User Reviews for Pregabalin to treat Peripheral Neuropathy
Brand names: Lyrica, Lyrica CR
Pregabalin has an average rating of 6.6 out of 10 from a total of 37 reviews for the off-label treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy. 59% of reviewers reported a positive experience, while 27% reported a negative experience.
Reviews for Pregabalin
"I've suffered from peripheral neuropathy for a year. I've tried gabapentin, tramadol, and pregabalin. Pregabalin was best for treating the burning, stabbing, pins, and needles in my hands and feet. It probably brought my pain down from a 6 to a 2. But, and it's a big BUT were the side effects. I was taking 100 mg twice a day, but I was a total wreck. I walked around like a zombie, I would just stare at my computer screen not really doing anything. Throw in some blurred vision and mild cognitive impairment and you have a really useless drug in my book. If pain relief was the most important thing to me, I would stick with it. For me, after just a one week look at my future self (30 years from now), it was too much to bear. I'm going to keep searching."
"After I started taking Lyrica, I finally felt hope. I felt validated. I thought, this is what normal feels like. This is what it's like to go a day and live pain free. Then, my pharmacy switched to Pregabalin and I'm back to 45 years ago. Daily pain. Hiding from the world sleeping through the pain. I feel like that inner child that was confused as to why she felt so bad all of the time and my alcoholic mother said I was just using a negative attention getting mechanism to take away her attention. I AM in pain. I AM NOT making this up. Why can't I have the Lyrica back? I saw a glimpse of how I could be and I want the feel good ME back. The me I know I'm supposed to be. That I CAN be. I am so tired of being in pain. I'm just so exhausted."
Frequently asked questions
- Lyrica vs Gabapentin: What's the difference?
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- Is Lyrica a controlled substance / narcotic?
"I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy 10+ yrs ago. Pfizer/Lyrica helped with much of the burning & electric shock-like stabbing pain. I was recently pleased to pick up the generic by Amneal Pharma. Almost immediately I began getting painful shocks, toe stabbing pain, pain in hands, serious migraines and the most scary of all, heart palpitations. After several days I cleared all of the generic lyrica out of my pill minder box and luckily had nearly a weeks worth of the Pfizer product. I’m pleased to say that after only several days back on Lyrica the shocking/stabbing pain and heart palpitations have been reduced. I still have migraines but am hopeful they will go away. I’ll provide an update soon as I believe many could benefit from this information before switching to generic."
"Have been taking Pfizer Lyrica for about a year. I order it from Kaiser mail order because I couldn't afford it otherwise. The Pfizer product was EXCELLENT at controlling lower back pain. Kaiser substituted a generic. IT DOES NOT HAVE DESIRED PAIN RELIEF. Science is apparently flawed here."
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"Lyrica had my fibromyalgia pain under control, where it was tolerable. The generic pregabalin came out and I was automatically switched, and omg. The pain is unbearable. Two months later, and the pain is as bad as it used to be."
"I was taking Lyrica for 2 years, 3 times a day. It helped the peripheral neuropathy & helped the pain & numbness in my feet/legs/back! I have Spinal Stenosis, DDD, Lumbar radiculopathy & Spondylolisthesis & was told it was hard to tell if the pain was coming from my back or the diabetes! The Lyrica was helping & now they have changed to Pregabalin & the pain/numbness in my feet/legs/back has gotten bad again!"
"Pregabalin is one of the worst drugs I have ever taken. The side affects are demoralizing. You do not function well, you sleep all the time. How did it get approved by the F.D.A? The FDA need to be investigated. And they need put back real testing of the drugs in another way other than on the American public. It needs to be removed from the market as a hazardous material never to return. Until it is thoroughly tested and proven to be safe for the use of the American people without fear of bad reactions or results"
"Just started Lyrica for pain with multiple sclerosis. Numbing/tingling/foot drop /balance issues all standard with MS. 75 Mg per day and already noticed difference...I can move my toes! Pain is reduced. Gabapentin did not help, baclofen or flexeril same. So far lyrica is doing the trick for me. Dr increasing Lyrica slowly each week to find the right dosage."
