Pregabalin withdrawal

[squiffyseesaw]

It's Day 3 and I am a broken person.

Everything hurts. I feel cold or hot, but never right, like I have flu.

I was on 75mg morning and evening, but my care recently transferred back to GP from psyc team. GP immediately refused to prescribe pregabalin in combo with my other meds so now I am in enforced withdrawal.

I feel horrific. I can't even talk about the feelings I'm having, because they're too insane and fleeting.

It's not a drug I wanted to stay on long term, and I was planning to try and withdraw post COVID, but even still, having the withdrawal forced upon me in such a weird and passive way has been very stressful.

I would go back to your GP, that is shocking.

You should never be withdrawing from that drug unless it is tapered. The tapering if some correctly will be very gradually, reducing on a set schedule to ease any potential withdrawal symptoms. It is really dangerous to have it stopped completely.

I would go contact NHS24 and explain your symptoms. I had enforced withdrawal on me after I suffered kidney failure (I was born with chronic kidney disease). I have said to my husband, I could go through sepsis and kidney failure again but not the withdrawal - it was horrific.

I had my gabapentin withdrawn at a very steady, gradual rate and it was like night and day. You still experience some symptoms but nothing near what enforcing withdrawal would do. Please get in touch with someone right away. Good luck!

I'm just hoping for some progress over the next few days, if it gets even a little bit easier I think I can tolerate it

Noooo! You should be slowly tapered off, not just stopped cold turkey. You poor thing! I am not sure what you can do today - do you have a crisis tram number? Or out of hours for your GP? I hope that when you are feeling better you put a complaint in to the GP practice - the prescribing GP needs to update their practice.

Thanks guys, I've found two tablets in the meds cabinet so have taken one now, will take another before bed and ring the GP ASAP

This drug has to be withdrawn slowly. Shame on your GP! I am certain that gps are duty bound to continue to prescribe what you were given by the specialist (i.e. psychiatry). So you have grounds for a complaint. It says in the BNF (doctors prescribing Bible) that this should be withdrawn slowly. Go back and see a different gp, it comes in smaller doses than 75mg and you can be weaned or off stay on it if that's better for you. Good luck.

I have done the withdrawal from Pregablin and it was not fun!
But was over pretty much in around two weeks.
How long have you been on it? 75 mg twice a day is not a big amount but the length of time it takes for withdrawal symptoms to resolve is related to how long you were taking it for.
But everyone is right, there is no way you should be coming off it cold turkey.

That’s terrible of the GP. They should have helped you to come off it and if a psyc team were happy with the combination of drugs the GP shouldn’t really have gone against them.
Pregablin is an expensive drug too I wonder if that’s behind their reasoning. My GP really wanted me off it and kept saying it was because it was addictive but it did nothing for me in terms of any sort of high but was very helpful for nerve pain. I don’t get their thinking sometimes.

I've been on it nearly a year, at the same dose.

I have two very demanding young kids, one with SEN, and just can't be in bed all day.

Spoke to GP first thing and he has issued me with 50mg to take twice a day and we will review in a month.

That's great news. I hope you are ok.