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 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. :(