"I have suffered with severe diabetic peripheral, proximal and autonomic neuropathy for 7 years. The pain and dysthesias were constant, I could eventually fall asleep for a couple of hours but that was it. I was prescribed Darvocet, Neurontin, Tramadol, Codeine, Cymbalta, none of which worked, not even a little. I had to fight the insurance company for over 7 months to get on Lyrica and when it was finally approved I figured it wouldn't work either... An hour after I took the first dose I was completely pain free. I slept 9 hours the first night and haven't slept less than 7 hours since. I actually have my life back."
"Hi Ive had ddd (Degenerative Disc Disease) with bad sciatica that no medicine touched the pain until I tried pregablin, it changed my life. I've been on it for one year and still works fine I had no side effects at all I just hope it doesn't stop working"
"On Lyrica for 4 yrs under Pain Specialist. Was taking one 100 mg capsule AM, one 100 mg capsule mid day and two 100 mg capsules before bed for a total of 400 mg/day. My non-Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is unbearable without it. Only side effect is blurred vision, a small trade off for the relief offered. Now I am troubled. Finishing the last of my brand name Lyrica from my last 90 day script, I just started 400 mg/day of newly acquired generic pregabulin. Something is wrong! Painful electric bolts to my left lower extremity have increasingly returned, albeit in a less severe intensity. Note that I had rated this new med a "7", doing so in contrast to calling the brand name Lyrica a "10". I am distraught. Are there any other such reports? How can I continue to obtain Lyrica regardless of the cost? Thanks very much for allowing me to report this to you. My Lyrica cost $50/month mail order and the pregabalin is only $5."
Lyrica (pregabalin) "I have been using Lyrica for about ten weeks. I increased my dose gradually until the majority of my pain is gone. I am now at 150mg at bed and 75 mg in the morning. I have found the side effects to be minimal, the most noticeable is mid afternoon drowsiness and a bit of vertigo. This medicine has also helped calm the need for frequent urination. Who knew?"
"I have 2 herniated discs degenerative disc disease sciatica and then found out I have scoliosis on top of all of that I've been taking pregabalin for about 6 months and had no have had no relief I'm going to have to tell my doctor to increase it and I ice my feet also are swelling and tingly all the time it makes it very hard to walk sometimes I feel like I'm going to fall"
"After suffering from painful burning feet for ten years ,and due to the pain getting only a few hours sleep per night (if lucky) I started taking Lyrica 75mg twice per day . The very first day my feet started to feel better, but I thought it might be wishful thinking however after taking the second capsule before bed I slept for nine hours straight and woke up to manageable foot pain. My life is back to normal"
Lyrica (pregabalin) "I've been taking Lyrica for about 3.5 years. Excellent pain relief and mood improver. The downside for me is cost, weight gain and dependency. The withdrawal is worse than opiates in my opinion. 300mg twice a day."
Lyrica (pregabalin) "I used this for my last herniated disk issue. I had a sequestered herniated L5 L4 issue and suffered from nerve pain down my left leg and drop foot. Pain Medications (e.g. 10mg Percocet 3-4 times daily) did nothing for my leg pain though helped my back. Lyrica at 150mg twice daily did the trick for my leg nerve pain. The sciatica makes your leg kill while you know nothings wrong with it, so with Lyrica I was amazed to have the leg pain just disappear. No side effects. Sciatica went away by itself after 3 months so no need for Lyrica anymore."
"I've been using Lyrica now for almost 3 years with great success and until this week I was able to get it with no problem using my insurance, Some POS doctor working for Express Script denied coverage. He got overruled by a doctor with a brain, but doctor Weisman seems to think Lyrica does't work for the treatment of peripheral neuropathy his reasoning was because the doctor didn't put diabetic in front of peripheral neuropathy. Lyrica won't work the thing this doctors doesn't understand is that the Lyrica is treating only the peripheral neuropathy the diabetic part mean nothing except that the peripheral neuropathy is being cause by the diabetes. If this Doctor had taken just say five minutes and read a little bit more of the notes!"
Lyrica (pregabalin) "It is difficult to rate this medication. I have all forms of Neuropathy, very painful and Lyrica has been the best so far at eliminating pain, allowing me to overcome the insomnia from the Neuropathy and opiate medication. Even at very small doses. I take 50mg once daily before bed and it works. The problem is the side effects, the worst being that after three days my eyesight is so degraded that I can not drive, I cannot read anything on the television 6 feet away, there is some eye pain and my eyes seem dry and burning. Eye problems can be serious. Wandering eye, crossed eyes and most commonly blurred vision. It also causes peripheral edema in my legs and feet."
