"It's not the pain you are suffering from so much. It's that your regular life keeps shrinking"
"There is no point in treating chronic pain because if treatment seems to work the pain probably would have gone away on it's own" (Imagine them saying this for any other kind of illness)
"Here, read this book about how the pain is all in your mind"
"Let's not paper over things by giving you meds, let's just wait a few more months"
"There is not enough research. I could treat you but I'm a very conservative guy. I say let's wait another 18 months and see what data comes in."
"Sure I could relieve your pain, but what's the point? If it was meant to go away it will go away, if not, it won't"
"If you were some regular guy that only had one pain and liked to watch hockey, you'd be easier to treat"
"Sure, travel across the country and I'll have a look at you (you do and show up for an appointment). Beat's me!"
"I think the problem was caused by the treatment you undertook two years after the problem started." - Mayo Clinic "expert".
"Have you tried Tai Chi?"
"You should try mindfulness meditation" - to which I responded that I'd been practicing that for decades "That's impossible, mindfulness meditation is new" - to which I responded "Buddhism is new?"
"Yes ,we advertise that service but I don't think it works so we won't give it to you"
"All your evidence for X treatment is composed of case studies. What I need to convince me to treat you is multiple large double blind studies."
"Don't bother making another appointment"
"Have you tried (insert flaky, non-scientific, dis-proven therapy here)?"
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Getting Off Of Lyrica
Lyrica works great for some people but does not work at all for others. It's most commonly prescribed for neuropathic pain (chronic nerve pain). It did not work for me. Worse, I kept upping my dose hoping that it would 'kick in' but it never did and I found myself unable to get off the stuff. My first attempts all failed miserably and then I tried a slow withdrawal technique (below) that worked for me.
Lyrica comes in 25mg, 75mg, 150mg, 225mg and 300 mg.
In this example, let's say you are taking 225mg (a single cap) and you want to go to 200 (a 150 cap plus 2X 25 caps). First you must drop between 225mg and 200mg. You do this by breaking a 25mg cap in two.
First night:
Decrease by 12.5 (half of a 25 capsule) (take a 150 plus 2 X 25s plus 1/2 of a 25)
for a total of 212.5 (150 + 25 + 25 + 12.5)
Withdrawal takes 4-7 days. I find the higher the dose you are on, the worse withdrawal will be.
Remain at the new level (212.5) for another week
So now it's been 4 to 14 days and you have completed withdrawal
and stabilized at the new level of 212.5.
Now decrease by another 12.5 and go through withdrawal again until you are stable at 200mg. (150 + 25 + 25 for a total of 3 caps)
Now stay at the new 200 level for a week or more to give yourself a break from withdrawal and dividing up capsules.
In my experience it takes about 3-4 weeks to drop by 25 mg without going through extreme withdrawal. Extreme withdrawal is to be avoided because you may end up with permanent insomnia and other neurological unpleasantness. Slow and easy is the way to go. The official literature says there is no withdrawal but thousands of posts on the Net say differently. Withdrawal is more of a problem for long time users.
I had my doctor prescribe me 150s and a bunch of 25s so I could drop from 300mg to 150mg. So far, after about 4 months I have dropped to 212.5, down from 300. I'm hoping to be down to 150mg within a 6 month period. Then I'll wait and see. I'd like to drop to zero. That would mean I'd need a lot of 25mg capsules or I'd have to manually break my 150mg caps in 25mg caps. Being precise is difficult to do at home without proper equipment.
I was prescribed Lyrica for various neuropathic pain, especially stomach pain, and then later pudendal and ilioinguinal pain. I found Lyrica to be worthless and highly addictive. Other people have had excellent success with Lyrica so you have to decide whether or not it is working for you. I suggest you keep a pain diary and enter at least once a day. Keep a score between one and 10 at least once a day. My diary/spreadsheet (I used docs.google.com) showed me that increasing Lyrica from 150 to 300mg did nothing for my pain at all. In fact, it made me doubt whether I even had neurological pain because the results were so shitty. It is very, very easy to get used to Lyrica and not easy at all to get off of it after being on it for a year or more. Even if it doesn't work it's still addictive. I have been on it for four years.
