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Mrs Gti has been on 450mg a day for three years to help with back pain and recently she decided it wasn't really making a difference so she began to reduce the dosage, going to 300mg a day for a couple of months then last Wednesday after a month at 150 mg a day she stopped altogether. By Thursday she was in bed with severe nausea and by Sunday it had become so bad that I dialled 111, the On-Call Doctor came and she ended up in hospital for the afternoon being checked over. The verdict was that she had tried to come off it too quickly and needs to see her GP for a drug withdrawal programme, meaning progressively smaller doses until she can cut down to every 48 hours then stop.
Googling this drug it emerges that it has nasty side-effects and is seriously addicitve. Has anybody else had this bad experience? How did you get off Pregabalin in the end?
Get professional advice on titrating off. Thank your lucky stars it’s not OxyContin.
Rachel
I will be doing similar shortly (although not as bad apparently) from max doses of Tramadol for the last year.
I can feel the waithdrwal/jitters starting if I miss my normal time by an hour or so 😳
Not looking forward to stopping fully after my operation in September.
Not had issues personally titrating off it or Gabapentin.
Will have to again soon but I’m lucky that whilst the ones they say are addictive are for many, I don’t seem to suffer.
But then my system is ruined with 30+ yrs of high doses, nerve damage, bone degeneration, etc so who knows....
I've been on it for a few years now, was taking 250mg twice a day - built up by 25mg every couple of weeks until i reached that - think i started at 75mg twice a day. Now on 25mg a day and hoping to come off of it completely soon. I was prescribed it for anxiety which it helped with along with cbt sessions and some other life changes.
The only side affects i've experienced are some tiredness when increasing doses and a bit of a fuzzy/light headed feeling.
EDIT. The consultant that original prescribed it to me made it very aware that i should increase and decrease doses very gradually (25mg) at a time over a few weeks/months. Dropping 150mg at a time seems like a big drop when you've been reliant on it for 3 years. Good luck to MrsGti though, hope she recovers soon.
Thanks, that looks like the right advice!
Just commenting really to agree on what’s been said above. I was taking pregabalin for a couple of years although on quite a low dose. I remember coming off it not being the easiest of times and done in small steps - not 150mg to nothing. So take it easy would be my advice and don’t rush.
From what I remember it is available in a range of dosage capsules down to a relatively low dose so can be stepped down quite gradually, but that the tablets almost cost the same irrespective of the dose which might impact on how the doctor wants to prescribe different dosages. Clearly better to talk to them about that than me though, but I’m sure I remember discussions about cost effectiveness of prescribing different doses to get the steps gradual.
I hope it goes better from now on.
Jeeeezus! I had no idea these manufactured drugs are being given out like sweeties, the irony of pregabalin to help anxiety is immoral. I hope your efforts to remove dependency are successful.
Heroin, properly managed would surely be much safer and more effective than any of the currently available legal synthesised drugs. Gotta love politics and pharma eh?
Pregabs & Gaba's?
Good jail currency.
I’m worth a fortune currently then!
Jeeeezus! I had no idea these manufactured drugs are being given out like sweeties, the irony of pregabalin to help anxiety is immoral. I hope your efforts to remove dependency are successful.
Heroin, properly managed would surely be much safer and more effective than any of the currently available legal synthesised drugs. Gotta love politics and pharma eh?
Indeed. The public are slowly waking up though.
Some years ago when I was going though a bad bout of acid reflux various well-meaning folk suggested I took ranitidine. I Googled the side-effects and decided to stay with occasional Rennies. It amazes me how easy it is to fall into the habit of taking quite powerful drugs.
Jeeeezus! I had no idea these manufactured drugs are being given out like sweeties
Not in my experience, I have to jump through numerous hoops every time a need a prescription (can’t request online)
i have to see a doctor every time I need a repeat prescription. Which means time off work during the day as the surgery is never open outside of office hours. I can never book an appointment as the doctors surgery is so busy, so I need to take a full day off work and wait around for a cancellation or a no show. Due to restrictions on the number of tabs in a single prescription, I need to do this every 12 days and it’s a total pain in the arse. And expensive too, at £8.80 every 12 days
I cant get it prescriptions from the 24 hour GP service I get with my private medical insurance as it’s restricted to face to face consultations only. And half the time the local pharmacy doesn’t have them in stock and I need to drive around a few different places trying to find one that does.
Admittedly, that’s not as catchy a soundbite as “handing them out like sweets” but it’s more truthful.
You're possibly living in the wrong health trust area, or whatever they call them now. When discussing this with Mrs Slack, who works predominantly with people with anxiety issues here in Norfolk, gabapentin, pregabalin are the first choice, go to, sticking plasters.
The point is, some synthesised drugs seem to be okay and therefore regulated to one degree or other, whilst other synthesised drugs without of the mainstream pharma are not okay and unregulated in terms of consistency, quality and dosage.
'Chasing the Scream' is an informative read...
YMMV, as they say.
YMMV, as they say.
Indeed. A large part of my job is helping clients with medical issues who have been rated very highly or declined cover to find decent price life insurance.
A large percentage of those are people with long standing Anxiety/Depression/Mental Health issues.
It’s very rare that Gabapentin/Pregabalin are on the list of medications declared. And I talk with people from all over the country.
Cant think of anyone recently in fact, and I deal with a lot of clients with Anxiety/Depression every week.
Interesting, Mrs Slack deals with a different demographic.
I tried Pregabalin and Gabapentin years ago for my chronic back pain, I lasted about a month on each one, the side effects were horrendous. Luckily, I had an appointment at the pain clinic, so was offered Tramadol and I've never looked back, they suit me down to the ground and I have no side effects or issues at all.
>£8.80 every 12 days
have you never considered a pre payment certificate (£30 for 3 months or £110 or so a year)?
Pregabalin helped my anxiety and insomnia but was the likely cause of a year's intermittent double vision .Had no trouble coming off at all but did taper gradually
have you never considered a pre payment certificate (£30 for 3 months or £110 or so a year)?
Having never had a repeat prescription in my life before this issue, I was totally unaware of the prepayment thing until a couple of weeks ago 😔
I wish I had known about it though. It’s my own fault I know (but I do wish my useless GP had thought it worth mentioning)
I have spent something like £700 on various prescriptions and medication in the last 12 months.
However, I have my operation in 4 weeks, so that will hopefully be the end of it (once the recovery month is out of the way) 👍
After a couple hundred of quid I would have moved to Scotland
I’m not sure I could face the commute to be honest.
Will consider it though 👍
Nealglover you can apply for refund up to 3 months from applying for prepayment card, go to useful tips bit near bottom:
Didn't like Pregab or Gabapentin for shoulder injury - came off straight away. But I'm on 60mg Duloxatine and 90mg Etoricoxib (NSAID - max dose) for my back. Side effects are horrendous, and I asked the Doc last week for a spare packet, to keep some in the car, some at work and some at the caravan. You don't want to miss any of these types of drugs. I missed two days, and became 'very angry'. Then all the side effects kicked back in again on taking them.
Been on them 2 months, and spent the first week in bed - the nausea was terrible.
Loads of nasty side effects from these drugs. My two are currently working for the back pain, but not so sure they are great due to side effects.
It may take upto 6 months to get off them - I've heard people have opened the capsules and removed just one of the 'beads' at a time rather than halve a dose as sometimes there isn't a small step down - I know Duloxatine goes 60mg then 30 so it's a big 'step'. Something to be very wary of.