Started pregablin 2 days ago, what can I expect?

[Bethiboo35]

Hello,

Newbie here so please bear with me I might whittle on a bit.

I have been in pain in low back for the last 3 or four years and just kind of getting on with it until last summer things started getting bad. I started having trouble getting out of bed in the mornings where I would kind of hobble from my hips, thighs and buttocks which would progressively get better throughout the day until one morning I got up with ease until I got to work parked my car and found I could barely walk the 10 minutes from car park to my building. Some days I'm a 5or6 out of 10 and manage, some days I'm a good 8/9 and want to wail but I have been being a martyr of putting up and shutting up.

I have been semi diagnosed with greater trochanter pain, when I say semi I mean it's been mentioned by physio and gp. I have been taking codeine and paracetamol for the last 3 months with some help although the pain relief from it only lasts around an hour and a half. I had a bit of an accident in my car on New year's bank holiday where I was turning right in my street to get on to my drive and a young impatient "lady" for want of a nicer word decided she couldn't wait the 10 seconds for me to move and undercut me on the left clipped my bumper and sent me into a spin, how I didn't wipe my garden wall out is beyond me but Heyhoo I was lucky enough to be unscathed. Next morning woke up with horrendous pain in my shoulders and neck really stiff burning and sore, seen my gp signed me off work 2 weeks, rang my manager said I'd be back 20th. The pain in my shoulders got slightly better over the last 2 weeks but my back and hip pain I think is having referred pain from my neck. Went back to gp to discuss other options of pain relief and he prescribed pregablin and signed me off for another 2 weeks with whiplash injury while I see what my tolerance is to them and advised me not to drive for the first few days. Is this normal?

What can I expect from this new tablet? I've taken 5 so far not felt any relief only woke up this morning after sleeping 10 hours solid (usually get about 6 hours disrupting sleep) but feel groggy as anything.

Thank you for listening.

[gindy]

I take pregabalin with oxycodone and it is the only combo (two separate drugs) that deals with my pain

Pregabalin is prescribed for neuropathic pain, the kind that shoots and or burns. It's to do with nerve damage, so quite possibly might work on your pain. If after a week you still think it's not working, I'd be back at the docs asking to add in a small amount of opiate analgesic to the mix as that's oft a winning combo. The only issue is that all opiates are addictive, and can do more damage than good in the long run. An alternative is amitriptyline, in small doses it can be an effective pain killer.

You do however imo need to give the pregabalin a few more days to see if it helps relieve the pain.

Good luck.

[Sammijs]

I've been on pregablin for a couple of months now. To begin with I was taking 75mg twice a day. I was needing a nap every afternoon because I physically couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm now taking 150mg once a day before bed and aside from being hard to wake up (I've always slept like a log) my mornings are fairly good (maybe 5/6), but by 12-14 hours after taking pregablin the pain starts getting worse and I've had to resort to codeine in the afternoon.