Pregablin

[Enigma54]

I’ve recently been prescribed pregablin for nerve pain, caused by a cancerous tumour. I take 50mg in the morning and 75mg at night. The morning dose makes me feel incredibly spaced out and sleepy. Almost like my brain and body are detached.

Does anyone else experience these side effects? Will they ease?

Thanks.

I had similar issues when I first started taking it even at a lower dose. It does seem to drift away over time and after a few months I had no side effect symptoms at all.
Maybe ask your Doctor if you could start the day with a lower dose and increase it to see how it goes.

You poor thing. TBH I would be asking if you could try something other than Pregablin, my Mum was on it and it was the worst withdrawal I have ever seen when she had to come off it and switch to something else as the side effects were too bad, she never got over being very wobbly and spaced out and kept almost falling over. Clearly different people react differently as the previous poster is proof, but the withdrawal issues are widely documented.

There are other similar things eg Amitriptyline and others which don't have such bad side effects/withdrawal.

Weirdly I ended up on pregablin because of the awful side effects I got from amitriptyline, obviously it’s a difficult balance to find something that helps and doesn’t upset you.
I can’t comment on the withdrawal as I’m still taking it.
I definitely think a chat with the doctor is needed.

I have 100mg in morning, then 2 lots of 50 later. I don't experience any side effects. I have for nerve pain. I used to have amitripyline' didn't agree with me.

Hi OP. I was prescribed this last year for nerve pain also, ahead of a spinal op. I was surprised how sleepy it made me but never felt too spaced out as in, I continued to attend work and drive daily. I just slept fantastically on it! Zero withdrawal issues for me and would definitely use again if prescribed.

Have you been on it long?

I found everything. I’ve tried eg amytriptaline, nortriptaline etc eventually they up the dose and I get used to it and it no longer works

Thanks everyone. I will definitely speak to my pain team and see whether I can start at a lower dose of pregablin. I also take buprenorphine ( low dose) so wonder whether that has contributed to feeling off?

My husband takes it for Fibromyalgia. It’s normal to feel spaced out when you first start taking it. Give it a couple of weeks and that will pass. It’s a Godsend for him.

Thankyou. What dose does he take, if you don’t mind me asking?

@Enigma54 Have you asked your pain management team to consider giving you a Quetenza patch? It has worked wonders for my nerve pain. You have it every three months.

https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/-/media/website/patient-information-leaflets/pain-management/qutenza-2020.pdf?rev=ff783e9ffa8946ea906e8c8c0e13d384&sc_lang=en

Have you tried the buprenorphine patches? My doctor says the patches are better than the drug as they give continuous pain relief rather than liquid or tablets.

Also, you may find that gabapentin suits you better than pregablin. They both give horrible side effects ( for me vertigo) but the gabapentin may suit you better.

I have never heard of this patch, but I’m certainly going ask next week. Thankyou.

I do have the buprenorphine patches. They gave me bad headaches and made me feel ill too, hence the switch to tablets. I just don’t know what think. All I know is, I feel well out of sorts today.

His is now up to 150mg in the morning and the same at night. He started on the same dose as you and was over the ‘feeling stoned’ experience within a few days. They are very effective at treating several conditions, so IMO, the short term wooziness is a small price to pay. He found it quite pleasant actually, but then he knew it would very short term. I can imagine it’s pretty unsettling if you don’t know that.

Sorry to hear that. I am having a bad leg today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Someone told me bad days are good because they make you appreciate your not so bad days - I keep trying to remember that and I hope you get a good day tomorrow

That’s a side effect of pregablin, how long have you been on it? Most patients find the spacey feeling settles after about a week. You can see about lowering the morning dose to 25 mg and even the night dose down to 50 mg.

An alternative is gabapentin, they work very similarly without as much side effects. Not as effective as pregablin though but also very good.

Someone mentioned the withdrawals, they are extremely tough with pregablin so it’s something to be mindful of.

The quetenza patch as someone else mentioned has really good outcomes with a lot of data to to support but it does depend where your pain is and it’s not 1st line like the pregablin is.

I was prescribed pregabalin for nerve damage after cancer surgery. I started on 25mg twice a day and gradually worked up to 75mg twice a day, which is what worked for me. This gradual approach really helped with side effects. I quite liked the way it made me feel! A bit spaced out but quite chilled. This did settle though. Although I did put on some weight. It was very effective at pain relief and also stopped me going to the loo all the time. It also made me sleep for around 9 hours a night. It’s important to come off it slowly as well.

Ah thanks @Herberty
Sorry you are having a bad leg day. Let’s hope tomorrow will be better for us both eh?

Yes I’ve already decided to lower the dose to 25mg am and 50pm. Only started it this week. I’m just mindful that chemo is hard enough, without side effects of pain relief. Hopefully I can find a balance at some point.

I will certainly ask about the qutenza patch, as I’m open to all options.

Thankyou for sharing. I think I need to do the same; start low and slow and build up gradually.

I remember the first time my gp prescribed me pregabalin, I can be a bit odd with some medicines so he tried to reassure me my dose would be the same as a baby would get. That one wee tablet had me sat in a wee fog feeling like id either drunk not enough wine/too much.

Had them again this year for l5 nerve fuckery. Had to go right in at 300mg but was off my face on morphine anyway so didnt matter then, anything over 300mg had me feeling pretty tipsy but also so sleepy and like my bp was far too low.

I actually really miss them for the sleep aspect. 12pm would roll round and I would have a nap. No reading for hours to fall asleep.

Is it possible to have a daytime nap?

@BoarBrush you have hit the nail on the head re: the fog! That’s EXACTLY how I’ve been feeling this week. Almost had to pinch myself a few times to wake up to reality; very weird! I can’t take morphine, as jt makes me feel sick. It just seems I’m stupidly sensitive to these drugs!

A nap could be the only way forward at this rate!

It does get better pretty quick, try a nap a day for now just to get it into your system properly and make sure you're drinking and eating enough (though they made me so damn hungry) because they do lower your bp which obviously doesn't help the foggy feeling.

Once the morphine was withdrawn whilst I was on 300 I rushed the kids out to the garden to plant my seeds and just sat like a smiling looney 😁

@BoarBrush you made me chuckle with your sat smiling like a looney comment 😆 Seriously, that has been me today!

Honestly when I walked in the house dh had just got back and he laughed at the state of me, cheaper than wine I suppose😁