The following information is NOT intended to endorse drugs or recommend therapy. While these reviews might be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care.
I had a cervical laminectomy to remove a cyst that had grown and was encroaching in on a nerve. I also had a 4mm subluxation of C7 over T1. The surgeon removed the cyst, realigned my vertebrae and used instrumentation to hold the vertebrae in place. Unfortunately, after the surgery, the most painful part was the pain in my arms. I had taken Lyrica in the past for a very short time and it caused weight gain. I kept the medication on hand because it was expensive. After 2 trips back into the ER, the surgeon wanted me to take the Lyrica. His RN said that I will know if it will work in 1 1/2 - 2 days. She was right, thank God! The pain decreased dramatically. I'll deal with the weight gain later.
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Makes me feel very sleepy and spaced out but really helps with the pain. Also have an increase in appetite. Had total knee replacement three months ago and have a lot of post operative nerve pain that tramadol didn't touch. After many sleepless nights it has been a God send and have had my first night of more than three hours sleep since I had the operation.
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I have nerve damage in my L4 / L5 disc and down my leg. Out of all my medicines the one that helps me the most is Lyrica. I can tell if I miss a pill because my pain goes up. The pain medicines just hide the pain and not that well on cold and rainy days. Lyrica helps the pain - it is the best nerve medicine I have ever had. I gained 40 lbs. I have been on Neurontin with lots of side effects. As much as I hate the 40 lbs I'm glad to have the medicine.
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Lyrica works very well with pins, needles, tingling and numbness. The negative side effects were "loopiness", and inability to feel full after eating. I gained 40 lbs very quickly.
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I had way too many uncomfortable side effects that caused me to stop taking the medicine. It did help with the "pain", but gave me a false sense of wellness and I would over do my ability to be active and suffer.
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I was recently put on this medication - only 25 mg to start for the first week. Since about the third day of taking the low dose of this medication I suddenly began to be extremely tired. I was not feeling like myself at all. I had to leave work early one day and was off for the rest of the week. I also slept for about one whole day. My doctor is aware and wants me to stick with the low dose for now since I am still feeling pretty lethargic during the 3rd week. I hope that it will get better soon.
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I am 52 years old and have suffered from neuralgia mostly in my feet and legs. It got so bad I could not fall asleep at night. I take 50mg morning and night. I read all the comments and reviews on this and other sites. They made it sound like a miracle drug and I agree. Finally I had some relief. I am having trouble with swelling and had some weight gain. It has been worth it.
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After the shingles on my neck I was diagnosed with "non specific nerualgia" because having shingles on my neck the virus infected my trigemengial nerve and the chances of the pain going away are far to none. I have tried everything from trigger point injections to high doses of opioids. Nothing really worked on the underlying pain. Yes I would have some relief but the nerve pain was always there. So now after being on maintanence methadone for a year I have started taking lyrica for the past month with really good results. Now I am starting to slowly to come down off the methadone because of the great results from this medication. I was pleasantly surprised. I just hope it can continue the good work.
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Treatment for frostbite - A little bit expensive, but it beats getting my toes cut off and learning how to walk again. It works better than narcotic pain medicines without all the bad side effects too.
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I only got the chance to take this for a week. After 3 days I noticed the substantial decrease in pain. I noticed no adverse side effects. It was great.
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This is the best help I have had. Before I started using Lyrica I had to go to the doctor for injections often. One day he asked whether anyone ever gave me anything for nerve pain. He gave me Lyrica and I take 75mg twice a day and I have not been this pain free in years.
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smam1130 said: 
