Hi,
Have been prescribed this for cervical myelopathy with radiculopathy! (trapped nerved in neck at c6 with screaming pain in shoulder and loss of sensation / reflexes in arm lower arm and thumb and two fingers. However, unbeknown to my doctor (as the work of trauma specialists does not seem to have filtered down to GP level in uk) I have been advised that I have 'toxic stress' following severe childhood trauma ie my 'flight / fight' adrenalin and cortisol button are in the 'ON' position as the default setting. I have always suffered from insomnia but Drs won't prescribe sleeping meds as they're addictive. My dr is only concerned about the physical pain in my shoulder and the nerve damage but when I took one pregabalin (25mg) the feeling of being so 'spaced' , my legs were buckling underneath me, my heart was beating out of my chest and I just felt I was out of control and felt like I was just grinning and drooling like the village idiot and the feelings of loss of control scared the crap out of me! So... I'm about to take another one as this nerve pain is unbearable but I'm scared that because of this adrenalin cortisol cocktail whooshing round my body (as it apparently has been for 50 years years) I'm frightened that I will lose control and won't be able to put on the 'I'm ok' front that has got me through the last 50 years! Or... From what I've read it may help control that uber anxiety but scared I won't get back to full time meaningful employment again... Just scared! Anyone have any thoughts or advice? Anyone been prescribed it to help deal with childhood trauma? If anyone is familiar with ACE scored I'm a ten so outlook may not be so good for me I don't know? Feeling terrified of the loss of control sensations! Thanks
Pregabalin - Little bit scared of Lyrica?
Question posted by Jules8092 on 23 April 2016
Last updated on 25 April 2016
Answers
I have been on Lyrica since 2008. Those feelings of being spaced our do go away. I eventually was taking 3-75mg pills twice a day. They wanted me to start with one pill and add one every 3 days. That made me way to sick. So instead I did it once a week. Week 1 I took 1-75mg pill in the evening. Week 2 I took 1-75mg pill in the morning and 1-75mg in the evening. Week 3 I took 1-75mg pill in the morning and 2-75mg pills in the evening and kept increasing until week 6 I was taking 3-75mg pills in the morning and 3-75mg pills in the evening. By doing it this way my body would adjust enough to add on the next pill. You have to give it time to see if the effects go away. I hope this helps.
You also need to know that everyone's experience is different. What might work for one won't work for another. The best you can do is give it a try. If you think the side effects are too much call your doctor. DO NOT stop taking this medicine. You need to wean off. You have to call your doctor and he'll tell you how to wean off. If you just stop it you will have really bad withdrawals.
Thank you so very much for the reply, I've decided to stop taking them until I know more about how they work and just hope to goodness that they decide to decompress the nerve before I have no feeling at all left in my arm n hand! If it looks like that is going to take many months then I it may become so uncomfortable I may have to have a rethink so it's good to know that the spacing does get less as tolerance builds. I just felt like I'd had a chemical lobotomy and I know it's always a benefit v risk thing with any medication but it felt like whilst it eased the pain it took away my ability to do a lot of other necessary things.. Driving, imagining, thinking, working for an employer effectively etc etc.
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to respond to me much appreciated!
I read recently that these anti-epileptic drugs (used for nerve pain) lock new brain synapses from forming. It stated that these drugs will cause brain decline faster than any other substance known to man!! Sounds really scary to me. When I tried Neurontin years ago (for fibro pain) I felt like it reduced my ability to think clearly and made me tired and itchy. Guess my body sensed that this was not a good medication for me. I don't like hurting, but I sure wouldn't want to lose my thinking ability.
The first line of my comment was supposed to read "block new brain synapses", not lock them. Sorry about that.
Thank you for answer I have only been taking them for 3 days and I'm going to stop until I know what I'm dealing with! My only chance to affect any kind of recovery from the child trauma is via mindfulness, meditation. Etc to try and exploit neroplasticity by knitting or building new healthy synapses (I think) !! Despite the excruciating nerve pain (which I hope is temp until they decompress the nerve) my ability to try and 'fix my brain' is more important for me! Thank you so much as if Lyrica does work by blocking the formation of new healthy 'synapses' then that's self defeating! It's all a bit new to me so I need to do more reading and research.
Thank you !
Related topics
lyrica, pain, pregabalin, prescription, radiculopathy, shoulder, neck
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