First week on Lyrica

My first week on Lyrica / pregabalin 

Hi everyone, good to see you back here! 

About a week ago, I told you I was going to try Lyrica (pregabalin) because my neuropathy symptoms had gotten worse. 

What is Lyrica?

Lyrica contains the drug substance pregabalin and was originally introduced as an  antiepileptic drug. It works by inhibiting calcium channels, which modifies nerve conduction. This effect on nerves has been found to reduce neuropathic pain. Therefore, pregabalin is one of the most commonly used meds to treat neuropathy pain due to different causes.

 

Pregabalin does not treat the cause of neuropathy, but it reduces the pain to a certain degree. 

So far I have always refused to take Lyrica/pregabalin

For years I have refused to try pregabalin, because one of its main side effects is tiredness and problems with memory function. I was scared it would turn me into a daytime zombie and make it hard to focus on my work. After all, my brain is functioning well, as opposed to my peripheral nerves.😡I rely on it a lot to do my research work, so I did not want to also deal with fatigue and reduced mental strength. I read some patient expriences online, where people said it made them so tired that they basically could not function. 

So far, I also never really had to take it, because we always tried some other immunotherapy instead. However, at the moment, I have decided to try taking it, until my COVID vaccine is completed and I can try immunotherapy again. After all, I can just see how it goes and stop it again if I don't tolerate it, right?💊

But now I decided to give Lyrica/pregabalin a try...

This is the capsules I currently take. My pharmacy friends will wonder why I did not get the generic capsules, because the original product is a lot more expensive. You are right😃 I actually was wondering the exact same thing, but somehow it totally slipped my attention at first. I will ask them to give me a generic next time. There is no need to get the more expensive original product in my opinion. Chronic disease already causes enough health care costs.

So I started pregabalin about a week ago on a Saturday. I wanted to try it on a weekend to see how I react to it. I started on a very low dose (25mg twice daily) and am now on 75mg twice daily, which is still in the lower range of what you can take.

Did I turn into a daytime zombie yet?

So far, I do feel more tired, mostly when I sit around at home or work on my computer. It kind of feels a bit like I am in a daze and less energetic. But overall it is not that I can't function. 

Luckily, I find that it has not really adversely impacted my work.🤞🏼🤞🏼 Ironically, I feel like I can almost concentrate better, because I am kind of too tired to get distracted.🤨🤨 So once I started writing something or so, I just keep on it. I wonder if that is how Ritalin works for people with ADHD🙃

Whenever I do something actively around the house or outside I am fine and the tiredness goes away. So overall it has not been too bad so far, and it has had the good side effect that I sleep better. But I am still on a pretty low dose, and I will have to see how this goes once I put the dose up more. 

I am not sure what my target dose is yet. I will have to increase until I find the dose that gives sufficient pain relief with tolerable side effects. 

Has it helped with the pain so far?

In terms of pain relief, I do think it helps a bit. It kind of takes the edge off the weird burning pain I have sometimes. I also feel that my hands are a bit less painful, and I don't get these weird little shooting pains anymore, which i had in my hands and legs sometimes. However, symptoms are far from gone and it definitely has not been a miracle drug for me so far. 

The main problem I have is that my feet are painful when I walk, which is the most limiting symptoms. It is mainly the bottom of my feet, which get painful when I walk in shoes. Pregabalin has not been able to fix this so far. 

However, more pain relief might set in with some delay and with higher doses too. So I will keep you updated on this. 

What's the plan now? 

Basically, I do hope to find a better treatment, which treats the cause of my neuropathy rather than just the symptoms anyway. I have previously had immunotherapy, which resolved my symptoms completely, but more about this later. So the bottom line is, I know effective immuno therapy is possible and this is what I aim for. So I plan to stop pregabalin again as soon as I feel better🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

And now I wish you all happy Easter or happy holiday, whatever you celebrate. Thanks for reading my blog and coming on this journey with me. 

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Categories: treatment