachycardia. I think it was the Lyrica because I noticed that the higher the dose, the faster my heart would race while I was lying there in bed. It also made me gain weight, something no other drug has done before, and something that is quite unlike me because I have a high metabolism (due to the same genetic condition) AND I'm on a decent-size amount of Adderall each day, which reduces your appetite and raises your metabolism.

I was really liking Lyrica - I thought it worked well for my WED symptoms (but I also responded quite well to Neurontin so it wasn't a surprise to have Lyrica work well, too). Ultimately the racing heart combined with realizing that I was slowly but steadily gaining weight made me ask my doctor for something else. I started on Requip but 1 mg wasn't enough and I didn't want to go over that, so I backed it down to 0.5 mg and took a 25 mg Lyrica (lowest dose out there) with it. That's what I have been doing for a month now. My heart rate is better (subjective) and my weight gain has stopped. I don't think my WED symptoms are completely controlled but at least I can sleep, even if it takes me a while at night to get to sleep. It's a lot better than I have had to deal with at other times!
Tracy

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the WED/RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

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