Lyrica losing effectiveness??

[Amy632]

I've been on Lyrica for seven years. It made a huge difference when I first started it, but my pain control has gone downhill over the past six months. I also use pain medication, both narcotic and NSAID, muscle relaxants sometimes, sleep medication and patches (Lidoderm and Flector), plus many other treatments such as frequent stretching, heat packs or hot baths, massage when I can afford it, walking and exercise when I feel up to it, I've tried acupuncture but didn't feel it helped much, etc. My doctor is nice and usually very supportive, but I'm already on a fairly high dose of narcotic pain meds and she is really reluctant to raise the dose which I understand. I'm just back to being miserable enough often enough to greatly impact my ability to care for my family, I feel more depressed - I've never expected to be pain-free, I just want to be able to live my life, feel good enough, feel happy and not continually distracted by my body and whichever parts hurt at that time.

But I digress... I'm trying to figure out what to ask my doctor about trying. A higher dose of Lyrica? (I take 450mg/day now - higher doses aren't "recommended" for fibromyalgia but, for other diagnoses, 600mg/day is allowed). Or maybe adding Cymbalta to my current dose? Or switching? Or Savella? Or anything else? Thoughts?

[Colormelyme]

Google:   Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Other than Lyrica, Gabapentin (Neurontin, Gralise) is sometimes helpful in reducing fibromyalgia symptoms. Hence you can get it prescribed.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.