when to increase pregabalin

[mclayton]

how do you know when to increase my pregabalin? I am taking 150 mg, often I wake up at night and can't fall back asleep. Sometimes I can't fall asleep.

[SwimLyn]

Like you I'm on a very small dose of Pregabalin (100mg) & like you my symptoms are less severe but certainly not disappeared & am still waking throughout the night or much earlier if lucky enough not to have had my sleep disturbed .I have been advised to increase incrementally by 25mg if original dosage stops working & believe 300mg is a standard dose for Pregabalin for many members on this forum.

I'm sure we will receive a lot of advice from those who have been taken it for a much longer period than either of us & can let us know if they suffer from any augmentation or addiction problems over time.

[SueJohnson in reply to SwimLyn]

You can't augment on pregabalin and it is very rare to become addicted. That is when a person has had a past substance use disorders like opioids and multi drug abuses, none of which apply to us with RLS.

[SueJohnson]

Add 25 mg and that should help. If not add 25 mg every couple of days until you find the dose that controls your RLS. According to the Mayo Clinic Updated Algorithm on RLS: "Most RLS patients require 200 to 300 mg pregabalin."

[Jamspoon73 in reply to SueJohnson]

My GP has prescribed me 50mg and 100mg pregabalin doses so I can step up from my years of 100 mg pregabalin to 200mg while I purge my system of daily 0.27mg pramipexole by cutting that back by 0.044 every fortnight. At what point in this process should I start augmenting my pregabalin to 150 and then 200mg (I take both 2 hours before bedtime)? I've also started taking ferrous sulphate to boost my low ferritin (71 microg/l) and magnesium alternate mornings. Thankyou Sue, Jools and others for the trustworthy wisdom on this wonderful broad-based site. God bless you!

[SueJohnson in reply to Jamspoon73]

The pregabalin isn't going to help much until you are off the pramipexole for several weeks and your symptoms have settled so you could go up to 150 mg but stop there until that happens and ask your doctor for 25 mg capsules so you can increase it by 25 mg every couple of days after that happens until it controls your RLS.

[Jamspoon73 in reply to SueJohnson]

So, to be clear, increase to 150mg now, but no more till off Pramipexole in February?

[SueJohnson in reply to Jamspoon73]

Correct and your withdrawal symptoms have settled.