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Tips for tapering pregabalin (Lyrica)


Altostrata

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This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

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  • 1 month later...
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I just heard an anecdote that may be of value here.

 

I know someone on Lyrica.  She's been on it for 5 years, now, and it's starting to give her restless legs and slight akathisia.

 

She does have serious, spine crushing pain, and is also on Fentanyl patches, and codeine PRN.

 

If the Lyrica fails, what will she do?

 

Well she took half in morning and half at night, but the morning pill was making her too drowsy to work, so she took both halves at night.  These were 2 coated tablets equalling her total daily dose of Lyrica (I forget the number - let's say it was 2 x 75 mg tablets = 150 mg per day.).

 

Well, she'd been doing it for so long, that she wanted to go to 1 tablet of the same dose, 150 mg.

 

She did, and immediately got gut withdrawal symptoms (gastro upset, diarrhea, nausea).   

 

We talked about it, and reckoned that there was more coating on the 2 tablets (more surface area) than there was on the 1 tablet, which caused it to be absorbed faster, or differently.

 

Just wanted to give a heads up here, that sometimes changing a coating can make a different in how the drug affects you.

"Easy, easy - just go easy and you'll finish." - Hawaiian Kapuna

 

Holding is hard work, holding is a blessing. Give your brain time to heal before you try again.

 

My suggestions are not medical advice, you are in charge of your own medical choices.

 

A lifetime of being prescribed antidepressants that caused problems (30 years in total). At age 35 flipped to "bipolar," but was not diagnosed for 5 years. Started my journey in Midwest United States. Crossed the Pacific for love and hope; currently living in Australia.   CT Seroquel 25 mg some time in 2013.   Tapered Reboxetine 4 mg Oct 2013 to Sept 2014 = GONE (3 years on Reboxetine).     Tapered Lithium 900 to 475 MG (alternating with the SNRI) Jan 2014 - Nov 2014, tapered Lithium 475 mg Jan 2015 -  Feb 2016 = GONE (10 years  on Lithium).  Many mistakes in dry cutting dosages were made.


The tedious thread (my intro):  JanCarol ☼ Reboxetine first, then Lithium

The happy thread (my success story):  JanCarol - Undiagnosed  Off all bipolar drugs

My own blog:  https://shamanexplorations.com/shamans-blog/

 

 

I have been psych drug FREE since 1 Feb 2016!

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I am tapering lyrica using water.

I only have access to 75mg caps as they are not presribed.

I cannot get less.

I was told by skyler that pregabalin dissolved in water only lasts 2 days and then deteriorates, even if refrigerated.

Can anyone tell me why this is?

Does lyrica hate uv light?

I cannot find adequate amber containers, i was using aromatherapy jars but once the cardboard inside the lid got all soggy, the container was useless.

 

My supply of these drugs is limited, so when I get below 75mg, I am going to have to make the water-with-lyrica-dissolved-in-it last more than two days. Also, the UK is talking about making them illegal so I wont be able to get any if they do.

I don't fancy going onto gabapentin, when further down as i have heard these are worse to come off and if lyrica is being made illegal, so will gabap

I would like to hear from others who are tapering or have tapered lyrica please.

thank you

 

Primrose... this is the third time I'm answering this question, and each time you have asked again, you started a different thread!  Do you read my answers?  Click to follow in the upper right hand corner, and you can be notified when you get a reply.

 

I was mistaken.. it was another medication that was deteriorating in 2 days that I was taking at the same time. Lyrica is more stable than I thought..you can keep it at least 3 days.

 

By the way.. do you have any idea why the UK is thinking of making Lyrica illegal? It really did help me with fibro pain. 

 

Thanks

 

sorry, my mistake.

pregan taper 600mg down to 240mg, daily cuts since xmas

valium, just over 75mg, tapering 0.1 a day, will keep this more udated, cos amounts going down

i have borderline personality, chronic ptsd, and suspected adhd and substance misuse as a symptom, which i am addressing with help of medical staff, drugs agencies & mh sta

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JanCarol

I am in the U.S. I cannot find lyrica in a tablet or in a liquid as previously suggested. Where are you located ?

I have been on anti depressants since I was 19. I started with Elavil I think. Been through a lot of them but never noticed a withdrawal until I tried to get off Effexor. I cannot remember a lot of things. In 2012 I think I was put on cymbalta and had the textbook horrible withdrawal from it when it stopped working in 2013. It was a year long ordeal,

2014 cymbalta wothdrawal <br />Currently on Wellbutrin 300 xl<br />Lyrica Was 50 x2<br />Doctors office called it in as 150.mg. x2<br />trying to get bck to 50 x2<br />And/or/maybe off<br /><br />

My goal now is to lower my dosage back to 100 mg a day, or try to get rid of it altogether. So far not its happening.

