Gabapentin Vrs Pregabalin

[twist330]

Hi i wondered if anyone could explain there experience of Pregabalin (Lyrica?) i have been on Gabapentin for the last 3 months with only a little success (the twitches have reduced considerably) but no relief pain. Now the Dr is going to swap me to Pregabalin which has to be done slowly to switch from one to the other, so this will start as soon as I'm home from holiday.

I wondered if anyone had done this and what there experience of the drugs are?

At the consultants appointment today a number of things were resolved having only seen the registar the appointment before, which really was a waste of time, this was far more productive and has left me with a few questions to ask the forum members, but as they are quite diverse from one another I'll do them as seperate questions.
Thanks all

[torikat32]

when I was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy of unknown etiology my doc put me on gabapentin up the dosage slowly to 1500mg well when i upped the dose  I had a rash from head to toe so discontinued the gabapentin and went to lyrica it was a godsend though I would have to up the dose every 6 months or so most of the bone pain went away , I now currently take 300mg 3 times a day which I am currently maxed out on dosage. My insurance company informed me tha they are not going to pay for lyrica anymore and out of pocket will be around $350 so I am currently weaning myself off I am scared to death to do so I tried a few weeks ago and I had another flair I was numb pins and needles from the waist down and had to go home from work. so the new nuero called me yesterday and wants me to see a infectious disease spec my lyme blood work came back positive however no active inf was seen so he just wants to rule this out also my lupus came back positive too and new mri still the same 6 lesions no enhancemnet . wants me to taper off lyrica every other day cause I only have 10 pills left I dont know what symptoms the lyrica has been masking for the last 3 yrs and I am scared to find out what I will be like when I am off it completly which will be the end of next week. so maybe lyme.lupus.ms who knows but dammit after 6 yrs I need an answer and treatment . new neuro has mentioned  IVIG and the other one that goes along with this sorry brain fog setting in. just found some interesting info lupus may cause high titers for lyme when no if is present. sorry for long post

[steph74]

I think I have fewer side effects with pregabalin (Lyrica).  Like I said, I couldn't take more than 300 mg of gabapentin at a time, without getting dizzy, no matter how slowly I increased.  I take 100 mg of Lyrica (=~ 1200 mg of gabapentin, I think!) + 300 mg of gabapentin at the same time w/o getting dizzy.  (Actually, I just ran out of gabanpentin and didn't want to refill the rx since I"m going to the dr today, so I added 50 mg of Lyrica instead, and it works better and I'm still not dizzy, so I'm actually taking 150 mg of lyrica 3 x/day.)

[twist330]

I have been on 1800mg gabapentin, although the first couple of days of taking it I was a bit dizzy, I was fine after that but as I said before it's not done alot. I wondered about the side effects people had experienced with Pregabalin in any?

[figuerpa]

I have taken both. With gabapentin, however, I would get short of breath. I dealt with it for a while but then the medicine stopped working.

I am now taking lyrica, it works for the burning that I have, doesn't take it away  but makes it tolerable.

I have also been on carbamazapine, and like with the neurontin it stopped woking after a while.

I think that our bodies just get use to the medicine and it no longer works, so for me it is better to do them in cycles. If that makes any sense at all


Good Luck

Paula

[steph74]

I switched all at once.  The doctor told me there was no need to switch slowly.  I was on 1800 mg of gabapentin.  While I felt like it worked reasonably well, I had to take it in 6 smaller doses, because more than 300 mg at a time would make me dizzy.  I immediately switched to 50 mg Lyrica 3 x/day.

I thought the Lyrica worked reasonably well although in a short period of time I had to up my dosage to 100 mg 3x/day.  I'm currently taking that + 300 mg gabapentin/day with not a lot of releif...  I take it for TN, though, and that is notoriously resistant.

Other experience: Lyrica is MUCH more expensive (even with insurance I pay about $50/month for Lyrica, compared to $5 for generic gabapentin!)

Good luck.

[slightlybroken]

I had a similar experience on Lyrica. No matter how much they upped the medication, it did nothing for my pain issue. Lyrica to me, was like taking Tylenol.

I switched neuros ( long story) and they put me on Gabapentin ( Neurotin). They started me out slow because I tend to have issue with adjusting to new medications. I first was put on 100mg of Gabapentin 3x daily. It did help my pain. I did have to up it slowly..I felt scattered brained when they upped it.

One of my main issue is with spasticity and with pain associated with spasticity. I imagine without the use of my Baclofen (a muscle relaxer), the Gabapentin wouldn't be as effective as it is.

I hope they do find a medication that works well for you. I guess it's all about trial and error.

Take Care