Ye bad back and all that.
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Hi all, Update just got back from hospital They gave me 3 months worth ,not really think they messed up only 56days worth as taking 3 aday (so they messed up). But also got a phone call on tuesday night from the mental health team (I am discharged from them) Saying they have spoken another doctor at my practice and they have said they will give me pregabalin so have a appointment next week to discuss it with them.
So good news.
Been on 225mg aday now for 2 weeks or so and feel good no side effects or anything.
But when i picked-up my new lot the pharmacists told me to look out for dry mouth (as this is comman when taking it long term).
OOOOO and maybe a side effect slight weight gain (but could just be pigin out). But I am trying the slim fast stuff to hopefully control any weight gain cause like robimbrum has said about himself (sorry if I am wrong) I am also over weight.
But hopefully with felling better I will be able to get out more and walk the weight off.
Chris
Good news Chris, they have at last agreed to meet your needs! :)
Really pleased for you. I get a dry mouth,but it is such a minor side effect I don't worry about it.
Hope they continue to work for you!
Loreen x
Hi everyone, feel it is time for an update so here goes...
It is not good news to report. I have been on pregabalin for exactly 3 months now ( hard to believe, time goes so fast). I started on 100mg a day but only really started to notice any difference after 300mg. I then had the dose increased to 450mg as I didn't feel I was enjoying the full benefits at that dose.
Unfortunately I now seem to be feeling no benefits at all and also unpleasant side-effects which make me wonder should I carry on taking this drug. Twice this week I have suffered panic attacks, once on the street completely out of nowhere, the old familiar sickness came back and I had to run back home, feeling very distressed. Then one day I felt I couldn't go out until my neighbour had disappeared outside. A couple of weeks ago these things didn't bother me and I had this real sense of calmness that I could only attribute to the pregabalin.
If I carry on like this I will give the pregabalin up...however, and this is probably going to sound bizzare, but would increasing the dose further to 600mg make it more effective? I will talk about this with my doctor next week (if I can get an appointment!).
Chris, I'm glad to hear you got it sorted with the pregabalin and I hope it continues to be effective for you.
I would be interested to know if anybody else here suffers with depression and are you on meds for it? One rarely goes without the other in my experience, but which came first the chicken or the egg? I may discuss anti-depressants with my doc as I know duloxetine has been mentioned by several people on here..is it any good?
Hi robinbrum, Sorry to hear that pregabalin seems to be failing you and that you have started to have panic attacks.
I must say form me it has taken the edge right off but sometimes i still feel a panic attack coming on but I seem to be able to pull myself back from having a full blown one (hopefully I have not jinxed it).
This may sound really strange but when I was taking St Johns Wort i was taking i started taking 300mg twice aday and then upped them to 300mg 3times aday but after a few months the effects of it started to wear off and then someone suggested a really strange thing instead of increasing the dose to 1200mg to reduce the dose back to 600mg and it worked after a few days i started to feel the benefit of it again (would still be on it but for some reason i had to stop)." This may sound like madness but worth typing I think"
So what i am trying to say is maybe you need to twink it abit maybe up or strangely down to start feeling the benefit again.
I hope you manage to sort it out as you seemed to be coming on well on it.
BTW you said about side effects are they new side effects of ones you have had from the start.
All the best Chris.
Headaches have increased, particularly bad in the morning. The general sense of fogginess I don't like which I guess is the price you pay for dumbing down the anxiety. But also feel dumbed down intellectually speaking, I mean simple things like counting change, breaking off in mid-sentence and forgetting what it was I was going to say...there definitely appears to be some slight cognitive impairment. Also, I have always suffered from derealisation and the pregabalin somehow only enhances this...that said it has also made me more sociable until now, when i just want to lock myself away and see no one.
Chris, the same thing had crossed my mind about the pregabalin as the St Johns Wort...it may be the higher dose doesn't suit me, i just don't know...
One other thing, my libido was pretty healthy before I started taking pregabalin. Now it is
non existent. This is definitely more apparent as the dose has been increased.
As i have said I am only on 225mg and I am finding that to be a nice dose for me (at the moment). It seems like you have a lot going on of which could be put down to the pregabalin but also things in general.
It is a awful shame that it has possible started to make things worse for you but hopfully you can work though it.
Like you say the dose you are on could just be too high for you, I think myself if you increase it any higher it is only going to leave you feeling worse if it does not work, maybe it is a case off lowering the dose after talk it over with the doctor.
And as for the libido that is a big part of my life the major enjoyment for me and so far touch wood pregabalin is having no effect.
So maybe a slight change of the dose is what you need.
Try not to lock yourself away you will only make matters worse for you. Be strong and you will beat this. I have faith in you as you and this thread have been a great help to me and others.
Chris
I take 150mg 3x daily.
I think I will ask for the dose to be increased to 600mg but as I say, I do have reservations about it. It is quite possible the GP will refuse anyway, in which case I am back at square one again.
Without knowing what you have tried, and what your exact problems are,it is difficult to help - but I am considering adding an SNRI with the pregabalin. My psychiatrist would rather add in a SSRI but I don't want that. I've heard lots of good things about pregabalin and duloxetine taken together.
Are you on other medications aswell?
My plan is to increase the pregabalin to 150mg x3 + hopefully duloxetine + CBT.
What have you tried on the therapy front ? Anxiety Uk offer reduced price therapy, CBT, and hypnotherapy.