Coming off Pregablin and Dihydrocodeine after 18 days

Hello all, (please ignore title of 18 days)

I was prescribed Pregablin and Dihydrocodeine on the 19th of November due to suspected bulging/herniated disc in my neck where the pain was radiating from my neck to the whole of my left arm from the shoulders down. I had similar issue 2 years ago but not as bad. I have an mri scan January 4th.

Dosage:

Pregabalin 50mg x 3 daily

Dihydrocodeine 30mg x 3 daily

Both were taken together.

Pain had subsided quite a bit then on the 6th of December, after inhaling hard through my nose, no joke, I aggravated my nerve and the pain increased to an unimaginable level.

I then called GP 3 days later on the 9th as pain was still unbearable. Dosage was then upped to pregablin 400mg - 100mg x 4 daily and dihydrocodeine to 240 mg - 60mg x 4.

There was still absolutely no pain relief. The pain was always like 10/10. Then on the 11th of December the pain was screaming out and reached a whole new level. I couldn't even stand and was in tears. An ambulance and was admitted to hospital. The paramedics administered morphine intravenously which had taken off the the edge off the pain.

I was then given morphine orally twice in the 8 hours I was in the hospital and felt some comfort.

The Dr in the hospital said that I should up my dosage of pregablin to 600mg daily. I then spoke to my doctor the next day on the 12th and agreed that I go on the this maximum dose. Within couple of days, my pain came down to a 6/10. I carried on taking 600mg for the next 5 days along with the dihydrocodeine of 240mg. I've not experienced any bad side effects of taking these pain killers apart from feeling tired and mild constipation.

I wasn't really aware of how serious withdrawal symptoms can be. So, from the 17th of December I dropped pregablin to 400mg for 2 days then down to 200mg for the next 2 days after. I had also reduced the dihydrocodeine to 60mg at this point. Since the 22nd and 23rd I've taken only 100mg pregablin in one go at 10am 24 hours apart. I've stopped dihydrocodeine on the 22nd which was 60mg taken in one go.

My pain has subsided substantially and I can live without the pain killers and let my body heal on its own. However, my worry is that the pregablin still keeping my pain low and if I come off it, will the pain come screaming back and nervous about any withdrawal symptoms. And after reading a few threads in this forum, I realise that my taper is probably too quick. So far, even though I have reduced the dosages, I'm not feeling anything bad yet. Mind you, I did have hot flushes last couple of nights and was feeling slightly nauseous last night and bit of diarrhoea. Stool today is still a bit soft (sorry for too much info) Feeling OK though. I don't know if I'm anxious coming off pregablin, pain coming back or if tapering off to early.

I literally got off the phone with my Gp who said I've done the perfect thing by tapering off even though it was quick. I did raise my concerns about withdrawal symptoms and she said it's nothing to worry about as it's usually for patients who have been on pregabalin for months at least many months. However, having read many forums, I am a bit skeptical about what my GP said.

According to my calculation, I've been on pregabalin for around 35 days give or take 2-days.

My question is that as advised by Gp, do I stop taking pregablin and let my body get back to normal or do I carry on with a taper of some sort?

To maybe aid in any advice, I'm a male who just turned 43. 5'9"ft, weighing in at 14.5 stones. I've never smoked or drank in my life, avid gym goer (which caused the injury in my neck:-|) since the age on 16 and generally lead a healthy lifestyle.

Thank you and sorry for the long post.

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