Your pregabablin journey

[Avasmummy_x]

Hey I thought it'd be nice to see everyone's experiences with there pregabalin journey.

How it all started, how it was in the beginning, how it has or hasn't helped just a genuine little paragraph on what pregabalin has achieved for you.

It'd be helpful for me as im fairly new to the drug and to others that may join the forum

[Dazza123]

I've been taking it for about a month now. 2 x 150mg a day. Still get the drunk feeling, which feels a bit like vertigo at times. My memory is shot, can't remember anything these days. Had to come down the stairs on my bum yesterday because I felt like I was going to fall. They are giving me heartburn which is uncomfortable, and I feel generally odd/unwell, getting blurred vision also. But, anxiety is easing, it hasn't gone, but its slightly better, and I know they will work, its just going to take some time, so happy to go along with the side effects in the hope that one day soon they will pass.

I'm off out shopping a little later, not something I generally do, so there is definite improvement and although I feel like I do not want to take them because of the side effects, I do know it will get better, so I will continue, get better, and actually start living my life.

I've seen on your thread you are struggling a bit, but seriously, you just have to put up with whatever effects they are throwing at you, and realise it will get better, and so will you, so stick with it. Pregabalin is the easiest drug I have taken for my anxiety, and although I get side effects, they are nothing compared to what I have experienced on other AD's so I am sticking with it because I do know it will all get better soon

[hanshan]

My pregabalin journey started somewhere around 2006. I was suffering terrible anxiety at the time, mostly because of my work situation, and searching around on the internet for something that might help.

I came across pregabalin, which had just been licensed for Generalised Anxiety in the EU. It was available in Australia, but not officially licensed for anxiety. I asked my doctor to prescribe it off-label, and said I was willing to pay the full cost if it worked.

However, my GP demurred, citing a number of new medications that had subsequently turned out to have serious side effects. So no pregabalin then.

In 2010, I asked again, and this time my GP agreed to prescribe it, so that's when my real pregabalin story starts, roughly four years ago.

From the very first day, I felt it had a beneficial effect. My feeling was that for years I had been looking out at the world through a window covered in dirt and grime, and suddenly that had been washed away.

Initial side effects like reduced coordination and dry mouth have either reduced or been compensated for. Combined with my blood pressure medication, it can produce weakness, and I have to be careful about how much and when I take it. Nevertheless, as someone who has suffered decades of sometimes crippling anxiety, it's the best thing I've had so far.

[john61]

Been on it 2yrs just over.most usefull drug I've ever had.
Never want to stop taking it.currently on 300mgs per day.
Side effects are not an issue any more.this drug should offered to more people in my opinion

[Dazza123]

I agree it should be offered more often John, I have tried most AD's and they were all awful, most of them made me feel I was going insane and they just made everything worse. I was offered Pregabalin after everything else available was offered and I refused. I don't find Sertraline too bad, but that made me OCD so came off it.

Im still in my early days of Pregab, and I am not doing too well at the moment, lots of ups and downs as it wears off and I have to wait for my next dose, but I have faith in it and hope to feel a bit better soon.

[hanshan]

Good luck with it Dazza. Pregabalin is not the whole answer, but hopefully the part.

[Dazza123]

Thanks Hanshan, I may look into using an AD with it in the future once it gets a bit more stable, just to give me a bit of a lift. I hate taking drugs to be honest, but if they can bring some sort of normality back and allow me to start living again i'll be happy. Once I start to feel a bit better I will start doing more with my life, which will then hopefully get me back on track. I just want to wake up one morning feeling normal, with no anxiety and no depression and I think I will get there, its just a shame the 'journey' to that is so difficult

[SarahH]

I was first prescribed it in a Psych Unit which I found myself in in March 2013. I was a voluntary patient and my anxiety was so crippling at the time I was scared of my own skin. I thought I had lost my mind! I also felt immediate relief from Pregabalin. I was up to 400mgs a day within 2 weeks. The SE's have all completely gone now apart from I am a little overweight, but rather that than the anxiety. About a year again I dropped to 300mgs and added citalopram (very slowly as I have terrible Se's front AD's). For the first time in many, many years I am actually looking forward to Christmas!! I have also started socialising again outside of my immediate family and friends.... I have not done that for so many years I can't remember, probably 5/6 yrs.

So does work! Yes it flipping well does

I don't like taking meds but coming off citalopram 3 years ago thinking I was well again after 10/11 years taking it, was the biggest mistake of my life and ultimately ended up with 18 days in hospital. So will I be in meds for the rest on my life? YES. We are all different but my particular illness means that I need drugs and so be it.

Good luck all

Sarah

[Dazza123]

Great post Sarah. I truly hate taking medicines like this as I hate to admit I have a problem/illness, but the fact is I do have an illness, and it needs treating to make me better.

Does anyone know... I take my first 150mg at around 9am with Breakfast. Do I have to take the other 150mg at 9pm? Or can I take it earlier? I seem to get a bit of a come down early evening so not really sure when I can take the second dose? I'm also wondering if I should go up to 3 x 150mg a day, or stay on the 2x? I know I'd need to discuss it with my doctor but generally want to know if more is better kind of?

[Avasmummy_x]

Dazza ive been on pregabalin about 3weeks on 300mg a day. I'm still messing around with my dose! I've found my morning anxiety has almost gone so I can hold off taking my pregabalin till about 10.30-11. Afternoon and tea time is a different story. I normally take at 3 and 9 but atm I'm taking it at aroun 2 and 7 x you've got to find the right times for yourself as I am doing atm. I can normally feel my anxiety creeping back at 2 and 6 x