Gaba v pregabalin : Hi, can anyone tell... - Restless Legs Syn...

Restless Legs Syndrome

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Gaba v pregabalin

Leelee49 profile image
7 Replies

Hi, can anyone tell me if there is much of a difference between pregabalin and gabapentin? The reason I ask is, I take gaba 3, four times a day for my rls and it’s been working pretty well for a while now, the thing is, I have degenerative discs in my spine, so I get a lot of pain in my lower back, I thought the gaba would help with the pain as that is what it is for aswell, or will it only work on 1 thing? Does pregabalin help any better with pain aswell as rls? Thankyou in advance. Just to add, I can’t take strong painkillers, they don’t agree with me.

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Madlegs1 profile image
Madlegs1

They both operate in much the same way- for Neuropathic pain.

Pregabalin is a good bit more expensive ( here in Ireland, anyway).

People get different reactions and side effects to both- so you may just have to experiment.

There is a modified version of Gaba called Horizant- which is processed by the body to avoid a lot of the complications , and can be taken at a much lower dose. Not sure of its availability in Europe.

Both Gaba and prega are used for rls relief.

Good luck.

Narcis profile image
Narcis in reply to Madlegs1

I had taken for some time and at last doen't work for RLS. My experience with pregabalin (Lyrica) is even worse, it seems to increase my RLS

Now I realize that my RLS seems to be more related to stress and anxiety. Now I'm on Deprax (Tradozone) 150, ,and CBD oil. Sleeping in portions of 2 hours, up to 7-8 hours. Relacxation exercises seems to help when awake.

But as many of us known it take some time to find the soolution. After one year this has been my first week with some continuos sleep. Next week? who knows....

Narcis profile image
Narcis in reply to Narcis

Sorry, what I took in the past was Gabapentin. Sorry for some erros in my writing

Leelee49 profile image
Leelee49

Thanks guys for the replies, think I’m gonna stick with gaba for now, as it seems to be working most of the time, don’t want to risk changing to prefab for it not to work, or make it worse. Plus, I hate change haha. Sleeping I do well, I have some diazepam left over from a while ago, and if I take 1 5 mins before bed I usually get at least 5 hrs sleep, so when they have gone I’m going to ask my gp for some more, I’m sure he won’t say no. Thankyou again 😊

johnmarg profile image
johnmarg

I would see a dr. U have too much for a layman to advice

I think madlegs is correct; they are quite similar - both anti-convulsants - but anecdotally it seems to be the case that some people respond better to one or the other and as I understand it, it’s worth trying the other if the first is not so effective (though I didn’t do this myself - I gave up once I found that pregabalin - lyrica - didn’t work for me).

Whichever you go with, they can certainly do two jobs at once so no reason why they wouldn’t help your back as well as your Rls. Good luck.

Gabapentine is not GABA

For example, both drugs are structurally similar to the amino acid leucine. Because of this, they can both undergo facilitated transport across cellular membranes through system L-amino acid transporters.3 This is the major form of absorption for gabapentin and pregabalin, with the exception of an extended-release gabapentin prodrug to be discussed later.

pharmacytimes.com/contribut...

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