Pregabalin (Lyrica)

it`s been a year you posted this but I just want to say this to everyone ... I have read stories of ex-heroin users that say the withdrawl symptoms of Lyrica are worse then heroine ... I`m definately not ready to throw my life away for a bit of anxiety or depressed feeling.

 

@Markku, are you still taking clonazepam? My belgium ENT prescribed me Rivotril last december but I was so afraid of the side effects and the withdrawal effects that I didn't dare to take it, (as I have understood it's very hard/painful to stop this kind of drug). I'm still on xanax but now I am just wondering if Rivotril works better than Xanax for Tinnitus? It's a shame that nobody told me to check my ears the day of my accident (airbag deployment)

 

Rivotril is a better drug than xanax all around.
It's certainly not innocent but if you plan to continue taking some some of anti-anxiety med, rivotril is the better choice.
But as you might have read, taking such drugs for a long time (usually more than 3-4 weeks) is not a good idea.

 

Thank you @undecided for your answer, when you say 3-4 weeks do you mean with Rivotril? What is your own experience with that drug? If it's the case how long did you take it and what kind of improvement did you feel?

 

Yes, drugs such as Rivotril are meant to be taken for short periods of time - if you take them for too long, they lose their efficacy and you need a bigger dose to achieve the same effect. And there is a possibility that you get yourself an addiction as well. However, many people have reported lowered tinnitus when using it.
My opinion is these meds should be avoided but I must admit that using them once in a while is like a guilty pleasure.

But this is a conversation about Lyrica, I believe there is a separate forum thread about Rivotril.

 

I know this not the thread for Rivotril, (sorry!), but I am just wondering if there is not a kind of " natural Rivotril" now on the market with exacltly the same effects without the addiction effects?

 

If there was natural clonazepam, the entire earth's population would be stumbling around the place, walking in figure eights and slurring Mother's Little Helper by the Rolling Stones.

 

I tried it. I got suicidal ideation, raging outbursts, and depersonalization episodes. Apart from that it didn't do much.

 

I have tested pregabalin to me and does not work.

 

What was your dosage man ?

 

When I take 300mg pregabaline my tinnitus halves in intensity. If I ad another benzo to that the tinnitus is almost completely gone for about 8 hours(alprazolam to be specific).

 

Can't remember, but I do remember it was low dose induction. Now maybe if I'd pushed past all that? Don't know but in the meantime I had to function at work.

 

My pain management doc and psych doc made me come down to only I klonipin a day. My usual tinnitus has worsen. I only need 2 a day for coverage to keep the shrilling noise down. I was not given any feed back into this. Nurses said I sounded loopy to them. Now I have pain, panic attacks and bad tinnitus!!!

 

I was put on Pregabalin for about 2 months. I was started off on 1x 25mg tablet a day for about 2 weeks and told to increase gradually if tolerated. I was then taken up to 150mg three times a day and then told I could take up to 600mg per day but only if needed.

Overall it made me feel very spaced out. It wasn't unpleasant and I tolerated it very well but it didn't help with the tinnitus or hyperacusis at all. It just made no impact on them. It did help with the head pain a bit and I can see why these are prescribed for pain management but they tended to make me a bit useless. I also had balance issues and couldn't walk straight when on the larger doses. I am now being put on morphine and so scaling back on the Lyrica. I have been given 75mg 3 times a day and told to come off them in a week.

Hope this helps.

 

Morphine? That's very addictive. Why are they giving you morphine?

 

morphine makes my ears ring like sirens but also makes me not care about it at all. If the lovely feeling you get 2-3 hours after you take the first dose were indefinitely sustainable, I probably wouldn't have any worries in the world... unfortunately, it's not, and the psychological and physiological consequences of dependency are severe and disabling.

 

Because I have a disabling headache that hasn't stopped for 13months. I don't really want the morphine but it's got to the point where I am pretty much useless to the world. Nonestop pain 24/7, especially when I talk has really taken its toll on me and changed my personality altogether.

 

I wish you all the best.

 

I just started this drug.. I'm wondering how it compares with Gabapentin for Tinnitus?

 

And Gabapentin did not work for you?

 

I've tried Lyrica for the last few days; not much benefit. I have not tried Gaba as of yet.

 

To throw my experience into the mix - I've been taking Lyrica for two weeks now for nerve pain in the neck and I've just decided to pull myself off it. I started on 25mg and went to 50mg and had just started on 75mg this week when I realised I'll have to reevaluate whether it's for me. It was working wonders for my pain but the sedative effects were making me feel almost catatonic, and I've had a dramatic increase in my tinnitus. Not only that, my mood had dropped significantly - whether that's down to an emotional response to the heightened T or the Lyrica itself is unclear. Either way, I'm hoping that this horrible continuous beeping that is reverberating through my head might calm down now I'm taking a break from Lyrica.

 

Same here. Just started taking 300 mg a day of Pregabalin/Lyrica + 4 mg of Clonazepam. I hope my tinnitus settles just like yours did, but tbh am quite petrified about all the other horror stories regarding Lyrica.

 

Hi Jiri
Would you post back on here how you get on with the Pregabalin?
That's a high dose for an initial intake. I used to take it at 150mg a day. Helped a lot with anxiety but not really with the noise.
I've had a recent severe worsening so am thinking about taking it again.
Louise.

 

Sure. I ended up in a mental house for 2 weeks when my Tinnitus first started. It was just that bad. The last week when I was there my starting dose of Pregabalin was 75 mg a 3 x day. Now I'm back home and my psychiatrist decided to upper intake the levels of Pregabalin to 2x 150 mg. I also take Clonazepam 2mg, Brintellix 20 mg, and 1 mg of Risperidal.

During the day my T is not bothersome, it's quite ok. It's always the evenings that are the worst.

 

I really sympathise. I've felt like I'm going to lose my mind with it in this last week. Nighttime is the worst for me too. And bedtime the very worst.
Good luck with the change in medication.

 

Thank you if I notice any change I'll let you know. I wanna however lower my dose to 75 mg twice a day only. As a matter of fact, I want to lower my dose of everything I'm on. Just during the bed time to have smth that'll put me to sleep.

 

I used to use Mirtazapine to put me to sleep. It works night after night without any tolerance building. I could use just one quarter of a 15mg pill to get the effect. I'm trying to not go back to it though, only as a last resort. Same with the Pregabalin. The only issue I had with Pregabalin is that it made my thinking slower and concentration harder. No good when you work in computing. Not that I'm working at the moment. Good luck Jiri.

 

I'll ask about Mirtazapine the next time I see my doctor.

Yes, I have the same issue. But in the medicine info leaflet it says it is only a matter of time untill your body gets used to to the drug and then you can even drive a car while on it. It should have a positive effect on your nervous system too, so I've heard, that's why I think I was prescribed the drug. Now that I'm reading that some people relate their hearing loss to the this drug I'm beginning to get worried. Last thing I need is my T to get worse (obviously) so I hope Pregabalin will help in this respect just like it helped the user @Lyrica.

Anyway, you're very kind and best of luck to the both of us.

 

It never stopped making my thinking slower in the 6 months I took it for. Maybe that takes longer but then if that wears off I would think the anxiolytic effects would also wear off? I could always drive a car, it wasn't as bad as that, it was when I was doing computing stuff, I just wasn't sharp like normal.

About the hearing loss - it did not alter my hearing in the time I took it. Proved out by a fairly recent hearing test. In fact that recent test was just slightly better than the test I had in 2012 at the same place. Each of us are different of course. You'll have to keep your eye on it but I hope my experience has alleviated your fears on that score a little.

Take care.