1/29/16 return to 300 my Lyrica. 12/1/16 tense and twitchy but still Functioning. Had 15 min period of unbalance.

Target date for sliding into B.M. Is Monday February 29, 2016. Didn't make that one

March 18,2016. Att to delete 5% from my 300 mg. difficulty measuring a 5% drop. Poss 6% or so.going to stay here for a while. Symptoms increasing last few days. Pain,fatigue,headache,twitching,weight gain,hair loss.

March 26, 2016. 10% decrease approx. high BP, vertigo,twitching,feel high.

March 26, 2016 350 mg Day 13 I have worked through most symptoms until now. Headache has overtaken me and I am too weak to get up today. Upped dosage to 280 and. Added 20 at night. Previous symptoms never abated. Fatigue not bearable 12/1/16 dosage now. At 290mgs. All my records do not make sense. December 2016 gave up returned to 300

Weaned down to 290 mgs symptoms returned. February. 20 again returned to 300 mgs.

Some energy returned and I'm functioning but zombie like with cognitive problems.

Decided to quit trying to quit. Be surprised if I have any cns left with what I have done to it.

July 2017 started splitting dosage of two, 200 mgs lyrica.  Taking one pill then waiting one hour for the other.  Aiming for ten hours between dosage then decrease from there.  Presently at eight hours October 2017 between doses with tolerable side effects.  

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JanCarol

I am in the U.S. I cannot find lyrica in a tablet or in a liquid as previously suggested. Where are you located ?

 

Hi Mccauley,

 

I've done some researching.  If you can't get it, I suggest you contact Pfizer.

 

From Post #1:  Make your own Lyrica solution

You can mix Lyrica in lukewarm water to make your own suspension.  It includes instructions.

 

 

LYRICA U.S. Medication Guide:  This link mentions liquid.

 

LYRICA U.S. Physician Prescribing Information

DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHS
  • Capsules: 25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg, 225 mg, and 300 mg. (3)
  • Oral Solution: 20 mg/ mL. (3)

 

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • 1 year later...

My doctor just prescribed this to me.  Went through effexor withdrawal in January 2017.  Was just diagnosed with fibromyalgia/ibs/diverticulosis and my doctor wants me to take lyrics. She said it may also help with my anxiety disorder.  I'm hesitant because coming off effexor was hell and I never want to experience that again.  But I'm in pain.  I can barely function.  I don't know what to do. 

Started weaning from Effexor XR (put on these in 1999)in September 2013 150 mg by removing a few little balls a week and ended at 8 mg January 2017. ER doctor stopped them January 3rd, 2017 due to what she thought was seratonin syndrome. I now know it was withdrawal.

 

Reinstated 2.25mg Effexor Xr February 4, 2017

 

Previous meds Zoloft 1997-1999 stopped abruptly July 1999. A few months later I was diagnosed as bipolar and put on Effexor XR, Epival, and Trazadone. A few years after that I was told the bipolar was a misdiagnoses and they stopped the Epival. At some point I stopped the trazadone myself.

 

Supplements:omega 3 fish oil, vitamin d, magnesium, high dose probiotic.Ativan when needed

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  • 1 year later...
On 5/31/2016 at 8:30 AM, Riffick said:

Has anyone had interdose withdrawal from taking Lyrica 3 times a day (8 hourly)?

Yes...i am on 75 mg three times a day and if i miss ONE  dose i get  high pitch ringing in my ears and is hell...

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  • 9 months later...

How important is it to take the same dose each time in a day? I'm dividing tiny amounts of powder on a plate and there's a limit to how small I can make it. I'm thinking of dropping 8.3% from the morning but not evening dose. Is that a really bad idea? Another option is to drop the same amount from each dose, but that will be a bigger drop of 16.6% of current dose.

 

I'm taking very roughly about 4mg of powder so it's very small and I can't measure it with a scale. Switching to liquid is another option but since I don't know how much powder I'm taking I don't know how much liquid to take. I tried replacing about 40% of my morning dose with liquid from a pharmacy but that made me more sedated than I've ever been on lyrica and I twitched a lot, so it must have been too much. Either that or the liquid is just different. (My powder expired 4.5 years ago and has been sitting on a plate for a couple of weeks.)

 

Has anyone found they react to changing the source of lyrica (pills, liquid, different compounding pharamacies)?

  • 1995-present: on and off various antidepressants, and many changes in dose. Never tapered properly
  • 2012-present: citalopram. Steady dose of 27.5mg since July 2020
  • 2020: pregabalin for 2 months. Very bad withdrawal.
  • Current daily medications: 27.5mg citalopram. 1mg melatonin, 4mg doxazosin, 300mg docusate.
  • My intro topic

 

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  • Administrator

Lyrica has a very short half-life. It's important to take your doses at the same time each day.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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18 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Lyrica has a very short half-life. It's important to take your doses at the same time each day.

