Experiences of pregabalin please

[SpideyMom]

Hey,

So to cut a long story short, I've been on pregabalin, 75mg twice a for somewhere around 8 months. This is for chronic pain and anxiety.

I've found it's really helped. But for the last 10 days I've been feeling horrendous. Depressed, anxious, headache, nausea, itchy skin, pain worse than ever. I am snappy and irritable, and highly emotional. I have no energy and cannot be bothered. And that's just some of the stuff.

So tonight I've discovered I've forgotten to add my pregabalin to my tablet organiser so for the last 10 days I can only say this is why my mood has bombed. It's also really frightened me so much. I know it's a controlled drug and you have to be weaned off them. I had no intention of coming off them but am now scared to take them again now I have discovered the withdrawals.

I feel hideous and am praying this stops soon. However I haven't felt this bad in such a long time.

Please can anyone tell me their experience of pregabalin?

Tia x

Well the relatively good news is your dose is not too high- some people are prescribed up to 600mg per day. However you are advised not to stop abruptly- which you’ve done accidentally. I would consult your Dr or pop into the pharmacy. I’d guess you could begin to take it again like you did to start with-? Did you begin on the full 150mg?

Oh and if you follow the correct reduction when (if) it becomes time to come off them you would not feel this bad again. It’s because you’ve come off abruptly

No it was built up as I was scared to take it.the dose I was on just took the edge off things where I was able to just get on with things without being consumed by pain and fear of bad health. I don't like taken medication.i just find them scary but I felt I really got to a point where I had no choice

Really you should check with your GP or psychiatrist but if you restart in a similar way to you taking them originally it should be fine.

I had the exact same thing when I forgot to take mine for 24 hours. Felt immediately suicidal and I've never had any depression.

I am slowly coming off it but my GP is letting me go at my own pace so I'm doing it really slowly. Went from 150mg twice q day to 75mg twice a day in a year. Expecting it to take me another 9 months or so to come off completely.

Please don't worry about it, it's totally normal. Can you pinpoint exactly whit is that you're scared to take medication?

Thank you. I suspected it was normal but I honestly never thought it would have this effect on me.

I guess I went into taking it abit too naively. I was desperate to just be at a place where I could get through the day not feeling constant pain and that every little thing going on was because I had some sort of terminal illness. I spent my days crying. The more the pain persisted, the more I was convinced I had something seriously wrong because the pain never went away. That then spiralled into health anxiety as I am a single mom to a young child, so everything got on top of me worrying about something being wrong with me and what would happen to him etc.

Anyway I started on Pregablin on a lower dosage. This is because I worried about it having too much on an effect on me when it would hinder my ability to be a Mom, and do my job etc. It was increased after a few months as was having no affect, however I was conscious to keep it low enough where it wouldn't affect me, as I say being a Mom, and being the only parent I was scared to put myself in a place where I wasn't able to look after my child properly. The 75mg twice a day, just seemed to put me in a calmer state. Took the edge off my pain to the point it wasn't consuming me every day, and although I continued to worry, I stopped worrying to the point of convincing myself that me and my child could be seriously ill and neither of us knew.

I can honestly say I have not felt depression like this in a very long time. Thankfully I can say I have never felt suicidal, even at my lowest point where I was put in the worst category for depression. I owe it to my little boy as I really have wanted to feel better. But then I guess it's also hard accepting that this is the life I am stuck in feeling so numb, unhappy, detached, irritable, pain etc. I have felt ill constantly, my leg pain is back with vengeance, I am so angry and have no patience. I have no energy but am struggle to sleeping. I keep going lightheaded, and my heart is racing. My mood is like a yoyo. I am sweating and anxious with a constant headache. All this stuff is hitting me at once.

I think this is why I am scared. My dosage is low and the effect it has had on me I feel is horrendous. God help those on higher doses. This is why I am scared to go back on them and reduce down. I know its probably the best way, but it has scared me how reliant on them I have become. If I chose to stay off them and persevere with these symptoms, how likely are they to last?

I just want to feel happy again. I want to be a happy Mom, and a happy 33 year old

Perhaps have a chat with your GP? Have you had any counseling?

I also had chronic pain which developed into health anxiety and worrying I would die and leave my children without me. Pregabalin stopped the pain (I wasn't taking it for anxiety) and gave me time to work on the psychological stuff with a counselor. Only after counseling so I feel more confident about coming off it.

I would definitely recommend counselling if you can access it. Also speak to a GP you know is sympathetic and will listen to you. Write it all down before you go if that helps.

If you come off it very slowly like me you won't get any side effects, so don't let the withdrawal symptoms put you off being on it again. 10 days without it is very extreme! Like I said, I forgot it for 24hrs and didnt recognise myself, was crying all day thinking life was pointless and I have never felt like that before or since. You just need to increase/decrease very slowly and won't get any bad effects.

Thank you for your advice @KingaRoo I am definitely going to speak to my GP. I have had numerous sessions of counselling over the years. They help me at the time but as soon as they stop I fall back into my old ways

I take pregablin 75mg morning and night for chronic pain along with other medications for my depression/anxiety and I've found it great for my chronic neurological pain.

It sounds like you need to start to tearing up from the start again and they might take you down to a lower dose for a bit. It sounds silly, but at least you know it was working!

All the best!

@weegiemum yes that is a good point. I just had no idea the withdrawals would be so bad