Lyrica (Pregabalin): Worth It?

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edirish73

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Hi,I´ve been doing some serious research on Lyrica (pregabalin) today, it seems that targets all the sensory problems quite well, but the side effects seems horrendous ( Vision problems, massive weight gain, memory impairment, edhema).What do you think, is it worth it? Any feedback is truly appreciated, you can save me from blindness!Stay Strong,Eduardo
 
i took lyrica for a few months. it seems to work good for pain,, i worked weird for nerve activty.. it seemed to lessen it but the minor activty that you felt.it seemed to be stuck in the calves like painless electricity with no outlet.... unlike the nerve activity that has the outlet through the power of muscle twitches.. lyrica is very potent... its scary at sometimes... when you take it you dont feel the side effects till hours later which is the scary part.. it feels like your drunk.. i actually blacked out once on it shortly after my second dose.... if you want to see those effects you can go to my myspace.. when i blacked out my wife and her friend decorated my face with gum make up.. they put a cigarette and a taro death card next to me and took a picture.... besides that the biggest problem you will run into is the price of the drug.. my insurance wouldnt cover it even after my doctor requested my insurance that i needed it. 100 capsules is $220.00.. a months supply at 3 100mg caps a day. my insurance said that lyrica is to new and theres no real evidence that its effective.. but we all know its the cost that they dont want to pay.. they suggested alternitives like neurontin, amytriptiline, imprimine, carmazepine, phenoiton, and vaperic acid..ggood luck
 
Thoughts on Lyrica? Besides that it is a really inane name for a drug? :confused: I tried it one night - lowest dose possible, and woke up the next morning and promptly walked into the wall. I suppose it would be wonderful aside from that and it's exorbitant cost :LOL: . When my nerve sensations were bad I took Benfotiamine (a B1 derivative) and B6. I got the idea reading some scientific papers where they used it for diabetic neuropathy and reported good results......seemed to work a bit - hard to tell with the placebo effect and my trial of 1. Used gabapentin for about 6 months to help me sleep then tapered it off and quit - it did help but made me forgetful. I think.....at least I think that's what it was.... Most of the weirdo sensations are gone now and only appear occasionally so I get by with NSAIDS. I agree with RainCat - if you are able to sleep at night then - in the long run it seems better to avoid all the little neuro drugs, cutely named or otherwise. The last neuro guy I saw was asking if I wanted to try a new drug that would probably work but causes liver damage - no thanks! 12Drifter12 - I am really glad nobody at my house thought of having fun with me when I was out of it....maybe because the lack of sleep at that time made me so grouchy. Grouchiness has a way of keeping people at arm's length. Whining and talking about health problems a lot works too. This is free info for people who want to be left alone. ;)
 
I took Lyrica for about a month. It didn't do anything for me.Sometimes you have to wait a few months for these drugs to work. And you have to play around with the dosages. My experience is usually people give up after a few weeks with no results.Do a search on the website, and you will see Lyrica has worked for some.-43RichyThe43rd
 
I have been on Lyrica for one year. I only take 50 to 100mg a night, and ONLY at night before I go to sleep. It only works if you take it for an extended period of time, it is not a quick or short term treatment. I plan to get off it some time soon, or stay on a low maintenance dose. I have not had any of the horrible side effects you hear about from people who take much higher doses , and who take it during the day which I think is insane. As for its effect on my BFS? hard to tell, but it does seem to turn the volume down.. It DID help my Tinnitus quite a bit however. I would still avoid it. I got much more help from simply learning from the people on this board that this is a BENIGN condition, and the more you learn to ignore it and live around it , the better. This sounds hard at first, but gets easier. Ironically, eventhough this board helped me a lot, I intentionally stay off it for long periods now as part of my attempt to ignore my BFS entirely.PS would love to hear from other BFS folks who ALSO have Tinnitus. the conditions have a lot of similarities.
 
Sullystone - I had some bad tinnitus when there were also pnhe problems with my jaw muscles and neck (about a year ago). It all seemed to come and go together. It has left for the most part and comes back infrequently now - what really helped me at the time was going to a PT who did a therapy called cranial sacral. However I doubt that it was the reason it left as my problems seem to migrate by themselves, but the therapy was a great relief. See the article I posted to Sushi about tinnitus - it is interesting how much of what is said in it by the docs sound like they are talking about PNHE. About the Lyrica - I just couldn't tolerate it. Hope you can get off it; have heard some not too great stuff about it concerning tolerance from people who have been on it over the long term. I was never so relieved as when I could drop the gaba as one never knows what is going on with your body systems over long term exposure to these meds. Let me know what you think about the article.....
 
ImOk, I just read the New Yorker article on Tinnitus, thanks. I got mine from too many Rock concerts in the seventies and eighties. Aerosmith and U2 were particularly at fault. Lots of similarities to BFS, benign but very annoying, unknown origin , lots of bogus "cures", elevated by stress and anxiety, managed through behavioral therapy, and on and on. Funny, when I first got my BFS a year ago, I was so freaked out at first I forgot all about the Tinnitus. Now I have them both under control, not gone , but manageable.
 
Very interesting that you are suggesting a possible link between tinnitus and bfs. I have both, but have never once thought they might be linked in some way. I too got tinnitus and hearing damage from too many rock concerts in my teens. I got the hissing after one particulary loud gig at uni and was devastated at the time, but have been living with it for many years without even paying it any attention. I guess its just one of those things which you think is life changing at the time, but then you get used to it. I'm hoping bfs follows the same pattern. I got bfs last July, was really worried at the start but now geting used to it, on the whole. For the record, I'm on Lyrica too. I like it. It definitely helps the twitching. And no real side effects apart from occasional blurred vision. Never knew it could have an effect on tinnitus too. A bit of a double whammy, I guess :)
 

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