My lyrica journey

There is a Facebook support group for people trying to taper off Lyrica, titled "Gabapentin/Lyrica Withdrawal Support". It's so infuriating that doctors prescribe these meds without any warning or understanding of how addictive they are.

Thanks, Jake. I will try your advice on not lowering both doses at once. I was tempted to try that tonight, because going down by only 12.5 mg....it will take longer than I can stand to think about. I don't think I am capable of taking a year to get off this; I'm desperately nauseated all the time and can't function, think, or frankly, go on. The dose I was on was low--pregabalin isn't supposed to be effective for neuropathic pain till 600 mg a day, I only went up to 200; but as I said, can't seem to get lower than 100. I have horrible symptoms staying the same, so that's not an option either--this drug has me totally trapped, up, down, or the same.

I will try the 10% rule, which I guess is roughly 12.5 a day right now! Nearly all the pharmacists have suggested two and a half times that (going down by 25% at a time). Sadly, I'm in a rural area, the nearest compounding pharmacy is 50 miles away and won't deliver this far, so obviously I'm not going to getting that 12.5 perfectly... No one seems to think they need to manufacture this drug in lower doses, although online it's clear that's very necessary if you want to get off it (and are among the minority, like me, with strong reactions).
Again, I'm very grateful for this advice.

Hello
My son had a horrible addiction to gabapentin
Unfortunately he has had SUD for over 10 years but the addiction to gabapentin and Lyrica really messed with him:(

I hope every person on this thread has found the support and direction they are needing. I can't help but feel a bit emotional knowing what kinds of complex emotions of extreme helplessness and loss of direction people must feel. I know how Lyrica has effected me (in positive and negative ways) and can only imagine how much harder it is for those who are in situations with worse pain or less support/resources.

I am 27 years old, at around 21 or 22 years old I had back pain that began worsening due to marriage (I was eating much more often because I was no longer homeless, I stopped exercise and martial arts, I was working a desk job and had bad posture, possibly genetic predisposition to back degradation). One day, while trying to twist to relieve pressure in my back, I ended up with a bulging L4-L5 and tearing my L5-S1 causing Herniation pressuring the sciatic nerve and Thecal Sac (casing around the spinal cord) with Grade 1 Retrolisthesis (displacement of the vertebrae by around 20%) and I was in the worst pain of my life, at the ER I was puking and barely conscious from the extreme pain, which they told me was just a muscle spasm. For the next year or two, I worked to diagnose and manage the issue, working with probably half a dozen different providers and doctors and therapists. I continued to try to work through the issue, but eventually I was barely ever able to show up for work and could no longer support my wife and 2 kids. I was given Lyrica and ended up leveling out my dose at 150mg 3 times a day (50% above the USDA max recommended dose for Neuropathic pain).

It was a game changer in terms of managing my pain and making me semi-functional. Before, I was stuck in bed 95% of the day and had extreme difficulty even sitting up/standing up for over a year or two straight... After Lyrica I was able to be up for 20-30 minutes at a time and able to sleep, it gave me a lot of function... But it also stole a LOT from my future which I never really considered.

Fast forward to last year, I had to have emergency Gall Bladder removal and after surgery, I was in withdrawal from Lyrica + Suboxone (Buprenorphine) + Hydrocodone all at high doses, completely cold turkey. I was so sick I couldn't even drink water without puking for hours, I ate NOTHING for 1 1/2 months, not even nibbling a cracker unless I wanted to puke, my pain was extreme and my wife had to pick up all the slack (as if she wasn't already doing it for years while also dealing with her own post-partum depression and Anxiety!). When I could finally eat bland foods, I began taking just the Lyrica again and got function again. I attributed all the withdrawal to Suboxone and Hydrocodone, but I now see it was mostly Lyrica.

Over the last year, through ensuring I do not remain "comfortable" and pushing myself just enough each day, I improved my ability to walk, sit, and stand and just a week ago I began my first full-time job since my injury 5+ years ago. I decided it was time to cut out the Lyrica and rely entirely on stretching/massage/exercise... Cut out Lyrica entirely and realized my mistake by day 3 from extreme nausea, very bad hot flashes/sweating/overheating, high heart rate, I scored in the bottom 2% for Memory function, I decided to continue it again because I HAVE to keep this job or else I feel like I will forever be looked at as a leech and failure by my wife's Family (to be fair, they really cannot know what it's like to deal with this all, and I have made countless mistakes and tried to commit suicide to escape my issues and shame/uselessness, so I understand the judgment).

