I think of it as a blanket that you put over a irritable nerve or electric tape that you put over a wire that is sparking
It stops the "spark" from turning into seizures, but then, because it had less bad side effects than other seizure medicines, we started using it for shingles pain (herpes zoster, no relationship to herpes herpes). Then we started using it for our diabetics whose feet were numb but caused burning pain.
I haven't treated the bad neuropathic pains, but apparently it works for them too
the advantage is that different types of pain pills work for pain. Motrin/NSAIDS works for bone pain, but not for this type of pain.
A lot of these patients got addicted to narcotics in the past, because narcotics were the only thing that stopped the pain (and even then, the narcs didn't work very well)
the interesting thing about Lyrica is that it also seems to work for fibromyalgia.
I’m taking it for nerve pain *herniated disc/root nerve irritation/sciatica* I’m hoping once the dosage gets right that it will help alleviate some of my sciatica pain. However... it’s very expensive. If doc hadn’t given me the “co-pay card” that makes the co-pay a max of $25, I would have requested a cheaper medication.
“Pfizer Inc.’s drug Lyrica has gotten FDA approval for use in treating nerve pain due to spinal injuries. Lyrica, a pain drug, is Pfizer’s second-biggest selling drug. It is expected that this new approval will help Lyrica pass Lipitor, the company’s largest-selling drug for reducing cholesterol.”
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/lyrica-side-effects.html
“In clinical trials in patients with neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 9% of patients treated with Lyrica and 4% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions.”
9-4=5% 1 in 20 discontinued due to adverse reactions. Nice to see our FDA’s on the job.
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/08/janet-woodcock-miss-piñata-meets-clue-stick.html
And why would Dear Janet be so Drug Company friendly, since a Fifth of FDA’s budget comes directly from drug companies?
http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/UserFees/PrescriptionDrugUserFee/default.htm
I’ve taken Lyrica before for nerve damage. Within a week, it had me feeling like I was drunk all the time. I could barely walk, my memory was shot and I was slurring my words. I don’t trust this or any other, as seen on TV, drugs since they’re so new to the market, they’re using people to further test their drug without telling the consumer like they did for Bextra during its follow up testing on huamans where they had to stop testing it after it had been approved since the incidents of heart attacks and strokes were way above the number you would expect from normal society and it’s banned to this day.
If you take this, keep an eye out for the symptoms I described. The doctor finally admitted that it was the drug causing all these weird symptoms and stopped me from taking it.
If they’re advertising drugs on TV, I would be leery as they seem to be using people who saw this drug on TV to ask their doctor for it and then they further test it. I would stick with drugs that have been around. Neurontin is another drug that does almost the same thing without most of Lyrica’s problems although it has issues of its own.
Then you best do a LOT of research before you or any one you know take it. It has a whopping 50% sided effect failure rate.
It is an anti-seizure drug, they broadened it for Fibromyalgia patients not to long ago. Hope you like your hair falling out, if you have ‘arthur’ your joints will hurt terribly and you will GAIN WEIGHT. These are just a few of the ‘nice’ side effects of this nasty drug. This is it’s older sister drug
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/gabapentin-side-effects.html
Go back a few pages to the blogs and see what the patients are saying...not pretty.
My experience with it was terrible pain, as was my son’s. 50mg dose.
Other folks tolerate the side effects. I can’t.
I had horrible unrelenting pain after a lung removal; diagnosed as post thoractotomy neuropathy. I thought I was doomed; truly wanted to die. Then the pain clinic started me on Lyrica; within a week the pain was better and my dose was gradually increased to reach maintenance level where I can tolerate the pain. I still get breakthrough electric charges throughout my body sometimes but it is sporadic. I do have lots of swelling in my feet and hands and have tried to taper the dose downward but I resigned myself that I probably will be on it for the long term. Very very thankful that it helps.
I sure hope it helps some. I took it for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue pain and aches. I had all the bad reactions and had to stop taking it. Even 3 years later I am fighting to get the weight off. I gained 25 pounds when taking it. Every one I know who has taken it has gained a lot of weight.
BFM.