I have been changed from taking Gaberpentin to pregablin. I have felt very poorly for a couple of days. The side effects are that I feel quite 'spaced' out and wobbly........but the flip side is I have been able to take a few steps without hardly any pain. Still can't stand on the spot, but just to be able to walk a few feet with out excruciating pain is marvelous. But do the wobbly, spaced out feeling go? Is it just whilst my body gets used to the change in meds? I'm getting in a real tisy, as I live in a village and I need to be able to drive...........I can't whilst I feel like this!! I'm terrified, I'm going to have to choose between feeling in pain and human or not feeling in so much pain and a zombie!! Would love to hear from anyone who is on pregablin or moved from one med to another.
Sorry for long rambling..............it's been turning around in my head keeping me awake!!
Look forward to hearing from my fibro friends and hope your day/night is not too painful.
Hugs x
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Lizzyear
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I was wondering how you came off the Gabbapentin? Did you just stop and then start on Pregabalin?
I have pasted you the NHS Choices side effects pages on both medications as they are pretty similar in their side effects. My wife made the same change that you did with these drugs for her MS, and she suffered similar side effects for about a week. Her GP just said to swap over, however, a few months later her MS Specialist informed her that you should not really do it that way?
Luckily there was no harm done and her GP insisted that he was right regardless of what the MS Specialist said! I genuinely hope that your side effects dissipate very soon.
Yep, my pain consultant said stop taking the Gaberpentin and go straight onto the pregablin. Yep, have felt pretty rubbish. My other half keeps saying don't panic give it a week or two? But driving feels like the only old part of me left, so think that is why I'm panicking. I like my freedom and independence! Thank you for your reply Ken. Hope you manage to get some sleep tonight and that you and your wife are as well as you can be. You certainly have your hands full, both of you.
My wife started to notice the difference in about 2 weeks, so fingers crossed for you! I didn't manage much sleep again, but I am tired now so hopefully tonight I will be too tired to stay awake?
Hello pineapple-head, and welcome to the site. I can`t answer your question about Gabapentin as i have never used it. I am sure that someone one will be along soon who can tell you what their experience s with the drug are.
We are a friendly lot, always happy to meet our new members. As well as giving advice support and a shoulder to cry on we love having a laugh and joke.
If we all seem to be going nuts at the moment it is because some of us are trialling a new format. so while some of us are seeing one thing, or not, everyone else is seeing something different .
Well It makes life interesting.
Have you been onto our mother site yet? If you click on the yellow butterfly at the top of the screen There you will find loads of info all about fibro. when you have had a good look round you can come back to us with any questions you may have, or just to join in any where you like.
This link takes you to the same pages as Ken's link but takes you to the overview of the drug Gabapentin which discusses everything about it. I hope you find it useful
I can see that you have been welcomed and would like to join in with that and give you our link to our Mother site fibroaction.org where there is a wealth of information regarding Fibromyalgia.
Please ask us any Q's and also join in the fun too as sue says we do like to have fun and giggles too to help distract us from the pain
Looking forward to seeing you around soft fluffie hugs so as not to cause pressure pain
xxxsianxxx
• in reply to
I am going to have to memorise the web site, At the moment every time i tell someone to click on the butterfly I wonder if it is still there
Hi, I was on 3 x 300mg capsules three times a day. Definitely in less pain with pregablin, but definitely spaced out with the fairies!!! Which would be fine, if I didn't have a business to run! And I need to drive, but can't like this. I very much hope I will settle down with it! I hope the Gaberpentin helps you, from what I can remember it takes a few weeks for it to start to work and I definitely needed the higher amount of the drug, but we are all different and need different amounts........all I know is I will try anything to try to get a bit of my old life back and a bit of time with manageable pain, not where it is soooo debilitating! Gentle hugs. X
I wish you the very best of luck. I hope to be able to cope on a low dose. So far, I slept a bit better but the next few weeks will confirm. Fingers crossed!
100mg is actually not a very high dose as you can be prescribed up 900mg daily of this medication, so if you have any problems there is considerable room for scope.
Also, welcome to the forum and I genuinely hope that you find it useful.
Thank you very much for info and your support. I hope all is well with you too!
Hi sweetie, I was on Gabapenttin and swapped straight over to Pregabalin. I was lucky and had no side effects in doing that. I found it really effective in the pain management, it also supported me in mood levelling too. I have had come off them after 8 years and have been put on Duloxetine which have horrendous side effects and are not as effective. We all vary so much with our tolerance levels of chemical input. Keep with them for a couple of months and see how you go.
