How important is it to wean off lyrica slowly?

It's more important that than the original care she received. Contact the prescribing physician and advise of the situation, follow the instructions for decreasing to the letter. The more time and the more gradual the better. The sides she is experiencing now are pure joy compared to what the consequences and WD from stopping to fast/on your own can be. Just my 2-cents, hope it helps.

Yes, she could experience some mild withdrawal if she doesn't take a week to 10 days to taper off the Lyrica. Symptoms of withdrawal from Lyrica may include agitation, mood swings and possible diarrhea. There is no need to go through a long taper process, but reducing her daily dosage by 150mgs every 3 -4 days should be sufficient to avoid withdrawals.

Hi mom2jjc - I hope you are well and that you are enjoying your experience here at DC. Your post caught my attention so I wanted to chime in here as well.

If your daughter has the 75mg capsules and did the typical tapering "up" to get at her clinical dose... she would do the reverse in tapering "off". So she would reduce something like this:
Every 2 days reduce her dose by ONE, 75mg capsule until she is off.

If she has 150mg capsules I would suggest she take it like this:
Every 2 days reduce her dose by ONE, 150mg capsule until she is off. Sometimes they recommend a slightly slower taper, too. If she wants to do that then "EVERY 3 DAYS... REDUCE INGESTION BY ONE, 150MG CAPSULE...

If she has any withdrawal symptoms... she can ask her doctor for a mild or low dose of diazepam or clonazepam. Neither of these meds has a propensity toward withdrawal symptoms when taken for less than 3 weeks.

Good luck and I hope your daughter recovers soon and back to her same self quickly.

Mary

I actually take Lyrica 150mg twice a day. Any time I would skip a dose on accident, I would get really bad headaches. Thats the only thing I could really pin point.

They say don't use the Internet for medical advice so - I have been on 225mg Lyria morning and night for 2 years.
I said to my specialist that I did not think they were helping with the pain but were making me thick headed and could I stop them - his comment was just stop.
So I have and no side effects at all!

I am on 150 bid. My family said I am becoming a different person. Mean, aggravated and short tempered. I would rather be in pain. My grands are starting to avoid me.
I cut my dosage in half today. Then next Sunday only 1 am dose.
I'm done!!

I was on Lyrica 75 mg once per day for 2 years after 2 15-hour spine surgeries with hardware. I started getting ankle swelling, twitches, fatigue, diarrhea, increased hunger, weight gain, forgetfulness. I weaned off by taking 75mg every other day for two weeks then 75 mg every three days for three weeks, then off. Yes, I have increased pain, but the nasty side effects are gone. I didn't realize what was causing the side effects until I stopped. I feel much better.

My wife was hospitalized after complications from a stomach sleeve operation. She had been on 100 mg Lyrica twice a day. One of the genius doctors took her off Lyrica completely and she began having massive seizures. Back up to ICU for four days to get her stabilized.