Lyrica In General

I am 85 tears of age and I have been taking Lyrica for at least 10 years. I was immediately prescribed 75 mg as treatment for severe Neauropathic pain in my lower leg I also had bone pain mainly in the Tibias, I had this particular pain for 30 to 40 years. When I started on the treatment it was dramatic, the pain went almost overnight, it was as if a magic wand was waved. As the years passed I noticed the effects gradually lessened, so the dosage was increased. I suffer with loss of balance and when it first happened I was diagnosed with Benign Postural Vertigo and was treated for that. Now a few days ago my GP increased my Lyrica dose and balance has become worse. It started me thinking and I realised that my dizziness coincided with my first taking Lyrica. So tomorrow I will be attending a Falls and Balance Clinic at which I will try to thrash this out with the doctor and pharmacist. And yes I did have psychedelic dreams, I would wake up and believe someone was standing over me, I also get dreadful tightness in the chest when having an afternoon nap, but I didn't attribute any of this to Lyrica until now.

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I've been taking Lyrica for about three years, as an add on therapy for seizures. I had been taking Lamictal for 3-4 years prior to that, but the seizures kept coming so we added Lyrica. Side effects, let's see... memory problems, especially name recollection, weight gain (about 20 pounds and I'm only 5 feet tall so significant!), lethargy, zero libido. We got the dose up to 200mg 2x/day which gave me nerve pain in my hands and severe restlessness. I could not sit still, was constantly tapping a foot or drumming my fingers at least. Both of those effects were worse in the evenings. So we tapered down to 150 2x/day, the pain and most of the restlessness went away. But I swear it had zero effects on the seizures, and all those other side effects were still present. Fast forward to good news... I have had two brain surgeries and the second one did the trick! I have been seizure free for nearly 9 months! So I'm working on tapering down the Lyrica. First of all to get rid of these side effects. Second it is extremely expensive! Gotta pay for all those commercials I guess... I have a new job and with this insurance it's $150/mo (insurance covers half and Lyrica oh-so-generously offers a $50 coupon on their website so would be about $350/mo without insurance or the coupon). So I'm tapering down, lowering the dose by 50mg/day over a period of 5 weeks. Started the process 6 days ago. So far my memory problems are even worse and I am tired all the time. Hopefully it's all temporary. I'm looking forward to losing these 20 pounds I've put on, remembering people's names and having a libido again. Fingers crossed. I would love to hear others' experiences with lowering their dose or tapering off.

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Hi! chefgirl,
I am very sorry to hear of your past problem and pleased to hear you're picking up. However; I am also sorry to hear how prohibitive the cost of medication is for you and I assume many many more where ever you live.
I am fortunate to live in Australia (the lucky country) and we have a safety net system here in which my wife and I pay a small amount our prescriptions until we reach it, which we do in around three months. The scheme starts on the first of January each year so after about March for the rest of the year we pay nothing. We also have free hospital, my wife is currently in hospital, she has a private room television access to a phone and it costs nothing, it's wonderful.
Back to the main topic Lyrica, I have had no where near the horrendous side effects others seem to have, I am currently on 150 mg at night together with 5 mg of Targin and it helps with the dreadful pain I suffer in my lower legs in the early hours of the morning. So I guess it's worth putting up with side effects. I have an up coming session with a Neurologist (free of charge) so hopefully he or she will offer some help with the pain I have all over

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