Pregabalin side effects

[headinthecloud]

Hello

I've been taking Pregabalin 150mg at night and 100mg in the morning. It's been prescribed to me as an adjunct to anxiety (am taking Mirtazapine too).

For the last ten days I've been getting the 'peak and trough' effect: a very strong and uncomfortable 'high' and then a 'come down' a few hours later. The 'high' bit feels like the drunkeness people talk about with this drug. The 'come down' is almost like withdrawal effect. All this happens within the five or six hours I take the morning dose. It leaves me exhausted and not to mention impossible to concentrate on the normal day (although it does take the anxiety away).

I don't feel unwell after the 150mg night dose - just drowsy.

Is this normal side effects? If so will they pass?

[BobbyDog]

I take the same combination as you. Eventually the great highs and lows will settle down, I would say after about a month/six weeks and then you should reach a plateau.

[headinthecloud]

Thanks BobbyDog...wow it takes that long! I've just lowered my dosage from 150mg to 125mg at night, and 100mg to 75mg daytime. The 100mg just felt 'too much' during the day. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable, but remains to be seen what happens later on.

[BobbyDog]

Yes I know the side effects are really bad at first, the worst one I had was blurred vision - still have it, but I will live with that, they do make me feel so much better. I hope with continued use you will also benefit from this medication.

[hanshan]

Pregabalin has a short half-life - about six hours or so - and this may be affecting you. It does take a week or more to reach a steady base level of the medication. Until that happens, hourly fluctuations are more noticeable, at the same time that you are still getting used to the medication.

You may want to talk to your doctor about spreading pregabalin over three doses a day to even things out if the problem continues.

[Coni]

I had to reduce my morning dose to 50mg and take 200mg at night which seems more bearable for me, though if I take my night time dose too late i feel absolutely shattered for much of the next morning. My psychiatrist also said I could split the night time dose into two doses if need be.

[headinthecloud]

The 75mg day dose is markedly more comfortable compared to the 100mg. But yes, I am dealing with a spectrum of effects through the day. The worse bit now seems to be the the trough. There's a slight numb hand sensation + a weird pain in the head. Maybe that's the drunk sensation people talk about (I never really did drink very much so I don't know what that means!). I'm now hoping that the side effects will become less noticeable as the week wears on. It does help with my anxiety though.

It's quite hard to focus on work when your head is in another zone!

[headinthecloud]

Has anyone else suffered from these peak and troughs from Pregabalin? It really sucks. I'm also taking Mirtazapine, which I think is working fine in a stable sort of way in the background (as it should!). Pregabalin is like a roller coaster every day. This normal?

[Coni]

I do get the exhaustion sometimes, but for me that is definitely if I've taken my evening dose too late and the tired drunk feeling can last right until the afternoon. I find I really have to take my evening dose no later than about 8 o clock. When the exhaustion wears off I do feel good generally, and I do remember at the beginning feeling it was a bit of a rollercoaster but that does settle (unless you're like me and rubbish at remembering to take tablets and then you mess everything up :blush:lol!)

Stay with it, I honestly feel that the pregabalin made a huge difference to me.

[headinthecloud]

Thanks Coni I do hope so. Being at work helps me to take my mind off things. The worse is around lunch time for me when it's operating at its peak. Then it's a long 'tail' of a come-down. By 6pm I'm almost hyperventilating. The evening is calmer though. The drug announces its presence for most part of the 6-7 hours after taking it. It makes the act of taking it in the morning hard...knowing what I will feel like later. :(

[hanshan]

Hi Headinthecloud,

Based on how long it stays active in the body, pregabalin should really be taken three times a day. For example, you wouldn't take Panadol twice a day if you were suffering extended pain.

Talk to your doctor about organising doses three times a day if you have continuing problems, or divide your capsules into three doses, if that is possible.

[headinthecloud]

Hi Hanshan, I was taking it three times a day (150mg at night and 50mg twice daily) until I started developing an oppressive pain in the head + breathing difficulties. It sort of just crept up on me and I put up with it for a long time without putting two and two together. I have no idea why I was feeling that way.... Now on twice a day (125mg night and 75mg day) I'm experiencing the dazed + buzzed sensation together with tingling and numbness. I wrote to the doctor yesterday and now just waiting for him to get in touch. Trying very hard to not get anxious and panicky...

[hanshan]

Hi Headinthecloud,

You might want to try three even doses a day - eg 50 mg or 75 mg every eight hours, rather than mixing large doses and small doses.

[headinthecloud]

Thanks Hanshan. I think mixing high and low doses got me into my original problem. My head just didn't know how to process the sudden ups and downs. Today sees much improvements from yesterday. I'm not getting the dizzy feeling so much in the morning until after lunch. I'm going to try keeping the twice-a-day for now but maybe lowering the night dose further from 125mg to 100mg to get the two doses closer.

Gosh I shall be glad when all this is working smoothly in the background, which is how it should be.

[jaredlisted]

I started lyrica today on a 50mg dose and was completely out of it. I planning to do 25mg in the morning and 25mg at night.

I have battled with anxiety for my whole life and finally found peace on cipralex (lexapro) which i have been on for two years. At the begining of the month i ran out and had stomach issues, doc refilled my script and gave me metaclopramide for my nausea. 2 days later i developed akethisia. I stopped metaclopramide immediately. But the akethisia has stayed for the entire month. I have seen 4 docs and they all say it normally goes when you remove the offending med. Why is mine still here and severe? Anyone please help

[headinthecloud]

It's now been about 10 days on 125mg (night) and 75 (day). I'm still feeling the head buzz, numb hand, dazed and drunk feeling. There's a faint pressure around my ears and I feel hot when the effect of this drug peaks (about 4 hours after taking it) I can't concentrate on my work or life because this is making me feel so unwell. Is this normal? Have requested to see my neurologist again to discuss. He's a bit expensive (I'll try insurance to see if they'll pay!) but i need some reassurance...

[hanshan]

It's hard to remember, but I think I had a dizzy feeling for at least a month after I started taking pregabalin, and physical coordination problems for a year or so. However, the reduction in anxiety outweighed the side-effects.

[headinthecloud]

OMG that long! I'm getting dizziness, a weird buzz (high?) in the head, general heavy headedness, numbness in the hand and hot flushes to be my main side effects. On some days I still get flashes of anxiety.

It's very hard for me to take the pill in the morning knowing that it's going to make me ill. I wish I can say to myself 'this is the way it is' and stop getting anxious about it. All these 'what its' run through my head - like 'what if this isn't the right drug for me', and 'what if I can't get off this drug'

[headinthecloud]

The side effects are quite bad today: it seems that the 'come down' is worst than the 'high'. I get a kind of dull pain from it. And every day seems to be worse than the day before. At 200mg a day I'm at the low end of the dosage scale. What must it be like for people having to take higher dose?

What's weird is that when I take 125mg at night I'm quite peaceful. Maybe a bit drowsy. During daytime the 75mg is pure roller coaster. I wonder why that is?