well here goes....my 1st try on pregabalin tonight

[Kayla-Marie]

heres my diary........
after 4 years of GAD and Agorophobia and countless different meds my psychiatrist wants me to try pregabalin i'm starting 50mg 3 times a day and am quite nervous Gulp!!
i am already on 5mg of olanzapine a day but not helping much.
my main symptom is derealisation and anxiety/panic attacks these started in 2008 after i lost my daughter and my dad within 7 weeks of each other and became that bad it became agorophobia.....i'm praying this helps so here goes the 1st tablet...:wacko:

[Mark13]

Good luck. Have a look at my diary if you're interested.

It took me 4 weeks before I felt the full benefits, and I won't pre-empt any side effects for you, but none were bad for me.

[BobbyDog]

I agree with Mark, I found the side effects minimal compared with some medications I have tried. I wish you all the success.

[Kayla-Marie]

thankyou both :) after i took the 1st one last night i ended up with a bad headache and went bed at 10pm then woke up at midnight in a panic? i had to take a diazepam to calm down!

i keep feeling sick too and a bit spaced out i've not read the side effects as with all the others i've tried i scared myself rigid....will take a look at your posts mark x

---------- Post added at 11:37 ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 ----------

forgot to mention i sem to be aware of my heartbeat more all of a sudden don't know if this is a side effect?:shrug:

---------- Post added at 12:09 ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 ----------

just been reading through some old posts on pregabalin and noticed that it makes depersonlisation worse so am considering not taking it as i already suffer with this :( really had my hopes up this med could be the answer as well!!:weep:

[hanshan]

To be honest, all those effects sound more like anxiety at taking the medication, rather than the medication itself. Let the medication have an effect - you may not notice anything for a week or so.

[Kayla-Marie]

thanks hansan i think your right but after 2 50mg tablets i do have terrible dizziness but am determined to stick at it and not give up as really have high hopes for this med x

---------- Post added at 17:19 ---------- Previous post was at 13:39 ----------

3rd 50mg tablet took and feeling ok although got the dizziness still......had a mad spring clean this afternoon and sorted my little girls clothes out....no diazepam today as yet :)

[hanshan]

Dizziness is definitely a side-effect of pregabalin. Fortunately, it usually subsides within a week or so. If it continues to bother you, discuss with your doctor how you are taking it - eg it may be possible to take a larger proportion of the dose just before bedtime to minimise dizziness.

Hoping that you start experiencing benefits from pregabalin soon.

[Kayla-Marie]

thanks hanshan anxiety seems to have down a bit but still got the dizziness as you say hopefully it will wear off i did sleep very well last night though no panic this time x

---------- Post added at 14:03 ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 ----------

6th 50mg tablet and anxiety creeping back and dizziness very bad but still determined to carry on with this drug not tried to go out yet as still not confident with that got my cpn coming on wednesday so might attempt a short car journey...
will see how things go 1st....

[hanshan]

Hi Kayla-Marie,

There's some good signs. Hang in there.

Take care.

[Kayla-Marie]

thankyou :) dizziness about gone now and not as anxious so fingers crossed :yesyes: x

[Kayla-Marie]

after starting to feel a bit better yesterday i had yet another bad panic in the night that woke me from my sleep my main symptom was racing heart so popped another 5mg diazepam to calm down....
am thinking of asking my dr to put me on propanolol as i found when i had a beta blocker 5 months ago i was not getting the initial panic but as my bp was still up after having my daughter he changed my beta blocker labetalol to another bp tablet
am still determined to ride this out as i felt very relaxed yesterday and noticed i was not as tensed up but last nights panic has pushed me back a step..:shrug:

[Kayla-Marie]

:weep: felt very low and irritable today and am actually worried i am going to wake up in the night with a racing heart sweating etc again...

did anyone else experience worsening anxiety in first weeks on lyrica?
feel like throwing the rest of tablets in the bin!!

[Mark13]

Bear with it, it gets better, believe me.

I was really up and down for a while, some days worse than ever, other days better than ever. A real roller-coaster ride.

For me though, I was much worse on SSRIs, I prefer this drug, it's the best I've been on.

[Kayla-Marie]

thanks for that mark i'm a little better today but must admit i took a diazepam before i went bed just in case!
i've got to admit that i'm not getting any side effects as bad as i did on the ssri's especially citalopram that was awful it trebled my anxiety.

[Kobey]

I really haven't experienced any side effects from Lyrica, maybe I'm just lucky. Prozac made me sweat have bad headaches and another I won't say lol.

[Mark13]

..and another I won't say lol.
Probably the same reason I couldn't cope with any of the SSRIs :blush::winks:

[Kayla-Marie]

well after a week on pregabalin i've decided to come off it as i'm getting a lot of palpitations,don't think it suits me but at least i tried it!!

[JT69]

Thats a shame Kayla-Marie...sorry it didnt work out for you.

Jo.x

[Mark13]

Sorry to hear that Kayla-Marie, I must have been lucky, I got no adverse side effects.

Good luck with whatever you try next.

[hanshan]

Pregabalin is best for low-level anxiety. It's not so good for night-sweats and palpitations, but I don't think it causes them either.

I think you were on the right track to ask for a beta blocker to go with the pregabalin. Labetalol (which you were on before) has the added advantage of being both an alpha and a beta blocker. Alpha blockers are being used to control nightmares among people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, so may help you with disturbed sleep.

My tuppence worth of advice would be to continue with the pregabalin and add labetalol, as it seemed to help before. (But please note that I teach English - I'm not medically qualified).

[Kayla-Marie]

thanks for that hanshan i am currently still taking pregabalin and glad to say the palps have stopped since saturday i don't know why my gp changed me to lasinpril Bp tablets but hes back in surgery tomorrow and am going to ask him if i can go on to a beta-blocker again as for a ssri i have to wait till the 29th of jan
till i see my cpn for that
i'm feeling very down today for some reason? but have got a bit of a headache virus so could explain why x