Hello fibro family, I never thought I would try Lyrica but…………here it goes. I see a pain specialist. She took me off gabapentin 300mg three times a day and put me on Lyrica 75mg twice a day. I haven’t heard anything positive about it. I’d like to hear your experiences with it. Good or bad. There’s no judgement because everyone is different. 
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Hey Freedom,
My name is Merl from the modsupport team and Lyrica is a treatment I’ve been trialled on.
Now I want to preface everything I say here as my personal experience with this particular medication. I am not a dr nor a pharmacist, just a patient.
My ongoing pain issues are due to surgeries. The surgeon says ‘All fixed’ and has said that repeatedly, after each surgery (6 so far), but this is far from fixed. So then if the surgeon says fixed, then it must be ‘nerve pain’. They trialled me on all sorts of meds, Lyrica being one of them.
Now, I must admit, some people swear by this medication. I have a friend who finds it a miracle drug for him. But not so for me. For me, it was absolutely awful. Admittedly, I was pretty low, emotionally. My world had been turned upside down and been put through a blender, but this stuff sent me into a steep downward spiral. I was having awful nightmares, night sweats, heart palpitations, tingling etc, with little affect to my pain levels. I had to stop using it, with my doctors consultation. With some medications stopping immediately can be risky, even dangerous. Some medications need a slow reduction before ceasing, so please speak to your prescribing doctor regarding altering your medication.
I spoke to my Dr about my experiences and he said to me “For some people it works wonderfully, for others, not so much…” I’m obviously in the ‘not so much’ camp. I think, as with any medication, you trial it, if it works, fantastic. If not, you try the next suggestion. I cannot name all of the pills, tablets and potions I’ve been trialled on, none of them have been my key. But you never know, tomorrow they may come out with some wizz-bang potion and if you don’t try, you’re only disadvantaging yourself.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
I have had wonderful results with Lyrica for the past 20 yrs. It took several weeks for side effects to wear off, but I kept with it and they all went away. I did try gabapentin, but it didn’t work for me even though the meds are very similar. I was on a combo of Lyrica and Cymbalta, but switched from cymbalta to lexapro as Cymbalta was constipating & that has worked.
Weight gain has not been a problem. My appetite increased but I use diet and exercise to deal with it. Best of luck to you.
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I was trialled on Lyrica. While I have proven sensitive where synthetic meds are concerned Lyrica only made me slightly drowsy (not fun with the fatigue factor already there, but the least side effects I had). I came off it only because I wasn’t noticing any improvement in my pain. I do know several people who have found it amazing, so I hope your experience is a positive one. Best of luck.
Hello! I was recently put on Lyrica. For years I’ve been disregarded by male doctors but I finally got a woman PA and she asked if I’d ever tried Lyrica. I explained that last time I had asked about it, the doctor told me we’d have to try all these other meds first. I’d refused that option. Anyway, she put me on Lyrica (on a trial basis) and I was short changed, as in she didn’t give me enough to reach my next appointment. The upside of running out is that I realized it was helping me. I had a few bumps in the road but she recently gained control of being my PCM (again) and bumped me up to 100 mg twice daily and I do believe it’s helping. Her goal for me is to get up to 150 mg twice daily and that may happen in the next couple of weeks. My biggest side effect has been sleepiness and I would find myself dozing off while watching tv but that seems to be passing. I feel like I’m more mobile and motivated now so I’m hoping we’re on the right track. I hope it gives you some relief. (I have fibromyalgia)
Hi Freedom!
I’ve have had only good result of Lyrica over the past 7 years or more. I am on just 75 mg once in the morning now but was on the full dose of 200 mg 3x day total. However with that said I know many of friends and fibro clients this is not a medication for them. What works for one may not work for others. I have had no noticeable side effect except maybe weight gain but now I am under what I was before. I didn’t have the dizziness either. I sure hope it gives you relief. For me it was for my insane headaches and Lyrica brought them down to a tolerated manageable pain level. Many Blessings!
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Thanks for posting this and speaking about your experience with Lyrica. I believe this is what my doctor is hoping to achieve for me with the drug. It’s encouraging to hear it worked for you. And yes, I agree, not every drug is for everyone- this is the first time in decades that one has even touched my symptoms.
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I’m glad to hear Lyrica has been helpful for some people. I was on it for a month. And I think it helped. But then I started getting sick with low grade fevers, tiredness and nausea and incontinence at night. I was also having issues with my ears. I saw my regular doctor, who ran several tests. Everything came back normal. I’ve been off Lyrica for almost a month. I still have low grade fevers, no energy and my depression is off the charts. I’ve had no desire to interact with anyone. But I think about my Ben’s Friends family and hope everyone is doing well.
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Hi Freedom, good to hear from you again, hope you’ll get into a better area soon. Myself I have 4 pointers to prostate cancer (PSA x9 in 5 months, weight loss -6kg, night sweats), getting it checked Monday. Grows slowly so that’d be similar to my spinal tumour, absolutely no worry to me.
Someone asked about small urine leaks on Lyrica/pregabalin. That reminded me of GABA helping me regulate my bladder which also has this effect if I dose wrongly. But GABA I can dose very exactly, adding or taking away 4-10x0.3g in the evening/night - any insights about adjusting Lyrica dosage similar to that?
Hi JayCS! I’m not very familiar about the dosing of Lyrica. But I see my pain specialist next month. I’ll probably go back on Gabapentin.
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