Lyrica (pregabalin) "I just weaned myself off of Cymbalta/Neurontin and started taking 50mg Lyrica capsules twice a day. I have been taking Lyrica for only TWO DAYS and have had amazing results. I may be reporting on this drug too soon but I am finding my pain receding greatly. I am feeling almost "normal", my spirits are definitely raising and hope that I can avoid nerve cutting surgery that would be my last choice for relief. I am an optimist by nature and am so hoping that 100mg a day will keep me pain free and away from the scalpel."
Lyrica (pregabalin) "This used in conjunction with Cymbalta is about as good as it gets for nerve pain. In the past I was given Neurontin, Gabapentin, and many others but none were as effective. On the down side I found that the Lyrica in higher doses (150MG - 600MG) left me tired and unable to enjoy my days. I found that I received no greater pain relief taking the larger doses, just more / worse side effects. Even with Lyrica and the Cymbalta some people with extreme pain may still need to use some other type of pain relief in addition to this drug. I take 300MG of Lyrica spread over 4 doses per day and the Cymbalta, and 120MG of OxyContin and up to 40MG Oxycodone for breakthrough pain. In severe cases, a second anti-depressant may be needed in addition to The Cymbalta to help fight the depression that comes with chronic pain. The big down side to both of these name brand medicines is the cost. A months supply of Lyrica with no insurance is over $330 and the Cymbalta will set you back just over $300 each month. Even with insurance these both will end up on the top tier (My co-pay is $50.00 each) and neither of them has a generic equivalent."
"Only one 75 mg dose took me out of the most severe pain from Dercum's III, a rare genetic disorder. I would still be on this medication except I had face swelling from it. I wish I wasn't one of the few to suffer from this side-effect and could still be on this medication. But there are very many other people that can be helped by it and I wish you all to be free from pain."
"Hi all Have been on 300 mg pregabalin for Neuropathy and Brain Zaps, for 12 months , not to bad at first on a very low dose of 50 mg but still having brain Zaps went up to 300 mg a Day in in stages then 6 months ago started getting bad Tinnitus then Loud Drumming in the middle of my Head constant ,in short sent to Ear Specialist and given pain killers told I have lost low tones in left ear problem with Pregabalin permanent loss. As the side affects were now getting worse than any benefits I decided that I should stop this Drug which I did over 3 months, now off but no sleep ,sweats , headaches, pain worse than before. My advise is stay off look for alternative coming off is worse than starting . 2 stars given for start of treatment,"
"I suffer from internal vibrations and was prescribed lyrica to help. I’ve been taking 150mg 2x per day for 9 months. The vibrations improved for about 4 months but have returned. The brain fog and memory issues have been bothering me. I feel like I’m constantly in a daze and questioning whether I’ve got early onset dementia at 43! I’ve decided to wean off the medication and pray I get my clear thinking back."
Lyrica (pregabalin) "75 mg made me uncoordinated, cross-eyed and VERY sleepy. Did help the neuropathy but went back to gabapentin on which I have no side effects at 200mg x 3 a day. It doesn't completely take the tingling away, but enough so that I can work."
Reviews may be edited to correct grammar/spelling or to remove inappropriate language and content. Reviews that appear to be created by parties with a vested interest are not published. This information is not intended to endorse any particular medication. While these reviews may be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, knowledge, and judgement of healthcare professionals.
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"I have had 12 back and hip related surgeries in 10 years...approximately half where fusions from cervical to mainly lumbar area, my last L2-L4 fusion continuation in Dec 2020- I am 56 years old..and for last 3 months since I have been experiencing severe neuropathic pain in my lower legs and feet—I have had to ice them every night to get 1 or 2 straight hours of sleep— it was agonizing. Then 3 days ago I saw my neurosurgeon and he put me on a mix of 600mg ibuprofen 3 times a day and 150 mg Lyrica twice a day. I woke today after a night of solid sleep completely neuropathic pain free. I felt blessed most incredible pain reversal I have ever had. I just pray it stays like this although Lyrica made me tired a bit ,the upside is so incredibly worth it for me. I hope you other folks get to feel this—and I am so sorry other folks have not felt this level of relief/-I pray you get better!"