Thanks Altostrata. I was thinking about uneven doses too - how bad is it to take say 40% in the morning and 60% at night? 50/50 would be better but I can only divide my powder dose so small, and if I cut *both* morning and evening by the smallest amount I can measure it's a bigger cut than only reducing morning *or* evening.

  • 1995-present: on and off various antidepressants, and many changes in dose. Never tapered properly
  • 2012-present: citalopram. Steady dose of 27.5mg since July 2020
  • 2020: pregabalin for 2 months. Very bad withdrawal.
  • Current daily medications: 27.5mg citalopram. 1mg melatonin, 4mg doxazosin, 300mg docusate.
  • My intro topic

 

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If you cannot measure your powder doses accurately, I would use the liquid instead. You can divide the dose any way you want.

 

If you continue to dose inconsistently, not sure what we can do to help.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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  • 2 months later...

What kind of withdrawal symptoms have people experienced tapering off Lyrica?  Any symptoms that are different from standard psych drug WD?  

1994  Venlafaxine XR 300mg, 2003 tapered, 2004 off briefly back to 37.5 then 75mg, held, June 2019 up to  150mg, Aug.12 tapered down to 112.5mgs, Oct. 21, 2019 96mg;  Dec. 8, 2019  90mg, Jan. 8 2020 81mg, Feb. 4, 75mg; April 17, 2023 37.5mg

2003/2004? Diazepam 10mg/bedtime

2013 Lyrica 300mg to 25mg; April 6, 2020 17mg; April 28, <5mg; May 7, 2020 Lyrica 0 mg!

2013 Tramadol 50mg tablets, 200mg/day divided

2005? Trazodone 50mg bedtime, Feb. 12, 2020 40mg, March 7, 25mg; Oct 1 20mg;  0mg!

2009? Zolpidem 5mg at bedtime. Nov. 9, 2019 Zolpidem 0 mg! 

1990? Omeprazole 20mg in morning.

2010? Levothyroxine 75mcg morning

2011? Liothyronine 5mcg morning

1999? Buspirone 30mg twice a day  August 2019 15mg once a day,  Oct.21, 2019 2.5mg evening  Oct. 25, 2019 Buspirone 0 mg!

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On 5/2/2020 at 6:50 AM, drugged said:

What kind of withdrawal symptoms have people experienced tapering off Lyrica?  Any symptoms that are different from standard psych drug WD?  

Muscle tension/twitching/spasms and diarrhea come to mind. The members-only facbook group 'Lyrica survivors' has a checklist in the files section with a huge number of symptoms but probably most overlap with other drugs.

  • 1995-present: on and off various antidepressants, and many changes in dose. Never tapered properly
  • 2012-present: citalopram. Steady dose of 27.5mg since July 2020
  • 2020: pregabalin for 2 months. Very bad withdrawal.
  • Current daily medications: 27.5mg citalopram. 1mg melatonin, 4mg doxazosin, 300mg docusate.
  • My intro topic

 

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14 hours ago, Tom2020 said:

Muscle tension/twitching/spasms and diarrhea come to mind. The members-only facbook group 'Lyrica survivors' has a checklist in the files section with a huge number of symptoms but probably most overlap with other drugs.

Thanks Tom, I'll check out the FB group.  

1994  Venlafaxine XR 300mg, 2003 tapered, 2004 off briefly back to 37.5 then 75mg, held, June 2019 up to  150mg, Aug.12 tapered down to 112.5mgs, Oct. 21, 2019 96mg;  Dec. 8, 2019  90mg, Jan. 8 2020 81mg, Feb. 4, 75mg; April 17, 2023 37.5mg

2003/2004? Diazepam 10mg/bedtime

2013 Lyrica 300mg to 25mg; April 6, 2020 17mg; April 28, <5mg; May 7, 2020 Lyrica 0 mg!

2013 Tramadol 50mg tablets, 200mg/day divided

2005? Trazodone 50mg bedtime, Feb. 12, 2020 40mg, March 7, 25mg; Oct 1 20mg;  0mg!

2009? Zolpidem 5mg at bedtime. Nov. 9, 2019 Zolpidem 0 mg! 

1990? Omeprazole 20mg in morning.

2010? Levothyroxine 75mcg morning

2011? Liothyronine 5mcg morning

1999? Buspirone 30mg twice a day  August 2019 15mg once a day,  Oct.21, 2019 2.5mg evening  Oct. 25, 2019 Buspirone 0 mg!

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  • Altostrata changed the title to Tips for tapering pregabalin (Lyrica)
  • 2 years later...

