Pregabalin withdrawal

Hi Richard

?Yes, Pregabalin appeared to be the same miracle for me until 6 months in I realised it had changed my brain chemistry and I suffered memory loss, brain fog, loss of language, loss of balance and the list goes on. You may be one of the few who do not have side effects but you only have 2 months under your belt..... In honesty and in my opinion you take a great risk in tapering down so very quickly because the withdrawals can be very severe and then how would you deal with further surgery? Pregabalin is a very hard hitting drug and it does deal well with sciatic pain - basically it fools your pain receptors into believing there is no pain, that is why you feel so good on it. You are on the maximum dose allowed - why don't you continue as you are until after the surgery and then decide if you want to stay on it (assuming no side effects appear) or if you start to feel you do wish to taper down please do it very slowly. Certainly do not go cold turkey as this can cause Seizures. There is an excellent support group for people on Lyrica (Pregab) and they offer a huge amount of information about this drug and help people who wish to come off it. It is on Fb called Lyrica Survivors Official (Closed) group. I am tapering off myself and am now down to 50mg x 2 daily, but it has been hard on the withdrawals and is difficult to do without support. 

?I wish you well with your surgery (please do go ahead with it as Pregab is only 'hiding' the problem) and I wish you well in the future.

Hi Elizabeth.  Thanks for your advice again. The discs in my lumber spine are badly degenerated, not helped by two prolapsed discs L3/L4 & L4/L5.  Basically the prolapses are affecting the sciatic nerve.  I have had 2 discectomy operations on L4/L5 (which I would recommend to anybody) to alleviate severe sciatica in my left leg which basically stopped me standing or sitting (especially sitting) for very long.  The L3/4 prolapse is new and is causing a similar problem.  Prior to the discectomies I was taking Ibuprofen & Paracetamol only and was in agony.  Pregabalin has been amazing for pain relief on the L3/L4 problem but I did not realise all the implications.

I hear what you say about reducing the dose slowly. My trouble is that if I need to have the op, I need to have it sooner rather than later (to do with work...).  As I've had no side affects up to now, I've started reducing the dose by 75mg a day to see what happens.  Basically because I don't want to miss my slot (sadly). FYI, the pain consultant who recommended the 600mg dose has told me that I should be able to reduce the 600mg dose to 75mg over a week.  I am sceptical given your advice and others but I have nothing to lose by trying to reduce the dose daily and see wwhat happens. 

Thanks again for your advice, much appreciated.

 

Ahh, so work is also involved in your dilemma Richard. Ho Hum! This is a hard one and now you have explained your spinal problems I see exactly where your thoughts have led you. Thank you for answering that question. It would appear that you may have ongoing problems with your spine which need addressing, Pregabalin or not!

?I hate to rain on your parade, but your Consultant's advice about tapering from 600mg to 75mg in a week is quite dangerous in my opinion. The medical profession seem quite blind to the side effects and terrible withdrawals that patients suffer, often saying it is all in their heads.....please be careful and listen to your own body because that is going to be the only 'Truth' for you at the end of the day. I very much hope that you do not experience withdrawals but if you do please take charge yourself and insist it needs to be a slower tapering. 

?You are your own advocate in this situation and it is up to you to monitor all that happens, perhaps keep a daily note of how you are feeling and if you start to experience, say, insomnia, dizzy spells, nausea, fatigue and possibly depression, you will know that you need to re-assess your plan of action.

Be safe and I hope to hear good news from you as you progress.

I would recommed never do a withdrawal plan without talking to the doctor that prescribed it to you likely your own family doctor. It is different for everyone and may need to be done very slowy.

Hello.  Just thought I'd give an update on my situation.

I had been on Pregabalin (600mg) and Celebrex (400mg) for severe Syatica from a herniated disc for about 2 months.  The tablets helped me big time & I suffered no side affects.

As I closed in to the potential of a discectomy operation I decided to drastically reduce the dose over a week.

Well I dropped the tablets 75mg a day and noticed no negative affect at all.  In fact, my pain didn't increase either indicating that time had largely healed my problem.  A few weeks later and I have had no withdrawal symptoms even though I withdrew over a week.

I wanted to report this because this forum is quite a scary read but clearly not everyone has problems.  Maybe it had to do with the short time I was using them.

Thank you so much for all the advice, I have really appreciated it and I wish everyone on medication or in pain all best wishes for success like I have seen.

Richard

 

hi all, I am assuming when people come off pregabalin, alot of them are on different medications as well so the weaning off could be a very different experience for all for sure