I am going to cut it out possibly a bit faster than most would recommend (dropping to 50mg 4-5 times a day and cutting another 50mg/day every week), but I have dealt with it once before and I know I can manage this somehow.

I don't want to be addicted to Marijuana, I used it heavily during the last couple years until negative effects presented, but I have about 3 weeks of use before Marijuana withdrawal happens, so I am going to use it to kill my Lyrica dependency for good, as it is much easier to stop Marijuana (especially since I'm broke as hell!).

Lyrica gave me a life back, but at some point, it began taking it too. It's a complex balance and I can envision a future medical environment with AI personalization (but not in it's current centralized and corporatized form, 0bv.io/us/ly ) where these balances are better managed and known... But for now, all I can say is I wish you all God Speed in recovery and finding your direction. I, for one, am grateful for all the support I have received from so many sources, my wife of course the biggest of them all, my kids, her family and my own family, the list goes on. No one person can provide me with all that I needed to get here, yet I always felt like I was somehow looking for that. Making peace with the fact that your entire environment must be used as a resource to recover, in small bits here and there... It's what has helped me the most. So if any of you feel unsorrported or misunderstood, please remember that while nobody will really understand you and how you hurt, the bits add up and build a future worth living in, for everyone. While I do not know any of you, I feel the weight of the emotion behind all of your posts and I am dedicating my future to hopefully resolving something in all of our futures. Stay strong.

As an update, I took my last Lyrica that same day I posted that post.

I found out my wife does not think she can carry on our marriage. I think that soon, probably a lot sooner than anyone thinks, it will become harder and harder to justify why we ever distanced ourselves, when we should have just held tighter and been more true.

I can't put it to words, everything I say is wrong. But I think I can do it instead, so I'm just gonna do that. I think the result will be hard to ignore, it's already impossible for me to see it any other way so it's only so long before it's apparent to everyone else in good time.

Hello to William and anyone reading this. I had a double fusion and laminectomy in Aug 23. First I was put on Gabapentin but after 6 months I felt it wasn’t helping me with neuropathy in my foot. So my surgeon put me on Lyrica. I’ve kept a pain journal and almost from the day I started Lyrica in November I’ve developed intense pain in my thighs and legs. I can hardly walk. I sleep well because laying down takes away this pain. Any thoughts or advise? I am thinking about going back on Gabapentin.

What other forum were you told you had to stop chamomile because of GABA? I am on 14 mgs Valium and 100mgs Lyrica. Doc switched me to liquid Lyrica for two weeks so I can start tapering. I have never felt worse, itching, driest skin ever, nightmares, headache, nausea. My husband says I should stay on Lyrica, but I want to get off both it and Valium. I already got off Mirtazapine (Remeron) an antidepressant. Any advice?

I have been tapering off of Lorazepam and always drink Chamomile tea…but I never let it steep and when I get down to half a cup I top it off with water. Really doesn’t do anything. I notice more with Sleepytime tea as far as a calming effect and to help sleep, but again I never let it get strong
You need to get off of all those drugs. People build a tolerance after awhile and that is what you are probably experiencing in a form of withdrawals.
Hopefully your Dr is doing a SLOW taper which should take months. Going too fast will also cause a lot of symptoms now and down the road.
Get on FB and check out all the Benzo sites. They will give much needed information. That is what saved me. Have a great tapering program to get me off of Lorazepam. I was only on it for several months but it will take me that long to get off. I wish you the best of luck.

The April 10 edition of National Geographic has an article out on “prescribing“ i.e. tapering off of both antidepressants and the drug similar to pregabalin and gabapentin. The receptors at the other end of the synapse are out of balance and it just takes a very long time to readjust. I believe I remember reading that it is a fairly widespread part of the brain that is affected. It’s been 2 1/2 years since I’ve stopped and I was on it for probably a decade or so. I’ve been mentally rehabbing myself, but am fortunate because I’m retired and don’t have to work. Don’t give up; at least in my case, after a year plus, the joy of learning has come back with a vengeance. The brain is remarkably adaptable, even when suppressed for such a long time. For over a year I did not really have a good working memory and had to concentrate very hard for the simplest things, like making a pot of coffee, and making a shopping list was pretty much out of the question, too complicated. Now I’m reading about that marvelous brain and neuroanatomy, and celebrating my mental rebirth. I wish the same for you; my advice is patience and stay the hell away from that medication.