Pregabalin for Anxiety

[hsamantha]

Hi,
Has anyone been prescribed Pregabalin for Anxiety?

What was your experience like when first taking it and then once taking it for a while?

TIA

Bump

I take it for a medical condition. The condition also makes me anxious, so pregabalin is great. I'm only on 75mg when needed.

I was on 600mg to start with, however had to drop it to 400mg within a fortnight as I just couldn’t function.

I gained 5 stone in 5 months because I was just so fucking drowsy/unmotivated/felt like shit on it and was constantly hungry, I’ve never known anything like it.

Gut distension landed me in A&E twice, I was vomiting with no warning regularly and had the runs almost constantly too.

By that point, I had to wean down 25mg per fortnight because any drop bigger than that was horrific in terms of withdrawal.

I got down to 50mg and that’s the maximum dose I can take before the above mentioned side effects kick in again.

But it is a game changer in terms of treating my anxiety.

I've taken 600mg for a few years now.

It's been a life saver tbh. My anxiety was out of control despite try everything and anything else.

I can't recall any initial side effects. If I had any I'm assuming they were mild as I have remained on it.

I've never had weight gain or any of the other side effects mentioned by the pp. The only thing I do have is a shocking memory. I'm not convinced this is entirely due to the pregablin but I do think it is a contributing factor.

I'm hoping next year to look at reducing and eventually stopping it. Mainly because I don't want to be reliant upon it for the rest of my life. For me it has been a wonder drug and truly helped me function.

@Girlintheframe my weight more or less doubled from 52kg to just over 100kg! I thought Mirtazipine was bad (10kg gain!) but this was something else. I never went above 65kg when pregnant - any of the three times!

It didn’t help that my second Psych app was over the phone as it was a week into the first lockdown, and I didn’t see him in person again for over 12 months. I’m sure if I’d been having monthly in person apps, the physical side effects and rapid weight gain would have been noticed far, far sooner and wouldn’t have been so bad.

In the end it took me a long time to wean down to 50mg, but the weight slowly dropped off during that time. Now I’ve been on 50mg for the last 6 months, the weight has dramatically dropped off and I’m not far off what I was before.

I take it alongside 50mg of Quetiapine (was on 150mg) and I have a pack of 2mg Diazepam every month, I can take upto 10mg a day as and when needed, but I don’t really use it any more.

I doubt I will ever be completely off meds, and as it took me over a decade to get a Psych referral (luckily I moved areas and my new GP was horrified that my record was littered with notes from my previous GP stating he was refusing to refer me when I very clearly had CPTSD), I’m not in a rush to come off meds that only they can prescribe and give them an excuse to boot me off.

I was given it for pain and anxiety - put on lots of weight which I've struggled to lose years later. Wish I'd never started it as it didn't help me with the anxiety either!
Sorry to sound so negative - I hope it works for you, op.

Thanks for replying.

What was your dose and how long did you take it for? Was it easy to come off of.

I'm kinda desperate now, I barely leave the house as my anxiety is through the roof and I just feel really panicky when out and about 😫

Thank you for replying.

Did you start on a lower dose and build up to 600mg.

I just want to be able to leave the house and do normal things again, life is really passing me by 😔

It's highly, highly addictive and an absolute nightmare to get off, even with a long slow taper. In my experience, people end up needing high doses for same effect and it eventually stops being useful in any case. I've definitely seen it make anxiety worse, in the longer term.

Have you thought about some therapy to give you coping strategies for your anxiety, or to understand more about what is driving it ? Not a quick fix but worth trying

I took it for anxiety. It was great for that, but kind of made me depressed too.

It was great for pain too.

Thanks for replying

Yeah I've paid for private therapy and had it on the NHS too, its given me an understanding of my problem, panic disorder with agoraphobia but I've virtually been housebound for 3.5 years. I'm not living life, I'm just existing.

Tried SSRIs and SNRIs but the side effects were too bad, I'm in a catch 22.

Pregabalin seems to be tolerated better when first taking it.

Side effects for ADs pass after a few weeks - how long were you on them? I’m on venlafaxine and the side effects are vile but I have to give it a go.

Have you tried MAOIs/TCAs? Propanalol? Busiprone?

I was told by a GP that gabapentin and pregabalin were extremely addictive - even more problematic than benzo addictions. I doubt you’d get it handed over to you so easily without having tried a lot of other stuff.

I get symtoms of serotonin syndrome and become severely agitated, like I want to climb out of my own skin.

Tried propranalol and that lowers my blood pressure, makes me feel weak like I'm going to pass out.

