Lyrica Side Effects...?

Just a quick one...

I've been taking pregabalin now for about 2-3 weeks and I'm noticing some strange side effects. I've got the usual 'feeling a bit drunk' sensation, mixing my words up a lot, the odd bit of memory loss, but the weirdest thing I've found is my eye keeps twitching!

It's always my left one, and it feels like that little bubble under your eyelid, just bubbling away by itself for 30 seconds, every 5 minutes or so.

It's driving me mad and it's been particularly worse today!

Please tell me someone else has experienced this, haha!

aw, that sounds very annoying - I hope it decides to stop soon!

I had the occassional eye twitch when when I took pregabalin, but it wasn't all that bad. I did have generalised muscle twitching though which I found pretty annoying after a couple of years . I'm pretty sure muscle twitching is a known side-effect. I got bad tinnitus (ringing in the ear) with pregabalin and it drove me nuts, so I eventually decided to stop taking it because I couldn't really see any benefit for me.

once again, I hope that your eye smartens up and stops twitching!

That's interesting, I've recently developed tinnitus and am on pregabalin...had just thought it was too many rock concerts!! That's kind of a relief. Do get the odd eye twitch but it's not too troublesome. Hope your settles down, Jemima x

Thanks guys...

As I didn't really have any oher side effects (and the eye twitching seems to have stopped for now!) I've gone up to 300mg a day on my doctors suggestion, and I feel like I'm off my head!

I only started the two twice a day dose yesterday, and this morning I felt like I was really drunk. Really, really drunk.

So far today I've walked in a zig zag through the town centre and have fell down the bottom 3 steps of my staircase twice. Not good!

It seems to have settled a bit now, and there is something I quite like about it, haha!

Oh, while I'm hear, was anyone else told about the cost of Lyrica? It's not so much relevant, but my doctor said part of the reason why they're careful about prescribing them is because if they work, then a years worth of taking them would cost around about £1000! Has anyone else been told this? Seems crazy to me, but thank God for the NHS! (For once...)

Oh, bless you! I know that just-upped-my-dosage feeling well!! It does tend to subside pretty quickly but it can be interesting to say the least. My boyfriend's family work in the pharmacy industry & also said it is pretty expensive. I did feel guilty, ridiculously, but then I added up how much I've paid in tax over the years and I don't feel guilty any more!! I think it's mostly cos it's a relatively new drug which is still under patent. When the patent runs out, in 2013 I think, other companies should then be able to start making generic versions of it and hopefully then the cost will come down. But really, we should try not to worry about it; we need it, and that's that! xx

ButterflyLiz wrote:Oh, bless you! I know that just-upped-my-dosage feeling well!! It does tend to subside pretty quickly but it can be interesting to say the least. My boyfriend's family work in the pharmacy industry & also said it is pretty expensive. I did feel guilty, ridiculously, but then I added up how much I've paid in tax over the years and I don't feel guilty any more!! I think it's mostly cos it's a relatively new drug which is still under patent. When the patent runs out, in 2013 I think, other companies should then be able to start making generic versions of it and hopefully then the cost will come down. But really, we should try not to worry about it; we need it, and that's that! xx

Good point!

Are you currently taking it? Has it worked for you? I'm in my third (I think!) week of taking it now and haven't noticed any difference as of yet... But fingers crossed the upped dosage will go some of the way to improving this!

I'm on Lyrica and find it helps a bit with the external diffuse pain, I have both generalised V and VVS and I don't find it helps much with the internal rawness and soreness but the external areas don't feel so bad. I've been on it for over 6 months now and got some help at 300mg then it stopped working completely so I upped the dose to 450mg a day and that's where I'm at right now. I find it makes me dizzy at times and I don't really trust my driving also I have a dreadful dry mouth which isn't doing my teeth any favours and they're seriously sensitive now and it's made my appetite huge so I've put over a stone on which I'm currently trying (and not finding easy) to lose. I'd love to be able to come off it so I'm giving physiotherapy a try because I know I have a very tight pelvic floor and also pelvic instabilty so I need to work on the pelvic stability before I can have my PF released.

Yes Jemima, pregabalin has helped me loads, it's not cured me but the pain is way lower than before. At the moment I'm on 150mg per day but was previously on 300mg per day, which was when I started to feel better. It's hard to quantify but I think it took a month or two before I was convinced it was making a difference. I think it's one of those ones that takes a while to get going. I hope you get on well with it x

Ooo, this is promising then... I've just been upped to 400mg a day today, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for some improvement soon!

Thanks again guys.