Pregablin withdrawal

[almamatters]

I want to cut my dosage down on this medication, number one reason the weight gain, I am finding this issue is starting a whole new lot of anxiety symptoms. I take currently 400mg daily. Would I be able to safely half that dose, I have not discussed this with my GP as do not have an appointment for a few weeks. I am not sure if I am ready to come off this medication completely but thought cutting down may be a start.
Thanks for listening.

[clio51]

I'm not on the med, but I wouldn't go down that much.
Why not try going down say 50mg say for 2 weeks at least. Personally I think you would have withdrawal symptoms heightened anxiety,panic etc. Just I thought.'m

[hanshan]

I agree that it's best not to cut back too quickly. On the other hand, if you do and suddenly get symptoms again, you can always push the dose back up a bit again.

There are different schools of thought on why pregabalin causes weight gain. I tend to go along with the view that it affects appetite and hunger, making you feel you haven't eaten enough when you have, and making you eat more than you need. My answer was to count calories (as I couldn't trust my own judgement as to how much was enough any more) and learn to tolerate a certain degree of hunger for part of the day. I found that if I didn't eat much during the day before dinner time (and put up with feeling somewhat hungry), I could eat reasonably well (and feel quite full) from dinner time on without going over the energy limit.

[Tufty]

I've reduced from 450mg to 300mg a day in 8 days without any problem so far. I have started Sertraline so that may be masking any withdrawls but I would of thought I'd be more anxious starting a SSRI and reducing Pregabalin but I'm not. I'm reducing 50mg every 3 days or so and I think my appetite has decreased already. I'm hoping to stay on 150-200mg of Pregabalin a day until the Sertraline starts working in 3-4 weeks time.
Sam

[BobbyDog]

I wouldn't do it without discussing it with your GP first. I tried to withdraw myself without any intervention and had rash like symptoms and was itching all over, antihistamine did not help either. But we are all different and you may not have any withdrawal symptoms.

[Mark13]

I'm not withdrawing but will be reducing dosage so I'm following your thread with interest.

To be blunt, I'm not keen on the sexual problems, memory deficits and increased appetite, I hope they'll decrease with the dosage.

I was on 450mg but only for a week as I went up the dosage range, with GP's approval, so I can't really remember the side effects for that particular week

[almamatters]

Thanks all for your replies and input, am going to do it really slowly as your posts suggest, this seems like the sensible option, I want to get down to 200mg if I can, I have heard that pregablin alters your metabolic rate and it can take time for it to sort itself out again, I have not noticed too many other side effects, occasional brain fog, but I do get a bit wobbly when I have not had a tablet, suppose this is my body missing them. Thanks again

[BobbyDog]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Sorry for being so apathetic, but that is how I am feeling about it at the moment.x

[hanshan]

It is a common claim that a drug alters metabolic rate, but with no actual evidence that it does.

Metabolism requires the "burning" of fuel sources to produce energy. In most cases, resting metabolism needs oxygen and produces carbon dioxide, similar to burning wood or petrol.

The supply of oxygen in the body is limited to only a few minutes, and carbon dioxide is not tolerated and quickly removed via the lungs.

This means that metabolic rate is easily measured using facemasks which measure oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output. This equipment is now commonplace in, for example, sports physiology labs.

Despite changes in metabolic rate being so easy to measure, there are no published papers saying various drugs change metabolic rate.

[Mark13]

I agree with hanshan, I'll take the metabolic rate claims seriously when there's any scientific evidence to support it.

I've found that both mirtazapine and pregabalin increase appetite initially, and this extra intake can soon become a habit, but any "counting" diet will lose you weight on either drug - it's just tough to stick to early on till you break habits and retrain your subconscious.

I've now got going on my diet after putting on 9lbs since starting pregabalin. I've lost 3lbs in 3 weeks, which is what I would expect given my food intake. Slow but steady