Also it is not cheap. My wife just lost her job which had supplemental insurance so now I'm even more motivated to get off this stuff.
For this technique you will need to buy some gelatin capsules from your pharmacy and you should have a good supply of lyrica 25mg caps.
Withdrawal symptoms include:
and that's just when dropping by 12.5mg at a time!
Because of the many unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal for longtime Lyrica users, you should proceed with extreme patience to get off of this shit.
I tried stopping down 25mg at a time and found the withdrawal symptoms too overwhelming. My life is already difficult enough with my numerous chronic pains. You'll know if you went off of Lyrica too quickly because you'll be desperate to get back on it again. Your brain and body will be very unhappy.
Good luck!
Lyrica comes in 25mg, 75mg, 150mg, 225mg and 300 mg.
In this example, let's say you are taking 225mg (a single cap) and you want to go to 200 (a 150 cap plus 2X 25 caps). First you must drop between 225mg and 200mg. You do this by breaking a 25mg cap in two.
First night:
Decrease by 12.5 (half of a 25 capsule) (take a 150 plus 2 X 25s plus 1/2 of a 25)
for a total of 212.5 (150 + 25 + 25 + 12.5)
Withdrawal takes 4-7 days. I find the higher the dose you are on, the worse withdrawal will be.
Remain at the new level (212.5) for another week
So now it's been 4 to 14 days and you have completed withdrawal
and stabilized at the new level of 212.5.
Now decrease by another 12.5 and go through withdrawal again until you are stable at 200mg. (150 + 25 + 25 for a total of 3 caps)
Now stay at the new 200 level for a week or more to give yourself a break from withdrawal and dividing up capsules.
In my experience it takes about 3-4 weeks to drop by 25 mg without going through extreme withdrawal. Extreme withdrawal is to be avoided because you may end up with permanent insomnia and other neurological unpleasantness. Slow and easy is the way to go. The official literature says there is no withdrawal but thousands of posts on the Net say differently. Withdrawal is more of a problem for long time users.
I had my doctor prescribe me 150s and a bunch of 25s so I could drop from 300mg to 150mg. So far, after about 4 months I have dropped to 212.5, down from 300. I'm hoping to be down to 150mg within a 6 month period. Then I'll wait and see. I'd like to drop to zero. That would mean I'd need a lot of 25mg capsules or I'd have to manually break my 150mg caps in 25mg caps. Being precise is difficult to do at home without proper equipment.
I was prescribed Lyrica for various neuropathic pain, especially stomach pain, and then later pudendal and ilioinguinal pain. I found Lyrica to be worthless and highly addictive. Other people have had excellent success with Lyrica so you have to decide whether or not it is working for you. I suggest you keep a pain diary and enter at least once a day. Keep a score between one and 10 at least once a day. My diary/spreadsheet (I used docs.google.com) showed me that increasing Lyrica from 150 to 300mg did nothing for my pain at all. In fact, it made me doubt whether I even had neurological pain because the results were so shitty. It is very, very easy to get used to Lyrica and not easy at all to get off of it after being on it for a year or more. Even if it doesn't work it's still addictive. I have been on it for four years.
Also it is not cheap. My wife just lost her job which had supplemental insurance so now I'm even more motivated to get off this stuff.
For this technique you will need to buy some gelatin capsules from your pharmacy and you should have a good supply of lyrica 25mg caps.
Withdrawal symptoms include:
- anxiety increase
- pain sensitivity increase
- increase in pain (over all of body)
- flu like symptoms
- insomnia
- short temperedness
- feelings of hopelessness
- frequent desire to rest or lay down
- depression, despair
- suicidal thoughts
- and others....
and that's just when dropping by 12.5mg at a time!
Because of the many unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal for longtime Lyrica users, you should proceed with extreme patience to get off of this shit.
I tried stopping down 25mg at a time and found the withdrawal symptoms too overwhelming. My life is already difficult enough with my numerous chronic pains. You'll know if you went off of Lyrica too quickly because you'll be desperate to get back on it again. Your brain and body will be very unhappy.
Good luck!
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