Pregabalin for anxiety???

[karenp]

Hi, I've been suffering with panic and GAD for 7 months. I was put on Mirtazapine which just made me worse for months and am now on Trazodone which is doing nothing for me so far though I am only on the starting doses at the mo.
I spoke to my Doctor about trying Pregabalin last night after reading so many positive posts about it but he dismissed it saying it's not given for GAD much as it's not got a great effectiveness rate but most people on this forum have said how much better they feel after even a day or 2.

[loreen]

Hi Karen

Your doctor probably wont prescribe pregabalin because it is a very expensive drug.

It is licensed for anxiety ,but doctors are told by Nice to only prescribe it once SSRIs have failed to work.

I asked for it armed with lots of evidence plus NHS guidelines print outs. My doctor then agreed for me to trial it,and I have been on a low dose for 6 months.

You deserve to be given the chance to try this drug. Try a different doctor if need be.

Loreen x

[fozzy is crying]

I am on Pregabalin and have been for a year and a half. It was initially prescribed by a consultant for GAD. So your Doctor is wrong. However he could be using this as an excuse. If he has a drugs budget he will be loathed to give it to you as it is very expensive. For example the dosage I am on the net cost to the health service is just over £2,500 a year!!!! Again the cost to the NHS of most drugs on prescription are less than you actually pay for each item. So even if he is not handing his own drugs budget he will be under NHS pressure not to give it to you.

When I was given it my consultant was not aware I was a lifelong chronic migraine sufferer. Pregabalin has been found to be the new wonder drug for people like me who because of personal or family history of heart disease can not take any other drugs designed for migraine that are almost all ergots after the age of 40. So prior to getting Pregabalin I had 23 years without any migraine medication. This use of Pregabalin is one it was never designed for and its use for chronic migraine came about by accident after patients reported it had reduced and in lots of cases stopped for ever migraine attacks.

Even if I did not have GAD I would still continue for life on Pregabalin for migraine prevention. My own GP allows this despite the fact it hits his drugs budget hard. The reasons being that it was initially prescribed by a consultant and he know my life history of migraine and its treatment.

Prior to age 40 I was on another very expensive and very dangerous form of an ergot based drug. Dangerous in the respect there had been lots of deaths from cardiac arrests taking it as it builds up in the system and in the wrong time-scale a single extra dose is lethal. Only because this had been prescribed by a neurosurgeon in my early teens did my GP allow me it. Not because of cost but the dangerous nature of the drug no other patient in my county had ever been prescribed it in this form.

Just as a note a lot of people on here have sent me messages seeking advice on migraine as they say I have gained a reputation on here as someone who knows so much about it. Any one who wants to contact me on this welcome to do so. I will say anxiety is a well know trigger for migraine or migraine type tension headaches and/or visuals. Chronic migraine is a very disabling problem and a lifelong one. Often bad headaches or tension headaches are wrongly labelled as migraine. In particular it is very unusual but not unknown to develop migraine once you get past 30. However it can if there is a family history and chronic sufferers usually inherit it.

Migraine inherited does not hit always hit every generation of a family. It also can follow a male or female line only. In my case it followed the female line every other generation. My sister should have got it as it was our generation next to get it. However it moved to the male line and I got it. My sisters grandchildren are few of it and I have no children so our own family curse of it dies with me. The same in my case applies to our family history of heart disease and extremely high cholesterol. Both of which I inherited and my sisters side are clear of.

Sorry for the long post but I hope it has been useful.

Gordon

[JT69]

Hi Karen,

I agree with all of the above...it is a very expensive drug but fortunately my GP is brilliant and I had suffered years of general anxiety until I tried this...it has changed my life around!! I only take 50mg twice daily and it still controls it at the moment or certainly helps me!!

I honestly cannot praise it enough and it is a shame your GP has these views!!

I would persevere with this as it is just not right!!