I have been prescribed diazepam for as and when needed, I only take it when I absolutely have too, probably once or twice every 6 months, I haven't had any urge to take more than is absolutely necessary but I suppose being in the house all the time doesn't create many opportunities.

@hsamantha it was a fairly low dose if I recall - I'm sorry I can't remember exact numbers. I was on it for a couple of months and weaned myself off it bit by bit. I didn't have any bother coming off it. I did gain weight but I was in my early 40s and now I'm even fatter!
I'm so sorry your anxiety is affecting you so badly - it may well be the right drug for you. I have heard a lot of positive stories about its usage in treating severe anxiety. Our bodies can all be so different in their response to medication! Fingers crossed it works well for you - there is every chance that it will.

@hsamantha yes I started on a lower dose then gradually moved up. Like you I had tried everything else. Pregablin is a last resort drug for anxiety. Nothing else worked for me.
I couldn't work, couldn't do the school run etc etc. my anxiety was overwhelming. I went on cbt courses, did special workshops, had counseling. It was very much a last resort. I struggled with everything 'normal'

Pregablin honestly gave me my life back. I do everything now. Everything most people take for granted but that I massively struggled with.

@hsamantha one of the reasons it's difficult to get prescribed is that it's a very expensive drug. It is also a drug which is easily abused. Initially it felt like diazepam to me but without the sedating side effects.

It's not a drug you can stop abruptly. I forgot to get my prescription once and within 24 hours started to get withdrawal side effects.
However to me it gave me my life back. I now have a professional job (something I never thought was possible), a social life etc. Infact people struggle to believe I have anxiety at all.

I've tried quite a few before pregabalin and the only one which made me gain horrific amounts of weight was quietiaoine. I felt like I was starving on it!

Actually it’s very cheap now that it’s off patent. Between £1.50 and £2.50 a month depending on dose (cost to the NHS - nothing to do with prescription charge). It is controlled however because of the potential for abuse, hence GPs may be cautious about prescribing.

@Girlintheframe

You sound so much like you've been how I an now, luckily due to covid I can work from home but all I want to so is the normal things, school run, take my kids bowling, go for a meal without feeling like I'm suffocating from anxiety.

Anxiety really does have a grip on me and its confined me to my home. All my kids want is their Mum back just to do normal things.

I'd even be happy to pay private for a psychatrist to prescribe if I had no joy with the GP, although he didn't resist when I asked for diazepam. I'd take it in the lowest 25mg dose and see how I got on before building up.

It's so encouraging to hear how you have your life back, how long since starting the medication to being able to do things again did it take x

@sorrynotathome it maybe depends on the dose. According to the BNF it's over £7.00 for 300mg. Certainly every Gp I've spoken to has alluded to it's cost. I'm not in England which maybe also makes a difference

@hsamantha I got it initially prescribed by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist also was the one to titrate my up to 600mg. I'm not sure my Gp would have given it to me tbh.

I think it's probably one of those things you need to try for yourself. All drugs work differently for different people.

I literally had no life. Everything was filled with fear and I constantly felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights, it was exhausting. I would have tried anything at that point. I just couldn't function tbh. Even ordinary things like parents night had me in a state of fight or flight for weeks before hand. When the night eventually came I felt paralyzed. It's actually really hard to describe how I felt. I felt like I was drowning.

You would never even guess any of this if you saw me in my life now. I've done a complete 360. I think partly because pregablin game my brain space to put into practice all the cbt things I'd been taught. It gave me space to rationalize which I'd never had before.

Most people don't understand anxiety, mainly because it's completely irrational which the person knows but is too paralyzed to do anything about.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do xx

@hsamantha sorry to answer your question. I felt some effects immediately. I can't remember what dose I started on but I did go up to 600mg pretty quick. 600mg is the maximum dose of pregabalin to treat anxiety. I've been on that dose now for a few years.

@Girlintheframe

It's comforting to read what you have said as it could be myself writing it. I couldn't go to my sons leavers assembly as the thought of having to sit in the school hall, being 'trapped' was just too much. I am just frustrated with it now and how it's taken my life away. 3.5 years ago, nothing stopped me doing anything.

Thanks for replying to me xx

It sounds more like akasithia than serotonin syndrome.

rxisk.org/akathisia/

Frequently misdiagnosed.

I’ve had it on 3 anti depressants and quetiapine.

Its horrible.

Yes, dose does make a difference, also whether it’s tablets or capsules. 300 mg capsules are £2.67 for 56 while tablets are £7.19. Regardless, £7 is still low cost and price is unlikely to be a factor in prescribing. Medicine prices to NHS are UK-wide.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Ah yes the symptoms sound similar don't they.

It's a horrible feeling.

Did you find any medication that worked for you x