Question for Nuerontin/Lyrica users

[dalmatica]

I have tried this drug several times and in varying doses. It really helps with the nerve pain better than anything else unfortunately I can't take it because of the side effects that I get from it. They range from extreme drowsiness to lack of concentration to changes in my personality. Anyone else have these problems? I actually flushed them down the tiolet!

[CurvySAT05]

I have not yet tried neurontin or lyrica, but am hoping to try one of them soon. I am currently taking Topamax for migrane headaches and was given lyrica for nerve pain from my ortho, but my neurologist did not want to add it since it was in the same family as the topamax.
Hopefully soon I can switch to neurontin and take care of both problems at the same time. I am talking to the doctor about my options soon. I am interested in hearing any successes/failures with these medications.
Thanks

[Theresa]

I had to quit taking Lyrica about 10 days ago. It worked really great for the nerve pain from the anterior incision. Lately though, I've been noticing my feet swelling. It got bad enough that other people at work were asking me about my feet. The school nurse looked all my meds up on the computer and Lyrica was the likely cause. I called my pain management doctor and told them about the swelling and they told me to quit taking the Lyrica over a few days taking one less pill a day. The swelling has gone away. I told them to wait until my surgery is over to see if I still need something for the nerve pain. I'm not that active right now so it's not that bothersome now. The more I move around, especially walking, the more it acts up. I'm also hoping that since I had been on the medicine for a few months that maybe the nerves have had the time to quiten down and not act up so much. The doctor said that sometimes when things are quiten down that sometimes they heal themselves.

[Karen Ocker]

I took Neurontin(gabapentin) -maximum dose 3600mgm, for ~5 months post -op.

It helped nerve pain where narcotics did nothing. It is actually a seizure medication which also helps nerve pain. It enabled me to get off narcotics 3 months post op and I stopped taking it(under careful medical direction) right before I went to back work, 6 months post op, because I noticed short-term memory loss with it. By then most of the nerve pain had decreases and i just used a TENS machine(alpha stim technology) for that.

The issues with neurontin or Lyrica are slow dose increments and gradual decreases/weaning. Otherwise seizures can occur if stopped suddenly..