Take care
Jo.x

[fozzy is crying]

Hi Karen,

I agree with all of the above...it is a very expensive drug but fortunately my GP is brilliant and I had suffered years of general anxiety until I tried this...it has changed my life around!! I only take 50mg twice daily and it still controls it at the moment or certainly helps me!!

I honestly cannot praise it enough and it is a shame your GP has these views!!

I would persevere with this as it is just not right!!

Take care
Jo.x

only 50mg. My GP would be in 7th heaven if he could get me on that dose instead of 150mg to control my migraine. But it would still cost his budget best part of £1000 a year.

[hanshan]

Pregabalin is effective for GAD. Your doctor either is misinformed or has some other reason for not prescribing it.

Persist if nothing else is working for you. It's not hard to find articles about pregabalin's efficacy on the web - take copies of articles in to back yourself up.

I've done this more than once over the years - unfortunately doctors can be very conservative.

[karenp]

Thanks every one, I thought it might be because of cost too as I'd done lots of research. I can't do SSRI's or not without lots of Lorazepam or something to get me through the first few weeks, if not 3 or 4 months as I get terrible anxiety from them and panic attacks. I've tried Venlafaxine but that made me really ill too, Mirtazapine didn't touch me and Trazodone (which I'm on now) just makes me sleep for about 4 hours and then I wake up in panic. Doctors won't prescribe benzo's so I just thought Preg was the final thing I could try unless someone is willing to give me the Lorazepam to get me back on Citalopram. I've just moved house so have got a new doctor so shall see what they say. (:

[xtremx]

Hi Karenp, As most people have said it is a expensive drug but it does work well (in my case it is).
One thing is your doctor old (not to offened anyone) like over 50 "I am only 10years away, Only asking as I found sometimes the older doctors seem to read from the old school stuff.
Maybe try another doctor or some other way around it, I had to.

At the moment I am on 375mg But it was 450mg and I don't think my doctor like's me. I dost them to much, Shame on them if it works for you they should give a script for it.

Good luck

[fozzy is crying]

Thanks every one, I thought it might be because of cost too as I'd done lots of research. I can't do SSRI's or not without lots of Lorazepam or something to get me through the first few weeks, if not 3 or 4 months as I get terrible anxiety from them and panic attacks. I've tried Venlafaxine but that made me really ill too, Mirtazapine didn't touch me and Trazodone (which I'm on now) just makes me sleep for about 4 hours and then I wake up in panic. Doctors won't prescribe benzo's so I just thought Preg was the final thing I could try unless someone is willing to give me the Lorazepam to get me back on Citalopram. I've just moved house so have got a new doctor so shall see what they say. (:

Hi Karenp, As most people have said it is a expensive drug but it does work well (in my case it is).
One thing is your doctor old (not to offened anyone) like over 50 "I am only 10years away, Only asking as I found sometimes the older doctors seem to read from the old school stuff.
Maybe try another doctor or some other way around it, I had to.

At the moment I am on 375mg But it was 450mg and I don't think my doctor like's me. I dost them to much, Shame on them if it works for you they should give a script for it.

Good luck

I am 64 soon and my Doc is not that much younger and never found any problems with age re treatment with my GP.

Karen if you really want it and can not get it you could ask for a private prescription. However you will have to pay to have that then the actual cost of the drug on top. You could also ask to be referred to a specialist who then will evaluate if you need it or not or something else.

Yes it is a wonder drug in some cases but not all. What is good for one is not true for everyone, we are all different. There could be something in your medical history as well that means you should not have it.

I suggest you go back to your Doctor and have a long talk to him about it and your problems.

[ewood79]

It's approved in the EU but not here in Australia yet.... My shrink has mentioned it to me as she is Austrian and they have been using it for years over there..... Im thinking about giving it a go.... For my anxiety etc.... It would be better than relying on Benzos

I even have the sample pack in my cupboard! Going to discuss with the shrink in 10 days.....