Weelcome Im still a newbie and loving it here ,I don't feel so isolated and misunderstood. hope you overcome the side effects Quickly. my doctor says they don't prescribe the drugs you have been put on (you in the UK? ) she just doubled my intake on amytriptline so joining you on being a zombie xpat
Welcome to our friendly fibro forum there are a few new members today
I hope that you will find us welcoming and helpful and would like to give you the link to our Mother site fibroaction.org where you shall find a wealth of information regarding Fibromyalgia. Please don't be afraid to ask any Q's or to join in with the fun as we do like to have fun and giggles to distract us from the pain.
There is always someone listening?
Soft fluffie hugs for you so as not to cause pressure pain
Hi freespirit7, I live in the uk in norfolk, but just moved from Bristol where they would not prescribe it on the NHS. But they will here.......all to do with the postcode lottery hey?! Sometimes seeing a specialist, they have different budgets to work to than GP, just a thought?!
Good luck. X
Morning Lizzyyear
The transition from one drug to another in my experience has always given some kind of effect but it is difficult to gauge and depends on what other medications you are taking. I have never taken Gabapentin only Pregabalin, which I still use and find that it helps keep my muscle spasms under control. However, it did take a while to find the right dosage to suit me and I imagine it would be the same for everyone, in fact my dosage fluctuates according to necessity.
I have put weight on with the pregabalin but am not sure if anything else was specifically down to the Pregabalin, so sorry Lizzy, I may not be of much help to you.
I do find that it can help to promote sleep so I tend to take a higher dose at night if I need to be active the next day.
With respect to driving there have been a couple of occassions where I would have said no................. and have done recently and not gone to appointments in the power chair because of the fog, and fuzziness etc. I don't drive a car but do understand your concern
I think a chat with your GP or pharmacist about this could be helpful as they could help find the right medication for you or a different dose but I agree that you need to give it a bit more time maybe another 4 weeks. Maybe you could keep a diary of the symptoms you are experiencing to help you when you see the doctor and if you ever feel ovewhelmed by the medication please contact your GP straight away or Health centre.
Ken has given you the links to check the side effects which are very useful for you to compare against.
Sorry I can't be of much help but do send you healing fluffies with sunshine smiles
Yes I am in the UK! This was prescribed by a neurologist but she is in consultation with my rheumatologist. I also have inflammatory arthritis, restless legs and pain all over. I find very hard to sleep because of the pain. I also have stenosis in the neck and lower back!
As you can see I'm in a bit of a mess! I had a couple night of good sleep, I'm not sure if it's because of new med of codeine! Let's hope it continue!
Hi It`s me again I take A drug called Ropinerole for restless legs. it is a Dopamine substitute and has worked well for me over quite a few years. You could have a word with your doctor about it. hugs xx
Hello mayrose, it has been suggested but I was too fearful to take them because of the probability of causing gambling. I live on my own and they would have been no-one to keep an eye on me. I have resisted taking medication for one year but bowed down this time. It's a long story... But thank you enquir suggestion though!
Hi the spaced out woozy dizzy feeling is completely normal wen I start pregablin as usually passes within a few weeks sometimes three depending on the person my doctor gave me betahistine 16mg an this helped loada with dizzy woozy lightheaded an spaced out feeling. . U will be okay once body fets uaed to the pregablin big hugs ur not alone xx
Nice to know it's not just my body doing more weird things!! I'll definitely stick with it for a while, give it a good chance, as I can already feel it helping the pain, but boy the head!!! Good job I work for myself! Definitely on another lancet today! Haha!! X
I've been on Pregablin nearly 5 years now. For the first two weeks I can honestly say I felt as though I was on another planet and it certainly wasn;t earth. I just either sat in the chair with a rug over my knees trying to watch the TV or read and neither making any sense or lying in bed not sleeping but in this other dimension. I also didn;t really want to eat but felt so thirsty all the time I could have drunk a reservoir dry. I would have given up but the pain was so extreme I was willing to give it a go. After two weeks I realised that I was moving more and the pain had decreased quite a bit and my appetite had returned. It took about another 2 weeks to feel anything like normal but after that I started driving again and apart from feeling tired which you do on fibro in any case I can't say the Pregablin caused me any more problems and in fact it helped my IBS and Asthma which was a very pleasurable side effect. I am still in pain as unfortunately when I tried to really up the dose I did feel too zonked out so I have had to come to a compromise between pain management and feeling I was part of this planet. My advice would be to give it a go for a little longer for your syste, to get used to it. Let us know how you get onx
Thank you all for your replies. I am still feeling zombied, but now all I want to do is sleep. For the first time in many many years, I slept from 9.30pm to 9am with only one wake up and had a three hour sleep at lunchtime!! Couldn't live like this for long ad run a business, but what a luxury to sleep, if only for a few days!! Hope you all ok and really appreciate all your replies and experiences, it's very reassuring:-)) x
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