I have a generic question regarding short term use of low(er) dose pregabalin: if only used for a short term such as 10 to 14 days, is there a need to still taper it or can it be stopped cold turkey? If there is a need to taper it after such a short time, what would you guys suggest as a general rule?

 

In my particular case I'm talking about 25 mg 2x/day, but I can say that after 5-6 days or so, there is some physical dependency that had established itself,because I feel some symptoms if there's too much gap between doses. 

 

Feb '21 - Oct '21 Zolpidem 5/10 mg Crossed over to Diazepam in Nov '21
Sep '21 - Oct '21 Zopiclone 7.5 mg Alternated with Zolpidem every 2 weeks between Sep '21 and Oct '21. CTed Oct '21
Nov '21 - Jan 22 Diazepam 3.75 tapered to 0
Dec '20 - Jun '21 Trazodone 50-75-100-75

Jun '21 - Sep '21 Trazodone 75 

Sep '21 - Trazodone "tapered" down to 0 over 2 weeks; Reinstated 50 mg after few days

Oct '21 - Nov '21 Trazodone 75 mg
Nov '21 - Back to 50 mg Trazodone. started slow taper
Dec '22 - approx 29mg. Tried updosing to 31 mg; failed; back down to 29 mg and holding

Mar 23 - Pregabalin 50x2
Supplements: Centrum multivitamin, Mg 450 mg, Omega 3 fish oil 1600 mg, Vit C 500 mg, Probiotic, Fe 48mg, Glucosamine/MSM/Chondroitin Vit D 1000

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3 hours ago, traz23 said:

> if only used for a short term such as 10 to 14 days, is there a need to still taper it or can it be stopped cold turkey?

 

If I recall correctly, people find it suddenly gets very hard to stop lyrica after something like 7 or 10 days. I was on it twice, for two weeks each time. The first time, I had a bad withdrawal with symptoms that lasted for many months. The second time, 10 years later, I had a MUCH worse withdrawal.

 

> after 5-6 days or so, there is some physical dependency

Have you only been on it 5 or 6 days?

 

 

  • 1995-present: on and off various antidepressants, and many changes in dose. Never tapered properly
  • 2012-present: citalopram. Steady dose of 27.5mg since July 2020
  • 2020: pregabalin for 2 months. Very bad withdrawal.
  • Current daily medications: 27.5mg citalopram. 1mg melatonin, 4mg doxazosin, 300mg docusate.
  • My intro topic

 

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56 minutes ago, Tom2020 said:

 

I’ve been on it for 9 days now. Your experience with pregabalin sound quite disturbing and scary. 😬

Feb '21 - Oct '21 Zolpidem 5/10 mg Crossed over to Diazepam in Nov '21
Sep '21 - Oct '21 Zopiclone 7.5 mg Alternated with Zolpidem every 2 weeks between Sep '21 and Oct '21. CTed Oct '21
Nov '21 - Jan 22 Diazepam 3.75 tapered to 0
Dec '20 - Jun '21 Trazodone 50-75-100-75

Jun '21 - Sep '21 Trazodone 75 

Sep '21 - Trazodone "tapered" down to 0 over 2 weeks; Reinstated 50 mg after few days

Oct '21 - Nov '21 Trazodone 75 mg
Nov '21 - Back to 50 mg Trazodone. started slow taper
Dec '22 - approx 29mg. Tried updosing to 31 mg; failed; back down to 29 mg and holding

Mar 23 - Pregabalin 50x2
Supplements: Centrum multivitamin, Mg 450 mg, Omega 3 fish oil 1600 mg, Vit C 500 mg, Probiotic, Fe 48mg, Glucosamine/MSM/Chondroitin Vit D 1000

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1 hour ago, traz23 said:

I’ve been on it for 9 days now. Your experience with pregabalin sound quite disturbing and scary. 😬

It was. Pregabalin withdrawal (the second time) was by far the worst experience of my life. It was torture. For a while I believed it was only a matter of time before I killed myself. Three years later I'm largely housebound because it made my ME so much worse, and I react badly to all vitamin supplements (and sunlight) so I'm very deficient in some vitamins. I'm still trying to find a way to fix that.

 

Your experience may be completely different. Some people can stop it without issues. But very many people are scarred by it: there's a facebook group called "Lyrica survivors" that had about 9,000 members in 2020. You'll hear a lot of horror stories there.

  • 1995-present: on and off various antidepressants, and many changes in dose. Never tapered properly
  • 2012-present: citalopram. Steady dose of 27.5mg since July 2020
  • 2020: pregabalin for 2 months. Very bad withdrawal.
  • Current daily medications: 27.5mg citalopram. 1mg melatonin, 4mg doxazosin, 300mg docusate.
  • My intro topic

 

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