Lyrica is not a “new” drug, but a version of the older one, gabapentin (This is a correction of my previous post, where I said it was an older drug.) Gabapentin came out for seizures back in the early 1990’s, so it’s not a new drug family.
The neurologists knew that some seizure medicines such as tegretol worked for terrible nerve pain (tic doloreaux or neuropathic pain) so they tried gabapentin, and it worked for the pain, with fewer liver/blood side effects than tegretol...Lyrica is the newer version of this, with less sleepiness and you take fewer pills... However, the FDA never “approved” of using gabapentin, so we had to tell our patients this.
The sedation is dose related, so the answer is to start at a lower dose until your body gets used to it. I am sensitive to being sleepy with medicine: I can’t take an allergy pill if I plan to work or drive, for example.
However, I agree with you about advertising: it’s dangerous, and sells expensive medicine you might not need.
But before gabapentin and Lyrica, our patients with nerve damage often ended up addicted to narcotics, and the pain was so bad some killed themselves.
So like all medicines, it is good for many people, but not for everyone, alas...
Hi: I just withdrew from Gabapentin after 10 years on it (2400Mg/day) due to kidney problems. It was/is a very unpleasant experience!!! Now, I’m wondering about Lyrica. Does it have the same potential for kidney problems (high creatinine) as gabapentin? Right now, I’m almost overwhelmed with pain/discomfort. Death would be welcome relief for some neuropathic pain sufferers.
I was also on Gabpentin. My doctor said it was designed as a drug for seizures but that it didn’t work any better than the anti-seizure meds they already had. They prescribed it for off label use and gave it to me.
I took it exactly as they said to do and nothing happened, good or bad so they took me off of it. I’ve still got some laying around.
I just tried to find it and can’t, I know I put it somewhere where it wouldn’t get lost but of course, it’s in a nice and cosy place... somewhere.