[lkbrayton]

I suffer from very bad anxiety which was brought on after
having my thyroid removed because of thyroid cancer. Over the years
I have tried many meds, seizure meds, antidepressants and have had
horrible side effects. I was in a bad car accident and have hurniated
discs in my neck and have found that stress and anxiety is causing
the inflammation in my neck which causes tingling in my head, pain
to the left lob of my brain, ringing in my ears, pain in my neck, upper back and shoulders. My doctor just added 25mg. of Lyrica to take at
night he feels it will help with depression and times when I have
increased anxiety instead of taking additiona xanx. I did not do
well on many seizure medication because it impacted my motor skills,
slow reaction when driving, memory problems. I am looking for
someone who has been on Lyrica for anxiety, depression, etc. to
see if they have any of the CNS problems of slow motor skills,
memory problems, feeling very tired in the morning, any stomach
problems, etc.

[MaggieW]

Originally Posted by lkbrayton

I suffer from very bad anxiety which was brought on after
having my thyroid removed because of thyroid cancer. Over the years
I have tried many meds, seizure meds, antidepressants and have had
horrible side effects. I was in a bad car accident and have hurniated
discs in my neck and have found that stress and anxiety is causing
the inflammation in my neck which causes tingling in my head, pain
to the left lob of my brain, ringing in my ears, pain in my neck, upper back and shoulders. My doctor just added 25mg. of Lyrica to take at
night he feels it will help with depression and times when I have
increased anxiety instead of taking additiona xanx. I did not do
well on many seizure medication because it impacted my motor skills,
slow reaction when driving, memory problems. I am looking for
someone who has been on Lyrica for anxiety, depression, etc. to
see if they have any of the CNS problems of slow motor skills,
memory problems, feeling very tired in the morning, any stomach
problems, etc.

I have not been on Lyrica, however my brother has. Basically, he's been on just about everything. He's had severe depression, anxiety, stress, all from accidents and the fact that he was out of work for so long because of the accidents.

He's tried every medication on the market. He hated Lyrica. He was not prone to side effects of other meds, however he had terrible side effects on Lyrica. It turned him into a different person. He was anxious, irritable, hard to be around. It also had an effect on his physical body as well; his hands swelled up and he could not take the medicine. Every side effect that was listed on the paper it came with, he ended up with. But you're not him, it might work well for you.

Your situation sounds similar to his. For a while they had him on Klonopin for seizures, but he ended up settling on Ativan. It took his edge off, he was relaxed and it did help with depression. It's in the same family as Xanax, however it has a longer half-life so you can take less with better effects. It relaxes the brain for stress relief and also the muscles which takes care of the pain. It worked better than his muscle relaxers he'd tried. (When he was on a combo of meds, he had worse side effects because some of his meds brought out the side effects in the others.) But when they switched him to Ativan, he got his life back and we got him back! He received a 2 mg pill which he bit in half: 1/2 a 2 mg pill in the daytime and a 2 mg pill at bedtime and it put him right out. No pain at night, very restful sleep. If you're like my brother and can't take the Lyrica for any reason, ask about Ativan. After YEARS of pain and depression and stress, Ativan was a lifesaver for him. Hope this helps.